u/luckybell333

I'm curious what lesser-known animated shows, movies, shorts, web series, or other projects people here have stumbled across recently. What did you discover, and what made you check it out?

I’m curious what lesser-known animated shows, movies, shorts, web series, or other projects people here have stumbled across recently. What did you discover, and what made you check it out?

I made a Discord server for r/AnimationSignal!
It’s another place where we can talk about animation, share recommendations and hidden gems, discuss indie projects and animation news, and just hang out with other animation fans.
I’m still building and organizing parts of the server, so it’ll continue improving over time.
If you’d like to join:

It can be a show, movie, short, web series, student film, indie pilot, or anything else animated. I’m curious what people have stumbled across lately.

I’ve been thinking about Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld a lot, and I honestly feel like this is one of those shows that some people wrote off way too quickly.
I’m not saying the show is perfect. It isn’t.

There are things about Season 1 that frustrate me. Some parts feel rushed, certain characters needed more time to develop, some relationships move way too fast, and there are character decisions that make me want to yell at the screen.

I do have some complaints or criticisms about the characters

With jentry people call her a hypocrite especially how she treated kit I do understand some of the criticism Jentry gets. She can be impulsive, she sometimes makes decisions that hurt other people, and I can see why people criticize the way she treated Kit. But I also think there’s more going on with her than just “she’s a hypocrite.” Jentry has spent most of her life being lied to, having important things hidden from her, and having other people make decisions about her powers and her future without really giving her a choice. The show has even been described as dealing with self-autonomy and generational trauma. Because of that, I think it’s possible Jentry has picked up some of the same unhealthy patterns her family used on her without fully realizing it. That doesn’t excuse the times she hurts or manipulates someone, but it could explain why she sometimes repeats the exact kind of behavior she hates when other people do it to her.Jentry also lashes out at Gugu after learning the truth and says some really harsh things to her, but later she clearly regrets it. After Gugu dies, Jentry apologizes for what she said and admits she went too far. I think that matters because even when Jentry screws up, she is capable of realizing when she hurt someone and feeling guilty about it. Jentry also carries a lot of guilt over Kit’s death. After he sacrifices himself, she apologizes and admits she was wrong about him, and later in Diyu that guilt gets used against her. I don’t think his death was actually her fault, but she clearly blames herself, which also helps explain why she becomes so afraid of Michael dying while trying to protect her.

Gugu, oh, she’s a very complicated one. She genuinely loves Jentry, but she also lies to her, manipulates her, and keeps the truth from her about her powers and her parents. And when Jentry finally sees the memories revealing that Gugu transferred the Yellow Emperor’s powers into her when she was just a baby, I mean… that was seriously messed up. I understand Gugu was desperate to keep those powers away from Cheng, but that still doesn’t erase what she did or all the years she kept Jentry in the dark. Gugu lied to Jentry and controlled huge parts of her life, and those choices did real damage. But her love for Jentry was never the lie. If anything, that’s what makes Gugu morally gray instead of simply evil. She genuinely loved Jentry so much that she convinced herself controlling and hiding things from her was protection. By the finale, she finally seems to understand that loving Jentry also means letting Jentry choose her own life.

Kit, he was He was originally working for Cheng because Cheng promised to give him a human soul in exchange for Jentry’s powers. And whenever Kit showed people his true self, they rejected him and only saw him as a monster. Then he met Jentry and started genuinely developing feelings for her, and for once he thought he might have found someone who could accept him for who he really was. And when Kit finally showed Jentry his true form, she immediately rejected him. That had to hit him especially hard because he had already spent so long being rejected by people who only saw him as a monster. He had started developing real feelings for Jentry and probably hoped she would be different. Later, Jentry asks him to help her get rid of her powers because she needs his abilities, but once that’s over, she pushes him away again. Then when Kit asks her to prom, she chooses Michael instead. From Kit’s point of view, I can understand why all of that would make Cheng’s words about nobody ever accepting him start to feel true, even though Cheng was manipulating him and Jentry was still allowed to reject Kit and choose who she wanted to be with. During Spirit Week, he keeps pushing Jentry after she already told him no. He tells her Michael doesn’t deserve her and that Michael doesn’t know her like he does, even though Jentry points out that Kit had been spying on her and copying her interests. Kit tries to make her rejection about him not being human enough for her, but Jentry basically tells him that it shouldn’t matter why she is saying no. She’s tired of people pushing her into things she doesn’t want, and she doesn’t want a relationship with him. She didn’t owe him anything, especially after everything that had happened between them.
Kit’s pain and fear of rejection explain why he spirals, but they don’t excuse him ignoring Jentry’s boundaries.
Then he makes things even worse by stealing the Yellow Emperor’s robe and giving it to Cheng. Cheng uses it to resurrect his daughter, but everything goes horribly wrong and she ends up causing chaos. Kit realizes that giving Cheng the robe was a huge mistake and tries to help fix what he helped cause. Butregretted giving Cheng the robe pretty much right away once he saw what happened, and after that he just wanted to make things right with Jentry. What makes his sacrifice hit for me is that almost everything he did before was about what he wanted. He wanted to be human, he wanted to be accepted, and he wanted Jentry to choose him. But when he sacrifices himself for her, he’s finally doing something that isn’t about him. He doesn’t get anything out of it. He just wants Jentry to live. That doesn’t erase everything he did wrong, but I think it shows that he finally understood how selfish some of his choices had been.

(If he ever comes back in a season two, hopefully he and Jentry could actually try to make amends and talk about everything that happened between them)

And Michael well this is the only character that I don’t like like. I mean, I’m not saying that he’s a horrible person and I get why he doesn’t want to live on someone else’s plan but the way he just handles things he just bothers me.The way Michael handled things with Stella bothered me too. I agree that Stella was putting too much pressure on him with the five-year plan and assuming football was what he wanted, but Michael also never really told her how unhappy he was. He went along with it until he suddenly admitted it wasn’t what he wanted. Stella even points out that she’s his girlfriend and asks why he never told her. I understand Michael was scared of disappointing her and his parents, but Stella couldn’t know what he was thinking if he never communicated with her. So while I don’t blame him for wanting a different future, I really don’t like how he handled the relationship.The conversation between Jentry and Michael in Good Intentions is another part that bothered me. I get that Michael cares about her and wants to help, but Jentry tells him no and he keeps trying to convince her anyway. He brings up his visions and even boxing lessons, even though he has no idea what Diyu is actually like.And when he says that even in the literal underworld he would be safe with her, that’s exactly the problem. Jentry is only trying to get information from the Mogui about her mom and leave. She doesn’t have time to protect Michael on top of everything else.She already watched Gugu and Kit die protecting her, so of course she doesn’t want the same thing happening to him. Michael means well, but he’s being reckless and not really listening to what Jentry is trying to tell him.Then there’s the whole thing with Alison in Episode 12. Jentry sees Michael laughing and playing a dance game with her, and you can tell it bothers Jentry even though she tries not to make a big deal out of it. Moonie even notices and basically tells her that Michael is allowed to be happy and hang out with whoever he wants, and Jentry agrees. And honestly, Michael isn’t doing anything wrong just by spending time with Alison. Jentry had already been keeping her distance because she was scared of him getting hurt. But the whole thing still feels emotionally careless to me because everything between Michael and Jentry is still really fresh and unresolved. Jentry clearly isn’t okay with seeing him already getting close to someone else, even if she knows he has the right to. I don’t think Michael is deliberately trying to hurt her, but it feels like he moves on without really noticing how much emotion is still sitting there between them. Then there’s their argument during the Lock-In. I understand why Michael says what Jentry is doing isn’t fair to him. She broke up with him and then changed her mind once he started seeing someone else, so of course he’s hurt.
But at the same time, I don’t think everything Michael has been doing has been completely fair to Jentry either. In Good Intentions, she already told him she didn’t want him going to Diyu because she was scared he would get killed, and he kept trying to convince her anyway. Then everything with Alison made their feelings even more awkward and unresolved.
What really stands out to me in the Lock-In argument is when Michael suddenly brings up Kit. Jentry immediately realizes that part of this might be about him feeling like he has to compete with someone who died protecting her. Michael denies it, but Jentry points out that Kit also didn’t listen to her, and that helped get him killed. So I get why Michael is angry and doesn’t want to wait around forever, but Jentry isn’t doing this because she doesn’t care about him. She’s terrified that he’s going to become another person she loves who dies trying to protect her

(Also, just to be clear, I don’t hate the actor playing him. A.J. Beckles did a great job as Michael, and I already liked his work as Okarun in Dandadan. My problem is with Michael as a character, not the voice actor.)

I get Michael means well, but sometimes he can come across as passive, immature, self-centered, pushy, and emotionally unaware. I understand that he wants control over his own future and doesn’t want to follow the football plan everyone else made for him, but he doesn’t always seem to realize how his choices affect the people around him. Stella gets blindsided, and with Jentry he sometimes focuses so much on what he wants that he doesn’t fully listen to what she’s actually trying to tell him.
It’s not like I wish the worst for Michael either. I actually want him to grow. I want him to reflect on how some of his actions have hurt people, learn to communicate better, and figure out who he is outside of Jentry and football. And I really want the show to explore his visions more, because there’s clearly something interesting going on there that Season 1 barely had time to explain.

And Moonie, well, she’s a bit more complicated than Gugu. Her and Peng were black-market dealers of Daoist magic, and even though that life was exhilarating, it was also extremely dangerous, so they wanted out. Then Cheng offered them one last job: steal the Yellow Emperor’s robe and they would have enough money to set themselves up for life, including Jentry. Moonie even tries to convince Peng that it would be one final job and then they’d be done forever.
I understand that part of their motivation was wanting to give Jentry a better life, but they still could’ve walked away. They let the money and the promise of an easier future convince them to take another huge risk, and that decision helped set everything that happened afterward in motion. Cheng ultimately kills Peng and takes Moonie’s memories when things go wrong.
And when Moonie finally gets her memories back, she puts most of the blame on Gugu, even though she and Peng were the ones who accepted Cheng’s deal and tried to steal the robe in the first place. Moonie does admit they made mistakes, but she still acts like everything would’ve been fine if Gugu hadn’t gotten involved. I understand why she’s angry after losing Peng, her memories, and fifteen years with Jentry, but it also feels like she has a hard time fully accepting how much her own choices helped start this whole mess. And then after Moonie gets her memories back, she ends up making another deal with the Mogui. This time I do understand her more because the Mogui is literally torturing Peng and using him against her, so she’s obviously desperate to save her husband. But she still agrees to give him Jentry’s powers without Jentry having any say in it. It’s kind of frustrating because after everything that happened, Moonie still ends up making another huge decision about Jentry because she thinks she has a good reason for doing it. And when Gugu finally saves Moonie from the Mogui, Moonie tells her, “I’m sorry,” and Gugu says, “Me too.” I actually like that moment because after all the blame and anger between them, they finally acknowledge that both of them made mistakes. It doesn’t erase everything either of them did, but it shows that Moonie isn’t completely unwilling to admit she was wrong.

Sure. The characters definitely have flaws and make choices that annoy people sometimes, but I think that’s part of what makes them feel more real. Jentry, Gugu, Kit, Michael, and Moonie all screw up in different ways, and sometimes they hurt people even when they think they’re doing the right thing. That’s honestly part of why I find them interesting.

Pacing
I think one of the biggest problems with the show is the pacing. It only has 13 episodes, but it’s trying to deal with Jentry’s powers, her family history, Gugu, Kit, Michael, Moonie, Cheng, Diyu, the Mogui, romance, school, and everything else at the same time. Sometimes it feels like a storyline barely gets time to breathe before the next huge thing happens. That doesn’t make me want less of the show though, it makes me wish it had more time to develop everything properly.

The romance
I understand why some people didn’t like the romance or the love triangle in the show. There is A LOT happening between Jentry, Michael, Kit, and Stella in only one season, and sometimes it feels like the relationships move so fast that the characters barely get time to process what happened before something else changes. I don’t think the romance itself was a bad idea, I just wish it had more time to breathe and let the characters actually talk, reflect, and deal with the emotional fallout.

The mythology and world
One of the things I really love about the show is how much Chinese mythology is actually built into the supernatural world. It doesn’t just use generic monsters; there are jiangshi, Painted Skin demons, Diyu, Daoist ideas, and all kinds of creatures and supernatural rules. And because the show focuses so heavily on Chinese mythology, it feels like there’s still a huge part of this world we haven’t even seen yet.

The animation
The animation is another thing I think deserves more credit. The bright colors, demon designs, fire, transformations, supernatural environments, and action scenes give the show a really strong visual identity. And it makes sense because Titmouse has also worked on shows like Pantheon, The Legend of Vox Machina, The Mighty Nein, and Scavengers Reign. Honestly, I think they went all out with the animation here.

The themes
One thing I really like about the show is how many themes are underneath all the supernatural stuff. A lot of Jentry’s story is about having control over her own life after spending years with other people making huge decisions for her. There’s also generational trauma, with characters like Gugu and Moonie genuinely loving Jentry but still passing down unhealthy habits like secrecy, control, and deciding what’s best for her without giving her much of a choice. The show also deals with identity and cultural heritage, since Jentry is Chinese American and is constantly being pulled between wanting a normal teenage life and this supernatural world connected to her family and Chinese mythology. And honestly, I can relate to Jentry in some ways, especially that feeling of trying to figure yourself out while dealing with other people’s expectations and your own mistakes. I think another big theme is that loving someone doesn’t automatically mean you always know what’s best for them. A lot of these characters care about each other, but sometimes their fear, guilt, or desire to protect someone ends up hurting them instead.

Even the people who worked on the show have said they would like to do more with it. Echo Wu has talked about wanting to keep exploring Jentry’s world, and Ali Wong has also said she hopes the story can continue. So to me, it really doesn’t feel like Season 1 was supposed to be the end of everything. It feels like there was still a lot more they could’ve done with these characters and this world. Even Echo Wu herself pointed out that a lot of people were asking for more Jentry. She said she reads the comments and knew fans wanted a Season 2, and she even encouraged people to keep watching, recommend the show to friends, and spread the word because viewership matters. So there clearly are people who want this show to continue, and the creator knows that too

Even with people asking for a Season 2, we still haven’t gotten any word about one, and honestly that worries me. I really don’t want Jentry Chau to become one of those shows that had so much more potential but never got the chance to actually use it.

I’m not saying everyone has to watch it or that it’s going to be for everybody. But if you’re into supernatural teen drama, Chinese mythology, messy character relationships, or shows with that Buffy, The Owl House, or American Dragon: Jake Long kind of energy, I honestly think it’s worth giving Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld a chance.

Just because a show is flawed doesn’t mean it isn’t worth watching.

I feel like Jade Armor doesn’t get talked about nearly enough, so I wanted to recommend it to anyone looking for another animated action-adventure show.

It follows Lan Jun, a teenager who discovers that she’s the latest person in her family to inherit the Jade Armor. She has to learn how to use her new abilities while balancing school, friendships, family, and protecting her city from supernatural threats.
One of the things I really like about it is the martial arts. The fights feel like an actual part of the show’s identity rather than something added on top of the superhero stuff.

Lan Jun also doesn’t immediately know how to handle everything, so you get to watch her gradually become better at using the armor and dealing with the responsibility that comes with it.
The Chinese cultural and mythological influences also help give the show its own identity, especially with the Jade Armor legacy, Lan Jun’s family history, and the Beasticons. Her family is actually important to the story too, rather than just being characters who disappear whenever the superhero plot starts.
There’s also a larger story developing alongside the individual adventures, with recurring villains, the mysterious Shards, and more being revealed about the Jade Armor and Lan Jun’s family as the series goes on.

If you like Miraculous Ladybug, there are definitely some things that might appeal to you, like transformations, magical companions, superhero action, comedy, and a teenager trying to balance normal life with being a hero. But I wouldn’t really call it a Miraculous clone. Jade Armor has its own mythology, characters, martial-arts focus, and family story.
If you’re into animated superhero or action-adventure shows, I think it’s worth giving a chance.