Kung Fu Wa! (found early short pilot episode of "Tencent" animated Chinese children's magical girl series; 2020)
Promotional image for the early animation test.
Status: Found
Date found: 1 Aug 2022
Found by: Oztrose
Kung Fu Wa! (also known as Kung Fu Sock in the English dub, and 天真与功夫袜 in Chinese, Innocence and Kung Fu Socks as an unofficial translation) is a Chinese superhero/magical girl animated series created by UYoung and Tencent on August 3rd, 2021. The series was later dubbed into Spanish and Brazilian, which airs on Discovery Kids, in April 2022, and into English, which airs on Pop, on July 25, 2022. A spinoff (Kung Fu Wa: Defend Starry Island!, unofficial name) was later released on a unknown date, which is only available in Chinese, aimed around 4-6 year olds, and teaches good habits.[1]
Plot
The series follows the adventures of a curious 8-year-old girl named Tee Zeng (voiced by TikTok star Sofia Gomez[2]) who always dreamed of going on adventures and exploring wonderful places, and then one day she finds an odd-looking sock in her mother’s laundry that…. talks, and was originally a Kung Fu Master from another world charged with guarding an ancient scroll. When the Master came through a vortex into Tee Zeng’s time, his powers were weakened, and he was transformed into a sock. However, when Tee Zeng puts the sock on her foot she transforms into a super heroine – Kung Fu Girl, and together they must complete Kung Fu Wa’s mission and follow the ancient scroll to defeat evil and protect their world.
Animation test and discovery
The animation test, commonly known as the series' pilot episode, was released on a unknown date in 2020. The pilot sees Tee Zeng (also known as Tian Zhen in the original Chinese dub and Tee Yang in the Spanish/Brazilian dub) with her sock (Kung Fu Wa) Tee Zeng looked different in the pilot, and she is seen transforming into Kung Fu Girl after putting the sock on. The pilot played an Korean song named "Put on spell on (주문을 걸어)". The song was released in 2004. On August 1, 2022, the YouTuber Oztrose claimed that she worked for the pilot. As a result, the pilot was released on YouTube the same day.