Eyes of Wakanda is a Marvel Studios Animation anthology series that follows the history of the Hatut Zaraze, better known as the War Dogs, and their mission to recover lost Vibranium artifacts around the world and return them to Wakanda. Co-produced by Marvel Studios Animation and Proximity, developed by Ryan Coogler and created by Todd Harris, it is one of the first series to be a part of Phase Six of the MCU.
Marvel Animation is still very early in its development and have been pumping out projects to feed our Marvel cravings but at times some of the projects have failed to generate as much buzz. Between the What If…? series’ lack of boldness and creativity and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (originally titled Spider-Man: Freshman Year) going with an alternate Spider-Man rather than focusing on the MCU’s version, there is some hesitancy to have high expectations when jumping into another animation project.
But the final verdict is that this is one of Marvel Studios Animation’s best projects since X-Men ‘97. This review is going to be filled with spoilers because there is no way I can really dive into it without giving out some exciting details so if you are intending to watch it, please come back and read this when you are done!
The MCU’s Black Panther Mythology continues to flourish under the eyes of Ryan Coogler and his team, in addition to Todd Harris as the creator and showrunner, we further explore the history of Wakanda and their secret organization the Hatut Zaraze (the War Dogs). This series is an anthology and it was limited to 4 episodes where we go on different and dangerous missions as Wakandans must recover vibranium artifacts that are lost to the outside world. The biggest con already is that this was limited to 4 episodes, there should be a season 1, 2, and 3 of this!
But regardless, it felt complete and the pacing of the story didn’t feel rushed or slower. The series had such incredible storytelling as an anthology and created characters of different aspects and traits that engaged me as an audience member. There was not one poorly written character in this series in my opinion. The series did a great job of exploring the foundation of the War Dogs and their mission but also how it affects themselves individually and others around them.
From the first episode, the main villain, Nkati/Lion, voiced by Cress Williams, was a former War Dog who had malicious intentions and took his strength to the outside world to create his own version of order and harmony, which I felt was a nice callback to Killmonger. And I bet that if Killmonger was born and raised in Wakanda, he would have had a similar outcome as Nkati.
Episodes 2 and 3 “Legends and Lies” and “Lost and Found” were great episodes that explored how a War Dog’s missions can hurt the people closest to them and be ignorant of others’ cultures and beliefs. It was such a cool moment to see Wakanda’s presence interacting with historical characters such as Achilles and Helen of Troy. Personally, Episode 3 was my favorite because they introduced the legacy of Iron Fist in such a spectacular way that it is getting me pumped to see that character’s moniker return to the MCU!
Although this was an anthology series, one of the craziest moments is how Episode 4 brought it all together by connecting it all together with the Black Panther film. Throughout the whole series, Wakanda’s early mission was to continue to seclude itself from the outside world by removing all of their lost vibranium in the world but it is those very actions that would doom them and the entire human civilization. Thus T’Challa’s mission to open Wakanda to the outside world was the right choice all along. That was such a cool and geeked out moment I had as I finished the series and I could not stop grinning.
The animation style is similar to the What If…? series with a combination of 2D and 3D to create visuals that mirror more realistic features of their characters. It was able to bring the world of Wakanda, which is one of the most visually stunning places in the live action MCU, to the world of animation with such vibrant colors. The fight choreography and action sequences also benefited from this animation style while creating such excitement and fun moments throughout each episode.
To me, there is maybe only one con of this series and it was that most of the characters that were created, I don’t know if they will be iconic or memorable enough for the audience to remember if there were callbacks to these characters and/or events in the later MCU projects but again, that is the trade off of making an anthology series.
Regardless, if you have a free 2 hours and miss the world of Wakanda, I would definitely recommend this show for you to watch and promise you will not be disappointed.
