Jentry Chau (Ali Wong) is a Chinese-American teen who moved to Seoul from Texas eight years ago after her town was destroyed in a mysterious fire she’d rather forget. She’s happy with her new life and friends at boarding school…until, after a night out rocking some karaoke tunes, she’s chased down by a shapeshifting vampire. This deadly jiangshi (Bowen Yang) has a message: Jentry’s soul belongs to a powerful Mogui (Greg Chun), a demon king with an axe to grind.
As it turns out, Jentry isn’t your average teenager; she has some fiery supernatural powers. Yup, totally chill. Nothing to freak out about. She also doesn’t know how to control them—have you guessed what (or should I say, who) started the fire that destroyed her hometown yet? But the revelations don’t stop there: It seems Jentry’s great-aunt Flora AKA Gugu (Lori Tan Chinn) made some decidedly shady deals with the Mogui to leave her alone until she turned 16. Well, now Jentry’s on the edge of 16, and the underworld is ready to chase her down.
With her world imploding, Jentry must move back to Texas, try and ignore all the attention over the time she accidentally set her hometown on fire, and head to high school. All while figuring out why she’s being chased and what her powers entail. AND why the jiangshi (affectionately named Ed) desperately wants to hang out. Oh, and there are some cute boys and friendships to navigate—all part of the high school experience, amirite?
Jentry Chau vs the Underworld is a kickass animated adventure bursting with Chinese mythology and monsters. The characters leap off the screen, melding slices of teenage drama with demonic threats to fully immerse you in its vibrant world. The art style is dynamic, colored with a brightly-hued pastel palette destined to be made into aesthetic Insta posts. The simple but bold colors and shading give the mythological creatures a fascinating flair; each scene cuts like animated slices of a graphic novel.
Jentry is a charismatic and effortlessly cool lead. She’s young and headstrong but tries her best to figure out the impossible circumstances she’s facing. And the friends she makes in Texas are pretty awesome, too: there’s Stella (Cristina Milizia), a girl so poised she’d better run for prez when she’s old enough; Michael (AJ Beckles), a sweet and goofy guy Jentry was friends with before she moved, with whom she shares a cosmic connection; and Kit (Woo Sung Kim), the new heartthrob in town who Jentry has a startling number of things in common with.
Michael and Stella are dating…but that doesn’t stop jealousy from getting in the way. Cue an awkward (but also kinda sensational) love-triangle-square with plenty of blushes and stolen moments. Of course, there’s a f#!kton of drama…but you’ll still find yourself wishing you had friends like these in high school. The show strikes a balance between the everyday reality of being a teenager and some supernatural sensationalism. The friendship group also get individual arcs that tie into the main storyline in surprising ways; they feel multi-dimensional and real.
But it’s Jentry’s Gugu and their newfound jiangshi pal Ed who steal the show. They bounce off each other & every scene like it’s zero gravity, making sure to get some quickfire quips and impressive tonal flips in. Gugu is an unstoppable force who always knows best; the family ties explored through her will catch you off-guard with their depth. She loves Jentry dearly but she has scores to settle and more secrets than ancient weapons. Lori Tan Chinn voices her with snap, crackle, and pop. And Ed is destined to be a cult-favorite, shapeshifting into an adorably tiny #ShortKing kid with an attitude problem, to a terrifying demon who could rip your face off, to a wannabe TikTok star—what can I say, my man’s got range. Bowen Yang is having an absolute ball voicing Ed (and so will you as you revel in his chaos).
Did I mention that this show is bursting at the seams with mythological monsters? Yeah, one (or two, or ten) show up at any given moment, dragging our heroes into their otherworldly thrall. This gives us some badass fight scenes that feel like they should have comic-book-style sound effects like “BAM!” and “POW!” Perhaps some of the more extraneous storylines could’ve been condensed to make extra room for the monsters, because the ones the show does explore are some of the standout scenes of the season. I did find my attention started to wander when certain b-plots took too much screen time, but it was soon recaptured, especially when the effervescent soundtrack kicked in. It’s a dreamy alt-pop mix that keeps you floating on the highs of a crush and dialed in when things get real.
Jentry Chau vs the Underworld is another golden feather in Netflix’s animation cap; it’s got high stakes, a crew of characters to believe in, and a seemingly endless well of monsters to pull from. Some you’ll recognize, some you might learn about for the first time (and that’s always a joy). Not to mention, it’s a visual treat. This series will play with your heart, taking turns filling it up with a rush of affection, to using it as a punching bag with a sting of betrayal, to making it race with action-fueled adrenaline. It’s a show that must go on—so binge-watch it, binge-watch it now, and join me in chanting for more, more, more!