City of Ghosts (TV series)

Did You Know?

• Episode 4 of the show references the Tongva homelands of Tovaangar.
• A trailer was released on February 4.
• Selections from the series were presented at the San Francisco International Film Festival's Schools at the Festival program in April 2021.

Characters

The Ghost Club is a team of young detectives at the center of the series. Zelda, voiced by August Nuñez, acts as the lead detective. Thomas, voiced by Blue Chapman, is a seven-year-old non-binary child who uses they/them pronouns and states this briefly at the start of the second episode. Eva, voiced by Kirikou S'hai Muldrow, is five years old and a club member. Peter, voiced by Michael Ren, is six years old and also part of the group. Jasper, voiced by Honor Calderon, is seven years old and first appears in episode four "Tovangaar," where he asks the Ghost Club for help and reconnects with his Tongva heritage. Chef Jo, voiced by Isa Fabro, is a Filipina chef running a vegan café in Boyle Heights. Mariko, voiced by Kuniko Yagi, is Chef Jo's friend who asks Zelda for help tracking a ghost in the café. Jordan, voiced by Angel Chipagua, is Zelda's brother and films the Ghost Club's activities with a handheld camera. Janet, voiced by Judy Hayashi, is a ghost who lives in Jo's café. Other characters include Sam, an eight-year-old skateboarder; John "JP" P., voiced by John Pham, who owns a skate shop; Sonya, voiced by Tomeicko Hawkins, who owns a vegan café in Leimert Park; Nancy Sekizawa, a former punk rocker; Yulissa, voiced by Yulissa Maqueos, a teacher of Oaxacan music; and Aawkut, voiced by L. Frank Manrique, a ghost in the form of a crow.

Production

The series was announced by Netflix in May 2019, with Adventure Time writer Elizabeth Ito as showrunner. Backgrounds come from photographs by Kwasi Boyd-Bouldin, painted over at Chromosphere Studio in Los Angeles. Character animation was done by the French company TeamTO. Animation supervisor Mariah Luna and production manager Jaimy Nikijuluw worked closely with Ito and supervising director Luis Grane. TeamTO president Guillaume Hellouin noted that only a small team worked on the show.

Reception

Critics praised the show, with Mashable calling it "warm, sunny, and soft" and highlighting its humor, pacing, and voice cast for making complex topics like discrimination and gentrification accessible to kids. Vulture described it as a "lovely and refreshing vision for children's entertainment" with a nonfiction feel. Wired noted its "big emotional wallops" and "narrative specificity," calling it a delightful "multicultural melange." The Capital Times found it "warm and huggable" for all ages, while the Los Angeles Times called it a "gentle love letter" to Los Angeles. Animation World Network praised the pop-up book aesthetic of its backgrounds. The series earned three Children's and Family Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Animated Series, and won awards for Outstanding Directing for an Animated Program and Outstanding Animated Series.