Shi Wan Ge Leng Xiaohua Movie 1

Ahh the movie that no one over the age of 40 should watch unless accompanied by a young person (quoted directly from one of the preliminary trailers). Shi Wan Ge Leng Xiao Hua (Shi Leng/十冷 for short) originally rose to fame as a web comic infamous for corrupting readers’ childhood memories in irreparable ways. As a continuation of the “99980 End of the World Arc” this movie is no exception to that rule.

Story: The story begins in media res with an unnamed protagonist facing the consequences of his actions from the previous arc in which he essentially blew up the Earth. In taking what ... seems to be a quick solution to his problem, he only deepens his dilemma, and the only way to resolve things is to work with a team of other rather quirky characters to restore order to the universe before it is too late. Meanwhile, in addition to fighting some ever-persistent antagonists, the protagonist also has to confront his own self-confidence issues. Overall, while it’s certainly not the most original, the storyline is quite decently executed.

Art: This is perhaps one of the weaker aspects of this film. Given the budget and the fact that much of the 2D animation industry in China is still stuck on the mindset that they should only make stories for children, it’s understandable that some of the action sequences are little on the stiffer side. Overall though, it’s definitely quite watchable, and I enjoyed the expressiveness of the characters as well as their designs.

Sound: What do I say? I love Chinese voice acting. I never knew it was possible to express so much passion while ranting at a rate of 10 words per second, but somehow the ShengYou/Seiyuu make it work. While the music department is a fair bit weaker in comparison, the existence of the Time Machine Chicken alone probably makes up for it many fold.

Character: Another quality that I love about the series - the characters have such interesting settings! Take for instance General Li/李靖, who, despite being an amazing swordsman, can never engage a fellow human in a duel because any blade he wields will inevitably end up caught in someone else’s hands (百分百空手接白刃). Or the unnamed protagonist who collects power in his ahoge based on the amount of ranting he does about the stupid actions that he perceives (吐槽能量收集). All of the characters have some quality about them that, when brought together, generate very humorous dynamics. In addition to fun interactions, I also really appreciate how each character is able to resourcefully utilize his/her unique skill, sometimes in rather creative ways. Overall, the movie is very strong in this area.

Enjoyment: The movie is arguably more enjoyable than the short monthly anime episodes. Sure the episodes contain more inappropriate content which contribute heavily to the humor. However, the movie manages to be pretty funny even without those elements, so I count that as a pretty big success. I also really like the fact that the movie actually has a theme that is emphasized throughout, and how it ends full circle from where it started. There’s even a little bit of character development, which is rare for this series.

Overall, I definitely recommend this movie. It may be best to watch the first two seasons of Shi Leng before this, because while this movie can be enjoyed an independent unit (it certainly recaps everything important), there are many references to the ONA/manhua that you might miss out on if you don’t watch/read it first. (That being said, I discourage watching season 3...which in my opinion really only existed to promote movie 2).

Finally, I will end with a quote from the second Shi Leng movie that I believe gives a good taste of the flavor of series. “At the origin of the universe there is a point if infinite mass called the laughing point/笑点. When poked, this point explodes into two kinds of energy: the energy of pointless stupidity/犯二 and the energy of pointed mockery/吐槽, which together form the basis of all matter - the 梗. And when the mass and density of this 梗 increases to an overwhelming size, it can form a Brain Hole/脑洞 with the potential to both create and destroy the entire universe.”