Star Ali Wong and creator Echo Wu say their new animated series uses threatening monsters from Chinese folklore to represent how frightening adolescence truly is.
The show, “Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld,” revolves around Chinese American teen Jentry Chau, voiced by Wong, who’s learning how to wield her fire-starting powers, which she has long suppressed while trying to fit in at her quintessential American high school. Wu said that though Jentry is often tussling with supernatural beings throughout the show, from demon kings to other hellish monsters, none compare to her struggles as a kid who’s trying to fit in.
“The feeling of being a teenager is so confusing. I think that there’s not enough justice to really talk about it,” Wu told NBC News.
She said one of the themes the show tried to play with is that “being a teenager is scarier than the monsters that Jentry faces.”
“It never felt like Jentry was scared to do monsters,” Wu said, laughing. “She was scared to talk to boys.”
In the show, Jentry finds out that a demon king is after her powers. She returns to her hometown in Texas to learn from her aunt, who is an expert in mythical weapons. But it’s the same place she left after her powers prompted her to accidentally burn down the area when she was 8 years old. Now 16, Jentry is tasked with fighting creatures from the underworld and embracing her powers while making friends and fumbling crushes at school in a town that’s still reeling from the blaze she started years ago.
Many of the episodes feature traditional Chinese supernatural beings like Ed, a “jiangshi,” or Chinese “hopping vampire,” named for its jumpy movements, voiced by Bowen Yang. There’s also Mr. Chang, a “mogui,” or demon spirit, and Ox-Head and Horse-Face, the guardians of “diyu,” or the underworld.
Wong said the team worked with a Chinese mythology consultant to weave folklore into the modern-day teen show. Wu also said she worked to adapt some traditional elements to fit into the life of a high school girl. The smooth heartthrob character Kit, for example, was drawn from an 18th century short story, “The Painted Skin,” in which a demonic spirit disguises itself as a concubine to seduce a scholar.
“I was like, ‘OK, what’s the teenage girl version of that?’” Wu said. “Well, a teenage girl would want all the BTS members as one person.”
Wong said that with its dark elements and emotional themes, she hoped to create a show that would resonate with not only kids.
“I talk a lot about ‘Avatar,’ that’s one of my favorite shows, and I just loved watching it with my kids so much,” she said. “So I really wanted to make a show that kids could watch with their parents and parents could authentically enjoy.”
And the lessons, Wong and Wu said, are universal.
“The more you repress your emotions and the more you repress who you are, the harder it is to go through life,” Wu said. “That is Jentry at her core and what she has to actually fight with, versus the monsters that are coming out for her.”