Do not Sleep on Invincible Combat Lady and Jentry Chau

As it’s with yearly, the final stretch of 2024 has featured some last-minute highs. Earlier this 12 months, TV audiences raved over the likes of Arcane, X-Men ’97, and Dan Da Dan, and have spent the weeks since their respective conclusions anticipating what’s subsequent. However within the right here and now, we’ve received a pair of cartoons which can be each properly value placing a while into because the 12 months winds down.

The primary is Invincible Fight Girl, introduced again in 2022 and whose just-wrapped first season began in October on Max/Grownup Swim. The story sees a child named Andy embark on a quest to turn into a legendary wrestler, which includes transferring to a giant metropolis stuffed with wrestlers and brushing shoulders with quite a lot of ex-pros, may’ve beens, and aspiring expertise as she works to turn into the easiest that nobody ever was. If this sounds acquainted, that’s clearly intentional, because the present has shonen anime—and My Hero Academia specifically—absolutely embedded in its DNA. Whether or not you’re a diehard My Hero fan or solely know of it by way of status, you’ll doubtless see shades of Deku’s story on this present, both by way of its music or watching Andy go away her island house of accountants to turn into a pupil of her now-retired childhood wrestling idol Quesa Poblana.

However very like the way it was enjoyable seeing the world of superheroes by way of Deku’s eyes, the identical is true of Andy and her world. Invincible Combat Lady loves wrestling to a level that it might’t assist however be infectious and charming as Andy and her associates—Craig, an opportunistic hustler, and the very buff eight-year-old aspiring journalist Mikey—present how the world has been formed by wrestling because the dominant tradition, and supply some attention-grabbing nuance into what that appears like for all walks of life. Creator Juston Gordon-Montgomery’s affection for the game comes by way of always, whether or not it’s the number of (excellent) stage names every character has, or how outside matches start with satellites airdropping wrestling rings from house. Wrestling and boxing have supplied the largest, most theatrical phases for sports activities tales to play out, and Invincible Combat Lady discovered a candy spot mixing wrestling’s theatricality with the melodramatics sometimes present in shonen tales and their well-known event arcs.

There’s a equally profitable fusion of sweet sixteen melodrama and the supernatural in Echo Wu’s Netflix collection, Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld. Like with Invincible Combat Lady, it’ll sound such as you’ve heard this one earlier than: the titular Jentry has simply turned 16 because the present begins and finds herself reawakening hearth powers she beforehand repressed, and he or she’s compelled into heroism when her great-aunt Gugu brings Jentry again to her childhood house to guard her from a murderous demon. The shadow of Buffy the Vampire Slayer has loomed giant over supernatural TV for years, and Jentry hits many acquainted beats. Love triangles, elders who aren’t what they appear, you’ve seen this loads of occasions earlier than.

What in the end makes Jentry work is in how confidently it carries itself; its opening is a flashy Okay-pop observe that makes clear it needs the viewers to have a very good time as Jentry and her associates undergo one harrowing scenario after the opposite. Mentioned conditions typically escalate to the purpose of supernatural chaos, and that Jentry’s extra upfront with its horror from the outset quite than constructing to it over time is a nice shock. At occasions, its playful (however nonetheless a bit messed-up) scares really feel harking back to Journey Time and even Billy & Mandy, significantly when the fights kick in or the supernatural components are getting used to tell the excellent forged of characters, like Gugu and Jentry’s two love pursuits, her childhood buddy Michael and fairly boy Equipment.

Coming so late within the 12 months, Jentry and Invincible Combat Lady can’t assist however be considered as scrappy upstarts. They’re each lower from the identical fabric, however the materials’s utilized in alternative ways: Invincible is actually an underdog story that places Andy by way of the wringer, largely bodily. She actually does stay as much as the present’s title as she endures a number of beatings by rather more skilled opponents, solely to get again up and dish it proper again in what makes for among the nicest, crunchiest animated motion of the 12 months. For essentially the most half, issues are lighthearted sufficient to play for the all-ages crowd, although it does often flirt with heavier themes towards its second half. These moments reverberate again to its wrestlers as they turn into reinvigorated to get again into the combat and provides it their all, identical as tales of shonen previous. Any full exploration of this world’s darker facet of wrestling appears to be understandably saved for future seasons.

Conversely, Jentry feels extra pitched towards a barely older crowd. It’s no stranger to some very spectacular fights and constant humor, however its strongest moments come when characters are compelled to confront darkish truths or unpack their very own baggage, typically with a crowd watching attentively. A lot of the present is knowledgeable by Wu rising up as a second era Chinese language American teen in Texas, made obvious in an episode about Jentry’s class turning into possessed by racist ghosts from the Alamo, or the present’s transient exploration of Michael dwelling as a second-gen Nigerian American. The present’s not all concerning the immigrant expertise, however that and its southern setting give it a significantly totally different vitality than if it have been set on the coast, and the city finally looks like the actual place it must be for Jentry to need to have a standard life right here and never have her powers found.

Whether or not you’re within the temper to see a teenage pyrokinetic grapple with Chinese language mythology and her household upbringing or a woman combat a gang of wrestlers with perms, Jentry Chau and Invincible Combat Lady are every properly definitely worth the watch. Each exhibits clearly had numerous thought put into them by their respective creators, and you’ll inform Gordon-Montgomery and Wu gave every thing that they had after which some. (Jentry particularly carries the well-intentioned vitality of one thing that might work completely wonderful as a movie, however will get extra room to breathe and simply be as a 13-episode collection.) It’s a disgrace they’ve come close to the top of the 12 months, because it looks like they’d have gotten extra consideration months prior. However right here’s hoping issues work out in Andy and Jentry’s favors, and we get extra adventures with them each very quickly.

Need extra io9 information? Try when to anticipate the most recent Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s subsequent for the DC Universe on film and TV, and every thing it’s essential to find out about the way forward for Doctor Who.