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Jentry Chau vs. The Underworld

2024 television series From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jentry Chau vs. The Underworld
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Jentry Chau vs. The Underworld is an American animated supernatural-action television series created by Echo Wu[1] and produced by Netflix Animation and Titmouse, Inc. The series was released on December 5, 2024, on Netflix,[2][3] and is set in a Texas suburb, where Jentry Chau, a Chinese-American teen who has been suppressing her powers, rediscovers them on her 16th birthday and learns that a demon king is hunting her for them.[4] The show explores themes of family secrets, identity, and the consequences of choices made by past generations, particularly in relation to Jentry's parents.[5]

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Voice cast and characters

Main

  • Ali Wong as Jentry Chau,[1] a Chinese-American teen with powerful mystical abilities who is brought back to the Texas town where she grew up, from a boarding school in Seoul, South Korea, to protect her from Mr. Cheng, a powerful Mogui who seeks to steal Jentry’s powers.
    • Micaiah Chen as young Jentry
    • Cristina Milizia as baby Jentry
  • Lori Tan Chinn as Flora "Gugu" Chau,[6] Jentry's great-aunt and the woman who raised her. A skilled Daoist priestess who teaches Jentry how to use her abilities and navigate the mystical world. She is killed by Mr. Cheng in the first episode, but returns as a ghost.
  • Bowen Yang as Ed,[6] a jiangshi who was sent to kill Jentry by Mr. Cheng, but was defeated and decided to stay with her after being abandoned by him. He later became Jentry's sidekick for the rest of the series.

Recurring

  • AJ Beckles as Michael Olé,[7] Jentry's childhood friend and love interest.
  • Woosung Kim as Kit,[8] a painted skin demon posing as a human teenager who falls in love with Jentry[1]
  • Cristina Milizia as Stella,[7] Michael's girlfriend who befriends Jentry. It is later revealed that her last name is Gonzales.
  • Greg Chun as Mr. Cheng,[9] a man possessed by a mogui who has been targeting Jentry for her powers in order to revive his deceased daughter Xiao Lan
  • Kenton Chen as Mogui,[10] a Chinese evil spirit
  • Sean Allan Krill as VP Wheeler,[10] the paranoid vice principal of Riverfork High School
  • Lucy Liu as Moonie Chau,[1] Jentry's mother
  • Jimmy O. Yang[1] as Peng Chau, Jentry's father
  • Sheng Wang[1] as Zhongkui, the guardian who resides in the Zhong and prison warden of Bixi
  • Michaela Dietz as Tokki,[11] Jentry's boarding school friend from Seoul, South Korea.
  • Suzie Yeung as Solar Tang,[12] a bounty hunter
  • Crystal J. Huang as Iris,[13] Jentry's grandmother and Gugu's sister
  • Kaiji Tang as Ox-Head,[14] a demon with the head of an ox and a guardian of Diyu along with Horse-Face
  • Stephen Fu as Horse-Face,[15] a demon with the face of a horse and a guardian of Diyu along with Ox-Head
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Episodes

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Production

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The series was first unveiled by Netflix in March 2023, along with a first look and voice cast with Echo Wu as showrunner.[1] Wong and Aron Eli Coleite serve as executive producers,[1] with Chris Prynoski, Shannon Prynoski, Antonio Canobbio and Ben Kalina, also serving as exec producers from Titmouse.[16] Wu told the South China Morning Post that the series is a "a love letter" to her childhood and the publication noted that neighborhoods and monuments in Riverford resemble those in Dallas, Texas, where Wu grew up, and that some furniture in Gugu's house "is based on pieces that were in Wu’s parents’ home." She also revealed that she started pitching the show in 2020, but traced "some of the ideas...to Los Angeles in 2017."[17] Kimmy Yam of NBC News interviewed Wu, who said that monsters from Chinese folklore are used to represent the frightening realities of adolescence, telling Yam, "it never felt like Jentry was scared to do monsters. She was scared to talk to boys" and noted that Avatar: The Last Airbender was an inspiration, wanting to create a series "kids could watch with their parents and parents could authentically enjoy."[18] In another interview, with Collider, Wong compared the series to X-Men: The Animated Series and Avatar: The Last Airbender, explained how she figured out the right voice for Jentry, and said she loved the "image of the painted-skin creature so much" while noted they had a cultural consultant on the series.[19]

Music

A double disc soundtrack was also released alongside the show on December 5.[20] The soundtrack features the series' score by Brian Kim and original songs from various music acts such as Jessi, eaJ and Katseye, with the latter performing its theme song "Flame".[20]

Release

Jentry Chau vs. The Underworld was released on Netflix on December 5, 2024.[3] The first 5 episodes were leaked beforehand in August.[21]

Reception

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On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 8/10, based on 8 critic reviews.[22]

Petrana Radulovic of Polygon praised the "bright, bold colors and character designs, compelling character relationships, and...action sequences," and how showrunner Echo Wu emphasized the "wonderfully weird" in the series, whether paranormal or realistic (including teenage romance), and asserts that unlike American Dragon: Jake Long and The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, which she says "primarily prioritized Western mythology," this series emphasizes Chinese mythology instead.[8] In another review, she said the show's "Texas setting combined with the Chinese folklore" adds a unique element to the show.[7] Amaya Rose of Collider recommended the series to fans of Gravity Falls and The Owl House, calling it a "teen horror series racked with anime aesthetics and eerie paranormal properties," and praising the soundtrack as "energetic" and compared Jentry to Star Butterfly in Star vs. the Forces of Evil.[9]

Charles Pulliam-Moore of The Verge argued that the series riffs off "signature beats" of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and says that the series wants viewers to realize there is more to telling relatable and "culturally specific stories" than just putting some "characters of color onscreen" and says it would be great to see what the show's crew might want for a second part of the series.[10] Laura Babiak of the Observer described the series as "stellar", consistently humorous, creative, and an "audiovisual feast," and praised it for effectively juggling teen drama and mature themes and making Jentry's journey relatable.[23]

In 2025, Jentry Chau Vs. The Underworld was nominated for a TCA Award in the category of Outstanding Family Programming.[24]

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References

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