Background

Lightbulbs & Lazers Animation is a Harare studio founded in 2024 by animator Eugene Ramirez Mapondera, built around using storytelling and research to tackle social issues through original African animation.

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Worth Knowing

Body Count blends drama with contemporary social themes including relationships, masculinity, reproductive health, faith, and stigma, told across a growing slate of episodes.

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Worth Knowing

Eugene Mapondera, the studio's founder, presented Lightbulbs & Lazers' work at the World Intellectual Property Organization's 10th Conversation on IP and Frontier Technologies in Geneva in 2024.

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Worth Knowing

The series is co-published on YouTube with earGROUND TV, the Zimbabwean arts and culture platform founded by journalist Plot Mhako, who was himself a guest on our own My 2 Cents podcast back in 2018.

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Zimbabwean animation keeps finding new ways to punch above its weight, and this time it's personal. Body Count, an original animated drama series from Harare studio Lightbulbs & Lazers Animation, launched its first episodes in mid 2026, and our own co-founder Elliot Twist is one of the lead voices bringing it to life.

Written and directed by the studio's founder Eugene Ramirez Mapondera, with Romeo Chandiposha as executive producer, Body Count follows a tight circle of friends whose reunion unravels into buried insecurities, prejudice, and dangerous ideas over the course of one unforgettable night. The show doesn't shy away from difficult territory either, its episodes work through masculinity, faith, reproductive health, and stigma with the kind of dark comedy that's become Lightbulbs & Lazers' signature.

It's a proud moment watching Elliot go from talking about Zimbabwean entertainment on this very site to actually starring in it. Body Count is currently eight episodes deep and rolling out on YouTube, distributed alongside earGROUND TV, so catch up on "The Reunion" above and follow the playlist for the rest of the season.

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Rufaro