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Smelly Business

Sufficient

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Co-watching from age 5

Stimulating

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Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes: Smelly Business | Sufficient, co-watching from age 5

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes: Smelly Business | Sufficient, co-watching from age 5 - Slowscreen

Sufficient · Co-watching from age 5. Motsy is trying to invent the perfect perfume as an anniversary present for her two moms, but nothing she mixes smells righ...

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https://slowscreen.com/en/series/kiya-the-kimoja-heroes/s1/e15-smelly-business

https://slowscreen.com/en/series/kiya-the-kimoja-heroes/s1/e15-smelly-business

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Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes: Smelly Business | Sufficient, co-watching from age 5 - Slowscreen

Sufficient · Co-watching from age 5. Motsy is trying to invent the perfect perfume as an anniversary present for her two moms, but nothing she mixes smells righ...

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes: Smelly Business | Sufficient, co-watching from age 5
Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes: Smelly Business | Sufficient, co-watching from age 5

slowscreen.com

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes: Smelly Business | Sufficient, co-watching from age 5 - Slowscreen

Sufficient · Co-watching from age 5. Motsy is trying to invent the perfect perfume as an anniversary present for her two moms, but nothing she mixes smells righ...

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes: Smelly Business | Sufficient, co-watching from age 5
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Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes: Smelly Business | Sufficient, co-watching from age 5 - Slowscreen

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Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes: Smelly Business | Sufficient, co-watching from age 5 - Slowscreen

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Subject Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes: Smelly Business | Sufficient, co-watching from age 5

Sufficient · Co-watching from age 5. Motsy is trying to invent the perfect perfume as an anniversary present for her two moms, but nothing she mixes smells righ...

https://slowscreen.com/en/series/kiya-the-kimoja-heroes/s1/e15-smelly-business

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This program is stimulating. It actively demands attention and can feel intense. For the recommended age, this may be on the more intense side. The pacing is fast. Images follow each other quickly, leaving little time to pause and take in what is happening. The sound is soft and supportive. The visuals are calm and well-organized.
The main thread is easy to follow: Motsy is trying to invent a perfume for her moms' anniversary, a smelly fog covers the city, and the heroes trace it back to Hattie's treehouse. The build-up is orderly, with a recognisable beginning, a crisis when the satellite breaks apart, and a resolution at the party. The limitation is the amount running alongside it: Hattie's ice cream tracking satellite, the missing notebook, the mislabelled bottles and the accidental de-smellifier all compete for room, and each scene introduces new gadgets with new functions. Cause and effect holds up well, though, and the payoff is satisfying when the lucky sock turns out to be the source of the stink.
Tension runs fairly high in places. Motsy accuses her friends and Hattie of stealing her notebook, voices are raised, and a broken satellite is shown falling towards the city while the heroes race to catch the pieces. Against that, the episode does close its emotional loops: Motsy admits 'I'm sorry I blamed everyone when it went missing', apologises to Hattie face to face and brings her the ice cream she wanted. Hattie still gets the last jab ('just remember that I'm the better scientist'), so the warmth between the characters is real but not consistent.
Motsy works like a genuine inventor. She mixes scent after scent, rejects each one out loud ('Still not it'), notices something odd when Jay suddenly smells of nothing, and realises she has accidentally made a de-smellifier. When the fog blocks the view, the heroes reason it through together: they cannot catch the satellite pieces if they cannot see them, so they clear the smell first. The children start most of what happens themselves rather than waiting to be told, and Motsy also names her own mistake in rushing at Hattie. The final rescue leans on superpowers rather than thinking, which keeps the problem-solving from carrying all the way through.
The dialogue is clear and mostly in complete sentences, with words that fit a school-age listener: 'anniversary', 'invention', 'satellite', 'research'. Meaning is usually built from context, as when Motsy explains that she is 'reinventing perfume' while surrounded by labelled bottles. Alongside that sits a steady stream of invented exclamations and catchphrases ('Jumping ninjas', 'Angry atoms', 'Crystal power'), plus power-move announcements during the action that carry excitement rather than information. Delivery is brisk and some lines overlap, which makes a few exchanges harder to follow.
There is a recognisable everyday core: a child making a homemade present for a parents' anniversary, testing ideas, tidying up a workshop, apologising after blaming the wrong person, and a family celebration with neighbours. Those social patterns are ones a child will know from home. Much of the running time, though, sits in territory a child cannot bring offline: crystal-powered transformations, flying, a music blaster, an elephant companion and a talking slug. The practical steps that are shown, such as mixing and smelling scent samples, are brief compared with the rescue action that surrounds them.

More information

This score shows how inclusively the series portrays diverse people, families and cultures. Scale: Limited → Varied → Rich → Inclusive.
Kimoja is a bright African city where Black characters of every age and body type fill the streets, the lab, the food stalls and the neighbourhood party at the end, from toddlers to grey-bearded elders. Motsy's two moms are the reason the whole plot exists, and their anniversary is handled as an ordinary family celebration that everyone turns up for. The three heroes share the initiative between them, take turns being wrong, apologise out loud, and settle a rivalry with Hattie without anyone being declared the winner. For preschoolers this offers a broad, matter-of-fact picture of who people are and how they live together.
This score shows whether the series stays close to everyday reality or leans into fantasy. Scale: Fantasy → Mixed reality → Realistic.
Kimoja City looks like a busy, colourful neighbourhood, but the action runs on crystal powers, hero transformations and home-built gadgets, so a lot of what happens is beyond anything a child could try at home. What holds it together is the everyday heart of the story: Motsy wants to make a perfume for her moms' anniversary, gets frustrated, snaps at the people helping her, and then apologises. There is no villain here. Hattie is a boastful rival inventor whose big secret plan turns out to be tracking an ice cream cart, and the real trouble comes from a mistake Motsy made herself. The fantasy layer stays predictable, with each hero keeping the same abilities from start to finish.
This score shows how enjoyable the series is for parents watching along. Scale: Tedious → Tolerable → Pleasant → Enjoyable.
There is more here for a grown-up in the room than the neon packaging suggests. The rivalry between Motsi and Hattie carries jokes that land for adults, a spy satellite launched purely to beat the queue at the ice cream stand being the pick of them, and the mystery of the town-wide stink is built with a proper setup and payoff. The catch is volume: the heroes announce nearly everything at full excitement, and the transformation sequence returns with a loud musical sting and a wash of hot pink every time. The animation is good looking enough to hold your eye, with a bright African-inspired city that clearly had design thought put into it.

Themes

Problem solving

Central

Motsy tests scent combination after scent combination, rejecting each one with 'Still not it' before stumbling on the de-smellifier.

Superheroes

Central

Kiya, Motsy and Jay transform with crystal power and announce themselves as Dance Ninja, Tech Racer and Flying Rockstar.

Invention

Central

Motsy builds perfume mixtures in a lab and Hattie constructs a spy satellite in her treehouse.

Apologising

Recurring

Motsy tells Hattie 'I messed up. I lost my notebook. Sorry for blaming you' and brings her ice cream.

Siblings

Recurring

Kiya and Motsy work as sisters throughout, with Kiya defending her by saying 'Motsy's work isn't silly'.

Gift giving

Recurring

Motsy spends the episode trying to make the perfect perfume as an anniversary present for her moms.

Rivalry

Recurring

Hattie repeatedly insists 'As the better inventor, I'm making history' and dismisses Motsy's project as smelly business.

Rescue

Recurring

The heroes race to catch the falling satellite pieces before they hit the city.

Family

Recurring

The episode ends with the moms' anniversary party and an invitation to dance together.

Making mistakes

Recurring

Motsy wrongly accuses Hattie of stealing her notebook, then finds it in the tangle herself.

Celebration

Incidental

The closing scene is a decorated outdoor anniversary party with neighbours and friends.

Activities

Emotions

Behaviour

Social lessons

Mild conflict

Motsy accuses Hattie of stealing her notebook and the two argue with raised voices before a tug over the machine.

Danger

A satellite breaks apart and its pieces fall towards the city until the heroes catch them.

Antagonist

Hattie acts as the rival inventor, dismissing others' work and commanding her slug helper.

Loud sounds

Explosions, the self-destruct alarm and the music blaster dominate the rescue sequence.

Fast pacing

The transformation and mid-air catch sequences run on continuous action with rapid cuts between the three heroes.

Teasing

Hattie calls Motsy's project 'your silly work' and later 'smelly business'.

Food as reward

Motsy smooths over the conflict by buying Hattie two Choco Berry Crunch ice cream cones.

Property destruction

Hattie's satellite and inventions are broken during the scuffle, leaving her workshop in pieces.

Stereotypes

Grumpy character

Hattie is written as permanently prickly, ending even her reconciliation with 'just remember that I'm the better scientist'.

Motsy is trying to invent the perfect perfume as an anniversary present for her two moms, but nothing she mixes smells right. When a smelly fog blankets the city, she blames her rival Hattie for stealing her secret notebook, and during the argument Hattie's spy satellite is destroyed and starts falling towards Kimoja. Kiya, Motsy and Jay transform into the Kimoja Heroes, clear the fog with Motsy's accidental de-smellifier, and catch the satellite pieces before they land. Motsy finds her notebook where she left it, apologises to Hattie over ice cream, and the family celebrates the anniversary together.

Season 1

18 episodes

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes
S01 E01

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes

Kiya and the Kite Monster

Stimulating
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 5

Kiya is getting ready for the Kimoja kite festival in Kimoja City and decides to build her kite alone instead of with her father, the way she does every year. When Acrobat disguises a motorised glider as a flying monster to steal food from her father's new community truck, Kiya insists on tackling him without Motsie and Jay, and Acrobat tricks her and carries her father off. She calls her friends in, divides the rescue between them, and together they free her father and drive Acrobat away. The festival and her father's truck open with the community gathered, and Kiya's finished kite flies alongside the others.

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes
S01 E02

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes

Cosmic Catastrophe

Stimulating
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 5

In Kimoja City, Kiya and her friends Motsie and Jay are helping Daddy Joe prepare for the night of a million stars when an object crashes into the park and makes everyone nearby dance uncontrollably. The three transform into the Kimoja Heroes and discover the object is a fake meteorite built by Hattie Collider, who is boosting its signal to reach the whole city. Kiya insists on her own plan twice, and both attempts fail before she accepts her friends' ideas and uses the wild dancing itself to lure Galacto Slug away so Jay can destroy the device. Hattie then explains she was building a birthday surprise for Galacto Slug, and the two are invited to join the stargazing party.

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes
S01 E03

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes

Zero to Hero

Stimulating
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 5

In Kimoja City, Kiya, Motsy and Jay transform into heroes when Prima Donna's pet Unipug goes missing and she turns the market upside down looking for him. Jay's rescues keep going wrong, he wrecks a fruit cart and mistakes a slipper for the dog, and after Prima Donna mocks him he calls himself a Kimoja zero and walks away. Motsy discovers a second slipper stuck in the gate, explaining how Unipug escaped, and Prima Donna turns on the heroes and aims at their crystal. Jay comes back at his friends' urging, stops her with his sound power, Unipug is found playing safely nearby, and Jay apologises for not telling anyone how he felt.

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes
S01 E04

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes

Take a Step Back

Stimulating
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 5

At a city skate park, Kiya gets drawn into a dance challenge with Zane and cannot let go of losing, until her father MC Harmony tells her to take a step back. When Acrobrat steals a shopkeeper's new sign and starts wrecking the city on a giant hoverboard, Kiya and her friends Motsy and Jay transform into the Kimoja Heroes. Kiya chases Acrobrat so single-mindedly that her friends and family end up stranded in a tipping cable car, and she has to stop mid-pursuit to help them. The sign is returned to Rajabu's shop, Kiya apologises, and the group finishes with a dance together.

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes
S01 E05

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes

Kiya's Potluck

Stimulating
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 5

Kiya and her dad are preparing food for a potluck when she is sent to the market for spices and meets MC Harmony, who is sad because her sister cannot visit. A market seller tells Kiya the legend of the golden cassava, said to cheer anyone up, and she sets out to find one. The search runs into a Kimoja Heroes mission, stopping Hattie Collider's robot from draining the river, and Kiya's divided attention triggers the machine's alarm and puts her friends and Galactoslug in danger. The team frees the slug and shuts the machine down, and although the cassava is destroyed, MC Harmony arrives at the potluck and says the company of friends is what lifted her mood.

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes
S01 E06

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes

Musical Mash-Up

Stimulating
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 5

In Kimoja City, the community prepares to celebrate the blossoming of a thousand-year-old baobab tree, with Jay chosen to play the old Kimoja guitar at the concert. Prima Donna wants the stage for herself and has her pug Unipug take the guitar and every other instrument in the city. Kia, Motsi and Jay transform into the Kimoja Heroes and chase her down, though Jay leaves the group to make his solo and later returns to apologise and help. When his string breaks again, the crowd grabs pots and drums to play together, the heroes free the captured instruments, and Jay finishes the tune with everyone joining in.

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes
S01 E07

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes

Going Solo in a Snowglobe

Stimulating
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 5

Jay looks for a quiet corner of the studio to practise guitar, but his sister Motsie keeps interrupting to demo her new super booster, and the two argue before Jay walks off. When he does not come back, Kiya and Motsie search the neighbourhood and discover that the inventor Hattie Toledo has shrunk him into a snow globe with her shrinking ray. Kiya distracts Hattie while Motsie fetches her booster, which amplifies Jay's crystal signal enough for him to transform and break out. The episode ends with the siblings apologising to each other and hugging.

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes
S01 E08

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes

Revolting Robots

Stimulating
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 5

A storm has scattered trash across the park in Kimoja City, and Kiya, Jay and Motsy agree to clean it up before heading to the new skate ramp. Motsy rushes a helper robot so she can practise her jumps, and Hattie Collider copies the idea with a batch of her own Tidybots that quickly go rogue and start tidying market stalls, vehicles and even people. The heroes transform and hold the robots back while Motsy calms down, works out that the bots only obey their leader, and rebuilds her own robot to reprogram them. The robots switch to dancing instead of tidying, and the group finishes the park clean-up together before skating.

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes
S01 E09

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes

A Little Birdy Told Me

Stimulating
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 5

Kiya, Motsie and Jay build a bird feeder in their park, where Jay attracts a bird by playing his guitar. Prima Donna captures the bird and a cageful of others to force her pet Unipug to learn to fly, so the three friends transform into the Kimoja Heroes to get them back. Jay frees the birds but they scatter across the city, and he is torn between keeping his new friend Zazzy and letting him lead the flock home. The team gathers the birds with seed and Jay's music, and the episode ends at the park with the flock back where it belongs.

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes
S01 E10

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes

The Night of 1000 Lights

Stimulating
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 5

Kia and her friends in Kimoja are preparing for the Night of a Thousand Lights, when fireflies emerge from grubs protected under a force field. After Zane claims he has seen the legendary dancing sprites, Kia sneaks back to the baobab tree alone, leaves the force field switched off, and Acrobrat digs up the grubs to light his own stunt show. Kia admits her mistake, and the three heroes chase Acrobrat through the city and recover the jar. The grubs are returned to the ground, the fireflies rise at dusk, and the community dances under the lights.

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes
S01 E11

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes

Fight or Flight

Stimulating
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 5

Kiya, Motsie and Jay visit the Uni-tree ride in Kimoja City, where Motsie and Jay cannot stop arguing about whether speed or flight is better. When Acrobrat takes over the ride controls and sends the pods spinning out of control with people still on board, the three transform into the Kimoja Heroes to help. Their competing plans keep cancelling each other out, and Kiya is left stranded until Jay and Motsie use their powers together to slow the ride down. Acrobrat leaves, the friends apologise to Kiya, and the group repairs the ride so everyone can use it again.

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes
S01 E12

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes

Clash of the Kora

Stimulating
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 5

Jay is about to play Kiya's treasured family kora at Gogo Flo's class in the park when Prima Donna asks for a turn and he refuses, convinced she means to damage or steal it. Insulted, Prima Donna releases a carrier of bush babies across Kimoja City so the heroes are pulled away, then takes the kora and performs with it herself. Kiya, Jay and Motsi transform, return the animals to Auntie Boosie and confront her on stage. When Kiya explains that Prima Donna's own grandmother taught her to play, Jay apologises and the two finish the episode playing the kora together.

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes
S01 E13

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes

Kiya and the Boombastic

Stimulating
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 5

Motsie builds a leaf blower to clean Kimoja Park before the Unity Globe sculpture is unveiled, and lends it to Kiya with a promise that she will look after it. Kiya leaves it behind while helping a stranded bush baby, and the mischief-maker Acrobrat picks it up and uses it to fire giant bouncy balls at the city. Kiya hides the loss from her friends until the trouble grows too big, then admits what happened and is forgiven. The three heroes work together to recover the blower, secure the Unity Globe and return it to the park, where the celebration goes ahead.

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes
S01 E14

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes

Acroboo!

Stimulating
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 5

Kiya, Jay and Motsie are helping prepare a flower moon party in the nature reserve when strange noises and a glowing ghost start frightening everyone in Kimoja City. Kiya is scared but hides it after being teased, until she admits it to her friends, who tell her they get scared too and stay with her. Following the missing lanterns into the dark, the heroes find footprints and work out that the ghost is really Acrobrat playing a prank. The lanterns are returned, Jay apologises for the teasing, and the episode ends with everyone joining the flower moon dance.

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes
S01 E15

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes

Smelly Business

Stimulating
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 5

Motsy is trying to invent the perfect perfume as an anniversary present for her two moms, but nothing she mixes smells right. When a smelly fog blankets the city, she blames her rival Hattie for stealing her secret notebook, and during the argument Hattie's spy satellite is destroyed and starts falling towards Kimoja. Kiya, Motsy and Jay transform into the Kimoja Heroes, clear the fog with Motsy's accidental de-smellifier, and catch the satellite pieces before they land. Motsy finds her notebook where she left it, apologises to Hattie over ice cream, and the family celebrates the anniversary together.

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes
S01 E16

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes

Kiya's Monster Movie Night

Stimulating
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 5

Kiya finds an old copy of the film 'Tyrannobug Eats the World' and declares the evening a movie night for just her and her dad, but her friends Jay and Motsie turn up expecting to join. When the power across Kimoja City cuts out, the three transform into the Kimoja Heroes and trace it to Hattie Collider, who has drained the grid for her own giant home cinema. Hattie's machine merges her sidekick Galactoslug with the film creature, and the resulting Tyrannoslug rampages through the night until Kiya works out he simply wants a hug and a bucket of Ama Kip Kip. The episode ends with everyone, including Hattie, watching the film together outdoors.

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes
S01 E17

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes

King of Pranks

Stimulating
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 5

In Kimoja City, a new Joking Jack prank comic arrives at the market and Jay boasts that he is the king of pranks. Soon banana peels, fake snakes and sticky glue globs start causing trouble around town, and Kiya, Motsie and Jay transform into the Kimoja Heroes to find out who is behind it. The culprit is Acrobat, and when Jay tries to out-prank him the plan backfires and leaves a mess, so he admits he went too far. The heroes track Acrobat to the cable car where he has built a giant glue blob, bounce it back at him with a combined move, and leave him stuck in his own trick.

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes
S01 E18

Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes

Bugging Out

Stimulating
recommended age Unlock co-watching from 5

In the city of Kimoja, the young inventor Hattie Collider is annoyed that Motsie gets all the praise for her latest gadget, so she plants tiny mechanical bugs in the heroes' equipment and sends Galacto Slug out to pretend he has gone rogue with a bunch of stolen traps. As citizens including Auntie Boosie and Kaleida get caught in the traps, Motsie's tools keep failing, and she walks away from the team feeling replaced. Alone in her workshop she finds a bug inside her zip tool, works out who put it there, and returns with a debugging upgrade. She frees the others, exposes Hattie in front of everyone, and the team heads off for a smoothie at Daddy Joe's.

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