Mo Dao Zu Shi

I usually write reviews either because I hate it or love it. In this case, it’s the latter.
I’m so in love with Mo Dao Zu Shi in general, (not just the animation) and I’ve started reading the novel and caught up on the currently translated Manhua. [SPOILER-FREE]

Story: 10
If you haven’t read the novel or Manhua, (like me—because I started with the anime/donghua) then it might be a bit confusing at first but you’ll get the gist of it. I personally started reading the novel and Manhua, and they give more explanations and you’ll appreciate the story more.
This is a BL/Shounen Ai Story, so ... if you’re not into that, then watch something else. (Spread love, not hate)
The story is, so far, heavily focused on flashbacks. Only the first 2 episodes are set in “the present”. I am currently on episode 9 and it’s still a flashback, so it’s a bit slow-paced. However, all the episodes are action-packed and it’s hard to look away.
[Also, Mo XuanYu and Wei Wuxian look VERY similar and I got confused as well, but I believe Wei Wuxian’s body has a longer ponytail.]

Character: 10
Everyone has a distinct character, despite some characters looking the same—you can tell them apart. Wei Wuxian is very fun protagonist to watch—he’s a troublemaker who likes to tease people and isn’t afraid to speak his mind.

Art: 10
This was what attracted me. The setting is in Ancient China and I’m in love with their clothes, architecture, etc. (All were flawlessly animated.) Everything was smooth and literally everyone is beautiful and eye candy.

Sound: 10
Although the Chinese voice acting is a bit new to me (this is only my second Chinese Animation), I got used to it and it actually sounds nice! The voice actors were very expressive in their tone of voice, which I sometimes found lacking in some Chinese voice/actors.
The background music, OP & ED were like heaven to my ears. The main characters also play instruments (flute/guqin) which sounded so badass.

I never really write any reviews on anime but this time I felt like I had to. This anime is truly a masterpiece. The plot is outstanding and it doesn't get tiring at all. Although it is a bit confusing at first it's not hard to understand and follow it. All the characters are very well drawn and portrayed. The animation is beautiful too, their movements are so smooth and it's almost hypnotizing to watch. The voice actors have done an amazing work showing the characters feelings (especially in the last episode). The music is truly magnificent as well. I really liked the fact that ... the opening and ending were both created specifically for this anime but the music during the episodes is absolutely perfect as well. I thoroughly enjoyed this anime and the novel a lot more since the plot is explained more and a lot more has happened which has not been animated (yet, I hope). Definitely a great anime, worth watching

Hi, I'll make it short for you guys, put some headphones, and dive into it, the music, art and plot will do the rest.

You'll get hooked, and get sadder and sadder as the prospect of the end of the season approaches.

The ancienT China lair, and character development are really sofisticated, voice actors are great and it deservs its reviews.

The 3 best points are for me : the main character , the music, and the art and smoothness of the animation, the combining of ccg and drawings is really well done, and immersive, I know really few japanese studios that could rival with this level ... of dedication. Pay attention all along to the backgrounds and number of frames used.

That's all for me have a try, it's tagged shounen ai, but it's clearly from someone that didn't read the novel or understood the anime, only brotherhood is displayed, and later passion will be shown elsewhere ♥

Where do I begin with? I was doing a search on pinterest for some traditional media pictures and some fanart of chinese illustrations and some pictures with long haired guys that looked like anime images would pop up again and again. So I finally decided to do a reverse image search. And I can't believe what a gold mine I stumbled across!!

This anime... first and foremost there are breathtaking landscapes in almost every frame of each single episode. I kept on imagining how ancient China must look like before its modernization but I feel that most part of China (probably the central parts) might ... still be as breathtaking to look at as they have been depicted in the anime. The backgrounds in this anime are simply heavenly!!!

The story... It has a solid base- an action, adventure, fantasy story, very good pacing and very good narration. For me, watching this story was like imagining the lives of ancient people of China even though there are lots of fantasy elements. But the way the towns, or transportation, the temples and school ground has been shown, there's something really captivating about it. A jolly troublemaker protagonist, the hardships he goes through and how in all this he's unconsciously drawn towards someone again and again. It's just a treat to watch. The story of Wei Wuxian's past has been animated in these 15 episodes. In this how, he's sent to study the cultivation arts, what tasks are given to these young students where they can use these arts to slay the dark forces is shown.

The animation and sound... It's really lucid. CGI used in this anime doesn't disturb the scenes. The background music throughout and opening and ending songs are beautiful and have traditional Chinese musical instruments in it of course. Very harmonious. The voice actors have done a very good job. Since this is the first time I've heard dialogue in Chinese, I can't really say much, but I liked hearing how each person spoke. Their way of saying sentences reminded me a lot of how Korean is spoken.

Characters... The most important in the anime after the story and the best part all male characters are long haired handsome boys and men!! <3 <3. The two main characters, Wei WuXian and Lan Wangji have been fleshed out very well. They both are really adorable but I must say I like Lan Wangji a tad bit more than Wei Wuxian. Simply because he's such a tsundere character who deeply cares for Wei Wuxian. If you read the novel you'll probably fall deeper in love with this character. Since this anime is going to have another season, maybe we'll see more character development for other characters as well.

All in all, I can;t get this series or the two main characters of this series out of my head. And am impatiently waiting for S2 (schedule in July 2019). Please do see these 15 eye candy episodes and also read the manhua and novels.

Sorry if you find some errors

Consider my review as a fan of the whole story, so this review may seem biased to you

Mo dao zu shi, Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, The Founder of Diabolism, The Founder of Evil Magic or 墨香铜臭 is a donghua ( Chinese animation ) adapted from a Chinese novel with the same name ( and have manhua as well )
For me this animation is a point of revolution in the Chinese animation ( I'm not joking )

The story is simply about the cultivation world, In this world there are cultivation sects ruled by prominent clans ( Jiang - Lan - Jin ... - Nie ), the cultivation generally is a Chinese folklore about purging ( purify ) evil souls or spirits who can't rest in peace .

The protagonist is a reincarnated person who was feared by the whole cultivation world by his dark cultivation named Wei WuXian, seeking revenge for the one who sacrificed his body for Wei, Wei WuXian start his second life, but after that he face a lot of crisis.

The story for me is one of best XianXia stories ( about cultivation ), There is a big character development your gonna notice in the whole anime.
The animation is perfect, the backgrounds are a flawless work of art, the movements of the animation are flexible, a good combination between the hand drawing and the cg .

For me I find the biggest studios mistakes are :
- Changing the timeline of the story, you're gonna notice in the second episode, there is a return to the back in the end of the episode, which will continue for the whole 10 actual episodes, in the novel the past of the protagonist is represented in flashbacks from time to other, so that make some difficulties for the audience to understand the plot .
- There are some parts also changed from the main story, which can make a little difference between the animation and the main story.

So for me :
Story : 10/10 , As I have explained before , a cultivation story with good plot + futuristic bl between the protagonists, makes this story evolved for other XinXia stories, also the evenness are good relied, there is a good work in the story

Characters : 10/10 There is a brand new characters development in this story, totally different from others animations, which remains for me favorable

Sounds : 8/10, for some, you are going to find the voices ( Chinese ) unbearable , but after some some time it's gonna be normal, as for the songs, there is good work on it, some songs are quite good, for me the opening was the great deal .

Art : 10/10, for this animation, the combination between the cg ( no shity japanese cg ) and hand draw is flawless - perfect - fascinating - admirable, to some points your gonna find backrounds somehow realistic .

Overall enjoyment : 10/10, for me as fan of onmyouji ( japanese exorcism ) and cultivation, the enjoyment is reaching it climax, including drama, comedy, historical ( my favorite genre ), all I could say its peace of art .

Note : for some who found the story hard to understand and have passion to read novels, I recommand immediately to read it, the novel is in a total different league from the animation .

Mo Dao Zu Shi or The Founder of Diabolism is an adaptation of my favourite Chinese BL novel, so I will probably be a bit biased in my review. (I hope there aren't any big spoilers.)

Story 9/10
By the 3rd episode, the anime has shown only the introduction to the main story and there are some minor plot changes, but I can see that it will be as good as in the novel.

The story is very interesting and unusual. Because of that it's difficult to put it under a curtain genre - it is very funny at times, however, there will be a couple of very ... sad moments. What is more, there is a little of mystery and horror, as well. To be honest, I really love the romance between the two leads - it is slow, pure and heartwarming. I am not really sure how much of their love will be shown in the anime, but as a fujioshi I can already see the love in Lan Zhan eyes. (Retrospection will have a big role in the story, showing us how the characters changed through the years.)

Characters 10/10
The characters are UNIQUE. They are smart, beautiful and realistic which is great because we can always understand why they do whatever they do. Another VERY interesting thing is that the uke and seme aren't stereotypical. The most confusing thing about the story is that most characters have more than one name but it is not really a problem (I kind of like it).
Wei Ying/ Wei WuXian/ YiLing Patriarch - the MC
The main character is strong, intelligent and independent, he is the founder of diabolism whom everybody respect or is scared of. Even though he is so strong, he is extremely kind, fun and bubbly person. (And he is the uke in the relationship!)
Lan Zhan/ Lan WangJi /HanGuang-Jun
He is calm and strict - the opposite of Wei Ying. At first they are like water and oil, but later... He loves Wei Ying a lot.
The other characters are interesting too and they really contribute to the story.

Art 10/10
The art is fantastic, astonishing, fascinating...you can use every strong word to describe how beautiful it is.

Sound 9/10
I really like the music and their voices. At first it is a bit weird to listen to the Chinese speech but you get used to it pretty fast.

Overall enjoyment 10/10
This is a great story that a person can enjoy even if they don't like yaoi (boys love). Their love is not the most important part of the plot and it is so pure that if you want to you can easily pretend that it's just bromance.

If you like yaoi though - then I would totally recommend watching the anime, reading the novel and the manga too (yes, there is a manga too, that's how popular this story is in China!). Reading the novel will help with understanding the donghua (chinese anime) much better and will most probably make you fall in love with the characters and their story!

Shortly about the anime - it is very good, so you won't make a mistake if you give it a chance!

Long ago, the cultivation clans lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Wen clan attacked. Only the Yiling Patriarch, master of harnessing negative energy, could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he went kinda batshit crazy, killed a bunch of his friends and exploded. Now, my brother and I have found the new Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, a lunatic named Mo Xuanyu. And while his fluting skills are great, he's got a long way to go before he's ready to save anyone.

Ok, I promise I'll try to keep the ATLA comparisons to a minimum from here on out, but you ... get the picture. While this series has the bones of a good story and some awesome art and sound, its plot languishes unnecessarily for almost the entirety of the series. All the information in the paragraph above is revealed within the first 2 episodes, and the next 16 or so are exclusively flashbacks retelling those events in incredibly long detail, meaning that there is little actual progress or character development happening in those episodes beyond what is already revealed early on. The end result is that the vast majority of the series (stretching into the second season) is written as its own unnecessary prequel with all the subtlety of a 16-ton weight dropping from the ceiling.

Story/Characters: 5/10. The story had a lot of possible directions it could go from the start: starting a new life without the baggage of notoriety, hiding one's identity from former friends/frenemies, learning how the art he invented has grown and changed in the years he's been dead, observing the social changes that occurred after the overthrow of both the Wen and the Yiling Patriarch, living as a freelance demon-hunter, etc. etc. The story chooses to explore none of these and instead re-tell what it already told in the opening episodes. While toward the end of the second season we do get a glimpse of things going on behind the scenes, unfortunately most of the episodes are spent telling us stuff we knew from the get-go: Wei really likes his sister-figure. His relationship with his adoptive brother soured. He developed a way to harness negative energy, which makes him a hero to some and a heretic to others. Various miscommunications, misunderstandings and petty partisanship have cast him as a villain when really he is just trying to protect his people. etc. About 10 hours of the series is spent slapping the audience in the face with things they already know, while what was introduced as the main plot (Mo Xuanyu) is abandoned. The length of the exposition steamrolls any nuance out of the plot and twists itself in circles to justify the purity of its characters rather than exploring their flaws. Most of the characters have fewer than 2-3 character traits, one of which is almost always "loyal to family/clan" so the vast amount of time spent expounding on just how justified Wei Wuxian was or how much of a major asshole Wen Chao is was a vast amount of potential for actual storytelling in a fascinating setting wasted.

Minor gripe: the character designs are far too uniform, especially Mo Xuanyu and young Wei Wuxian. I suppose since basically everyone immediately recognized Mo as Wei Wuxian anyway, it's a bit of a moot point, but it felt lazy. I don't know if they were TRYING to make the Wen clan leader look like Fire Lord Ozai, but they did. The ubiquitous sun and flame motifs among the Wen does not dissuade this comparison.

On to the good parts:

Art: 9/10. Docking a point for lazy character design, but the art and animation were incredibly compelling. There's a good amount of noticeable-but-not-terrible CGI interspersed throughout, which works effectively with the storytelling in parts. The art really makes me wish it had a more compelling story to fill it out.

Sound: 9/10: Music is used as both theme and symbol throughout the series, with the guqin and the bamboo flute offsetting each other. Both are traditional Chinese instruments, but their use in the series underlies the difference in tone of their characters: the guqin's music is usually calm and resonant, while the bamboo flute instrumentation is often high-pitched and frantic. It was a masterful way of showcasing the light side/dark side interactions as the characters became closer entwined. Unfortunately, because the main plot spent most of its time flashbacking, the audience gets a very limited amount of the most compelling musical dynamic in the series. The VAs were generally good, although I have a feeling that they gave about five too many people the voice direction "You are an angry but scholarly middle-aged man," though that would arguably be a problem with character design.

Enjoyment: 5/10. I went into this series and loved the first few episodes, so I was incredibly disappointed to spend almost the entire rest of the series waiting for something new to happen. The art and music kept me afloat long enough to reach to the end, but ultimately it never gets far enough away from its starting point for me to have enjoyed it.

i found about the anime two days ago and i’m addicted to it by the time being , after watching until the last fifth ep unsubbed ( this how much i’m addicted ) , i went to read the manga then the novel ..

the anime starts off with ambigious events you don’t understand what’s going on but by the end of the first episode you get the over all idea .. of course the novel is well built up and it does explain the first episode in details so you’re not lost as in the anime experience

the story is really rich and adventrous ... , remind me of those antiuques adventrous anime with thick plot and i know that from reading the novel which is quite represtented in the anime to some degree , let’s just hope there will be tons of seasons for this anime to deliever this magic

back to the anime and aside from the messy first episode , the art is mesmerizing with crazy budget , you might watch the whole the anime just for the art and no one would blames you with some sort of new gergeous visual effects

the charcters is good , espically the flash backs is enjoyable and show their development when compared to the actual time line and i meant the whole bunch of friends not only the main characters
the main characters BL is my kind of BL , simple pure and almost toward the bromance side rather than yaoi side
the both males are powerful with rich history in cultivation and magic so both are respectful , neither is pitiful or need the other to depend on but their interactions together is something to look forward to in each episode

loved it and i’m waiting patiently for the animated episodes

I am utterly disappointed by this adaptation.

I must make it clear that I watched this series AFTER I read the novel Mo Dao Zu Shi, which this series was adapted from. I had my expectations when this series came out: it was adapted from an extremely popular novel and was made by a rather experienced studio. I realize that I cannot ever get the same enjoyment as I had when I first went through the story, but at least this adaptation should present the story in its full glory.

What did I get?

I got a long 15 episodes of... fancy animations and good voice ... actors and beautiful art and... the studio did not disappoint me in their willingness to spend money on this show. It was well made and impressive compared to low-budget series.

But they missed out on one key aspect of what differentiates between a good adaptation and an adaptation that was MADE JUST BECAUSE THE NOVEL NEEDED THE EXISTENCE OF AN ADAPTATION.

This is a problem you see with a lot of series made by chinese studios, especially adaptations: they are too focused on making a series that looks fancy and has a lot of episodes. Looking fancy attracts viewers, and having a lot of episodes means earning more profit (the more episodes you have the more money you earn). And to make matters worse, this show is really only gaining popularity because of the novel it was adapted from. The story is the exact same but presented in a worse manner: it was made with money and for the purpose of money. There was no consideration of the pace, character development, mood, or just in general, how the story was presented. I sat through 15 episodes of draggy plot development and special effects that look fancy but are just there as fillers. It's like in magical girl animes where the transformation takes 5 minutes. This series did the exact same, but with more fancy looking fillers. The episodes dragged on and on and on. I could literally skip 5 minutes of an episode and they would still be stuck on very unnecesarily detailed CG animations.

What I am even more confused about is why this series is even popular in the first place. One element could be the fact that the novel was popular. Yeah, but why exactly was this adaptation popular other than that?

It's controversy.

This show presented yaoi, or shounen-ai at least, to a market that was not very welcoming to homosexual elements presented in entertainment (there have even been instances where chinese boys-love writers have been arrested and put to jail for presenting homosexual elements). This series was cut mid-way as a result: homosexual elements was not something the higher officials wanted people to see. A series like this, that becomes more than a web novel, and is actually being advertised and presented to the general audience was something new, and new things are exciting. While the web novel itself even had controversies regarding its popularity, the fact that this adaptation actually came to air sparked even more debate. Now when an adaptation like this is advertised and promoted everywhere on the internet, THAT was boom, popularity. This show was not popular because it was good, but because the lack of similar materials available for its target audience.

The story portrayed in this adaptation was the same, but something feels lacking in this series. The novel gave me chills, but this adaptation was nothing more than a series of pretty but meaningless motion images. Like terrible products that are so overly advertised with layers of packaging and labels that it becomes "a hit", this adaptation was essentially rotting in its core. There was no story. And even if there was, the advertisements, the controversy, and the excessive detail on making this adaptation an expensive and fancy adaptation, robs the show of its true gold.

Now, for those who have never read the novel before, this is acceptable to the eyes. If you enjoy beautiful CG animations with brilliantly coloured backgrounds, with sexy looking/sounding characters and boys love elements, go for it. The story is slow moving, but it allows time for viewers to fully enjoy the art of producing motion images. The art is very pretty and there are a lot of places where you can stop and screenshot a wallpaper. It is beautiful and impressive, a very high quality production.

Recommended if you do not care too much for the presentation of the story and simply want a well made anime to bring peace to your eyes (and ears).

Only 1 adjective is fit to describe this series: Captivating

***TL;DR***
What I Like:
-Funny prankster and oddball main character who is overpowered but chill
-Fighting scenes
-Chinese-style Magic Circles (:O poggers)
-the sheer beauty of landscapes and trees
-Chinese instrumental music

... What I am critical about:
-Shounen-ai
-Non-linear plot structure & time skips
-Unfamiliar chinese voice acting

I recommend you give this show at least a try! Most people may be turned off by the Chinese voice acting and the Shounen-ai aspect, making this show quite underrated. I find them more than tolerable and am quite enjoying the series.
___________________________________________________________


From the art style/animation and music to the plot structure and character interaction, this series has blessed my eyes and ears with delightful pleasure.

The art and animation of this series gives Ufotable Studio's Fate series a run for its money. However, it also derives its uniqueness by being very different in its art style. As a long time Japanese anime fan, I find this very refreshing because it does not feel like a Chinese knock-off copy. In fact, I am overjoyed that I'm watching something that feels both genuine and unique.

Seriously, I regret not being able to give the art and animation of this series a score higher than 10. It is incredibly gorgeous and one of main reasons why I easily tolerate some of the aspect of the show that I was more critical about when starting the series.

TBH, I'm tend to avoid Shounen-ai, since it is not my cup of tea. When I saw this tag in the genre labeling, I was a bit turn off. However, the bromance is within tolerable level since it is quite subtle and can pass off as a best friend type of relationship. However, I was warned by a friend that this aspect gets more pronounced as the story progress if the ONA is faithful in terms of plot to the Novel.

The chronological pacing of the show is a bit confusing. It may take a rewatch to fully understand what is going on. In the first episode, you will have to pay attention to the text to understand the context of the series. It was tedious to chronologically map out the plot in my head, but at the same time, i like how it made me think and try to truly understand everything, rather than the show just throwing everything at me and boring me to sleep. Make sure to pay attention to the plot texts!!

I also found the Chinese voice acting to be weird, since I usually listen to Japanese from your usual anime. The Chinese names will probably become a mess in your head, so you may want to a mental note of which name represent which character. As if to further torment your brain, each character may also have a nickname or a title. For example, the white-robed patriarch of the Lan family residing in Gusu goes by 3 names: Lan Wan Ji, Lan Zhan, HanGuang Jun.

I got used to both the Chinese and the name in a few episodes, so it is not too big of a problem.


Overall, the first 6 episodes were a pleasure to both watch and rewatch. Some things were confusing but it cleared up. I did not find rewatching to be tedious at all. In fact, I wanted to rewatch since the art was such a masterpiece, and you would have to anyways to compensate for its more confusing plot structure and story pacing. Finally, I want to leave with note of appreciation for the unique vibe of this series because it is refreshingly new due to the different cultural setting.

Thank you for reading my really long review LOL.

On first glance, MDZS the animation seems superb: great characters, unique soundtrack, gripping story... but there are glaring weaknesses that I feel pulls down the score significantly. Note, this review is influenced by my experience reading the novel.

Story: 7/10
There is politics and complicated webs of relationships between characters. Plus, there is undeniable appeal in following an underdog who, through suffering and circumstance, ends up attaining great power. Unfortunately, there's a lack of depth and emotional punchiness - it's too much wish fulfillment, evil is completely evil, good is completely good, there's no complexity in how the story plays out.

Art: 9/10
Fluid animation, amazing (!!) backgrounds. ... Inconsistencies - some jerkiness and unimaginative framing bring the score down.

Sound: 8/10
The soundtrack is beautiful, I love, love how they incorporated traditional chinese instruments to bring the world to life. But - the sound is occasionally used very heavy-handedly. Emotional moments that would have worked better with silence is instead embellished to death (like, please, we get the point). Similarly, the voice acting is stereotyped.

Character: 8/10
By themselves, the characters are great (especially the protag). Glaring weakness is - the characters don't grow and they vary from being "somewhat" to "highly" stereotyped. Again, good and evil is too clearly defined. It's disappointing to see side characters reduced to cannon-fodder to help the plot along.

Enjoyment: 7/10
The characters sorely need more depth to them. I didn't enjoy this despite the lovely art + music, because my personal enjoyment hinges on great character stories, and I felt this was lacking in MDZS (particularly comparing the animation to the novel).

Overall: 7.5/10
I can't, in good conscience, give this more than an 8 given how skillfully comparable scorers have handled their own themes. On a superficial level, this is very good. But if you want something a bit more insightful, a bit more artistic, a solid 9 or 10, I'm afraid you won't find it here.

Note 1: This first season has "a bit better than good friends" vibes between the main characters. If you just stared at the "Shounen-Ai" tag and the rating "R - 17+ (violence & profanity)" and thought "Oh, this is just like all the other Shounen Ai animes where the main characters are in love with each other" You are COMPLETELY WRONG!!! (for now) This season (Season 1, I'm not sure about the other seasons) is DEFINITELY rated 17+ for the gore (like zombies eating people gore), not the love between the main characters (These two characters did not do any flirting. At most, it is ... Wei WuXian excessively bothering Lan WangJi in Season 1. There isn't even one kiss this entire season).

Note 2: This season is mainly set in the past. Here's a rough timeline:
Epidode 1: (present) Episode 2:(present, at end shifts to past) Episodes 3-14:(All past) Episode 15:(Past for 1st half, when WWX wakes up at Cloud Recesses, it shifts back to present)
Hopefully, this helped some lost people. Ok, onto to the review.

Let's start with The Characters: 10/10
Each character is unique and there is a depth to their personalities underneath what is the first perceived of them. All of them have their own backstories and are really likable. (except the bad Wen Dogs... They are just plain old bad. Not including Wen Ning and his sister)

Heads up: each character has 2 or 3 names to remember. There should be a helpful relationship chart floating around somewhere on the internet.

Main Characters:
Wei Ying (birth name)/ Wei WuXian (common name)/ Yiling Patriarch (the title he was known by to most people)
At his first description in episode 1, you are expecting a ruthless, heartless killer according to the rumors surrounding him. As you continue watching, (after you see Mo XuanYu give up his body to summon Wei WuXian) you suddenly meet a personality, almost a complete 180 from the description given at the beginning. This season shows the events that happened that gave him such a bad reputation.
If I have anything to say about the main character, I think he is just like a happy-go-lucky, really smart class clown. He is really annoying to almost everyone in the series, but he likes to think outside the box. He loves to bother Lan WanJi and trying to get a reaction out of him. (Just like how you see a really boring person, and you just want to make them have a reaction aside from "stiff".) On the other hand, this season shows the important events in his youth that led him into demonic cultivation.

Lan Zhan (birth name)/ Lan WangJi (common name)/ Han Guang Jun (respected title)
Lan WangJi is your standard cold, and studious student. He was brought up strictly, and never shows his emotions. The only time he shows any emotion (anger) is when Wei WuXian desides to play pranks on Lan WangJi. As the series goes on, you see him start to open up (kinda? Only in extreme moments though. He is still stone-faced most of the time. Honestly, I need his brother to stick around more so we all know what is going on in Lan WangJi's mind...)

Lastly is Jiang Cheng (birth name)/ Jiang WanYin (common name)
This season mainly depicts Jiang Cheng as number 2 in everything, always being overshadowed by Wei WuXian. At the start, you would probably think that Jiang Cheng is an insane person. (That close-up shot of his smile in episode 2 Does Not Help!) Then, the very next episode, you see that Jiang Cheng and Wei WuXian are really close to each other, which kinda contradicts the previous impression that Jiang Cheng made in the previous episode. Throughout this season, you see how he started from being close brothers to Wei WuXian, to eventually their falling out.

The Story: 10/10
(Almost) the entire first season was about how the main character, Wei WuXian/Wei Ying became notorious for being a demonic cultivator, and how he started on his path to demonic cultivation. When starting the series, you are met with a really casual guy, and the question of how he actually became a demonic cultivator starts to form. Then, you are thrust into the past at the end of episode 2 and you see the events that led to him becoming a demonic cultivator. The season started off as light-hearted, but towards the end, it became heartbreaking and sad until revenge was dished out. I thought the first 2 episodes were kinda fast paced, but afterward, the pacing of the story became much better.

The Art: 10/10
Even if you don't get hooked onto the characters or the story, please pay attention to the background! Each background scene has so much time and effort put into it, that I'm using some scenes as my wallpaper. It's just that amazing! The scenes are all masterfully made, that it almost looks real. The lighting was also done very well, with the creepy scenes full of dark and scary colors, while the lighter scenes had bright colors. Unfortunately, sometimes the 3D scenes are awkwardly placed, and the walking scenes could be better. But, the fight scenes are really amazing (as expected of the studio that also made The King's Avatar)

Sound: 10/10
Chinese music is different from other music. But, the music fit very well with every scene, while keeping the traditional Chinese instruments. The comedic scenes are characterized by an upbeat flute melody, while intense scenes are characterized by intense drum beats. It is different from the music we usually listen to, but it is unique and it fits in very well with the scene.

Enjoyment: 10/10
The entire series was enjoyable. I loved the story, the amazing artwork, the music, and the characters. I truly recommend this series, even if you don't like Shounen-Ai. This series is mainly plot heavy, and I see all the effort the animation team put into creating this for the fans.

Overall: 10/10
Being a novel reader, I say that this adaptation is really similar to the source material. (they changed a few scenes, but it's fairly good) I liked how each character was protrayed, and the interactions between the characters. I personally enjoyed both the novel and seeing the story being animated.

I was amazed to my "Golden Core" ! [SPOILER-FREE]

This is undoubtedly the most beautiful anime I've ever seen in my life! It's much better than any other anime in the year of 2018, I would dare to claim. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves anime as I do.

I have mostly great things to say about this anime with a couple of complaints.

First of all, the arts, style, music and character design in this series absolutely amazed me to my "Golden Core"!

The artistic portrayal of ancient China is breathtakingly beautiful. Every frame seems like a picturesque poem. In fact I would call the ... animation style in this series as "Visual Poetry".

The music and all the ancient instruments appeared in the series are out of this world. The opening theme instantly brought me into this fantasy world where cultivators can fly so effortlessly on their swords and perform stunning arts of cultivation as one does.

The voice acting is great and gave each character a distinguishable persona and made the characters more relatable. Their struggles and the dynamics of their relationships makes me feel like I'm part of it. On the other hand, I did notice that some of the background characters' faces look more generic, bland and indistinguishable.

The plot of all the 15 episodes in season 1 did not quench my thirst for more content in this fantastic world. I want more stories in this beautifully animated world. I can't wait for season 2. I hope season 2 would be more epic and more ambitious than the first one.

Additionally, some people have assigned this anime into the Shounen Ai category, which I beg to differ. For my viewing experience, I didn't even realized this anime is adapted from a Shounen Ai novel until I looked it up on the internet. Since this anime is produced in China, I seriously doubt there would be an overarching theme about Shounen Ai. The Shounen Ai element would be very subtle, if there's any to begin with. I seriously pity those who decided to not enjoy this anime simply because it's labeled as "Shounen Ai".

I would even go so far to claim that this show can be a huge hit not just with avid anime lovers, but also with general audience, that is if Mo Dao Zu Shi is ever gonna be marketed properly here in US.

My only complaints lie with the sub translation. There's a heavy load of info dumped on me when I started the first few episodes. All the names are in Chinese which felt like a heavy task to me, although I did catch on with what is going on shortly after I dived into the series. When it comes to the mythologies and concepts in this anime, I very much prefer interpretation over direct translation. I would understand many concepts much better and quicker if it were not badly translated into weird English, which also slightly takes me out of this anime's artistic world. With all that said, I still appreciate all the hard work by the fan sub community, without whom I wouldn't have the privileged to enjoy this anime.

Overall I would give this anime a 10 out 10.

This is my first non Japanese anime. And I really hope it can get a second season produced smoothly. I'm very worried about the fate of this anime production since this anime did not go viral around the world as it should be. I honestly don't know what to do if season 2 production doesn't go as planned. I call for more support to this anime. And to all the fans in China, please tell Tencent to give whatever cash is needed for this anime production.

so i watched this chinese ONA because one of my friends recommended it :D
i came to watch this for a first try and never would have thought that i would like it to this point :)
everything was perfect for me...i watched spirit pact but i watched the japanese dubbed ver of it so it seemed like an anime and it was so beautiful with a good enough story...i hope chinese animation industry will bring us more and more ONA's like these :D i personally adore them...they are so good *~*

STORY 10/10 :i watched the first episode and i was like whats happening...i watched chinese ... dramas before so i got used to their language but everything was so messed up but it got better and better until i fell in love with Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji after 5 or 6 episodes :D
i love these kinds of stories tbh....historical...dramatic...fun...dark...it has all i wanted so i loved it...i wish we could have seen more of these two main characters :( i was so desperate to watch the rest of it...i'm so happy that its gonna air in 2019 again :D

ART 10/10:this really deserve 10/10...art is really beautiful and stunning...characters are really well drawn and animated :D ~~

SOUND 10/10 : i loved the sound no question about it...opening and ending were so beautiful

Character 10/10 :the story is like a real chinese drama so the characters were beautifully made in my opinion...

Wei Wuxian:a happy character :D :D he is the one who is always looks at the bright side of everything,he seems like an idiot but he is the most brilliant one...he thinks fast and acts fact but he is a bit careless sometimes and he breaks the law all the time(yeah...these kinds of characters are so lovely and energetic :D)

Lan Wangji:the smart and cocky yet shy one :D he seems cocky because he is SHY i guess :D
he is the one who plays by the rules all the time but he gets a little soft after meeting Wei Wuxian...Wei Wuxian calls him his friend...he thought that he didn't need any but he gets attached to Wei Wuxian somehow and they become friends :D :D

Wanyin Jiang:so he is Wei Wuxian cousin....more friend than cousin tho...they were so close like brothers...he doesn't think straight and that becomes the cause of his failure...he rush things so much...he is a trouble tbh...but Wei Wuxian loves him and respects him :))))
P.S:he is a lucky bastard :|

Xichen Lan:he is not the main character and does not appear that much but i remember him because he is sooooooooo good...kind..handsome...gentle...a perfect man and Lan Wangji's older brother :D *.*

the rest of the characters exist to play the part in Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji's story...the head of their own families and their friends :D

Enjoyment 10/10 :i enjoyed it so much obviously...i was all eyes and ears during watching Mo Dao Zu Shi...i was so focused to understand whats happening because if you lose focus you should re watch the scene to understand whats gonna happen next :D

Overall 10/10:i really loved Mo Dao Zu Shi that i put it in my list of favorites to rewatch it again someday :D
from the Mo Dao Zu Shi manhua i checked this fact that it is a shounen ai story somehow but nothing is this ONA shows that its a shounen ai...there are some sweet moments(yes there are :D ;D)but there is nothing out of ordinary so for those who doesn't like shounen ai good news is you can watch this because the story is so good and for those like me who likes shounen ai stuff...there are some sweet moments and the story is so good so try it!

if you like historical,dark and fantasy genres then this is one of the best ones for you :)

Too much positive reviews for a comic that is subpar and boring.

The animation is undoubtedly handled pretty well by the team but thats the only good point about this chaotic mess of boys love this thing has to offer.

The story and theme is so repetitive even appeared in many Chinese dramas and shows. This really looks a run on a mill drama turned animation.

As far from the art goes, it looks too bland yet normally saturated. This may be the only thing that carried this whole mess but still was not enough.

This pretty much can eager the tastes of the boys love community ... but has yet no deserving chance of being a great anime. A terrible show foreshadowed with grade-leveled shlock content. Dissapointment

Now, I have never written any reviews on any anime whatsoever. However, Mo Dao Zu Shi has me sister stoked in such a good way that I cannot hold myself back from writing a review on this masterpiece.

Story (9.5): The reason why I'm not giving this a 10 is that the story starts off quite confusing. That being said, the pacing of the story will definitely give you enough time to clear off all your confusion and misunderstandings about the world, the characters and whatnot. The show starts off with more comedic scenes that are funny and exciting. Yet, the anime will turn an entire ... 180˚and move you to tears when it needs to.

Most of the story is not predictable, and even if it is predictable, you'll still enjoy it. The ending (or at least, the last ep) is satisfying and ties the entire anime together after going on an emotional rollercoaster for most of the episodes.

Art (10): The animation is slick. The characters and backgrounds (when needed) are drawn with so much detail; the fight/battle scenes are hypnotizing and smooth. The CGI will not hinder your enjoyment of the anime...in fact, I think it will improve the experience of watching this stunningly animated masterpiece. And for once, the animation style actually stays the same.

Sound (10): Combined with the animation, it certainly does make the anime so much better. Most of the background music includes Chinese instruments that rarely make an appearance in Japanese anime. It's quite unique, and I actually found myself looping the opening on youtube when I feel like it. The OSTs create a mood and atmosphere that further conveys the message or emotion for that scene. The voice actors did a really good job, delivering exactly what is needed for each character in each scene.

Character (10): The characters are great. Most of the MCs will experience an obstacle throughout the anime that help them grow as a person, and even some side characters get development. The "shounen ai" aspect does grow stronger, however, it's more like a development from "I do not like you" to "I still find you annoying, but you're now tolerable" instead of "I do not know you" to "I will envelop you in hugs and kisses every day".

I know some of you think it's a shounen-ai, and decided not to give this a shot. In my opinion, it is definitely not prominent in this anime (for now), and you should probably watch around 5 eps before you decide it's not worth your time.

P.S. If you are hooked to this anime like I am, season 2 comes out this year (July 2019).

Watched the donghua after reading MDZS and watching The Untamed and although I know the story and the characters, the donghua makes little to no sense to me.

Nothing is explained and I really wonder how someone who starts by the donghua might even understand anything.

You've got to know about cultivation and the plot, I guess. I would really, really not recommend watching it without reading the novel or at least watch the drama adaptation that is The Untamed.

Why does Meng Yao appear so late? [SPOILER] Why is nothing explained about Jiang Cheng's golden core? [/SPOILER] Why adding filler scene but putting the plot to ... the side? ... I had so many questions.

Some characters have a different personality, too. Like Jiang Cheng sounds more composed as an adult, compared to his original or drama version (he looks so damn cool as an adult, ngl).

I'd say it's eye candy for the already fans of the novel a/o drama? The characters all look similar but they're all very well designed. And we get extra cute scenes that are very delightful. Also, Lan Wang Ji has more tender expressions and, eh, that's a nice bonus I guess.

So it's not bad per se, it's just extremely confusing and I would not recommend watching it without knowing the plot.

I cannot imagine going back to Japanese anime after this show. It has obliterated all current standards. The worldbuilding, storytelling, music, ART, plot....everything has surpassed my expectations.

I watched the donghua before moving on to the novel, and suddenly realised there are tons of easter eggs hidden within the show, waiting for me to grasp the meaning of. And when i did, ho boy. I fell so fast and so hard.

It is rare to empathise with more than a handful of characters in shows - but not for this. You don't finish this series without having strong feelings for close to 20 characters. You ... won't even find it a burden that some of the main characters have up to 3 names each.

I digress. Please do your eyeballs and soul a favour and watch this.

I liked the manga and the novel ,but the anime was a big disappointment
the art and Chinese voice actors were good ,but what the use
As the story filled with ugly and boring fillers , twisted of events ,and skipping important details ,focusing on other unimportant details ,and they made a short past long story (longer than the present) while in the manga and novel it focus more on the present than the past ,and that how it should be
And I don't know why they skipped all the ai shounen light cute love between the 2 mc? it was pure ,funny ,enjoyable and cute ,not to ... mention that some of it was deeply related to the story in an important way
And the most important thing they made Wei Wuxian is wrong and being possessed by evil power, which is not!!!
Wei Wuxian is a great character and the writer showed us how he is been accused of falsely sins in the manga and novel , and he would always use any power in his hand to help any person in need through the past or present ,putting anyone before himself ,even if it harmed or killed him ,he seek power to protect not to be great
and all the close people were to him abandons him for power the only one stayed in the 2 times period with him was Lan Wangji
Which also was ruin in the anime by making him stand against wuxian , while he never done that on the contrary he would always take wuxian side no matter what was the other side ,as he was sure of wuxian good intention
AND THAT MY RIEVIEW FOR THE 3 SEASONS AS THEY RUIN A MASTERPIECE
And ruin a great arc which was the left hand body tracking , and made a chaos speedy ver, which was filled with half assed explained events and flashback of important events or ignoring them ,adding silly scenes which doesn't make sense ,like the anime staffs didn't know what they were doing or didn't read the novel or manga thoroughly
This was really a bad commercial for the novel and manga
People who didn't like the anime ,don't judge it and try to read the manga or novel as mystery and cultivation was a masterpiece ,and overall it is a masterpiece

I personally really enjoyed this show. The art was amazing the soundtrack was amazing and not only that but the story telling was extremely well done. Although most people will tend to avoid this show because it contains BL. I really think that people who usually avoid BL, can actually watch this because the story is so amazing and you can somewhat ignore the aspect of it being BL and pass it more as bromance. So whether you are into BL or not I think this donghua was very well made and I really enjoyed it(literally got me obsessed lol).