Don’t sleep on Invincible Fight Girl and Centry Chau

Like every year, the last part of this year 2024 showed some last-minute highs. Earlier this year, TV viewers loved the likes Arcane, X-Men ’97, and Dan Da Dan and after the corresponding results they spent the weeks anticipating the next. But here and now, as the year winds down, we have a pair of cartoons worth spending some time with.

First Invincible Warrior Girl, It was announced in 2022 and began its first season in October on Max/Adult Swim. The story sees a boy named Andy on a quest to become a legendary wrestler. It involves moving to a big city full of wrestlers and rubbing shoulders with a number of ex-pros, would-bes and talent. to be the best that no one else is. If this sounds familiar, it’s obviously on purpose, as the show has made light of the anime and My Hero Academia specifically – it’s completely embedded in his DNA. Be deadly My Hero if you’re a fan or just aware of your reputation, you’ll likely catch glimpses of Deku’s story in this show, either through his music or Andy leaving his home on accountants island to become an apprentice to his now-retired childhood wrestling idol, Quesa Poblana.

But as fun as it was to see the world of superheroes through Deku’s eyes, the same goes for Andy and his world. Invincible Warrior Girl he loves wrestling so much that he can’t help but be as infectious and charming as Andy and his friends – opportunistic hunter Craig and a lot eight-year-old amateur journalist Mikey – show how the world has been shaped by wrestling as the dominant culture, and provide interesting nuances of what life looks like for all walks of life. Creator Juston Gordon-Montgomery’s love for the sport is always evident, whether it’s because each character has different (very good) stage names or the outdoor matches start with satellites launching wrestling rings from space. Wrestling and boxing provided the biggest, most theatrical stages for sports stories to play out and Invincible Warrior Girl found a sweet spot combining the melodramatics typically found in shonen stories and their popular tournament arcs with the theatricality of wrestling.

Echo Wu’s Netflix series has an equally successful combination of teenage melodrama and the supernatural. Gentri Chow vs. Underworld. as with Invincible Warrior Girl, it’ll sound like you’ve heard it before: when the show begins, the titular Gentry is 16 years old and finds himself reawakening his previously repressed firepower, and when his great-aunt Cuckoo brings Gentry back to his senses, he’s forced to act like a hero. his childhood home to protect him from the murderous demon. the shadow Buffy the Vampire Slayer For years the supernatural has loomed large over TV and Center hits a very familiar beat. Love triangles, elders who aren’t what they seem, you’ve seen it before.

What does he do in the end? Center the work is about how confidently you carry yourself; his opening It’s a brilliant K-pop track that clearly wants the audience to have a good time as Gentri and his friends go through one miserable situation after another. The situations in question often escalate to supernatural chaos, and this Gentry’s The fact that he’s more open with his horror from the start is more of a pleasant surprise than building it up over time. Sometimes it reminds of his playful (but still a little confused) fears Adventure time even Billy & Mandy, especially when fights break out or when the supernatural elements are used to inform a very good cast of characters such as Cuckoo and Gentry’s two love interests, childhood friend Michael and handsome boy Kit.

Coming too late in the year, Center and Invincible Warrior Girl can’t help but be seen as flimsy starters. They are both cut from the same cloth, but the material is used in different ways: Invincible literally, it’s a story that mostly physically oppresses Andy. He truly lives up to the show’s name, as he gets knocked down several times by his more experienced opponents, only to get back up and deliver it in the best, crispest cartoon of the year. For the most part, it’s all lighthearted enough to play to an all-ages crowd, though it occasionally flirts with heavier themes towards the second half. These moments are etched in the memory of the wrestlers as they come alive to return to the fight and give it their all. Any full exploration of the dark side of this world of wrestling is understandably saved for future seasons.

On the contrary, Center feels more towards the slightly older crowd. It’s no stranger to high-impact fights and consistent humor, but its strongest moments come when characters are forced to confront dark truths or unpack their baggage, often with the crowd watching intently. Much of the show is informed by Wu, who grew up as a second-generation Chinese American teenager TexasIt was made clear in an episode about Genry’s classroom being possessed by racist spirits From the Alamoor a brief exploration of Michael living as a second-generation Nigerian American on the show. The show isn’t all about the immigrant experience, but that and its southern setting give it a much different energy than when it’s set on the coast, and the city finally feels like the real place it needs to be for Gentry. here normal life and his powers are not evident.

Whether you’re in the mood to see a teenager’s pyrokinetic struggle with Chinese mythology and her family upbringing, or a girl fight a gang of wrestlers with wrestlers, Center Chow and Invincible Warrior Girl each one is worth a look. Both shows clearly had a lot of thought put into them by their creators, and you can tell that Gordon-Montgomery and Wu gave it everything they had and then some. (Center It carries the well-intentioned energy of something that would work perfectly as a movie in particular, but gets more room to breathe and just be a 13-episode series.) It’s a shame they’re coming to the end of the year. it feels like it got more attention months ago. But we hope things work out for Andy and Gentry and we’ll have more adventures with them very soon.

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