Iwájú is the first collaboration between Walt Disney Animation Studios and the pan-African “visual storytelling company” Kugali Media, and the series is co-created by Kugali’s founders, Olufikayo “Ziki” Adeola, Hamid Ibrahim and Tolu Olowofoyeku. It takes place in a futuristic version of Lagos, Nigeria, whose upper-class population lives on an exclusive island away from the rest of the city’s population. But a ten-year-old girl wants to literally bridge that divide.
IWÁJÚ: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: We see a street view of a futuristic version of Lagos, Nigeria, as Afrobeat music plays. A girl buzzes by on a hover-scooter.
The Gist: When the girl, who has a pet lizard, is approached by two cars full of people up to no good, the lizard puts a bubble around her and starts to attack, but a malfunction leads the lizard to have a huge body and tiny head.
This is when we find out that this is a simulation, created by tech security executive Tunde Martins (Dayo Okeniyi), to test a device designed to protect children in Lagos, who have been kidnapped for ransom on a regular basis over the last few years.
In a wealthy neighborhood on an island off the mainland, Tunde’s daughter Tola (Simisola Gbadamosi). She’s looking forward to her father getting home from his latest trip, and bakes him his favorite treat to welcome him home. She convinces his driver to take her to the airport, but when she runs to greet Tunde, he’s more concerned that she’s alone, especially given who might be out there looking to take her.
That someone is nearby: Bode DeSousa (Femi Branch), a hulking 7-foot-tall man who scans the terminal, registering the net worth of the people who walk through. When he can’t get a read on Tunde (literally), he tells his right-hand woman, Happiness (Bisola Aiyeola), to find out more about the Tola, whom he does identify.
Back at home, Tunde more or less brushes off Tola, citing the fact that he needs to work on his device; he’s under pressure from his boss to deliver as promised. Tola understands, but is also disappointed, as she often is by her tough dad. He often talks of his upbringing in a poor neighborhood on the mainland, and she always wants to go there, but he feels there’s nothing there for her to really see.
Feeling a little lonely, she goes outside to find her friend Kole Adesola (Siji Soetan), who is a tech tinkerer who works for Tunde as a gardener and jack-of-all-trades. After saying that Tunde has promised her that they’ll spend more time together, she insists to Kole that she helps him with his work.
Afterwards, a dirt-covered Tole finds her dad, who’s annoyed that she’s spending time with Kole. At the encouragement of his boss, he gives her Otin (Weruche Opia), the robotic lizard that he’s been working on the software for. It’s ostensibly a live test, but Tunde tells Tola that it’s a birthday present, and if she can prove she can take care of Otin, they can do something she requests. Of course, Tola’s request is to go to her dad’s old neighborhood.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Iwájú feels like it could have been introduced as an episode of Disney’s 2023 animated anthology Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire.
Our Take: Iwájú is a six-episode limited series with a total runtime of approximately two hours, so it plays like a feature film split into episodes. It’s a continuing story, with endings that are designed to get the viewers to click “Next Episode” right away. It’s definitely a feast for the eyes, with a view of Lagos in the near future that shows how the future is advanced for people of all economic strata, but still shows how the income gap is still severe, even if the technology for everyone is more advanced.
What we appreciated is that the show’s creators insert backstory in some ingenious ways. For instance, Tola is a very empathetic kid, who doesn’t care about money or class. Could that be misconstrued as naivete? Sure, as we see in a scene where her dad’s driver takes to the sky to bypass traffic to the airport, and she wants to buy something from the robotic hawkers that fly all over. Her friendship with Kole also is a function of Tola’s concern for people and not their wealth; that might also get her in some hot water because of Kole’s reluctant connection to Bode.
The second episode shows where Bode’s contempt for the city’s old-monied families come from. And we even get some insight into Tunde’s background, just through the discussions he has with Tole over her desire to see his old neighborhood on the mainland.
It’s a story that is as endearing as anything we’ve seen come from Disney, but one rooted in the realities of living in a city like Lagos. It’s celebratory at times and dark at others, gritty in places and highly polished in others. After the first episode, we wanted to see more of Tola’s life and her friendship with Kole, and of course we want to see what the cute robotic lizard Otin is capable of when called on to protect Tola.
What Age Group Is This For?: Iwájú is suitable for kids 6 and up, though the theme of kids being abducted may be a bit too intense for some younger viewers.
Parting Shot: Bode, trying to find a connection to Tola that will get him more information on her father, sees Kole on Tola’s social media, and sees his way in.
Sleeper Star: We’ll always root for the cute animal in an animated series, especially if that cute animal is secretly a heroic robot. So we’ll give this to Weruche Opia as Otin.
Most Pilot-y Line: “Why was there a pig at the airport?” Tola says to Kole as she speedily recounts her day picking up her dad.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Iwájú is a visually fascinating look at a futuristic Nigerian city, with lots of clever character moments and an Afrobeat soundtrack that ties it all together.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
