Don’t sleep on Invincible Fight Girl by Jentry Chau

As it is every year, the last stretch 2024 has shown some last-minute highlights. At the beginning of this year, the TV audience enjoyed their favorite Arcane, X-Men ’97, and Dan Da Dan, and they can spend several weeks from their results waiting for what is to come. But right now, we have two cartoons that are worth spending time on as the year ends.

The first is Best Girl Ever, was announced again in 2022 and its just-completed first season began in October on Max/Adult Swim. The story sees a boy named Andy embark on a quest to become a professional fighter, which involves moving to a big city filled with fighters and a number of former, would-be, and current talent. being the best that no one has ever been. If this sounds familiar, it’s on purpose, as the show has shown anime-and My Hero Academia specifically—fully integrated into his DNA. Whether you are dead My Hero fan or just know through history, maybe you will see shades of Deku’s story in the show, maybe through his music or watching Andy leave his accountant’s island to become a student of his childhood idol Quesa Poblana.

But as much fun as it was to see the world of superheroes through Deku’s eyes, so is Andy’s world. Best Girl Ever he likes to fight to the point where he can’t help but be infectious and cute like Andy and his friends – Craig, a lucky runner, and very much eight-year-old buff aspiring reporter Mikey—shows how the world has been shaped by wrestling as popular culture, and offers interesting insights into how it manifests itself in all walks of life. Creator Juston Gordon-Montgomery’s love for the sport always comes through, whether it’s the colorful (very cool) stage names everyone has, or the way outdoor matches start with satellites dropping wrestling rings from space. Boxing has provided large, showy areas for sports stories to play, and Best Girl Ever found the sweet spot of combining wrestling performances with music found in shonen stories and their popular games.

There’s a similar mix of teenage melodrama and supernatural in Netflix’s Echo Wu series, Jentry Chau vs. Underworld. As is Best Girl Ever, it’ll sound like you’ve heard this before: the legendary Jentry has just turned 16 when the show opens and finds himself rekindling the firepower he suppressed in the past, and is forced to be brave when his aunt Gugu brings Jentry to him. childhood home to protect him from a murderous demon. The shadow of Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been growing on spiritual TV for years, and Gentry hits a lot of familiar beats. Love triangles, adults who aren’t what they seem, you’ve seen this many times before.

What causes it Gentry work and how it works with confidence; his opening is a sparkling K-pop song that makes it clear that it wants the audience to have a good time as Jentry and his friends face one challenge after another. What is said often escalates to the point of spiritual chaos, and this Jentry is very forward with his fear from the beginning and not the building of it over time and amazing fun. Sometimes, his game (but a little confused) is scary and reminds them Fun Time or even Billy and Mandy, especially when the fight is pushed in or supernatural elements are used to introduce the best characters, such as the two lovers Gugu and Jentry, his childhood friend Michael and the handsome boy Kit.

Coming so late in the year, Gentry and Best Girl Ever can’t help but be seen as empty beginnings. They are all cut from the same cloth, but the materials are used in different ways: Invincible it’s actually an underdog story that gets Andy through, especially physically. He really lives up to the theme of the show as he endures multiple beatings by more experienced opponents, only to get up and start again which makes for one of the best, most grueling episodes of the year. For the most part, things are light enough to play for people of all ages, although sometimes it flirts with heavy themes until its second half. Those moments return to his fighters as they are inspired to return to battle and give their all, just like old shonen tales. It goes without saying that a thorough investigation of the fight against boxing in the world is useful in order to be able to fight in the future.

In contrast, Gentry she feels more grounded in a slightly older crowd. It’s no stranger to spectacular fights and constant comedy, but its strongest moments come when the characters are forced to face dark truths or unleash their baggage, often with the crowd watching in rapt attention. Much of this show was informed by Wu growing up as a second generation young Chinese American Texasappeared in a story about Jentry’s class being haunted by the ghosts of racism from the Alamoor the show’s brief exploration of Michael living as a second Nigerian American. The show isn’t just about the immigrant experience, but its southern location gives it a very different energy than it would have on the beach, and the town feels like the real place it should be for Jentry to want to be. normal life here and his powers are unknown.

Whether you’re interested in watching a young man struggle with Chinese mythology and growing up in his family or a young woman fighting a gang of perms, Jentry Chau and Best Girl Ever everything is worth watching. Both of these movies had a lot of imagination going into them, and you can tell Gordon-Montgomery and Wu gave it their all and then some. (Gentry mostly they carry the power of good intentions for something that could work well as a movie, but they get a lot of space to rest and just be a series of 13 episodes.) It’s a shame that it’s coming to the end of the year, as it seems like it would have received more attention months ago. But here’s hoping things work out for Andy and Jentry’s relationship, and we get more adventures with them all soon.

Want more io9 news? See when to expect new updates Amazing, Star Warsand Star Trek release, result of DC Universe on film and TVand everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.