Wu Shan Wu Xing (2020)

Story & Plot: 5/10
It is kinda jumbled in a mess, but it is not bad that it ruined anything.

World Building: 6/10
The world was very unique although it was left unexplored from the glimpse of it it looks very vast and beautiful.

Characters: 4/10
I guess the weakest thing about this are characters, i hardly felt anything when it comes to the charcters, they are inconsistent and one dimensional. everyone have their 1 main emotion and only on different ocassion does they suddenly become another character completely. The mc is just a tryhard to be cool.

Art: 6/10
The art is unique but i dont really enjoy it that much, ... but thats just my bias as a veteren anime watcher, the art is not that bad its just it takes time to appreciate it, but art is also subjective, some would love this art, some like me just have a hard time to process it, others would hate it outrightly. For me, the art is fine.

Animation: 10/10
Now this is the main selling point of this donghua, it is unfortunate that i know people will never find this donghua because not enough people are talking about it. but the animation and the fight choreography are up there with top anime studio.

Sound effect, Music & score: 5/10
I'm not going to talk much about music since its subjective, for musical score i also dont have any capacity to judge it since i rarely pay attention to it during my first watch, but for sound effect it is good and bad for me, the fight scene sound effect is fine but for the rest of the sound effect it is just plain or sometime none existent.

Enjoyability: 10/10
This is the kind of "shut your brain off and enjoy the epic fights the story has to offer" kind of show if you can just ignore all of its shortcomings, this is very enjoyable.

Overall: 6.6/10
All score aboved totalled and the average is taken as the overall value.
total score [5+6+4+6+10+5+10=46]
total average [46(total score) / 70(maximum score)=0.66]
convert into out of ten score [0.66=6.6/10]

I tend to forget how rocked my pants can get when that animation hits.

My hatred for “age-old” stories like this one painted my judgement way before I pressed play. They tend to focus on the world-building to a detriment. It's usually focused on explaining the dynasty, the rules, the relationships, how everything works, but “Fog Hill of Five Elements” lets you understand by yourself. No time wasted, show don't tell, that's how that dad talks to his daughter, that's how royalty talks to the ones below, that's how things work just by virtue of the dialogue. A good story that knows how to establish characters ... and their missions, their stakes, and their necessities. Not everybody is good, but instead of blatantly portraying them as evil, they're just desperate.

However, yes, short story, it doesn't have that much time to establish a story. I wholeheartedly respect a story that contains that kind of animation, and tries to give me an emotional response with it.

With that out of the way, DUDE, THAT ANIMATION IS F*CKING INSANE. A colossal display of skill by the characters, consistent in escalation, subtle in changes of the dynamic, even if it boils down to “I can now hit harder”. Weighty, brutal, gigantic, with give and take of damage, and clear showings of how much a punch damages the other even in the air. It's not just “hit hard, nothing happens until we get to the floor”. Fights are choreographed to end as soon as possible, since characters can't take such mass punishments. A fast, intense show of movement that climaxes with rapid moments that don't need much focus. It happened, we're not here to think about it.

As an action extravaganza, with SOME emotional drama, it sets up a great context for the next season. I'm excited to see where it goes, I like the characters, I love the animation, the acting, and the conflicts set work for me. The drama isn't perfect, but hell, it could work with the next season if possible. I'm amazed at what this context can allow, but with complete honesty, if the animation wasn't as good, I wouldn't care that much.

7.8/10. Eye heroin.

Reviews if you don't have time.
*SPOILER-FREE*

As a person who didn’t really get in on the Chinese animation rabbit hole, I confess I was a bit sceptic when I saw an amazing fight, on the internet, from the Chinese original show “Fog Hill of Five Elements” animated by Nice Boat Animation and Samsara Animation Studio.

Well, the animation is as good as one might as for a show that made the fights the highlight and enticing part overall. The fights were absolutely top tier to the point I can say they were one of the best I’ve seen in recent time. The sequences are fluid and dynamic, ... the usage of powers, weapons or terrains that surrounds the characters was really well executed and the climaxes and big moments were exciting and awesome to watch. It was done also in a refreshing art style which was very nice to see. Only thing I can think that was not on point was the speed that sometimes the action went that prevented the viewer to enjoy every little movement.

Unfortunately, shows are not only about animation and fights, and in this case that was pretty much all there was to it. Plot wise, it was way too short to be able to create a plot and was not that good. The characters were interesting but nothing out of the ordinary and maybe it was the bad translation, the dialogue and development of the characters and plot made no sense a lot of times.

However, for a 3 episode show to have such amazing and memorable fights and animation sequences, I think it is fair to forgive some lack of plot or world and character writing.