City of Ghosts is a new children’s series, premiering on Netflix March 5th. City of Ghosts is a documentary-style series that features animated characters with live-action backgrounds. I had the chance to screen a few episodes and interview the Emmy award-winning Elizabeth Ito.
City of Ghosts Trailer
Elizabeth Ito is an award winning director and writer on Cartoon Network’s animated series Adventure Time and creator of the Cartoon Network short Welcome to My Life. She is the executive produce and serve as showrunner for this new family friendly paranormal show. Ito is a Los Angeles native and City of Ghosts explores her personal experience growing up as a yonsei (a 4th generation Japanese American) living in various multicultural neighborhoods across L.A. It is such a brilliant concept, and is really interesting to explore through this series.
City of Ghosts is a really unique hybrid documentary and animated series that follows a group of kids who call themselves the Ghost Club. The Ghost Club discover special stories around their city by interacting with the ghosts who inhabit it. The characters are very sweet relatable to real children. The show is done in such a gentle and informative way, it is not spooky or creepy at all. This show provides insight into culture and heritage of places the kids visit in their city. I love that it provokes curiosity and exploration for young minds. My daughter asked I wonder what the story is for that really old hot dog place we visit in DC.
When interviewing the showrunner, Elizabeth Ito, she had much to say on why kids will enjoy the show and what she hopes families will learn.
Interview with Elizabeth Ito