Chuan Shu Zijiu Zhinan (Scumbag System)

Shen Yuan has read enough xianxia novels to know that the protagonist will somehow cultivate the demonic path, take revenge on his scumbag master, and gain a massive harem along the way. So when he unexpectedly transmigrates into the world of Proud Immortal Demon Way, he knows exactly how the story is going to proceed. However, he does not get to play the role of the protagonist, but instead he becomes the scumbag master destined to suffer a humiliating defeat.

Shen Yuan, now known as cultivation master Shen Qingqiu, makes it his mission to change his fate so that he does not fall to his disciple, Luo Binghe, the protagonist of the novel. Trying to break away from the cruel personality of the original Shen Qingqiu seems impossible as any uncharacteristic behavior is blocked by a monitoring system meant to keep him from derailing the plot.

Shen Yuan must find a way to befriend Luo Binghe so that he has no reason to seek revenge on his teacher in the future. But with the set series of tragedies meant to befall the protagonist at the hands of Shen Qingqiu, this teacher has his work cut out for him.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Adaptation based on a Chinese web novel of the same name, written by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (墨香铜臭).

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong
Sequel:	Chuan Shu Zijiu Zhinan: Xian Meng Pian

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Characters & Voice Actors

Shen, Qingqiu

Main

Luo, Binghe

Main

Liu, Qingge

Supporting

Shang, Qinghua

Supporting

Yue, Qingyuan

Supporting

Mobei-jun

Supporting

Ning, Yingying

Supporting

Liu, Mingyan

Supporting

Gongyi, Xiao

Supporting

Shen, Yuan

Supporting

Staff

Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Original Creator

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Opening Theme

"Wang Yan Ge (忘言歌)" by R1SE-Zhao Lei (R1SE-赵磊)

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Ending Theme

"Que Chun Shan (却春山)" by Angelina Zhu (朱梓溶)

Reviews

Nov 21, 2020

pearlesscucumber

Recommended

I couldn't remember a story that has impacted me the way Scumbag System has in the last few years. In many ways, the story hits really close to home because they deal thematically with many issues that I've been grappling with for a huge portion of my life:

1) On Predestination: the central premise of the novel is really about a person who finds himself transmigrated into the main antagonist role of the story and hence, has to find SOME way to change his life path in order to avoid a horrific death. One of the major themes that the story raises is the concept of ... predestination, ie is it even possible to change one's fate, especially when it's literally written out explicitly for you? There is also the presence of an omniscient System that doles out punishments and severe consequences for appearing too OOC, out of character and this severely limits what the character can behave. The antagonist can only circumvent his fate by making decisions that's already circumscribed by a higher power and it raises the larger question: how much agency do we have over our destiny? Is it possible to change your fate, especially when the System is stacked against your favour, and there are limits to how much you can change?

2) The Impact of Everyday Kindness: In Scum Villain, we see how small, random acts of kindness can have a culminative, butterfly effect that does not just influence other people's lives for the better; it also changes the course of destiny for everyone around you. Due to the transmigrated antagonist's acts of kindness, secondary characters who were supposed to die found themselves alive and played a crucial role in the antagonist's own survival. Side female characters who were supposed to be harem members in the original plotline for the protagonist grew to have backbones, distinct and independent personalities that extend beyond just being a romantic/sexual interest. The protagonist became gay. Kindness can make people gay.

3) On Egotism and Knowing Better: this really hits close to home. One of the biggest problems that the transmigrated antagonist displayed is that as someone who knew the entire plot of the original story, he assumes he knows the characterisation of each character and their motivations. In the first half of the story: he makes very accurate assumptions about how each character behaves but the main tragedy and the root of all the dysfunction that happens in the second half of the novel was because he makes many assumptions about the protagonist that's eventually revealed to be untrue. Because he thinks he knows better, he talks to the protagonist as though he is the central authority, without ever considering the feelings of the protagonist, or how his decisions may trigger feelings of trauma and neglect. Because he thinks he can predict what is going to happen, he treats every character as chess pieces without realising that they are 3-dimensional characters and so, very often do not act in accordance to what the original plot was. The main tragedy of the entire story, which the antagonist realised to immense guilt and regret at the end of the novel, is that by trying to prevent the protagonist from becoming evil, he was so focused on his plan to change the plotline, and he was so sure in his assumptions of who the characters were, that he embarked in a series of actions that misunderstood and mischaracterised the protagonist in traumatic ways that reproduced the cycle of neglect and abuse which he's trying so hard to avoid. Ultimately, he was responsible for protagonist's path to darkness because his egotism in thinking that he knew better blinds him to the ways in which he's actually hurting the person he loved the most. Yes, the relationship is extremely dysfunctional, but through that relationship, it brought out some very important messages about how easy it can be to hurt other people, and how a presumption that you know best can screw people up, especially when the other person is that emotionally reliant on you. The tragedy lies in the fact that he realised this too late.

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Nov 9, 2020

mintvirgo

Recommended

This is great!!! I had so much fun watching it. The team really put their hearts into this, and you can tell in every single scene. It is fun, it is heartwarming, and I'd even say unforgettable. I will treasure my experience watching this forever.

You can tell at once that the team is deeply familiar with the novel, the characters, and even the fandom. When I first heard about this novel getting a donghua, I was skeptical about whether it'd be able to replicate the same atmosphere the novel has (hilarious with a touch (or a lot) of sadness at certain moments), but they ...

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Dec 5, 2020

Adampk

Mixed Feelings

Its a very ironical series. Basically it starts through mocking generic Chinese harem novel through protagonist point of view. So I thought it was going to do something unique. But later on, to my regret I found out the part they were mocking was not towards poorly done generic story but mock was going towards the harem genre. So the series itself turned out to be a poorly written generic Chinese Yaoi series baited as a harem series. But still its decent enough for atleast one time watch.

Story- (5/10)
Story is about protagonist transmigrated into a Chinese harem fantasy story as its antagonist and He is ...

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Chuan Shu Zijiu Zhinan

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Shen, Qingqiu

Luo, Binghe

Liu, Qingge

Shang, Qinghua

Yue, Qingyuan

Mobei-jun

Ning, Yingying

Liu, Mingyan

Gongyi, Xiao

Shen, Yuan

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Chuan Shu Zijiu Zhinan

Alternative Titles

Information

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Available At

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Synopsis

Background

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Characters & Voice Actors

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

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