Ling Feng Zhe

The Leader is a work with the ability to set any revolutionary's heart alight with pride. It is not often that these kinds of cartoons carry with them such weight, but this is no ordinary cartoon. It is a work designed to inspire a new generation of Marxists to carry forth the torch of Communism to a brighter tomorrow.

I was deeply impressed by the characterization of Marx and his comrades. This show is not just a picture of Marx, it is a mirror in which the audience can see themselves reflected in the actions of Marx and the revolutionaries of ... the past. The Leader makes Marx more than just a face in a textbook, it makes him human.

Technically, the show is lacking in many aspects. The art is sub-par, with the transition between 2d and 3d being quite jarring at times. The sound design also leaves much to be desired. However, it would be improper to place as much weight on these aspects as the true meat of the story. This show needs neither impressive visuals nor immersive sound to draw the viewer in with its powerful message of revolution.

Overall, I was astounded by the degree to which this show moved me. As a show produced under the direction of the Communist Party of China, I was suspicious that it would dilute Marx's revolutionary character, but it seems even the revisionist CPC recognizes his great contributions to the world.

I understand that to one ideologically opposed to Marx, this show might be rejected on its basic premise. However, I believe that even a reactionary can be moved by this humanization of Marx. Too many people understand Marx only by "Marxism." They understand him only by the number of deaths that are falsely attributed to him. But to truly understand Marx the philosopher, one must understand Marx the revolutionary.

When I first saw it, I couldn't believe there actually existed an anime that focused only on Karl Marx's life & biography. Then I watched it, and the fact that it was Chinese made sense. It made me a little upset - after all, it was a kind of propaganda. Also, as seen in the anime, Marx-kun didn't like many compliments, and you know what? This anime is basically it!

With my first comment said - this "piece of art" is 147 hours of praises and compliments, telling us that Marx-kun was the BEST PHILOSOPHER EVER and stuff (honestly I disagree with that but it's a ... Chinese anime btw, probably the budget was all covered by the Communist Party), I'll tell you guys the truth about "The Leader".

The animation is poor sometimes. Yeah, only sometimes. Actually, many times. When it's not focused on Marx-kun or Engels-kun, it is CG-based and pretty weird. I mean, Jenny's hair didn't move naturally most part of the anime. There were scenes that really made me think I was watching some MMD animation. For real. Unfocused people at the background sometimes were just weird, with a real bad animation, even for normal anime standards. Let me give you an example: in Kill la Kill, people at the background often were just copies of the same individual, right? In The Leader, they aren't. That sounds good, right? Yeah, but actually some of them - a policeman, a chief, a NORMAL PERSON, their faces were just... wrong.

My ears couldn't believe what they were listening sometimes. The voice acting is horrible, emotionless at core moments. I mean, some emotions were just forced. Unnatural. Guess the budget was pretty low and the studio must have hired bad or novice actors, I dunno.

This is the time where you ask me, "but Sputnik, if this anime is so awful, why did you rate it with a 6?" Well, it's probably because the story is pretty good. Maybe. Okay, it's not so good. But there was something in it that made me cry when some characters die or just let me go on and finish the anime in some hours. If it were so horrible, sure I would have dropped it. It's not the kind of anime you watch for fun, actually. It's not entertaining at all, no drama involved - only a few, and well, those scenes aren't worth watching - and surely it will make you question why did you ever thought about watching it. Before you do, listen to me: only do if you are truly interested in Karl Marx or Communism. Many philosophical quotes are poorly explained - Bakunin-kun and Proudhon-kun are an example. It was only enjoyable for me because I already knew those guys, and even I was confused sometimes. That's it, farewell.

Welcome to Karl Marx the animation: The Daddy of Communism.

The premise of the show stated that the anime is made to commemorate Marx 200th anniversary with a serious tone, while most of us (in the west) is taking the piss out of it. I can’t unseen that joke someone made on tumblr calling this as Xi Jinping’s way of making communism appealing to the younger generation, as hilarious and meme like that text post was, some truth lies underneath it. One simple click on Google will tell you that the anime is in fact funded by multiple government authorities, ie. The Government’s Marxism Office. It’s ... definitely propaganda alright. After more clicks around the internet and watching the anime myself, I don’t really understand who the target audience is.

Responses from the public:

Since I never read any of his work, I can’t confirm how accurate the dialogues are. But I don’t feel like I’ve learnt much from the anime. One of the criticisms I’ve seen Chinese people commenting is that the content doesn’t appeal to a specific audience, it’s too simplistic for those who knows about Marxism, but too complicated for those who know nothing.

There’re not many negative comments of the show under the episodes, the review function for the anime is blocked on the Bilibili platform where the show is streamed (I wonder why). I had to look else where for reviews. On the site Douban, out of the 1527 reviews, 50.3% are 1 star and the anime have a rating of 4/10 (as of today 07/03), if that doesn’t tell you something about how bad the show is, I don’t know what will. People don’t seem to have a problem making sarcastic comments and rating the show 1 star due to the quality of it. What’s bloody hilarious is that people are commenting on how Marx will be disappointed if he knew that Bilibili is charging people to watch the latest episodes, capitalism at its finest, yeah baby.

The ONLY reason I can write this review a week early is because I have a paid membership with Bilibili and I have access to the show. I guess it sucks to be you if you can’t afford one, huh.

The animation, music, writing:

The first thing you will notice is that the animation is damn awful, it’s so inconsistent, it switches from 3d to 2d and back to 3d then 2d and 3d and 2d every 6 frames, it’s really annoying and harsh to the eyes, as soon as you get used to the style it changes. Episode five was just a train wreck, the faces looked funny, there was illustrations inserted that was just in a completely different art style and appeared out of place.

The choice of depicting Marx and Engels as hot bishonens is also a mystery to me, I’m not saying they weren’t hot when they were young, I don’t know I can’t find any photo evidence of it (huh I wonder why), but this is what I mean when I say who is the anime for? It’s supposed to be serious toned propaganda for the communist party, yet they adopted a Japanese bishie otome game style. In episode 3, there’s also a weird ass aura between Marx and Engels, the whole show seems like a doujin to me. The ED is also one hell of a meme, the lyrics is all glory and communism with a comical rap section.

It really feels like it’s very low budgeted, neither the animation or writing is great, disappointing considering the government funded this. The pacing of the story is too fast, many characters are introduced but never gets another mention, the concepts are glanced over and never discussed in depth. In episode five, Marx literally aged 20 years and they skipped over probably the most important parts of his life. Engels on the other hand has about couple minutes of screen time the entire show, considering he is equally as important as Marx, he did co-write the The Communist Manifesto for god sake, oops, sorry my bad, god doesn’t exist in communism.

If the purpose of the anime were to educate, I don’t think they should chicken out on the details. Literally everything that was said in the show have gone over my head.

Would I recommend this? It’s up to you and what you want out of this, watch it for a good laugh but don’t expect anything out of it, if you are even remotely interested in Marx, I presume you are intellectually enough to read some books and journal articles.

Enough shit from me, I will now educate myself by reading a free copy of The Communist Manifesto. Ride on my comrades, peace and out.