But they don't know the kind of power of these three girls
We're the Z-Squad!
Don't worry, everything's just a little crazy
Away from school we're a different kind of cool
Together we're number one, we're the Z-Squad!
Z-Squad is a South Korean-Canadian Magical Girl All-CGI Cartoon of the Magical Girl Warrior type co-produced by Enemes and Nelvana.
Chaney, Haemi and Jeanie are known in the school for being three of the most powerful athletes, but suddenly the Drop Dead Gorgeous Three (DDG3), a group of three popular guys beat them in a Volleyball match, and endangers their reputation. In hopes of winning back their title, the girls get a hidden Spell Book from Jeanie's library and try casting a spell to give them the greatest power in the universe, but it won't activate until they sign a contract. Bad idea! In another dimension named Z-Nation, a planet known as Planet Z is under attack by Bakoo and his forces, who want the Megabelt to conquer the universe. The only one who could stop him is Aramis, who had the power of the Power Crystals, but thanks to the contract the girls signed, the crystals have scattered all over Earth, and Aramis fell into a coma. Now the girls have to transform into the Z-Squad, defeat all the zoots and collect all the crystals before Bakoo does.
The show aired on various South Korean channels, most notably SBS. The English dub (produced by Nelvana) has aired on Pop Girl in the United Kingdom and KidsCo around many parts of the world, and is currently streaming on Tubi TV and Amazon Prime Video.
Power of tropes!
- The Ace: The Z-Squad girls and the DDG3 are known for being really good at sports.
- Alternative Foreign Theme Song: The English dub's very 2000's pop song-sounding theme
is very different from the original Korean theme, which sounds more action scene-ish. - Animesque: The art style of the show is very clearly anime-inspired.
- Balloon Belly: Chaney, Haemi, and Jeanie get these in "The Riddle of the Pandora Zoot" after the DDG3 trick them into eating an entire buffet.
- By the Power of Grayskull!: Power of...
- ...courage! (Chaney)
- ...love! (Haemi)
- ...hope! (Jeanie)
- Delirious Misidentification: In "Blind Love", Chaney falls under the spell of Zoot of the week Hermus, causing her to hallucinate various objects as Aramis.
- Fiery Redhead: Red-haired hot-blooded Chaney definitely suits this trope.
- Goggles Do Something Unusual: Jeanie can use her glasses to scan Zoots and figure out the way to seal them.
- Jerk Jock: The DDG3, who taunt the girls when they face each other.
- Monster of the Week: The zoots, monsters that the Z-Squad must defeat to get the crystals back to the megabelt.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: The purpose of the color crystals; when Zora, Zeph and Zuma call for them the girl they're partnered with gets a weapon that can help them with sealing the zoot they're against. Only 1 crystal per magical girl, though.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The girls signing the contract caused the power crystals to be scattered and Aramis to be put in a coma, putting Planet Z in danger, and now they have to take responsibility for it.
- No Ending: The series ends without any resolution of Aramis being saved and Bakoo being defeated.
- Older Alter Ego: When transforming into the Z-Squad, the girls start looking older in the form of teenagers/young adults.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Haemi was the only one insecure about signing the contract at first, and she had all rights to be.
- Transformation Trinket: Zora, Zeph and Zuma, the zoots of courage, love and hope respectively.
- The X of Y: When the series was nominated for and won an Asian Television Awards accolade in 2007, it was referred to by the rather Gratuitous English name The Fairies of Crystal, Z-Squad.
