I haven't seen the latest season of Fanren, but aside from that I doubt anything this year can equal this season of BTTH--there wasn't a single weak episode. Even the romance was on point, an element that utterly fails in most anime, esp action/roms. These kind of mature narratives/characters are harder and harder to find in Japanese anime imo; those refusing to venture into the offerings of current donhua have no idea what they're missing. I should know--I used to be one lol.

Amazing series.

You are missing out. The latest season of Fanren is pretty awesome. The love interest are there, but far more subdued than BTTH. Here Xiao Yan has Xun'er, Yun Yun, Medusa, Sister Yafei from Miteer family & even Nalan Yanran as love interests. And there is rather significant romantic emotions for all of them. While in Fanren Han Li has only Nangong Wan in his heart, but there are a number of girls who fall for him along the way. There is a lot going on in Fanren that is left unsaid. There is a certain amount of information that is conveyed with just a look. That is pretty hard to do. Fanren has a number of complicated motivations of various characters so you can feel the intelligence there, but I got to admit that BTTH has got the feels a bit more so than Fanren. At the end of the day Han Li has a completely different motivation and raison d'etre than Xiao Yan. XY is an actual genius who wants to prove that he is worthy, that he is not trash, he also desperately wants to gain the strength to protect the people he loves. While Han Li has the primary motivation of wanting to be an immortal, wanting to live forever or at least a very long time. Primarily that takes the form of not wanting to get killed by a bigger fish...and there is always a bigger fish. So Han Li is extremely intelligent and cautious and likes to hide his strength and make back up plans and contingency plans.

Cough cough, Han Li does have intimate moments with Wang Ning though 😁

Han Li is more of a normal person who works extra hard to get to where he does, not saying Xiao Yan doesnt, but Han Li doesnt have the plot armor that XIao Yan does, he just doesnt encounter as much opportunities or have women by his side that protects him and gives him special techniques

Cough cough cough......cough (coughs so hard, dies without typing what he came here to type)

lol

Glad you converted lol Let's hope there will be more good donghua to come in the future in stead of the bulk trashy ones lol

Martial god asura will be coming too im on fire for it to be released 🔥 🤤🤤 but damn I finished all 4900+ chapters and waiting for more :( do u know smth else like Martial peak and martial god asura ?

Oh wow thanks for letting me know, that novel is on my toread list, I just finished ShenYu Jiu Xiaojie, and I need to take a break from reading lol

I checked the info, the same studio that is animating Fanren is doing Martial God Asura, I hope the action scenes will be the same as well as the characer rendering

When? Jeez its been a year since your comment. Any idea when MGA gets animated by same studio animating Fanren?

August

Thanks! :)

Hey Lord Xue Ying season 3 is back

Yes, been out for 3 weeks on gogoanime

Yeah let's just say I'm incredibly optimistic given the number of good/watchable stuff every season. I've only minimal experience with the Chinese medium compared to Japanese but it's shocking how fast the former is advancing. I'm especially looking forward to future adaptations exploring other genres.

There is a new one that just came out called Feng Qi Luoyang Zhi Shen Ji Shaonian, 20 minutes episodes, if you like mystery and detective genres. Although the animation isnt as great as Doupo Cangqiong or Fanren, the story is kind of like the Detective Dee and Di Renjie movies, all of which is based during the Tang dynasty. Wanmei Shijie is always good and of course the Xue Ying (Lord Snow Eagle) is from the same author as Swallowed Star (Tunshi Xingkong)
Martial Universe, Wu Dong Qian Kun (parallel novel to Doupo) season 3 should be out this year
And also the indirect sequel of Doupo Cangqiong, The Great Ruler (Da Zhu Zai) is being converted from 2d to 3d, whether it is a remake or second season I am not sure, but it is coming out this year

Reason for the push into 3D animation is because China is investing a lot of money into computer technologies whether they are software or hardware, or AI, so as a result we get the resulting benefit of 3D animations lol

Thanks, I'll check those out.

The fruits of their investment shows--they're definitely putting it in the right place. I appreciate Miyazaki/Kon/Shinkai level cell animation as much as the next guy but the budgets are monsters. 3D is the future..

I wouldnt say 3D is the future because its been around since early 2000. The first one I ever watched was final fantasy the spirits within. Granted its not a release by china but it was the first ever 3D animation movie I ever saw outside of a game and was the first of its kind released publicly as a movie.

I also agree with you, a lot of people are missing out for various reasons which include the transition from listening to one language to another, or they cant get past the time barrier of what some of the Chinese anime/donghua's follow which is set at 5-7 minutes.

Yeah as I recall FF7 Advent Children was my first exposure. 3D may have been around since 2000 but that early stuff--tv series anime anyway--was really clunky was it not lol? Even today that seems to be the case for the majority. But if the visuals/production values of Fanren, BTTH, Swallowed Star, Snow Eagle Lord, etc. become more the norm I'd say the future for 3D is looking pretty bright. Or do the aforementioned simply have much larger budgets than most donhua adaptations, I wonder?

In regard to the budgeting, I couldnt possibly answer that myself as I dont follow which company has what stories under their belt. However, in regard to progression of 3D work you are correct, at first it was bulky and not many of them were visually appealing as they are today. I would not put that down to just budget though, it was a matter of the availability of software tools that could be used to produce the work and those that were available were overpriced. This also meant that less people were trained in its use and even then the work was subpar.
By over priced I mean if you had to chose between buying a piece of software and then paying a yearly subscription fee or buying a car which would you chose?
In comparison we've come a long way in what's available today that wasnt back then. One good example of that is a piece of software called MMD that is free and widely used for anyone interested in character animation and if you youtube MMD, you'll find a lot of dance videos that use animation.

I also love how the mc is mature here just like Fanren. Check out yuan long its similar. Also watch yi nian, it's a fire 2d animation that's very funny and the story is fire. Also check out Mo dao zu shi, the anime is fire.

douluo Just be aware @douluo

Mo Dao Zu Shi has elements of boy love, but it doesnt detract or affect the story, it is very subtle (given the censorship in China)

Didn’t they said that secret techniques cause heavy damage to their body? Even though Xiao Yan didn’t know or use the full technique but is this means it won’t cause any affect on his body?🤔.
If someone know then please answer🙏.
• Reason why I’m confused:
Lao Chen said that some secret techniques don’t have heavy impact on body but they still take something in return like when Xun’er used the technique her body was out of douqi and require some pills to recover it. And Lao Chen himself said 3 changes in Heavenly Flame technique cause massive damage to the user. It’s not a save secret technique like the one Xun’er used.

Well I hope you're prepared for the most boring and weakest arc in the entire story that is coming up next.

I think it's good that donghua took their direction in 3D and 2D at the same time, there comes more variety. Anime is slowly venturing into 3D, but still with the anime look; which is fine. But like you slowly the offering becomes generic and not as exciting. But I think Japanese as a culture is more interested shonen genre, grown adventures like this has less hold on them as a culture. But that just leaves more for the rest of us as well.

That's one of the major strong suits of anime--artistic diversity, visuals especially. I'm a huge proponent.

But do you think Chinese anime best Japanese?

It's not about who beats who at this point, it's about who's "anime" is more exciting and grabbing a larger audience. From just the discussion on this page you can see the viewing difference. Chinese Donghua is still not grabbing as much attention vs anime. So it'll be a process.

Tough to say because I think it depends on what yardsticks you're using. What I do know is that for me, Chinese donghua is offering a much higher percentage of watchable stuff than Japanese. Imo the latter has declined in quality over the past few years overall, while the former has improved significantly. That's not to say I dislike anime--my entire top 20 would still probably be almost entirely Japanese. The range of genres, artistic diversity, creativity, character writing, music scores, etc. displayed in their best works are unrivaled and absolutely brilliant. Unfortunately those examples are becoming a very rare treat in my view.

What a ride this side story has been, keep your eye out on the next side story Yuan Qi, which is a 3 episode special of when Xiao Yan meets Yao Lao for the first time and why he was considered trash, the next season Nian Fan should be after Yuan Qi See you guys then

Although it wasnt in the novel but I am happy that one of the elders died, and even though it wasnt shown more than likely the other elders died as well by Hai Bodong's hand

I primarily have a genuine hatred for side stories as they're typically either boring filler or boring crap that I couldn't care less about. But that being said, any side story with this level of all around quality will always be welcome 😋

For some weird reason even though this is a side story, in actual fact, it isnt, it is part of the novel, no idea why it isnt a proper season
Side story or specials would be the Song of Desert, the one about Hai Bodong and Medusa's sister who doesnt exist in the novel by the way
and the upcoming Yuan Qi side story is also part of the story (when Xiao Yan meets Yao Lao)
I have yet to find out why, and I cant find anything from Chinese forums, at least from official sources

So you're telling me I was duped and shouldn't be so quick to start seeing the light in side stories; got it...

I knew it was too good to be true, haha 😋

lol I wouldnt say duped one of the theories forums are saying it is because the studio wasnt well funded at the beginning and now that they are, they are testing to see if a long side story would be popular (since the novel is 1648 chaters/17 volumes long so one volume per season per year)

Personally, I think its more that they wanted to emphasize this section of the story because it was what the writer was building up to as Xiao Yan's main goal was to redeem his families honour. Also, for those of us who are downloading it to watch again in the future, it's made it a lot easier to find the 3 year agreement battle in everything that has been released thus far.

That could also be it, with this done, the next major arc can begin lol

Exactly. The only thing I'm curious about is the other specials that will come in the future after the next one. Will we get one on a flashback of when Yao Lao meets his first student and is betrayed.... or would we get one of Yao Lao and his time when he was running around before he created that sect with his friend (forgot his name) lol

I think they are covering a little of Han Feng in the Yuan Qi special (going to call it that, too lazy to type side story, one word too many) lol His friend is called Feng Xian not that it really matters, he gets forgotten fast like most minor characters and in terms of cultivation as well, he doesnt improve!!
But given the number of projects the studio is undergoing I am not sure if they can fit more Doupo Cangqiong related donghua into this year

I dont mean for this year but for the future because there is still a lot of story to cover as you know. I was just hypothesizing what we might potentially get in the future as side stories.

Oh I see lol
Just a heads up, the studio is picking up a new IP, called Xiao Bing Chuan Qi, Legend of Little Soliders, it is a very popular webnovel in China, might go read it lol
And OMG!! They also picked up Doupo Cangqiong's author's 4th novel Prince Yuan also known as Dragon Prince Yuan (Yuan Zun)

Shan He Jian Xin second season is also slated to be released this year along with the ones I mentioned in previous posts

Wow we are in such a treat this year

that show I was talking about that I thought might be dragon prince yuan is called 'An Oriental Odyssey'. if you like the detective kind of shows you might like this one because the main female actress likes to do detective work.

Also, I caught up with fanran and took a look at luoyang. it seems interesting and I must have guessed at least 2 different people for who the fox could be. I have a idea of who it might be from the next episode preview but no spoilers please, I want to watch it first. :P

Ahh I see, I think I watched the first episode of it before and dropped it back in 2018 lol, might give it a go, but at the moment I am watching Sword Snow Stride, same actor from Joy of Life and same screenwriter as well

Dont worry no spoilers, havent read the novel but Feng Qi Luoyang is getting a lot of good reviews

Also I was informed by another viewer that Martial God Asura is also coming out soon, made by the Fanren Studio, it is also another popular novel

And in another good news, the author of Soul Land just announced Soul Land 2: The unrivaled sect is currently under development by the same studio as the first one

I dont usually watch them tbh, oriental odyssey was the first and only one I've watched. Martial god and the second story of soul land is good but I'd really like to see a second season for wan jie fa shen before they come out.

Sadly no information about the second season of Wan Jie Fa Shen, I just checked nothing on the studio's 2022 portfolio
Only info I have see are clickbaiters using the keywords second season

did you go to the official site to check? I was trying to look at Ruo Hong Culture to see what they have coming this year but only finding other anime sites to watch online.

The Ruo Hong Culture is actually the manhua company, the studio that did the animation is Guangzhou Chengshi Animation Technology Co but their website lead me to some weird technology site

Even on their manhua site, there was no indication of Wan Jie Fa Shen only the other Wan Jie series, on Douban there isnt anything about a second season, only thing that would be of interest and kinda bad is that Wan Jie Fa Shen has very low ratings one to two stars out of 5 and bad reviews which might suggest that the studio might not be commissioned to do a second season

any chance you could check Wan Jie Du Zun and Xing Wushen Jue. Did they have low ratings and bad reviews too? Thanks for checking :)

it should be on that same site you looked at.

I am waiting for Wan Jie Du Zun as well lol
Nothing on both, except the manhua for Xing Wushen Jue is still ongoing so highly likely there will be another season
Wu Jie Dun Zun is actually an additional story to another story, I remember trying to find that novel and came across the original one, the donhua is loosely based on that world but not the same characters, can be said it is an original work off the original lol

Wan Jie Du Zun is rated 3 to 5 stars, reviews rate it moderate as it draws inspiration from other popular donghua such as Soul Land, Doupo Cangqiong, Fan Ren etc
Xing Wushen Jue is rated 1 star to 4 stars , although it averages to 2.5 stars to 3 stars

thanks for checking. I liked the concept for Wan Jie Du Zun because at the start of the story his sword ability was stolen and yet he didnt give up and having the ability to lock people up who he deems as bad is pretty good too. I could see a little resemblance to Doupo Cangqiong in regard to the three year agreement where the MC agreed to meet that woman from the volcanic area again in the future to fight, however, I'm hoping it'll be something entirely different as she looks like a potential love interest.

In regard to xing wushen jue, the MC is average but his values is similar to the MC from Doupo Cangqiong as they both want to protect those they care for. The reason I like it is because of the storyline, I would say that the concept of the little man standing up to the big guy is how I see it because of the large families using his family as slaves to farm for them which also touches on the dark side of abuse through the mention of what was done to his aunt previously.

You are welcome, yeah the love interests so far with the exception of Meng Qianqiu (the one who allowed herself to be taken after the effects of the aphrodisiac even though she was able to surpress it) his love interests are subtle. You have the mysterious girl in white (tomb girl) his adopted sister, a princess, various girls and even an ex but seems to be one sided

Dragon Prince Yuan?
is that about a prince who lost his memory and became a stable boy for a family and fell in love with the daughter only for the daughter to be transformed into a vampire bat later? I remember watching that live action series previously but forgot the name of it.