Douluo Dalu

I would say Soul Land is challenging to get into at first, since it looks pretty much like an xbox game, but honestly, the further you get into it the less and less you notice that aspect. It actually works very well for the show. Depending on the translator you watch, there may be some inconsistencies, so take care in being flexible with your reading of the subtitles.

Essentially the main character rises to prominence in his clan, but those among them did not trust his ascent and tried to extricate his position. He chose suicide to prove his loyalty, and is reincarnated ... in a parallel world where people gain power by collecting the souls of powerful creatures inhabiting special forests.

The fight scenes are epic, the music and sound works well with the anime, and the pacing seems steady, if not fast in some places, keeping the watcher from becoming bored. The main character is endearing and honest, but at the same time, flashes of his nature as a martial artist spark in his current life where he borders on cunning brutality.

It's worth taking the chance. If you haven't seen a good martial arts fantasy in a while, it is very much something that will satisfy you.

Chinese Harry Potter. This is somewhat how I felt watching the show at times, because of the nice and well-thought adventure and story, in a beautiful and complex world : a believable world.
Now the problem is, to get there, the viewers have to ... cultivate (^^') an incredible amount of patience.
Because this show is also a perfect exemple as to why a carefully craft story can be crushed by its production nefarious flaws. And there are numerous, these flaws. Here's some example : in a video player, one episode is about 20~24 min. From these 20 min, remove 3 min for opening theme+previous ... episodes resume, then remove 1 min for useless interludes and finally remove 5 to 7 min for product placements and ending theme (and I'm not joking, I've timed the thing).
Honestly, this take a fair amount of patience, and maybe must even take your stubborness out in order to watch this 3d production.
But at times, you wil be rewarded with somptuous backgrounds and scenes, straight out from a video game (special mention for the time the hero is trying to "sense" the world surrounding him). And while I hate the 3d aspect of the characters (not so bad actually, it's more of a personal opinion), I can't deny the tremendous amount of work behind these characters, background and scenes which in turn must explain why we have to endure the pathetic and obvious products placement.

So... you've been warned : while I think Douluo Dalu is worthy of your time, you will have to struggle past the scenes made with an economy of CG in mind, and deal with the product placement scenes badly integrated into the show. Despite all that, Douluo Dalu might be one of the best chinese 3d anime production so far, even if far from perfection.

Something that I like about this anime is its art style. Before I watched Doulou Dalu, I only liked the regular 2D art style that most anime used. However, it seems to work for this type of genre. It makes the fight scenes cooler than they would've been in 2D.

One of the only issues I have is that none of the characters really develop except for the MC; everyone has the same personality.

Overall, it's a great anime. The MC retained his knowledge from his past life and uses it to his advantage. It's very satisfying seeing him becoming stronger and unlocking new abilities. For those ... that enjoy the anime, it's very difficult to stop watching.

Fairly comprehensive review of Douluo Dalu (Soul Land) Season 1

Introduction
Douluo Dalu is a Chinese Reincarnation-Cultivation Donghua adapted by Sparkly Key Animation Studios under Tencent Penguin Pictures and collaborators. The Donghua follows events of the novel “Douluo Dalu 2009” and from what I believe don’t follow the Manhua “Douluo Dalu 2011”.

Overview
Douluo Dalu First Season follows Vol. 1 Chapter 00 to Vol. 5 Chapter 34 covering the Douluo Continent, The First Spirit Ring, Monster Academy, Shrek Seven Devils and the end of Star Dou Forest arcs.
Meaning, the first season is a bulk of character development and narrative establishment which becomes lengthy and almost tiresome to ... persist. However, it is because of this development that the latter narrative development is more meaningful and suspenseful.

Story
We are introduced to Tang San, a former Tang Sect outer disciple who masters the creation of hidden weapons. Tang San meets his demise in his previous life after he ventures into the sect’s forbidden Library and reads his clans Taboo literature - sentenced to death by his clan mates Tang San falls from the cliffs that protect his clan’s lands from intruders and is reincarnated as Tang San, the son of a Blacksmith in a small village. It isn’t until his spirit is awakened that he discovers his true self, the useless Blue Silver Plant spirit with full innate spirit power. Later on, discovering he is a master of double spirits - The Blue Silver Plant and the Clear Sky Hammer of the Clear Sky Clan. Tang San meets Xiao Wu, and trains with her until they visit Star Dou City’s Shrek Academy and cultivate with the other 5 members. They venture into Star Dou Forest to search for a suitable spirit beast for Oscar when the Century Millenium spirit beast Titan Giant Ape captures Xiao Wu and takes her deeper into Star Dou Forest. Tang San searches for her but is confronted by a Millenium Human Faced Spider and kills it but is confronted by the Dragon Serpent duo and their granddaughter for the second time. The season ends when Tang San absorbs the spirit ring of the spirit beast and searches for Xiao Wu.

The story is pretty vague at this point so there isn’t much interesting plot development but it is fairly progressive once the seven devils and Teacher Zhao Wu Ji enter Star Dou Forest. It also brings mystery with Tang San’s dad when he faces off with Zhao Wu Ji after the entrance exam before Star Dou Forest. One thing I did notice was how good the pacing was, it wasn’t too fast paced that it skipped detail but it was also not too slow paced that it followed characters word-for-word like in the Manhua. It also wasn’t as comedic but had a serious tone which made it worth watching.

Characters
The character palette in this first season is a bit small - we have the Shrek Seven Devils, Master Xiaogang, Dean Flender, Teacher Zhao Wu Ji, Tang Hao, and some side characters like the Dragon Serpent Duo and Granddaughter. However, it’s good to see that within the first season we are familiar enough with the characters in Shrek Academy and their love interests albeit the first stages. In comparison to the Manhua, the character design for the Donghua characters are much more defined and suitable, each character’s colors are different and it gives off a Power Rangers feel when they fight together. Nonetheless, great quality character design, character development and connections.

Art & Sound
The sound design is fairly average with the footsteps, characters grunting/sighing/breathing heavy when looking at each other etc. The background music is pretty good, OP music is average not as good as OP 3 Music and the corresponding background music within that episode range.

Character animation is okay, not the best but it’s normal for a Donghua of 2018 to have beginner character rigging and facial rigging. In the latter half of the season, I noticed that it did get better as well as the overall production value of the Donghua. The quality between close ups, establishing shots, fight scenes are distinctive though - it seems the animators value close up shots of Xiao Wu and Tang San more than fight scenes because they literally have better detail and more poly-movement than in fight scenes. However, all these shots have more movement than traditional 2D anime which makes viewing it more fluid and you feel less like you’re watching recycled animation. Even the establishing shots take a lot more rendering power than 2D anime so I can imagine the power needed to render multiple rigged characters or city scenes in Star Dou City Centre.

Overall
Douluo Dalu is the most streamed Donghua for a reason, it takes the source material and improves it in almost every aspect. It has become an action/drama/romance cultivation series with emotional appeal and some comedy making it more consumable to wider audiences. Furthermore, the more the story progresses details are revealed slowly such as the Clear Sky Hammer conflict with the 4 lower clans, Tang Hao and Tang Yin, Bibi Dong and her successor of the Spirit Soul Hall. It all combines and relies on the first season to establish a narrative that can be revealed upon. This alone is why I have rated it fairly highly at 8/10.

Well to be honest this show isn't for anyone... You have to adjust from watching regular Japanese anime to a fully 3D animated chinese production. It kind of feels like you are watching a video game animated story to be honest..

But man, the story is quite compelling if you ask me...
The story is about this young reincarnated boy who was a previous genious of his clans secret techniques, and now is getting to relive a second life in another world with different yet similar powers to his previous world which is pretty interesting.
The characters are fun, somewhat cool and not all over ... the top in terms of fanservice or annoying catch phrases. The MC feels pretty well balanced so far and have some kind of calm and coolness over him, yet also emotional at times which is a process for him to learn, since he was all about the clan and mastering powers in the previous life.
There are some interesting aspects of the world like soul rings, soul beasts, some very OP grandmasters and legendary beasts.. A pretty cool setting in my opinion.

The animations are sometimes out of sync when they speak and sometimes it feels like they dropped some fps because of production costs.. This can make the animations feel clunky at times, but since I'm not a chinese speaker/listener I have to read the subtitles and therefor rarely notices the lipsync issues..
However, each and every fight feels like it's made with higher fps and are very well animated..
It's sometimes uses very fast cutting teqniques which can be somewhat disturbing to the eyes/mind, but overall the fights are generally well made, easy to understand what is happening etc.

I am currently watching the 2nd season which I've kind of benched so far, because I like how the story is developing in both the 1st and 2nd season.
There are still unknown things about the world they are in as well as interesting characters yet to meet the MC.

I would definetly recommend you to give this anime a shot and see if it's something you like!
So far I haven't been disappointed.

This donghua is an adaptation of a novel of the same name. I have read the novel, so I will give an adaptation review in addition to a review of the donghua as an independent work.

Plot Summary: Tang San, an outer sect disciple, violated the rules of the Tang Sect and thus was pursued as a traitor. In his final moments, he reveals that the techniques and designs he stole, allowed him to recreate the technologically lost legendary weapons weapons of the Tang Sect. These weapons would be his last gift to the Tang Sect, as he knows his treasonous actions would not be forgiven. ... Since he was an orphan raised by the sect, he returns everything, including his life to back to the sect (via suicide as atonement). After this, he reincarnates up in the Douluo Continent (Dalu), cultivating the skills he learned from the Tang Sect and slowly learning about this world and applying his previous life knowledge to strengthen himself while learning about this new world and beginning a new life.

The plot for this season is pretty simple. Tang San reincarnated into this new Douluo Dalu world; we have a brief look at this previous life before jumping to Tang San at age 6 in the new world. We get a bit of infodumping in the earlier episodes, but they are important in quickly establishing the world. Considering this donghua is now finished with 263 episodes, this S1 (first 26 episodes) barely scratches the surface, covering from when Tang San starts "elementary school" then time skips to when he is 12 and starts to attend an advanced academy, Shrek Academy. With the aid of some infodumping, we get a decently fleshed out world, giving us a basic understand of how this world works. The story does contain romance, and given the makeup of the main cast, the pairings are obvious; it can feel a bit overdone as there are cringy/sappy romance moments sprinkled throughout. The atmosphere of the world is quite consistant, with the only weird portion being the spirit arena (colleseum part) as the flamboyant design felt out of place.

Tang San is the obvious main character, but other than him most of the core main cast has been introduced. They all have different/unique spirit and abilities. The core cast is shown to be the seven monsters of Shrek academy; all of them have unique personalities, backgrounds, and quirks. The mentors have been (mostly) introduced as well, making the overall cast well-rounded. At the very end, the implied antagonist group gets a very very short intro to finish off the season with a cliffhanger to the rest of the story.

The animation and designs of this donghua are quite good; they are dated (clearly as this was released back in 2018 and it is now 2023), but they still hold up in 2023. Despite being released in 2018, the animations are better than the "trash tier" donghua being currently released. Most of the character designs are unique, which make each character easily identifiable. The world is designed to be a medieval-esque/ancient world type world. The environments, presentation of spirits, spirit rings and beasts are all done well. The movement can sometimes be a bit stiff, with action scenes suffering the most due to the age of the donghua (especially the all-out-assault with hidden weapons), but the quality is still considered quite high. One complaint I have regarding the animation is that they overuse the "transformation" or spirit release scenes. Hopefully, they will tone those down since it can get repetitive.

On another note, the architecture of this medieval-esque world is mostly consistant with one sole exception, the spirit arena. The colloseum type arena that was shown was the only immersion breaking aspect of the overall world. It felt super modern, with the lights, "tv screens", and floating announcer platform (reminencent of virtual/VR concert stages); this felt out of place in comparison to the rest of the world, but since it had little focus, it wasn't too bad.

I cannot review Soul Land without talking about the embedded advertisements. There are commercials in each episode, usually one or two, with some labeled and others not. Luckily, the advertisements are mostly for the same products so your brain can tune them out after a while, but they might confuse some viewers the first time they show up. Also, there is product placement within the episodes themselves, which, for now, are not very immersion breaking, but they are still quite noticeable.

The Soul Land S1 is a pretty good introduction into the Soul Land world. It does a good job explaining the basics of the world, building up the characters, and staging plot for the continuation of the story. There is some info dumps early on which can get a bit overwhelming, and there are some product placements within the donghua which can be immersion breaking. However, despite these flaws, this donghua's S1 is good, featuring some decent world building, action and plot. If you like chinese cultivation stories (with a rather unique cultivation method), this certainly deserves a watch. Bonus is that this donghua is a completed (one of the first) so in 2023 and beyond, you can watch this from start to finish with no waiting.

Adaptation Review:

This adaptation felt very close the the original novel, though it didn't follow the plotline 1:1. The most obvious general change has been a bit of plot shuffling around to better build up the world in earlier episodes. The first example of this is the blacksmithing portion: they originally introduced some of it before Tang San left the village to attend the school, but here they consolidated and presented it during his "job-seeking" where they did some flashbacks that showed his father teaching the technique to him. I have to say this was pretty good, since the information is more concentrated and concise (it was presented in a more fragmented way in the novel).

One point of obvious confusion is that Tang San appears to use both his spirits at the same time, when he was fighting the human-faced man-eating spider, since it appeared like he trapped the spider with his blue-spirit grass before summoning his hammer to strike it; this was something that was explicitly stated to be impossible in the novel.

In the adaptation, they also seem to reference Tang San's previous life alot, bringing it up when explaining his hidden weapons/cuiltivation methods, and especially when he has any mental struggles. This is a bit different from the novel, where this plot point was mentioned only offhandedly.

Overall, the adaptation was quite faithful to the original work, it covers roughly 1.5 to 2 arcs of the original novel: the childhood all the way to the beginning of Shrek Academy. The romance is a bit overdone, but still a great watch.

Adaptation Score (how faithful to the source): 8/10

Great Anime! Love the story. Tang San is the real genius. I like each character development. Excellent story telling.

I highly recommend this anime. Please watch it.

The Tang Sect is the most well-known martial arts sect in the world. Tang San committed an awful crime by taking its most sacred teachings in order to realize his aspirations. With his goal accomplished, he turns up his legacy to the sect and jumps from the dreadful "Hell's Peak."

He had no idea, however, that this would reincarnate him in a world devoid of magic, martial arts, or grudges. Only the magical souls of battle rested in this place.

I went into this show thinking it was a Chinese wushu drama in anime, but what I got was only half of it. The first half of the show did have those wushu elements to them, but the other half turned into literally RWBY

Characters from the first half barely mattered. The actual supporting cast appears in the later half of the show. There is a bit of romance elements to this as well, but it was done so cheesy that it could have been left out.

Main character is a great kid, but after the time skip, he lost all the cutness that I liked ... about him. In fact I felt like he lost all his personality.

The animation and visuals were fantastic. I felt like I was playing a high quality musou game.

If you are into shounen with a lot of growth and a not unlikable main character, this is for you.

Soul Land stars off slow. The first season isn't that bad. The second one gets a little repetitive but once you get to the training arc the next 30 eps are some of the best that I have ever seen. This is pretty good anime to watch if you want to get in to Donghua. Trust me the art grows on you and you learn to appreciate it. The weapon details are very good and the fight scenes are awesome. The translation is pretty garbage at some points but they later get fixed. The power system is one of the best I have seen. It ... is straight forward and you enjoy watching the characters grow stronger.

One of the best Chinese Animes i have watched. Great story line. Minimum fillers, Great character growth. Very good romance plot and character growth. The graphics are one of the greatest and actually much better than most of the Japanese anime too.

The fight scenes are non repetitive and specially the character growth with respect to world is awesome. The only problem i see is that . prepare a tissue box while watching because just like the FMA brotherhood, this anime has a hidden onion ninja who chop onions time to time.

The second season already running for 125 episodes and i recommend everyone to give ... a shot to this masterpiece.

The short simple of this show is be patient with it. its going to be a bit wonky with the animations at first, but they do get better over the seasons. The product placement in the anime is annoying as well, but easy to skip over. however it also requires some patience as well.

as in any of my reviews, I never compare an anime to other animes, and I judge them solely on the impression they left me with. not the "well its alot like*****" and absolutely NO spoilers!!

THIS REVIEW IS BASED ON ALL 10 (current) SEASONS, NOT JUST THE FIRST. (this season)

Story:
Its a ... very well built world that is very rich and believable, nothing really feels like a stretch. If it don't make sense they usually fill in the gaps not long after, and forgotten elements of the show will reappear later and finally make sense. Its a long way from perfect, but this show is very underrated despite its decent reviews, its a shame its not more popular.

Art:
I would put the animations in a category just below the fate series (in the later seasons about an 8) in the beginning of the show its a bit rough (about a 6 at most if your pushing it) and almost looks like a cheap video game with semi-decent graphics, but funny movements of background characters or items. As long as your in it to enjoy the story it is definitely worthy of your time and those choppy movements of background items or people gradually go away as production is obviously given a bigger budget. my only gripe is them wanting to make the main characters appealing, they don't look their age in the younger years, 6 years old looks more like 10-12 in height and size. not a huge deal, but its hard to wrap your head around at first.

Sound:
the sounds in the show are absolutely great, never really notice music in animes, don't really care about it myself, but in this one it caught my attention and the music placement and feel wrap it all together.

Character:
the character building is great, besides the issue i stated before about them not really looking their age. they build upon their very believable world and insert the characters into situations and traumas that are both great for maturing and strengthening their character. none of the main characters or supporting characters feel useless, and they all have a role to fill.

enjoyment;
once passed the bloat the show is amazing. It will have you sucked into the story, the fights are nice, but the story is traumatic and deep, full of pain and joy with someone fighting for the things they love. thrown into a rich and detailed world its a wonder its not more popular.

overall;
overall I enjoy this series and I'll be here for its completion whenever that may be. my product placement is the only real gripe. if you can shoulder through the animations in the beginning and the product placement then you should have no trouble enjoying this world and the journey the characters are on.

Douluo Dalu demonstrates a form that calls for a direct relationship with MMORPG games. The main mediator of the anime is in how it tries to put the viewer in a kind of fascination for the whole spectacular technical apparatus that is presented.
The entire staging of the anime has this kind of fascinating aspect due to the magic of its universe. The scenes are all very loaded: there are a lot of filters, details, things moving. Anime always has many pleasurable elements highlighted. Almost everything is spectacularly beautiful and detailed. And the anime makes several plans that allow the viewer to contemplate all this beauty. ... It's an anime made entirely in 3D, and it uses this style of animation very well to immerse the viewer in all this technical fascination.

The action scenes are divided into two very specific points. One that I like the most and one that I hate.
What I like the most is the one that lives up to this whole visual relationship of contemplation.
When the characters are about to activate a specific power, the anime always gives a very broad perspective of what is happening (image 1). When he uses the scenarios with that tone of discovery, it's also very gratifying (image 2). It is a very accepted way of looking at this technique. To sum up, they remind a bit of game cutscenes.

What I liked the most were some very expressive shots, from when the anime approaches to show some more evident gesture. (image 3). In the first episode in the chase scene, the anime shows Tang San's character up close making some hand gestures when performing an incantation. The dynamics of the scenes often arise from this agility of the camera in relation to what is happening around it, and the expressiveness in highlighting these minor details.

It is important to remember that this more contemplative, continuous and visual relationship of events reinforces this idea of ​​MMORPG games that the anime tries to convey. This relationship speaks very well with the spectator's gamer imaginary. But, rather than a personal perspective, it is a more panoramic perspective of events.
For much of the anime, characters are given quests, objectives, participate in events. They even have that very basic background in games of the type, where a character, upon reaching a level, can use some different enchantment, weapon or skill.

On the other hand, it has a very serious problem that takes the viewer out of this more contemplative perspective with this game experience, which is when the anime cuts too much of these action plans. In almost all fights, the anime uses a more frantic montage, making several cuts of the same scene. And why is this a problem here?
As I explained a few paragraphs above, Douluo Dalu is a work with very visually loaded scenes. If, on the one hand, this is good when the anime leaves the viewer in a single perspective to contemplate these moments, highlight some detail or scenario, on the other hand, the viewer cannot process these same scenes when they are cut too fast. There are too many details to pay attention to at once. Instead of this more frantic montage taking the viewer along with the action, in reality it ends up confusing a little.
The problem here lies in the conflict between these two approaches.

In another text where I comment on Bing Zhu Qi Hun, I also talk about another feature that bothers me in both animes. By using this 3D animation, more detailed, where the characters have a more organic relationship, and even a more human movement than in a conventional 2D anime, some things don't work in them in a behavioral way. When characters try to act more cartoonish or blatant, it ends up sounding kind of weird. This seems to be directly inspired by a more humorous 2D animation, and in this 3D mold, it doesn't sound so natural.

I still think the choices that work in Douluo Dalu stand out over these issues. It's a very new experience, very different from what we're used to in Japanese animations, even those that are also made in 3D. I think it's a good anime to start entering the universe of Donghuas, especially those that are 3D.

Its a very decent story line .Well developed main character and story plot.
Main character starting from zero and improves step by steps and Its looks very natural .
Chemistry between the leads also very good .
Friendship between main character and other characters are good.
The only thing I dis-pointed is episode to episode was taking to much time .If they manage weekly episodes its very good .
Its one of fine anime I ever seen.
story is he and his father leaves in a small village and he went to another place for education there he meet FL and develop feelings ... due to some issues he went other place there he meet new friends and starts develop his skills and participate in a competition and wins and knows his family background and FL background . situations push him to make stronger and he gets stronger by making new friends developing new skills

If Game of Thrones was a Chinese anime, it would be this one. Unfortunately, that's true for the last season as well. Like GoT, the last season of Soul Land get's kind of dumb and feels rushed. Overall, still worth watching, however.

Don't be tricked by the beginning. The beginning is fine, don't get me wrong, but pretty generic. Good guys win, plots happen as expected, classic OP MC stuff.

There are nearly 300 episodes, and once you get deeper it, the plot gets really good. Twists you don't see coming, intrigue and death can happen to anyone, red-wedding scale surprises that ... take a plot you thought you saw the destination for and dramatically changing it, and all really well done in a way that all the actions and plot points make sense, instead of feeling forced or stupid.

It's just really good. And yes, it looks like it's animated out of a 2005 MMORPG game engine, but A) you get used to it, B) it has some advantages in the sheer depth of environments and people they're able to put on screen, and C) it does get a little better each season.

Watch this show. It's one of those shows that once you start, you start forgetting to sleep and not wanting to go work so you can just binge the entire thing.

This was my introduction into Donghua, and I don't want to go back. Basically, the series follows Tang San, a young soul master, as he navigates a world where strength is determined by one's spirit. The narrative is filled with twists and turns, and kept me captivated from the beginning to end. Given that it was my first donghua, I found that the quality was better than expected, and improved throughout the seasons. I also found the characters to be relatable, and each had their own distinct personalities and motivations. Tang San's growth and relationships with his companions are a highlight of the series. I ... also love a good one-woman man :) and since this had that, I went all in. So, if you are looking for fantasy, romance, friendships, this is a must-watch for you. While it may have some minor flaws, the overall experience is highly enjoyable