Xiang Ling Ji

One word to describe this whole show or that involves this whole show is revenge. No wait, who are you to judge others. That's what the whole show is about. I'm not the best at writing reviews, but will try with show in a few sentences. At first, thought this show was going to be a bit of a let down. Wasn't expecting too much. It was funny and a bit annoying in some episodes due to how the characters interacted with each other. Where you just wished the girl would learn her life lesson, the second, third, time etc. Anyway, first couple of episodes ... either you will love it or hate it, all of them involving exorcisms and death. It's no joke, that in almost every episode someone dies. However if you enjoy the first few 6 episodes, then you will definitely enjoy the rest. Love all the main characters, especially when we find out somewhat of their backstory, how they help or take revenge. Some of the characters stories are so tragic!!! Ending though was so unexpected, which I loved!!! (Though many would think differently) Overall, art, music, etc was okay. If you need a show to pass the time, with mini adventure and death, with an unexpected ending this is your show.

N/A: I'm going to summarize each mark in capital letters for those who don't like long pieces of writing. After the summary I'm going deep into explaining the reasons behind the mark. At the end I'm discussing also the problem surrounding the so debated finale of the series (but you can avoid spoilers avoiding the *SPOILERS AHEAD* section). Yes, I like to talk a lot and say my opinion in detail, hope you enjoy XD.

[ENJOYMENT 7/10]
This is the perfect show if you want to chill out a little bit. I watched it during my lunch breaks when writing my final dissertation and I felt both ... entertained and relaxed. It is a series that doesn't ask too much focus or thinking from its spectators.

[TECHNICAL SIDE: SOUND AND ART]
6/10 + 7/10: ENOUGH TO BE ENJOYABLE AND CHILLING, BUT NOT EXCEPTIONAL
The opening and ending song are both absolutely enjoyable, though not memorable. I think the op gives a really chilling vibe that mirrors that average-but-pleasant work that this shows wants to be. The absence of a real soundtrack throughout the episodes makes me choose 6/10 as a mark for the sound design.
From the artistic point of view, we have -again- an average result which can't be classified as beautiful or peculiar. Even if this is not high budget animation and special effects are minimal in respect to this kind of story, the fight scenes are enjoyable and the overall quality of the artwork is good, with detailed characters (in 70% of the scenes). Therefore, I give 7/10 to Art

[CHARACTERS]
6/10: COULD BE MORE INTERESTING; EVEN WHEN THE POTENTIAL IS PRESENT IT IS NOT DEVELOPED. SUPPORTING CH. ARE FUNNY AND FAIR, BUT NO DEPTH.
The character design is quite simple, both on a physical and psychological level. Nevertheless, I loved the design of the main character and I think that men's cloths really suit her. Hua Jiu and Mu Chunyang are interesting as main character and main villain: they are nothing new, but still easy to sympathize with. On the other hand, I think it's a shame that other characters like the perv, dog/cat like -blondie Daoist, have little space and no background story. Qi Ye's story is shortly explained, but a one episode-tragedy and a heartbreaking death is not enough to make the public feel fond of the male co-star. For these reasons my vote is 6/10.

[STORY]
6/10: THE PLOT IS SIMILAR TO OTHER STORIES, BUT WITH A FEMALE LEAD THAT MAKES IT A BIT DIFFERENT AND WORTH WATCHING. THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE CH. ARE FINE, SOMETIMES FUNNY. THE TWO MAIN PROBLEMS ARE: LACK OF EXPLANATIONS ABOUT THE POWERS OF THE CH. AND THEIR BACKGROUND STORIES; A REALLY UNEXPECTED BUT ALSO HORRIBLY-MANAGED FINALE.
The show is about a female warrior, that wears men's cloths and travels around the world selling her abilities as an exorcist in exchange for money. In the first ep she encounters the spirit Qi Ye and forces him to be her servant. The 15 episodes have a fast pacing (sometimes too fast) and show their adventures killing bad spirits. In the 6th episode we also see the development of the real plot with the main villain, that will have its 'conclusion' in the finale. But here we need to use the brackets, because the real problem of this donghua is that is doesn't have a proper conclusion. Everything ends up in a cliffhanger that leaves you waiting for a never-coming season two. Years have passed and people still lament it. But, in my opinion the problem is not the cliffhanger itself: if you have seen Hannibal season 4, you know that a cliffhanger-finale can also be considered art and an ultimate expression of creativity that doesn't require anything else. Cliffhangers can have value when there is the need for a 'silent' ending that leaves space to the imagination of the public because everything that had to be said has been said already. This is not the case. Too many things have not been said. Too many things have not been shown and there is no foreshadowing that can set the right mood to lead to this conclusion.
[SPOILER AHEAD]
I am no writer or producer, but what I'm trying to say is this: cliffhangers are a powerful weapon, especially if you use them as a series finale. But you need to prepare everything in order to reach that moment. You have to make the public feel the tragedy coming. You can't show the mc dead for seven seconds and then an unexplained change of color in the hair of the male partner. That is no tragedy and no ending: the pace is completely wrong and it would be wrong even if there was a season two scheduled for the following year. That can work at least as the ending of a standard episode (and even in this case the pace of the scene is completely wrong). I think there could be little changes here and there that could prepare the audience to this final moment and make it a worthy ending to watch. For example, what is the reason behind the change of hair color? If someone had explained that it was a consequence of a state of absolute despair, linked to the acceptance of a demon to pursue vengeance renouncing to the chance of rebirth, then we could have interpreted the ending as the male lead becoming exactly what Mu Chunyang is. This would have led to the beginning of a new cycle of revenge, which would be perfect with the main message of the plot that you "are no Law no God to decide who lives and who dies, who is right and who is wrong"-to quote Hua Jiu. It would have been a cliffhanger, yes, but the audience would have had the tools to reflect on it and think that the 'good guy' was about to become like the 'bad guy' and the entire process of murder-revenge would start again with an action always having consequences on others.

[END OF SPOILER SECTION]
Of course I made up my previous explanation of the finale, just to explain my position about this cliffhanger-conclusion.
BUT if you really want to know how the story goes on, you can check the manhua fom here (chapter 47): https://ac.qq.com/ComicView/index/id/525535/cid/108?fromPrev=1 . It is in Chinese, but you can guess what happens. You can also see some of the amazing characters that appear later in the story and that the donghua has done major changes in the storyline. Unfortunately, the mannhua has also been interrupted in 2019 and I heard someone was doing a petition for season two (closing in August 2021) but they only had 400 participants/10, 000,000, so I don't think that's happening.


[OVERALL: 6]
To make it short: should you watch it? If you are stressed and want to relax with something you don't have to concentrate on, please go on. Except for the delusion of the finale, the show is pleasant and enjoyable, definitely a nice distraction.

Overall review, don't waste your time on this show. Bad art/animation and ending.

[POSSIBLE SPOILERS]
I was very disappointed (*pissed) watching this show. The art and animation is very unpolished for it to have been aired in 2017, and even knowing that I still gave it a chance because the story line is one that I am generally fond of (justice vs. revenge plot). However, this just seemed to be executed quite poorly and much of it felt rushed with clear plot holes in the end and just the overall feeling that it should have been done waaaayyyyy better than it was. From the beginning I ... honestly didn't think that it would end great, but I had hopes that at the very least the ending would be clean cut and somewhat acceptable. Obviously from this review you can already guess that it was a fail in my opinion and that's because even if it was supposed to be open ended, the build up beforehand becomes pointless with the way the last episode went. Not only was the romance rushed but also the revenge scene wasn't fleshed out properly. You'd expect there to be more action (no matter how terribly animated) or at least a conclusive discussion between the protagonist and antagonist(s) but the dialog was barely there. The side characters that were built up to seem important in the end didn't even take part in the finale, they were just briefly shown before the credits. Maybe it was just a bad budget that the creators were working with, but they should have just left this in manga/novel form instead of trying to put this out as a show. I rated it a 3/10 because they did get me interested enough to watch the whole thing even through the crappy animation and rushed story, but I definitely wouldn't recommend it to anyone else.