In its four years of creating original animated series for Disney+, Marvel Studios Animation has built an eclectic library, from the Saturday-morning nostalgia of X-Men ’97 to the bite-sized adventures of I Am Groot. While What If…? has been the studio’s most visually arresting series to date, it now faces stiff competition from the new four-episode anthology, Eyes of Wakanda.
Conceived by longtime Marvel Studios storyboard artist Todd Harris, the series boasts an elevated mix of 2D and CG animation. The production is visually stunning, featuring luminous design from Craig Elliott (The Princess and the Frog) and rich art direction by August Hall (The Boxtrolls). Unfortunately, the narrative quality of the episodes doesn’t consistently match their visual splendor.
Eyes of Wakanda chronicles the history of the nation’s secret spies, the Hatut Zeraze, or “War Dogs.” Their mission is to operate in the outside world to retrieve lost Vibranium artifacts before they can expose or harm the hidden kingdom. The first season explores four key moments in their history, spanning the Bronze Age, the Trojan War, the dawn of China’s Ming dynasty, and the First Italo-Ethiopian War. Each episode adopts the cultural aesthetics of its period, allowing for inventive action sequences and distinct visual storytelling.
The series is most successful when it delves into new aspects of Wakandan lore and focuses on original characters, as seen in the strong opening and closing episodes. However, the middle two installments suffer from predictable plotting, an awkward blend of humor and pathos, and heavy-handed messaging.
As standalone stories, the episodes are accessible to all viewers, regardless of their familiarity with the Black Panther films. Each half-hour entry is self-contained, offering resolution and closure. Despite this, the series can’t entirely escape the MCU’s interconnected ethos, with the season finale succumbing to an unnecessary tie-in with the wider franchise.
The show’s most significant drawback is its brief four-episode run, which proves insufficient for the creative team to establish a consistent tone or fully realize the premise’s potential. Consequently, Eyes of Wakanda feels more like a sampler of ideas than a cohesive season of television. This limitation does not, however, extend to the animation. Studio AKA provides a glorious, sepia-toned title sequence, while Axio Animation delivers stellar work throughout each episode. With vibrant color palettes, dramatic lighting, and frame-worthy background art, the passion and craft imbued in the visuals are evident in every scene.
