A new YouTube Originals animated series debuted last week, titled Super Sema, and follows the futuristic adventures and discoveries of the titular character, a 10-year-old Kenyan girl whose superpowers are STEAM – and no, not water vapour, but Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics.
According to the channel’s description, ‘Super Sema is the first African animated superhero series to empower and inspire the next generation of children to change the world through curiosity, creativity, and STEAM. It’s time to change the world and showcase supa kidpower with Super Sema.
Super Sema follows the world-changing adventures of an extraordinary young girl Sema and her twin brother MB on their mission to protect their African town of Dunia from the villainous Tobor. Sema knows that with determination, creativity and a helping hand from the amazing world of science and technology, anything is possible!’
Also read: Netflix partners to set up laboratory for creative writers in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria
Hollywood superstar Lupita Nyong’o also helped bring Super Sema to life by lending her voice to the production:
I can't think of a better way to celebrate #InternationalWomensDay than with the release of #SuperSema, Africa's first kid superhero series! The first eight episodes are now streaming on @SuperSemaKukua's @YouTube channel, and more of her adventures in Dunia will be coming soon. pic.twitter.com/VWwlqhI8kj
— Lupita Nyong'o (@Lupita_Nyongo) March 8, 2021
There has been a crescent trend of African-related productions making it big into mainstream media, with Disney recently announcing an original African Science Fiction animated series to arrive on Disney+ in 2022 and ‘Black Panther’ director developing Wakanda TV series for Disney+, as well as Netflix providing the perfect platform to give up and coming African creators to display their creativity, as was the case recently with the first Egyptian original series ‘Paranormal’ debuting on the streaming platform and ‘Cook Off’, Zimbabwe’s first movie to make it onto Netflix.
