| Native Name: | |
| Language: | Mandarin |
| Country: | China |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 52 |
| Runtime: | 11 minutes |
| Network: | Tencent Video (China) CCTV-14 (China) Pop (United Kingdom) |
| Last Aired: |
Kung Fu Wa! (known as Kung Fu Sock in the United Kingdom and Ireland;) is a Chinese animated children's television series produced by UYoung Media and Tencent Penguin Pictures. Aimed at children ages six to nine, the series follows a young girl who is bestowed with superpowers through the aid of a martial arts master turned into an anthropomorphic sock.
The first season premiered on August 3, 2021 on Tencent Video in China, and on July 25, 2022 on Pop in the United Kingdom.
Eight-year-old Tee Zeng finds an unusual sock that is actually a Kung Fu master named Kung Fu Wa from another world. Wearing the sock transforms Tee Zeng into super heroine Kung Fu Girl. She and Kung Fu Wa must complete missions and protect their home, Starry Island.[1] [2]
The series was first released on Tencent Video in China in August 2021. In June of that year, Federation Kids & Family, the family entertainment subsidiary of Paris-based film distributor Federation Studios, acquired the program’s distribution rights for most international markets; UYoung Media, however, would maintain foreign distribution rights for the Latin America market.[3]
In April 2022, UYoung reached a deal with Discovery Kids Latin America to distribute localized dubs of the program in Portuguese (Brazil) and Spanish (for other Latin American markets). The Spanish dub premiered linearly on Discovery Kids on April 11, 2022, while the Brazilian Portuguese dub debuted on the regional version of the Discovery+ streaming service eleven days later on April 22. That same month, Federation reached a deal with British/Irish children’s networks Pop (British and Irish TV channel) and Pop Max for the rights to an English-language dub of the series. The title would be different than the internationally known title, as it would be named Kung Fu Sock instead. The show debuted on Pop on July 25, 2022.[4]
A Russian dub (Russian: Волшебная девочка кунг-фу|Volshebnai͡a devochka kung-fu; English: Magical Kung Fu Girl) was released via streaming on Kinopoisk on December 1, 2022 and ivi on December 3, 2022; fledgling family entertainment channel FamilyJam acquired the linear television rights to the Russian dub in early 2023.