Lan Jun, a teenager, inherits the mantle of the mystical superhero Jade Armor. She must battle an array of supervillains, including the Crimson Lord, while dealing with the challenges of teenage life. She is aided by four Beasticons, magical animals of legend.
Characters
Main characters
Lan Jun Ya/Jade Armor (voiced by Elle Hallock)[2] is the main character of the series. She lives with her father, grandmother, and great-grandmother and has recently become the new Jade Armor.
Alisha (voiced by Justine Putmon)[2] is one of Lan Jun's best friends.[3]
Theo Khan, Alisha's brother and another of Lan Jun's best friends.[3]
The show is inspired by Chinese mythology.[5] It was created by Chloe Miller and executive producer Corinne Kouper based on a concept by M. Pongo Kuo. It was co-developed by Mary Bredin, with M.J. Offen as head writer and Ghislaine Pujol as story editor.[6] French animation studio TeamTO began developing the series in 2011, with the pitch bible and scripts being rewritten several times during development.[7]
The original concept for the show was an action series with a male protagonist.[7] After Chloe Miller joined the show,[7] Lan Jun, who was originally created as the male protagonist's best friend, became the main character. When creating Lan Jun, the showrunners wanted her to be an "ordinary girl" who was both feminine and strong, without relying on either gender stereotypes or a "tomboy" archetype.[8] Miller and Kouper also sought to add more comedic elements to the story, and focus more on family and heritage.[7]
The series's inspirations include kung fu movies, magical girl anime, and superhero comics.[7] The series is set in a fictional city inspired by Taiwan and a Chinese cultural consultant was hired to advise the showrunners on the representation of cultural elements like kung fu.[9] Offen commented that the creative team had "gone deep" on the characterization of side characters and villains.[10] The show is intended for viewers in the 3- to 12-year old age demographic.[11]
The art style of Jade Armor was intended to have a "graphic and minimalist look". It is animated using 2D computer graphics, with sharp-edged linework designed by the series's artistic director Pierre Croco.[7]
The series was co-directed by Denis Do, a Wushu martial arts practitioner.[9] To help the storyboard artists visualize the show's action and fight scenes, the showrunners hired a stunt coordinator to film the action scenes on camera.[8] Some stunts were performed by French Kung Fu martial artists.[9] Miller said that the storyboard artists had to use their imagination to translate the stuntmen's work into the show's magical, "bigger than life" action sequences. The series's choreography was inspired by films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.[8]
The show's producers had difficulty finding Asian voice actors, and voice actors who could dub the French series into other languages. As a result of the difficulty in finding voice actors with dubbing skills, TeamTO's École Cartoucherie Animation Solidaire partnered with Frog Box and Titrafilm to create a dubbing course.[12]
TeamTO released a pitch bible and trailer at Kidscreen Summit in 2016.[13]
The series's second season began development in June 2023.[4]
Lan Jun learns she's the new Jade Armor. There's a Shard in the town's clock tower that's forcing her to relive her birthday over and over again.
2
"The Mess"
7 September 2022 (2022-09-07)
Lan Jun suffers bad luck when she breaks a mirror that has a Shard embedded in it. Even worse, the Crimson Lord is back.
3
"The Talk"
14 September 2022 (2022-09-14)
Lan Jun's father, Liam, wants to reconnect with her. Meanwhile, the Crimson Lord uses a Shard to steal everyone's voices.
4
"Eye of the Tiger"
14 September 2022 (2022-09-14)
The town's Golden Dragon statue goes missing and Jade Armor is blamed for it.
5
"Rogue Beasticon"
21 September 2022 (2022-09-21)
The beasticon Xinyan returns to Ban Tang to take revenge on the humans who hurt him and his fellow animals.
6
"Gravity"
21 September 2022 (2022-09-21)
A Mahjong game gone wrong causes the town's gravity to go all topsy-turvy.
7
"Puppets"
28 September 2022 (2022-09-28)
The Crimson Lord uses a Shard to turn everyone in Ban Tang into his mindless puppets.
8
"Tiger Trouble"
28 September 2022 (2022-09-28)
While Jade tries to save the townspeople from an amnesia-inducing fountain, Black Tiger kidnaps Baihu.
9
"Lips Are Sealed"
5 October 2022 (2022-10-05)
A journal embedded with a shard starts revealing everyone's deepest secrets, making Lan Jun worry about her secret identity.
10
"Rise of Xinyan"
5 October 2022 (2022-10-05)
Lan Jun gets shrunk to doll-size by a new Shard, and the same Shard makes Xinyan gigantic!
11
"The Show Must Go On"
12 October 2022 (2022-10-12)
Theres a school play and everyone are becoming great actors. Meanwhile a shard on a stage light is the cause of it and Theo doesn't want his play to fail so he doesn't tell anyone about the shard.
12
"The Kitty"
12 October 2022 (2022-10-12)
A cat has a shard that switches peoples bodies. Meanwhile the Crimson lord and Lan Jun its a race to get the shard!
13
"The Catalyst"
19 October 2022 (2022-10-19)
Black tiger suddenly has elemental abilities as jade Armor, and its getting stressful for Lan jun.
14
"The Skeleton Key"
19 October 2022 (2022-10-19)
Lan Jun loses her grandma's lucky dice after its confiscated by her teacher. Kai helps her by using a key that sends you to any place imaginable. But the Crimson lord has come for the shard in the key and Kai!
15
"The Perfume"
26 October 2022 (2022-10-26)
A hypnosis perfume has a shard and Lan jun is looking for it because it has a connection to her mom. But Xin Yan has it!
16
"Jade-Con"
26 October 2022 (2022-10-26)
Jade Armor has a convention deticated to her its awsome! Until everyone is locked inside. As a destraction so the Crimson lord can hunt a shard.
17
"The Beastibot"
2 November 2022 (2022-11-02)
Crimson lord now has a robot with the ability of his old beasticons,Its up to Lan Jun to defeat him.
18
"The Pomegranate"
2 November 2022 (2022-11-02)
While walking with kai. Lan Jun gets hit by a shard pomegranate that sends her in another dimension with a few crazy changes.
19
"Monkey Mind"
9 November 2022 (2022-11-09)
Xin Jun is back again with another plan on remaking an Animal kingdom!
20
"The Thread"
9 November 2022 (2022-11-09)
A shard effected thread makes Lan jun become BFF's with Pearl . And her identity as Jade Armor and Pearls identity as black tigers Sidekick / daughter is in jepody.
21
"The Filter"
16 November 2022 (2022-11-16)
A shard from the Network power system makes Emojis and Filters be more VR like realistic. Crimson lord has a plan to get the shard. Meanwhile Lan jun, theo and Alisha are trying to stop this.
22
"Jade Noir"
16 November 2022 (2022-11-16)
A shard in the remote becomes a battle between lan jun, Crimson lord and Xin yan to get it but each channel the remote effected shard changes the theme of the channel effects the real world.
23
"La Vie en Rose"
23 November 2022 (2022-11-23)
Lan Jun is stressed with her test after she buys a pair of shades : Shard effected she becomes chill in any situation which makes the Crimson lord almost win.
24
"Transparency"
23 November 2022 (2022-11-23)
Crimson lord's still manipulating Kai. Meanwhile Lan jun's mother's spirit is active on communicating with her with the help of her family, Theo and Alisha.
25
"Crimson Moon"
30 November 2022 (2022-11-30)
The Eclipse is beginning and the Crimson lord needs 1 more shard from his 3 to complete his armor. Meanwhile kai is fully manipulated by the Crimson lord. And Lan jun is stressed and she has to make a ritual to bring back her mother before the Eclipse ends.
26
"Jade Infinity"
30 November 2022 (2022-11-30)
The Eclipse has ended the final battle of Jade Armor and Crimson lord had began!