Xin shen bang: Yang Jian

No pun intended - the animated movie is quite well done. At least for me or rather my eyes. I think it looks amazing. Of course you may not like the style, but I do think the effort is obvious. It really is ... well on the screen! Whatever size that may be (you are watching it on).

The choreography is off the charts - though since it is animated, they can draw it (it's still drawing if it's done on a computer right?), so there is contact! When real people fight, depending on the skill set, there may be contact too - but here it really can be done, without anyone being in danger to be or get hurt.

The running time is a bit long for my taste though and it may feel a bit convoluted for some people. A lot of story, a lot of characters, sometimes not easy to keep track of everything! That said, a potential sequel (or is it sequels?) is not "helping". I wonder when that will come out - but maybe it will clear certain things ... and make this look even better than it already does in hindsight ...

The loose origin of some the content of this silly cartoon is ancient Chinese Taoism, which had a pantheon of several gods for several situations. No one in modern China believes in any of this drivel anymore, as millions of Chinese have pivoted to Philosophical Taoism (finding answers in yourself) and classical Confucianism (not a religion, but a belief system for social structure), as well as family worship and Buddhism. Ancient Taoism is fascinating to study as a phenomena, but I never met anyone in China who actually believed any of it. It is a children's fairy tale. Unfortunately, it teaches children the wrong ideas (that some gods have superpowers, etc) about how difficult life situations should be handled. View it with that in mind.

A great animation! It is full of various elements of Chinese mythology. The characters are also very interesting and the pictures are very beautiful. A new and interesting divine world that people yearn for very much. Overturn the traditional and conservative culture and make it acceptable to more modern people. The Romance of Gods is a great literary work. It's very interesting to reinterpret the story with a modern world view. The role of Yang Jian has also become very popular, a god with beauty and wisdom! His love for his mother and sister enables him to understand Chen Xiang's behavior. Looking forward to the sequel of this work.

Studio Light Chaser continues their Donghua (Animated) take on Chinese Mythology, with the intent to build their cinematic Universe.. with no cohesion whatsoever.

Anyway.. Yang Jian(2022) superficially takes the story of Yiang Jia, splitter of Mountains and killer of Gods! ...and barely manages to tell a story.

While it retains some elements of the original narrative, the plot is heavily modified and barely resembles it. The conclusion feels so wrong, they prompted me to read on what they based it this time. I don't understand the overall changes.. as there's no core that makes them worthwhile. Sure, the worldbuilding it accomplishes, locations, scene compositions, character design and animation are all visually impressive. But aside from a shiny exterior, this excellent productions lacks soul and things barely connect with one another.

I've noticed that "Chinese storytelling" feels frustrating to me most of the time (I'm reminded of Genshin Impact while I write this).

Could the culture be so different, that they seem to lack so much structure and basic foundations? I've enjoyed plenty of Asian releases, some are too weird/creative/unhinged (which makes them enjoyable), and few are very well done. The developments in this one feel tenuously connected from one scene to the next, with characters that seem to have their own reasons for doing things.. and those reasons often remained either unexplained or are unimportant. As a whole, it suffers from this dull execution and isn't particularly appealing. Their "Jiang Ziya" and "White Snake" stories were competent enough, but their other movies are like uncooked meals.

Watch it for the visuals, and lower your expectations. I'm left with a sour taste in my mouth.

6.5 rating i wonder why the low rating because this movie is fantastique, ok i get it some people from China might not like that the legends or gods are inaccurate by today standards.

But its still a pretty good and strong movie, great story, the character are amazing too, and the graphics are also vey well done.

I love the science fiction them as well played out with the story. I have no knowledge of the Chinese mythology story and i really love that movie.

Well science fiction, magic, the music is also amazing mix of jazz techno, cool settings and so much more.

Don't be fooled by this low rating the movie is worth it.