Huyao Xiao Hongniang: Zhu Ye

It’s rare these days I would think about an anime, months after watching but the 7th season of Fox Spirit Matchmaker does just that. I know most people couldn’t even get through the 1st season and I almost didn’t too. The juvenile jokes, weird pacing and bad animation of season 1 was tough to get through but I’m glad I stuck with it. Fox Spirit Matchmaker is at its best when it focuses on telling love stories, exploring aspects of the many facets of love which isn’t often presented in anime. The basic premise involves fox spirits helping lovers to reunite in the present life ... after reincarnation, specifically when one party is a human (with a limited lifespan) and the other, a demon (who lives much longer). Season 7 made a lasting impact on me - it did something different from the usual premise. The love story differs from the other seasons as the lovers are both human which made it more relatable. It got me thinking about how some marriages fell apart when the person you married is no longer the person you fell in love with. For those who struggle to get through season 1, maybe give the series another shot by watching season 7 first - it’s sort of a prequel to the series, with much better animation and a cohesive storyline that focuses on telling what the series does best: love stories.

*Contains small existence of spoilers.
"The once you who had always the heart of sword, yet now... You've lost it."

This animation was quite special existence. Most of Fox spirit Matchmaker was about a demon with a human. But this one was about a human with another human's romance. At first, both of them are like some first time dating couples. It was so cute. But in a recent episode, something falls on the man and caused him to change. He did marry the woman, but their relationship quite changes a lot. It was so sweet and cute before something happens to the man. But it doesn't ... mean that the man doesn't love the woman anymore, but it more like more focus on his goal than his time for his wife.

Finally, the ending had revealed in the last episode. It was so heartwrenching at the scene where her wife, Huai Zhu sacrificed for him. She had already known that her pregnancy was dangerous, yet she still wants it, in the end, she left behind his husband and newborn child. It was so sad!!!! T///T. But this season is so good. I love it. I wouldn't say what happened in the end. I think you might have seen it. Well, see you again HuaiZhu and BaYe!!! >///<

The score for this animation:
Story: 9
Art: 8
Sound: 9
Character: 9
Enjoyment: 9
OVERALL: "9"

This is a great story about love and duty.
Did I enjoy it?
I hated it with my heart. If this was a standalone story, then fine. Story itself is great. Art is better than any season before. Sound and VA are really good for chineese anime. Characters posess duality within them, almost none are pure good or evil.
Except... this is a 7th season of a show called fox spirit matchmaker, but there's no foxes, fox spirits, matchmakers, much less any fox spirit matchmakers here.
It's just a long-ass flashback about Dongfang Yuechu's mom, her sister, Wangquin Fugui's mom, his dad, and all those long since irrelevant characters, ... playing out a story that doesn't matter shit at the point where season 6 left off.


Worst this is, this story spoils itself in its entirety before it even really starts.

The experience becomes even more grueling because not only does OP basically spoil every major plotpoint of the entire season at episode one (which this series as a whole does. Horrible idea, whoever enforces that), if you watched the previous seasons you already know very well that this one chick will marry this one guy to escape that other guy that betrays his master to suck his blood out, and the sister of that chick will give birth to the semi-protagonist, and that the traitor guy will get his blood sucked out back, and...

Generally, this whole season is an experience of watching a story that you already know, with shitty tension strewn all around, where you're left wondering not "oh boy, I wonder what that guy will do now", but "oh boy, I wonder if that guy will do that thing NOW".
The last gripe is that it literally brings nothing new to the main story. NOTHING.



tl;dr if you watched the seasons before, watch this one only if you have too much time and don't watch this series for it's protagonists (you won't see them thorought the season at all).
If you didn't watch the seasons before, then go watch them, they're good.