Media Review: Jentry Chau vs. The Underworld
Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld is a an animated series created by Echo Wu. It tells the story of the titular character, Jentry Chau, a sixteen year old girl who has to fight forces of the Chinese underworld and learn to control power she was not born with to preserve her life.
After the introduction of the characters and conflict, I wasn't the biggest fan of the first half. Jentry was taken from her safe space and friend group in her school in Korea, back to Dallas, Texas in the United States where a painful event happened. While she was forced to readjust to her hometown to learn how to control her powers, her crushing alienation from her peers and the development of the heterosexual love triangle over platonic relationships in between the plot didn't help.
However, the series had several small aspects that brought me back for a second binge. The story was fascinating, a Chinese-American teenage girl protagonist who has to learn martial arts and fight for her life or get killed by stronger forces. The mysteries behind her past and her family. The implementation of Chinese lore in an Western setting (Jake Long the Occidental Dragon, anyone?). The protagonists fashion style! The animation quality of the fight scenes!! The K-pop fight music!! The CLIFHANGERS!!!!
This series was so COOL! My grievances are more about things they show didn't do rather than what it did (the love interests were pretty likeable and interesting characters I just didn't like that they were the only likeable and interesting characters that regularly interacted with the protagonist) so I decided to give it another chance. And I'm so glad I did. After the love triangle concluded I was able to enjoy the story, the protagonist, and the Chau family.
As an avid enjoyer of all things Shoujo and Queer, this felt like the Western equivalent of a supernatural action shoujo series. The focus is on the female protagonist's feelings and how she deals with the world around her. She's stubborn, awkward, artistically inclined, and loves Korean fashion and music.
Granted I am not a sixteen old girl into Korean fashion so the finer details on that department in particular elude me. I just know she looks cool and feminine while kicking ass (read: trying to survive) and I love that for her and the show.
The rest of the Chau family is similarly filled with these stubborn and opinionated women from various generations. Their perspectives are what matter. The story is their own.
The most relatable and unique aspect of the series is the blend between cultures. The protagonist's Chinese background clashes with her life as a young woman in Korea's Seoul while part of her childhood was spent in the United States. Much of the series is about her grappling with her Chinese and American backgrounds as she returns home. As someone who grew up with American cartoons and live action, the transition to a public American high school setting felt familiar yet somewhat alien.
Now, let's get a bit personal. I grew up in the early 2000s watching Japanese anime and American cartoons. English isn't my first language and neither is Japanese. One of these is part of my background, one that I have little connection to. As an adult, I main dwell on English-speaking online sites who are mostly dwelled on by people in North America.
The protagonist stood out to me because I had never seen this multiculturality showcased so respectfully. Jentry chose Korean culture by continuing to listen to K-pop and Korean fashion while outside Korea. Her Chinese background came with her, and being raised in the U.S. wasn't her choice either.
There isn't an instance of shame from other other characters towards her preferences, not that I noticed. There wasn't a clash between Korean and Chinese culture as political entities. If anything, Jentry's struggle was about grappling with her background as something indistinct from the other parts of herself. She moved out of the U.S. when she was young and raised on another country, her connection with her past severed. A past she was part of but not an active participant of.
To me, this series felt like it was inspired by the series I grew up with but also stood on its on. It was distinctly Asian American and female-centered. Women's perspectives and desires were taken seriously, European colonialism nostalgia was criticized, and white males were mostly non-existent or treated as a joke.
My favorite thing about media are those that showcase characters from different ages and backgrounds. It's why I tend to prefer a lot of media from the 90s and 00s. Before I was conscious of its political weight, I enjoyed diversity in media by the mere fact that seeing people who looked, acted, and spoken distinctly from one another come together for a common goal was a fun and exciting narrative.
I'm happy that Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld, in its thirteen episode run, made me relieve that nostalgia through its diverse cast while also carrying it forward with a strong focus on its female characters in a post-2020 setting. I had a grand ol' time and highly recommend it.
If you know any cool analysis of series, I would love to know about it. Thanks for reading!
Related Recommendations
- Games: Butterfly Soup and Butterfly Soup 2 for more stories about Asian American girls. Theses ones are very gay.
- Anime: Girls Band Cry and Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night for more socially-awkward and opinionated young women who were put through the ringer called life and continue to make art while looking stylish about it.
- Movies: K-Pop Demon Hunters for its focus on Korean culture and all-female demon fighting main cast.
Last updated: 15 hours, 33 minutes ago
Comment and share this post via: email, Dreamwidth, Pillowfort.