Don’t Sleep on Invincible Fight Girl and Jentry Chau

As it is every year, the last stretch 2024 Some of the last moments have been highly featured. Earlier this year, Red was on TV viewers’ choice Arcane, X-Men ’97, And dan da dan, And spent weeks from their respective conclusions to what would happen next. But here and now, we’ve got a pair of cartoons that are worth giving some time to as the year comes to an end.

The first is Invincible Fight Girl, Announced again in 2022 and whose just-wrapped first season began in October in Max/Adult swimming. The story follows a kid named Andy on his quest to become a legendary wrestler, which involves moving to a big city full of wrestlers and brushing shoulders with many former pros, would-be, and aspiring talents as he works. Be the very best that no one ever had. If that sounds familiar, it’s clearly intentional, as the show has echoed the anime—and My Hero Academia Especially- fully embedded in its DNA. Whether you are a diehard my hero Fans or just know about it through fame, you’ll likely see glimpses of Deku’s story in the show, either through its music or watching Andy leave the island of accountants to become a student of his now-retired childhood wrestling idol, Quesa Poblana.

But as fun as seeing the world of superheroes through Deku’s eyes is, so is Andy and his world. Invincible Fight Girl Wrestling is loved to such an extent that it can’t help but be infectious and charming as Andy and his friends – Craig, an opportunistic hustler and very Mikey—a buff eight-year-old aspiring journalist—shows how the world has been shaped by wrestling as a dominant culture, and provides some fascinating nuances of what that looks like for all walks of life. Creator Juston Gordon-Montgomery’s love for the game comes through at all times, whether it’s the variety of (very good) stage names for each character or how outdoor matches begin via satellite to wrestling rings from space. Wrestling and boxing have provided sports stories on the biggest, most dramatic stages and Invincible Fight Girl Mixing the theatricality of wrestling with the melodramatics found a sweet spot typically found in Shonen stories and their famous tournament arcs.

Echo Wu’s Netflix series has an equally successful fusion of teen melodrama and the supernatural, Gentry Chow vs. Underworld. like with Invincible Fighting Girl, Sounds like you’ve heard it before: The titular Gentry has just turned 16 as the show begins and finds himself reawakening the firepower he previously suppressed, and he’s forced into heroism when his great-aunt Gugu brings Gentry back to him as an assassin. Childhood home to protect him from demons. its shadow Buffy the Vampire Slayer Over the years, Supernatural has become bigger than TV, and Gentry Many hit familiar beats. Love triangles, seniors who aren’t what they seem, you’ve seen it many times before.

Finally what? Gentry How to carry oneself confidently at work; of open It’s a catchy K-pop track that makes it clear that the audience wants to have a good time as Gentry and his friends go through one harrowing situation after another. Said situation often escalates to the point of supernatural chaos, and that of the gentry It’s a pleasant surprise to see it progress more with its horror from the start instead of building it up over time. At times, its playful (but still somewhat random) horror is reminiscent Adventure time or even Billy and Mandy, Especially when fights break out or supernatural elements are used to inform the very good cast of characters, such as Googo and Gentry’s two love interests, his childhood friend Michael and cute boy Kit.

Coming so late in the year, Gentry And Invincible Fight Girl Can’t help but be seen as scrappy upstarts. They are both cut from the same cloth, but the material is used in different ways: invincible Literally an underdog story that puts Andy through the ringer, mostly physically. He truly lives up to the show’s title as he endures several beatings by far more experienced opponents, only to get back up and dish it out in what makes for some of the cutest, crunchiest animated action of the year. For the most part, things are light enough to play for the all-ages crowd, though it occasionally flirts with heavier themes towards its second half. Those moments come back to his wrestlers as they are reinvigorated to get back into the fight and give it their all, like stories from the shining past. Any full exploration of the dark side of this world of wrestling seems understandably reserved for future seasons.

Conversely, Gentry Feels more pitched towards a slightly older crowd. It’s no stranger to some very impressive fights and consistent humor, but its strongest moments come when characters are forced to face dark truths or unpack their own baggage, often with a crowd watching intently. Much of the show is informed by Wu growing up as a second-generation Chinese American teenager TexasAn episode about Gentry’s class being possessed by racist ghosts is made clear From the AlamoOr the show’s brief exploration of Michael’s life as a second-generation Nigerian American. The show isn’t about the immigrant experience, but it and its southern setting give it a significantly different energy than its setting on the coast, and the town finally feels like a real place for Gentry. Here normal life and its powers are not discovered.

Whether you’re in the mood to watch a teenager pyrokinetic grapple with Chinese mythology and raise her family, or a girl with a perm fight wrestlers, Gentry Chow And Invincible Fight Girl Every good watch is worth it. Both shows have obviously had a lot of thought put into them by their respective creators, and you can tell Gordon-Montgomery and Woo gave everything they had and then some. (Gentry (Especially carries the well-thought-out power of something that would work perfectly fine as a film, but gets more room to breathe and only as a 13-episode series.) It’s a shame they came out so late in the year they got more attention months ago. Feel like wanting. But here’s hoping things work out for Andy and Gentry and we get more adventures with both of them very soon.

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