#jentry chau xiao lan

[fxrmeldehyde]

my crazy au where xiao lan for some reason can't return to the great beyond and is stuck with jentry until further notice

[mooniephases]

i know it’s literally the whole point of that storyline but i can’t stop thinking about how much jentry sees herself in xiao lan. because the thing is, her help xiao lan return to the beyond, it’s sort of bittersweet. it’s like she’s doing for xiao lan what she wishes she could do for herself, helping her return to the normalcy she knows and longs for. but jentry doesn’t get to do that, it’s the opposite, actually, because she has to take back her powers, she’s getting farther away from that normalcy again. xiao lan is jentry is someone chose to give her what she wanted. and jentry is the versions of them both who hasn’t quite reached the point to let go of the things that others have bestowed upon her. she can’t, at least, not yet

[kingsdodecahedron]

like this post if you want your daughter back

[alilweirddragon]

“Family Portrait”

When you find a painting of your BF’s deceased wife and kid and start to realise some things-

Angela (pink haired woman) belongs to my friend and the woman and child in the portrait belong to me (I haven’t named them yet)

[hamliet]

Jentry Chau Vs Netflix

So, I watched Jentry Chau Vs. The Underworld.

If you like beautiful (and unique) animation, complex storytelling, themes of coming of age and grief, and references to my favorite band (shout out NCT127), this is a story you should definitely check out. I would recommend it highly, even though I'm going to critique later on in this review.

Complex People and Complex Love

Gugu was a very complex character whom you could both hate as someone who was clearly manipulating Jentry in an almost unforgivable way after doing the unforgivable to her family. And yet, the series opening literally had Gugu sacrificing her life for Jentry, so no matter what was revealed, you always had to handle the uncomfortable reality that Gugu really loved Jentry.

And therein the series explored complexities in love and life, an understanding that comes with growing up and brings on its own grief. The people who raise us, our heroes, turn out to have their own lives and worlds too, their own motivations, that are often not exactly altruistic. We are not at the center of their world as much as we, as children, thought we were.

Jentry's wrestling with her relationship with Gugu was complex and interesting. The handling of Gugu's character was consistently the best in the series, and I loved it even if I'm still not sure I like Gugu. That's a good character--someone you're left pondering the legacy of.

Grief

Jentry working through her grief was a major theme of the series--grief for her parents, and grief for Gugu, not just in terms of her actually dying (which does happen), but in terms of her understanding of who Gugu was and who her parents were.

Jentry's grief journey contrasts with Gugu's grief for Iris and of course Cheng's for Xiao Lan. Which is why Jentry reaching out and healing her inner child through saving Xiao Lan was ultimately a beautiful way of handling her arc. She saw a child who was scared and didn't know what was going on, and destructive in that pain, and saved her.

If you look at the series, Gugu was scared and didn't fully understand the consequences of her actions and destroyed Jentry's family as a result. Kit was scared and didn't understand how to be human and was destructive in that pain.J entry too grieves Kit and projects that fear onto the possibility of losing Michael, which leads to a rift in their relationship. And some of that fear is not understanding who they wanted to be. To quote C.S. Lewis after the death of his wife:

No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear. 

Grief and fear intertwine in many ways in Jentry Chau, including through Moonie allowing herself to be possessed by the Mogui to get her husband back. This also then leads to Gugu's second death.

Gugu's farewell at the end had me full-on sobbing. In a sense, Jentry's entire arc throughout the story is a symbolic way of working through her grief for Gugu, settling with her accepting via choosing to focus on Gugu's love for her, and carrying her memory on in a literal form (the necklace). After accepting Gugu loved her, Jentry loses her fear of the underworld and her powers, and her fear of losing the people closest to her as well.

A Soul Is What You Choose

Jentry's ultimate power isn't burning, but it's being able to see people for whom they want to be. Kit and being human. Ed and being scary. Michael and joining the band.

In a world where everyone, demon or human, is trying to be what they think they need to be, trying to please others, Jentry asks them to be who they want to be, to live how they want to live.

The Best Character and the Worst Writing: Kit

Kit is by far the most compelling character. He's continually sympathetic (while Gugu is somewhat not), conflicted, and torn between how desperately he wants to be human and the inhuman acts he believes he has to commit to be one. Plus, he doesn't understand what it means to be human, nor the complexities of human relationships.

The scene where he helps Jentry create a skinsuit is really a metaphorical sex scene--like fairly obviously. It isn't subtle.

It starts in a bedroom (and yes, animators know what they're doing when they choose setting and objects).

Then we have talking about looking under layers.

Then we have some yonic symbols and this.

Like. And he uses a knife (a traditionally phallic symbol), and the next thing we see is cloth falling... with literal the next frame being clothes (ie, clothes coming off).

Sticking a brush (another traditional phallic symbol) in a vat of wet paint (yonic).

Kit: I've never done this before. It's strange. Jentry: I stand by what I said in class. You do have a soul, and you're more human than you know.

Also note the hand clasped position.

It ends with them literally "becoming one" in Kit embodying a Jentry skin to help Jentry uncover the truth--in other words, they help each other be human.

Which is why what happens next really doesn't make storytelling sense, and is actually kinda offensive.

Love Triangle: What Not To Write

The love triangle pretty clearly was supposed to represent Jentry's links to the supernatural (via Kit) and her links to the human world (via Michael). Great potential for a love triangle, a trope I generally hate because it's almost never well done.

This was not well done. What makes it even more frustrating is that it had a ton of potential to be well done via the thematic and symbolic potential.

Having Kit suddenly go aggressive ex who can't take "no" for an answer was lazy writing, nonsensical within the characters they'd set up, and offensive. Offensive, primarily, because you absolutely should never introduce a triggering element like, oh, harassment and controlling men if you don't plan on dealing with it in the story. And they didn't. At all.

The only reason that element was there was to resolve the love triangle in a clear way--oh, Jentry should be with Michael because Kit acted threatening, even though he never had before. That's just bad writing, because if there's a clear choice in a love triangle, you gotta actually write it. Make Michael the more compelling love interest. (More on how they didn't do this later.)

The entire sequence with Kit makes no sense. Jentry tells him he's actually "hundreds of years old," parroting Tumblr-esque anti arguments about Twilight and every other paranormal love story ever. Except, the story had always explicitly framed Kit as a child being abused by Cheng and "parented" by puppets. His journey to understand who he was, that he mattered, that he could be a human too, was clearly a coming-of-age story.

You don't tend to end coming-of-age stories with death, but they did, pretty much because after the threatening scene there was no coming back.

Plus, Jentry's treatment of Kit actually was pretty bad. Now, there's never an excuse for a threatening ex, but--Kit was right about her hypocrisy in terms of how she treated demons like Ed and himself, something that Jentry isn't really asked to reckon with.

If they wanted Jentry to end up with Michael, that's fair, but her decision was taken away from her because they just decided to stamp Kit with a lazy and offensive development and then kill him off in a redemptive death that emphasizes everything that can go wrong with that trope.

Michael Deserved Better

I feel like they didn't know entirely what to do with Michael. He started off with a cool arc, torn between his desire to be a band geek and his talent for football. His indecision leading to conflict with Stella and Jentry was also a great flaw, especially given that he also has visions of the future. An indecisive teenager with precognition has a ton of potential.

But, Michael's arc vanishes after the festival. Instead he's just... kinda there. Jentry chooses him because she wants to be a normal, human girl. But this isn't a good reason, because she's not (and arguably, he's not either!). Yet this isn't unpacked--the idea that everyone in this triangle is both human and supernatural, to varying degrees.

One interesting idea I spotted during the scene where Kit (as Jentry) gets asked out by Michael is that--well, it's a romantic-coded scene with two men, even if Kit turns him down for Jentry.

But it also coming on the heels of the metaphorical sex scene kinda seemed to almost hint at a throuple. Plus the scene after Kit's death where Jentry views them as merging, and where Michael expresses that Jentry views them the same. This would have actually been a very interesting turn for the story to take in future seasons, if they get those (especially since Stella x Tokki is apparently a thing?).

Because ultimately:

Netflix: The True Enemy

Honestly, almost all of the writing flaws I've talked about come down to the writers just not having enough time. If they had a guarantee of further seasons, they wouldn't have needed to rush to finish the love triangle. They wouldn't have needed to kill Kit. They wouldn't have needed to abort Michael's arc and conflict with Stella.

And really, Netflix continues to disappoint me in emphasizing just how much they focus on profits and money over art. They prefer fast food over an actual nutritious meal. They give shows like one season to get record ratings and if they don't, they get axed. Of course writers are going to rush to cram their story into a single season, because there's no guarantee of another season. Series aren't given any leeway to explore their interesting elements, or to find their footing. It's bad for art. However, Warner Bros exists so Netflix can't fully win the crown for worst example of capitalistic corporations killing art just yet.

I continue to be disappointed that series with no actual story that the writers want to tell (merely a concept of a plan) get renewed for seven seasons based on the writer's reputations (that they then tank with their terrible non-writing) while interesting stories with beautiful art and animation, complex ideas on grief and growing up, have to scramble to beg for another season.

[sneepity-snoop-snorpity-sneep]

HEY WAIT A MINUTE (spoilers for Jentry Chau vs The Underworld

Just realized we never saw Michael talk with his parents about them totally knowing something about his visions! HUH??? like there was a whole month after the cheng/xiao lan catastrophe at the game, so they definitely had time to sit down and discuss that before the finale happened

i am burning to know what said. what was revealed

WE NEED SEASON 2

[murkystarlight]

Jentry Chau vs the underworld....

Okay. So I saw the whole thing in a day. And I have... mixed feelings about it. But long story short, oh god I loved it. So, just my personal opinions and rambles. And a whole bunch of spoilers down here 👍

Okay so- first off. Jentry. Amazing character. I liked her. Until like... the last few remaining episodes. She became kinda.... eh. So pretty thoughhh

Michael, he was okay. He's quite nice. But my personal choice. Is Kit. He is so sweet. Makes human skin? Craftmanship is amazing. His emotions and struggles were so well portrayed. I would at least appreciate the things he did if I was in Jentrys' place.

Stella, okay. So... I just really hoped that she wouldn't end up with Jentry. It just feels so forced and weird to me.

The music is SO SICK has got to be my favorite part of this show. I need to know more KATSEYE songs. I kind of do but. I need more. They put in so many good music.

The visual is quite nice. The effects are gorgeous. The animation.. overall very good. The characters! Gi looks so pretty

My main question is, how is Jentry in Korea? Exchange student? Are her parents born in China but just lived in Texas(or somewhere else)? Is Jentry born in China or in Texas(somewhere else)? Also, if she's in Korea... how tf does all her friends have dyed hair??? Korean school of arts let's you dye hair? It's not restricted? How many other high school don't restrict that?

I feel like they could've just... killed off both of Jentrys' parents and not go through the extra three(? I think) episodes. And instead made the finale of the main plot more longer. Cause the finale didn't- couldn't give me that strong feeling the show gave me at the beginning of it. And it felt kind of unnecessary.

There's also a lot of things that are left unsolved(that may or may not be because I missed information from the show by not paying enough attention to detail)(plus, looking at how it is... it doesn't really look like the story could have a season two to me). Like the fortune telling powers. How his parents knew about the fortune telling powers. Kits' parents, are they also just human skin or possessed(?) humans? The reason for how Stella was able to make all those paper talismans, how Xiao Lan was able to use the powers of the golden emperor as soon as she wore it even though she probably didn't know what it could do(which means she wouldn't be able to use it) and even if she did know what it could do, she's just a little girl who only used the powers right now- how is she so good at using them and how is she in perfect control of them?? How does gugu and Cheng know each other so well, there must have been a starting point. We still don't know why gugu's sister is in the jail. And I need confirmation if the yin yang guy really is gugu's ex.

And just some additional background stories for the other characters would've been nice in my opinion. Like the ghosts in Gugu's house. We get to see them during the scene where Jentry's mom(Moonie) is looking for her old self. In the newspapers, but that's all cut off(one of the ghosts sound like Gummigoo??) I want to know more about Kit. And oh my god! Kit!! That's really the end of him?? Just like that? Also, when did the little switch happen? It happened without nobody else noticing. How did he find the timing to go in Jentrys' place? Did they plan it before hand? No, it doesn't seem like it. Oh my god- Kit! I love you Kit I'm sorry

And the more Jentry tried to make lessons, the more I don't like her. It gets stranger and stranger. It doesn't fit in. Herr motives kind of change... like she said she wants her life to be normal, so she can't be with Kit. Okay. Okay... a bit sad. But understandable. But when Michael has the powers to see glimpses of the future it's okay? That amount of weirdness is okay? Uh.. alright.

One last thing before I go(I have a lot more to say but uh... memory issues). Jentry 100% was scared when she first met Ed.

Overall, very nice show. I enjoyed it a lot. Though, it was very predictable tbh- haha. I could tell what was going to happen. A lot of this stuff just sprouted so.... yeah. Don't take it seriously

[fxrmeldehyde]

XIAO LAN // PTOLEMAEA

[mooniephases]

my jentry cheng au contribution

(plain text under cut)

Xiao Lan was like the sun. 

She must have been, the way that Cheng speaks of her, like a moon who had lost his source of light. He is Yu Yi, longs to hold the sun in his arms, carry it across the sky - but his hands come up empty when he reaches out for her, and the night is dark. 

If Xiao Lan was the sun, then Jentry must be the dirt. She does not cast a light upon her father, or else why can he not seem to look at her without something of doubt and disappointment lingered in his eyes. She must be the dirt, for she gets under his nails, and he swipes with angry hands and his fingers tangle in her hair, and they pull as he tucks the stray strands away.  

She must be the dirt, because she cannot be worth any more than that. 

Cheng says, I love you. 

Jentry thinks, you can only love me as much as you think that I am her.

Maybe she is a star, pretending she is the sun, but she will never shine that bright, and she will only burn out faster. Solar flare, bite the hand that feeds. Let him down. Her father, she’s doomed to burn out and let him down. 

Cheng says, I love you. 

Jentry thinks, I will make that so it’s true. 

[kingsdodecahedron]

yehhh

[fxrmeldehyde]

I like your jcvtu au! Is cheng training her to bring back his daughter?

yess that's exactly what happens. was thinking that in this au you can't separate the powers from her and after cheng takes her he realizes he cant force himself to kill her so he decides to raise her for the purpose of reviving his actual daughter. along the way he develops a genuine soft spot for her but it's all very fucked

treading into heavily making shit up territory here so bear with me: remember when ed called mr cheng a mogui king? assuming he has a reputation and influence, why wouldn't he have his own little palace somewhere in the bowels of diyu? that's where he's raising and training her in this au, forbidding her from leaving. ed is there to play a babysitter/big brother role and gugu spends those 16 years desperately trying to save her

in terms of personality she would be wayy more angsty and insecure than canon jentry for sure. she pushes herself a lot to win cheng's approval but more often than not that results in her hurting herself and disappointing him. needless to say his quick tempered and emotionally unavailable ass sucks at teaching lmao. her mandarin would be better tho

[fxrmeldehyde]

hi, firstly, sorry for reblogging so much of you stuff in quick succession, i just think your art and au and such are really neat !! also just happy to find another jcvtu enjoyer !!

i’ve been thinking a lot about jentry being almost a weapon for other people (not always in the most literally sense, but flora sort of weaponised her against cheng by giving her the powers, and then she was an actual weapons with the powers), and to cheng she is sort of just a weapon that he needs neutralised. do you think she ever views herself as a weapon? because there would be so much to unpack there

— @mooniephases

i think at most she would compare herself to a weapon and loathe the taste that it leaves in her mouth. she's always known who she wants to be and what she wants to do, imo she wouldn't let that define her

[fxrmeldehyde]

[jentry cheng au] girls when they realize they are their father's daughter

(info below the cut)

jentry's relationship with cheng is very messy and complex. the foundation of it was never a stable one to begin with but he wasn't always snappy, judgemental or hard on her. during her childhood he was there for her physically but emotionally distant. affectionate one moment until something snapped in his mind and withdrew. still, she loved him. he was her everything

cheng definitely views her as a sort of replacement for xiao lan -- partially in the sense of her just fulfilling that hole in his heart but also in a more literal way. especially as a baby jentry looked just so much like *her*. he's always kept her hair in a similar style

while there are parts of his love for her that are genuine and fatherly it’s overshadowed by the fact that he doesn’t really love jentry as *jentry*. and as she ages (beyond the age xiao lan ever did) he only seems to grow more cold and resentful that the chaus' daughter is able to grow up but his couldn't. every milestone jentry passes is a stark reminder of what he’s trying to bring back. her training starts around this time

^ thx faust for writing half of this

[angstandhappiness]

Fitting. Poor girl

XIAO LAN // PTOLEMAEA

[smuglilsomethin]

Waiter I humbly request 500 more

my crazy au where xiao lan for some reason can't return to the great beyond and is stuck with jentry until further notice