Shaonian Ge Xing

Great Journey of Teenagers follows several characters: An oblivious newbie disciple of a famous master Lei Wujie, a crippled former prodigy disciple and disowned prince that owns a snowy mountain inn Xiao Se, a famous assassin and disciple of a famous Master, Tang Lian, Tang Lian's Master's third-wheeling tsundere daughter Sikong Qianluo and Tang Lian's yandere companion Maiden Rui.

Their fates become intertwined when they encounter Tang Lian's mission to escort a golden coffin - a heavily rumored coffin said to house many secrets of the martial arts world. Their journey of escorting this coffin ends abruptly when a young monk emerges from the coffin, ... Wu Xin is the young monk who is said to have mastered all the Temple's secret martial arts and it is speculated that he is the last person to have them after all the secret martial arts manuals were destroyed in a fire.

Wu Xin's journey involves disciple Lei Wujie and cripple Xiao Se as he scatters along the plains to put his mentor/old friend's soul to rest. On the way, they encounter many obstacles but Wu Xin's wit persists in order to fulfill his wish. All the while, he is being chased by several opposing factions set out to capture him.

Story: 3/10
Great Story of Teenagers tries to masterfully blend the different perspectives of the main characters as they give chase. It also tries to incorporate many different martial arts and Buddhist principles as well as a wide range of factions that fight over Wu Xin's existence. All of this detail makes the story hard to follow and they introduce details then never mention them again (i.e the 5 immortal swordsmen, the horse stealing gang etc.) The way we see progress in the story is by having the characters spoon feed it to us while they're talking to another character (i.e Lei Wujie asks Xiao Se and then Xiao Se explains it) Overall, this repetitive progression is just lazy and full of filler content that can be skipped.

Art & Sound: 4/10 5/10
The art and animation was pretty good. The subtitles were problematic the entire time I watched this series. Since many of the characters talk in idioms the subtitles are constantly popping off with explanations of the idioms or the Chinese respelling in English letters. This makes it even more difficult to grasp other character names because it's hard to tell whether they're talking about a character or idiom.

The sound was average, nothing too notable.

Character: 5/10
The character establishment was actually pretty interesting. Many of the main characters like Wuxin, Xiao Se and Lei Wujie had mysterious backgrounds in the beginning but eventually on the journey they expressed their past based on the obstacles they encountered. If this was the main premise of character establishment I would have enjoyed this series much better than the current amount of characters in this series. At many points of the story it's hard to determine which of the 3 are the main characters and it goes back and forth between disciple Lei Wujie and the monk Wu Xin. I would have preferred if it centered around one character since we don't get confused on whos back story is developing (since each of the 3 have a backstory that develops as the story progresses it gets confusing to denote the main-main character) Overall, I enjoyed the main 3 character establishment and development but disliked how other characters were brought in and forcefully established to evoke emotional conflict in the end 6 episodes.

Enjoyment & Overall: 4/10
This series had me lost 85% of the time mostly because of the subtitles but also because it tries to establish a large amount of small fry characters in a short amount of time. This isn't the first time a series has tried to do this. The amount of story lore is a but much as well since it is only known to us once and then discarded. Overall 4 is a pretty blunt rating but I can't find anything notable about the series.

Have you ever drove towards a mountain range only to discover that the individuals peaks are actually distinct mountains, separated by large distances? And that you were awestruck by the grandeur of the farthest, towering peak as you approach the nearer mountains? Shaonain ge xing is one such multi-faceted, layered story that got more fascinating as the plot unfolded.

Shaonian Ge Xing (SGX) is a webnovel by Zhou Mu Nan. The anime actually follows the chapters of the novel rather closely (almost 1 ep = 1 chapter). Strictly speaking, SGX is a prologue of sorts. The story centers on Wu Xin and has a coherent ... plot with a satisfying end. The central mystery that drive the plot and character development is well paced in its execution and reveal. But as the story progresses, another more intriguing tale is layered upon the main story, thrusting Xiao Se into the spotlight and expanding the narrative much more.

The world-building is rich. The pugilist world is vibrantly set up with myriad sects, sword deities and distinct power levels that sounds awesome (for example 逍遥天境 – it was translated as “unrestrained sky realm” but it honestly doesn’t capture its true poetic essence). The political/court intrigues hum in the background and occasionally rears its head to intersect violently with the pugilist world, deepening drama and mystery.

Character-wise, the development is rather uneven. Of the 4 main characters, Tang Lian's character development is the weakest followed by Lei Wu Jie. Since this anime is a Wu Xin tale and the novel is a Xiao Se story, the latter 2 get great character arcs. However, I do have a criticism on Sikong Qianluo. She does not actually appear so early in the novel. I suspect to prevent the show from descending into a sausage-fest, Sikong Qianluo was forcibly introduced early. The 2 underlings that she eventually acquired in the show was a low point in the anime since their attempt at humor was crass and not remotely funny (My only true gripe of the show).

On production values, for a 3D Chinese animation in 2018, SGX stood out for me in terms of their facial rendering. The characters are expressive and complement their layered dialogue perfectly. The fights are visually appealing though nothing to write home about. There were a few scenes that stood out cinematographically for me – watch out for Xiao Se when he steps out of this inn in episode one. Revisit it after you learn his backstory and the scene will hit differently. The mark of a good show is rediscovering added dimensions in scenes, dialogues upon repeat viewings and SGX attest to that.

In closing, Shaonian Ge Xing is a well-crafted wuxia story that gives a glimpse of further greatness (and yes Season 2 is already complete). The rich details in storytelling and dialogue thus demand high quality translation to capture the nuances and intricacies of the tale. Highly recommended but only if you find a well translated source.