Pakistan’s award-winning animation series Burka Avenger opens in London

A Muslim warrior girl from a Pakistani animated TV series, Burka Avenger, has premiered on the big screen in the British capital. Now part of London’s Southbank Centre arts festival, the cartoon has previously sparked a debate among western audiences.

A Muslim warrior girl from a Pakistani animated TV series, Burka Avenger, has premiered on the big screen in the British capital. Now part of London’s Southbank Centre arts festival, the cartoon has previously sparked a debate among western audiences.

Burka Avenger is an orphan girl who grows up learning how to fight with ‘books, pen and education’.

With an orphan girl who grows up learning how to fight with ‘books, pen and education’ as the lead, all episodes of Burka Avenger are available on YouTube.

Read: Pakistan’s cartoon ‘Burka Avenger’ swoops into India to empower girls

Screened at the Royal Festival Hall until the end of May, the multi-award-winning TV series generated controversy in the West when it first premiered in 2013.

The lead character, a school teacher named Jiya who becomes a black burqa-clad avenger, was listed as one of the most influential fictional characters of 2013.

While its lead character, a school teacher named Jiya who becomes a black burqa-clad avenger, has been listed among the most influential fictional characters of 2013, other critics have been less enthusiastic about the animated female’s alter identity.

Read: How India discovered role reversal through pop culture

The creators, however, claim that unlike “sexualised” Western characters, “like Catwoman and Wonder Woman,” the Burka Avenger is fighting evil and promotes education for all “with books and pens as her weapons”.

Watch Burqa Avenger here

Being Pakistan’s first ever animated TV series, its burqa wearing female role model for children has taken by storm not only its country of origin, but also neighbouring Afghanistan. More than 85 percent of children living in urban areas watch the show there, according to the Telegraph.

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