{{Short description|American animated series by Lela Lee}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Infobox television | image = Angry Little Asian Girl Five Angry Episodes by Lela Lee.jpg | caption = ''Angry Little Asian Girl, Five Angry Episodes'' DVD cover. | genre = Animation | writer = Tom Huang, Lela Lee, Greg Pace | director = Yorico Murakami, Douglas Rowell, Walter Santucci | voices = Lela Lee, Margaret Cho, Scott Menville | num_seasons = 1 | num_episodes = 12 | executive_producer = Jennifer Choi, Lela Lee, L. Mark Medernach, Douglas Rowell, Nicole White | animator = George Chung, Layron DeJarnette, Cesar Henriquez, Kelly Kanemaru, April Lee | company = Duck Studios | network = Mnet }}
'''''Angry Little Asian Girl''''' is an American animated cartoon created by Lela Lee. Lee created an initial series of animations in the late 1990s, and worked with the Asian American channel Mnet for a 12-episode season released in 2014. The series focuses on Kim, a grade-school Korean American who unleashes her anger on injustices.
== Origin == Most sources say that Lee started creating ''Angry Little Asian Girl'' after being disgusted by a film festival. When Lee was a student at the University of California, Berkeley in 1994, she attended Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation. She walked out mad at a series of ethnic jabs and drew her own animations that night, using Crayola markers and then video-editing equipment at school to complete her first episode.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Chang|first=Young|date=2003-09-05|title='Little Girls' presents big ideas without forgetting angry origins|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=20030905&slug=angrygirl05|access-date=2020-10-28|website=Seattle Times|archive-date=2023-05-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230529170604/https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=20030905&slug=angrygirl05|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="WP2001">{{Cite news|last=Noguchi|first=Irene|date=2001-08-27|title='Asian Girl': Comic Strip of a Different Stripe|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2001/08/27/asian-girl-comic-strip-of-a-different-stripe/774afe54-d761-4858-bb12-1421cf93745d/|access-date=2020-10-28|issn=0190-8286|archive-date=2023-03-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322033036/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2001/08/27/asian-girl-comic-strip-of-a-different-stripe/774afe54-d761-4858-bb12-1421cf93745d/|url-status=live}}</ref> She initially did not show her animation to anyone, thinking it was too angry and that it made her embarrassed. Four years later she showed it to some friends who said the character was a great heroine and stood against Asian stereotypes.<ref name="WP2001" /> From this she developed the animated series.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Angry Little Asian Girl: Lela Lee|url=https://www.pbs.org/searching/lela_main.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141010182855/https://www.pbs.org/searching/lela_main.html|archive-date=2014-10-10|access-date=2020-10-29|website=PBS}}</ref>
However, a ''Los Angeles Times'' article gives a different origin story: stress from family pressure and studies led to drawing as an escape, then later a friend encouraged her to compile the drawings into a short video. While this video was put away for some years, boredom while working at her family's dry-cleaning business made her return to the project.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web|last=Do|first=Ahn|date=2013-04-25|title=Watch out! Angry little girl is sharing her feelings|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/great-reads/la-me-ff-angry-asian-girl-20130425-dto-htmlstory.html|access-date=2020-10-29|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|archive-date=2020-08-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805080444/https://www.latimes.com/local/great-reads/la-me-ff-angry-asian-girl-20130425-dto-htmlstory.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
== Premise and initial episodes == The main character of the animations is Kim, an "aggressive, foul-mouthed and generally sociopathic character".<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|last=Scheib|first=Ronnie|date=2003-07-30|title=Searching for Asian America|url=https://variety.com/2003/film/reviews/searching-for-asian-america-1200540209/|access-date=2020-10-28|website=Variety|language=en-US|archive-date=2023-03-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330122103/https://variety.com/2003/film/reviews/searching-for-asian-america-1200540209/|url-status=live}}</ref> Kim is based on Lee; PBS said it is "clear that Lee is Kim's real-life alter ego." Lee said that "You didn't get angry in our house. If you got angry, you were a bad child. The cartoon is my therapy."<ref name=":2" /> Each episode was based on Lela Lee's experiences growing up in an predominately white neighborhood.<ref name=":1" />
In April 1998 four or five episodes of the animation were screened at the American Cinematheque.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":7" /> Kevin Thomas, reviewing for the ''Los Angeles Times,'' called ''Angry Little Asian Girl'' "scabrously funny", saying "Lee is a minimalist, using simple Magic Marker drawings, but boy does she have plenty to say. Her diminutive grade-school-age heroine unleashes a torrent of foul language whenever she's offended--and this happens a lot--by any behavior that strikes her as racist or discriminatory (or male chauvinist). Her unleashed rage is at once hilarious--so much tough talk from such a little girl--and therapeutic... Lee leaves you suspecting that Lee's feisty heroine is saying out loud what a lot of Asian Americans... are often feeling but not saying."<ref name=":8">{{cite web|last=Thomas|first=Kevin|date=1998-04-30|title=Speaking Their Minds; 'Flushed,' 'Angry Little Asian Girl' deliver bold dialogue on subjects often kept unspoken.|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/421431104|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140911012456/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/doc/421431104.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Apr+30,+1998&author=Thomas,+Kevin&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&edition=&startpage=&desc=Speaking+Their+Minds%3B+%27Flushed,%27+%27Angry+Little+Asian+Girl%27+deliver+bold+dialogue+on+subjects+often+kept+unspoken.|archive-date=2014-09-11|access-date=2020-10-29|work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> It also received a glowing review from the LA Weekly, who said it offered "bold dialogue on subjects often kept unspoken."<ref name=":7" />
Also in 1998, Lee launched a website for the animated series and started selling merchandise,<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last=Nakamura|first=David|date=2015-02-24|title=Who's the angriest Asian? It's 'man' vs. 'little girl' in trademark feud.|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/whos-the-angriest-asian-its-man-vs-little-girl-in-trademark-feud/2015/02/24/8746c372-b90c-11e4-9423-f3d0a1ec335c_story.html|access-date=2020-10-28|issn=0190-8286|archive-date=2023-04-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230417174851/https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/whos-the-angriest-asian-its-man-vs-little-girl-in-trademark-feud/2015/02/24/8746c372-b90c-11e4-9423-f3d0a1ec335c_story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> which now covers an extensive range of products.<ref name="LAWeekly2008">{{cite web|last1=Leopold|first1=Shelley|date=2008-05-14|title=Lela Lee: Angry Awakening|url=http://www.laweekly.com/2008-05-15/la-life/angry-awakening/|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402063738/http://www.laweekly.com/2008-05-15/la-life/angry-awakening/|archive-date=2012-04-02|accessdate=29 October 2020|website=|publisher=LA Weekly}}</ref> She had launched a spin-off comic strip by 2000 called ''Angry Little Girls'',<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":6">{{Cite web|last=Chang|first=Young|date=2004-01-18|title=Move over, Hello Kitty: New characters are taking over the kingdom of cute|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=20040118&slug=cute18|access-date=2020-10-28|website=archive.seattletimes.com|archive-date=2023-05-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230529112749/https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=20040118&slug=cute18|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="WP2001" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite web|last=Alimurung|first=Gendy|date=2005-03-31|title=The Girl and The Fury|url=http://www.laweekly.com/2005-03-31/art-books/the-girl-and-the-fury/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141018091322/http://www.laweekly.com/2005-03-31/art-books/the-girl-and-the-fury/|archive-date=2014-10-18|access-date=2020-10-29|website=LA Weekly}}</ref> which as of 2024 she is still updating.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Lee|first=Lela|date=2020-10-26|title=Angry Little Girls by Lela Lee for October 26, 2020|url=https://www.gocomics.com/angry-little-girls/2020/10/26|access-date=2020-10-28|website=GoComics|language=en}}</ref>
A collection of the animations was published as "Angry Little Asian Girl: Five Angry Episodes".{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}} They are also available through one of Lee's websites.{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}}
== TV adaptation == Once the works and merchandise began to be successful, Lee sought to make a full TV version, but met resistance from executives. Some said that the proposed show seemed too racially charged. Others said Asians were not a strong consumer market.<ref name=":7" /> MTV asked for a VHS copy of "Angry Little Asian Girl, Five Angry Episodes", but an MTV executive told Lee that "there's no market for Asians."{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}} Lee said that she "waited until someone came along who understands what we're trying to do — trying to say".<ref name=":7" />
Eventually, she signed a deal with Mnet, an Asian American channel, for two seasons of "Angry Little Asian Girl".<ref name=":7" /> It was first announced for "fall 2012",<ref>{{Cite web|date=October 16, 2012|title='Angry Little Asian Girl' Pokes Fun at the Asian Stereotype|url=https://mochimag.com/news/entertainment/angry-little-asian-girl-pokes-fun-at-the-asian-stereotype/|access-date=2020-10-29|website=Mochi Magazine|language=en-US|archive-date=2020-12-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202010646/https://mochimag.com/news/entertainment/angry-little-asian-girl-pokes-fun-at-the-asian-stereotype/|url-status=live}}</ref> then later for June 2013.<ref name=":7" /> Later in 2013, it was reported that negotiations between Mnet and Lee were going poorly, with Lee posting on Facebook that ''“''You cannot negotiate with people who say what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is negotiable" and "For too many months, I’ve been dragged through some nasty negotiations."<ref>{{Cite web|last=Schwarz|first=John|date=2013-06-06|title=Sounds like negotiations for Lela Lee and Mnet hit a snag for 'Angry Little Girls' animated series|url=https://www.bubbleblabber.com/sounds-like-negotiations-for-lela-lee-lelalee-and-mnet-mnetla-hit-a-snag-for-angry-little-girls-animated-series/|access-date=2020-10-29|website=Bubbleblabber|language=en-US|archive-date=2015-09-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904045215/http://www.bubbleblabber.com/sounds-like-negotiations-for-lela-lee-lelalee-and-mnet-mnetla-hit-a-snag-for-angry-little-girls-animated-series/|url-status=live}}</ref>
On 25 December 2014, a 12-episode version of ''Angry Little Asian Girl'' was released, with Mnet broadcasting all 12 episodes in a three-hour block.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Schwarz|first=John|date=2014-12-24|title=Mnet America Brings in the Holiday Jeer With 'Angry Little Asian Girl' Marathon|url=https://www.bubbleblabber.com/mnet-america-brings-in-the-holiday-jeer-with-angry-little-asian-girl-marathon/|access-date=2020-10-29|website=Bubbleblabber|language=en-US|archive-date=2015-06-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150625030211/http://www.bubbleblabber.com/mnet-america-brings-in-the-holiday-jeer-with-angry-little-asian-girl-marathon/|url-status=live}}</ref> Lela Lee played Kim and Margaret Cho played her mother.<ref>{{Citation|title=Angry Little Asian Girl (TV Series 2014– ) – IMDb|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4327574/|access-date=2020-10-29}}</ref><ref name=":7" />
== Creator == {{See also|Lela Lee}} Lela Lee is a Korean American and the youngest of four girls.<ref name=":0" /> She is an actor who was a main character on the TV series ''Tremors''<ref name=":5" /> and who appeared in shows such as ''Friends'', ''Scrubs'', and ''Charmed''.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> As of 2015 she was living in Los Angeles.<ref name=":0" />
== See also == ''Angry Little Girls'': The webcomic version of the same setting
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{Official website|http://angrylittleasiangirl.com/}}of the original animations *[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4327574/?ref_=ttrel_rel_tt IMDB: ''Angry Little Asian Girl'' (2014)]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Angry Little Asian Girl, Five Angry Episodes}} Category:1994 American films Category:1994 comedy films Category:1994 films Category:American satirical films Category:Comedy films about Asian Americans