Xing Yuan Zhi Zhu

Plot Summary: This donghua takes place in an alternate universe Earth where modern society has developed along side cultivation. Our MC is one of the "mortals" incapable of cultivating. However, the "Star Spring" or "Star Source" is born, and while other cultivators are fighting over it, it hits the MC, who absorbs it. After being hit, our MC wakes up to find two beautiful ladies who are cultivators. The two of them offer to teach him how to cultivate (each with the motive of recruiting him into their respective sects). And so begins the MC's cultivation journey while being pursued by other cultivators because of ... the "Star Source".

The plot of this donghua is very simplistic and is one of those donghua I consider a "trash tier" (donghua that are low budget, have cheap animations and models, and have 5-8 min episodes). While I classify this donghua as "trash tier", the plot itself is decent. There isn't really anything groundbreaking or surprising since most of the information is presented in some kind of dialogue, either internal monologue or some explanation to the MC. The story is basically about a non-cultivator who by some stroke of luck gains the ability to cultivate and is a genius at this, and so starts their journey to becoming OP (with some obvious harem elements and all the accompanying "comedy"). Comedy is a main part of the "slice-of-life" story telling; the comedy is very reminiscent of JP romance and harem comedy.

The characters are very simplistic and easy to understand, they basically lay out all the important characters' thoughts through monologues. The main trio, MC and two senior sisters, are basically as normal and transparent as can be. Each character, including the less important side characters all fit some sort of archetype. The two senior sisters characters are the exact opposite, and they play off of each other very well; my only complaint about the two is that one is portrayed too much as a vase so it gets a bit annoying. The MC is okay, just a bit beta, but given how he lived previously, I guess it is believeable.

The animations are decent and the models feel a bit cheap, but these are to be expected from low budget, short-runtime, high episode count donghua. The action is alright for this type of "trash tier" donghua but aren't anything special, bordering between decent and cringy. There does seem to be times when it looks like the animation lags, for some wierd reason; they do have jiggle physics too, so I guess that is a plus.

Overall, this donghua is a decent watch for both story and comedy, but don't expect anything deep or groundbreaking. It falls in the generic and ordinary category. The animations are decent (w/ jiggle though), but nothing spectacular. And as should be obvious from the fan service moments, this donghua is clearly aimed at those that are younger (probably 10-15 year olds). It is a good time-killer, for when there isn't anything else to watch.