Xie Wang Zhui Qi

The premise for this anime is extremely interesting, sadly with how short the episodes are it just feels too rushed and doesn't convey the story as well as it could have.

I originally watched the anime before reading the web novel and I have to say the anime doesn't do the web novel justice. I loved the idea of the story and felt that the anime was truly lacking so I sought out an English translation of the web novel to gain the enjoyment this idea presents. The anime only gives a very rough summary of the story and a shallow glimpse into the relationships ... between each character. The shortness of the episodes and the abrupt ending fail to convey the story as it should have been done. As well, there are many changes between the two formats with the anime failing to meet the same satisfaction towards the story line as what the web novel conveyed. It lacks the gravity of the betrayl between Yun Qi and Su Luo and fails to portray the weight of Nangong Liuyun and Su Luo's relationship; which is the whole premise for the story. Overall the anime is too short and rushed to accurately portray the story leaving the viewer unsatisfied with the end result.

I would recommend, if you're truly interested in the story, to read the web novel as the anime fails to provide a resolution to the story as it abruptly ends. The anime ends around chapter 114 of the web novel and covers maybe an 1/8 of the story to that point. It combines many of the plot elements while leaving a large majority of the story out and adds some aspects that just do not flow right and leaves the viewer confused. At the time of this review the web novel is ongoing, yet unless you devour books as I do, it is far enough ahead to provide a few months of reading before you catch up. It updates Friday evenings.

STORY: 4/10
The premise seemed promising in the initial episodes, but it quickly went downhill. The story was rushed and the romance felt really forced and awkward.

There was a lot of tone inconsistency throughout the series. We got a lot of cringe-worthy shoujo moments, some awkwardly placed comedic scenes, and some moments that got uncharacteristically dark compared to the rest of the story.

The opening and ending sequences as well as the unnecessary episode reviews and previews took up way too much time. That precious time could've been used for better story pacing.


ART: 3/10
Animation wasn't smooth and was really basic. The studio didn't convey different moods ... or emotions very well. The art style was bland and inconsistent. The ending sequence animation was probably the nicest animation in the whole series.

I'm not a fan of how the female lead and her maid look like they're wearing magical girl outfits compared to the rest of the cast. It made it harder for me to take the female lead seriously when she's supposed to be a bad-ass assassin.


SOUND: 3/10
Voice acting was fine, but other than that, nothing really stood out sound-wise. Like the animation, the sound was really basic. I did like the ending OST though.


CHARACTER: 3/10
Everything in this series felt rushed and that goes for the characterization as well. Personality wise, I think the male lead was perfectly fine. He's a bit of a tease, but he's kind and protective to those he cares about. If the studio paced the story better and fleshed his story out (seems like he had a tragic past), he would've been much more interesting to watch.

On the other hand, I found the female lead really annoying as the series progressed. I liked how she stood up for herself in the first few episodes, but her personality quickly deteriorated. She is impulsive, hypocritical, and somewhat arrogant. I don't understand how the male lead fell for her because she was pretty cold to him for most of the series. I understand that she was bitter and reluctant to trust because of her past, but her back-and-forth regarding the male lead was incredibly frustrating.


ENJOYMENT: 3/10
The limited amount of episodes combined with poor direction from the studio made for a poor watch experience. I really wanted to like this series, but it was extremely mishandled by the studio with a rushed story and poor animation, not to mention an unlikable female lead.

It feels like they took the plot points from the story and strung them together without any connective tissue putting them together. They go from one thing happening to the next, without sufficiently developing the characters or world. The story is very rushed, and there's no time to take in the world.

The animation is acceptable but not great, with a fair amount of still panning shots. Action scenes are short, often cutting away and jumping to the conclusion.

The acting is meh, but to be fair, it's hard to convey a realistic dialog when the relationships jump forward so quickly.

The story is a standard isekai cultivation ... plot, with a MC with weak power but lots of potential. Except this MC is a woman so men are trying to get in her pants.

The whole thing is similar to, but significantly worse than, Tong Ling Fei.

But the best reason to watch this season is to prepare for season 2, which is superior in every way, and maybe worth watching.

I started watching this show because it had some themes I liked such as assassins and traveling to another world. Sadly, the only positives about this show were that the episodes were really short and I liked that the female lead was kick-ass.

The story/plot was rushed. There is zero world-building. I know next to nothing about the world that our protagonist is "reincarnated" into after watching the whole show. The only thing I picked up was that people have special powers and they get tested for it when they're kids. There was no character development. And then there was the cliffhanger ending. I'm a bit ... upset that I even wasted my time on this show. I kept watching it hoping it would get better. I even overlooked the bad subtitles that were clearly mistranslation because they were talking about warcraft and cars. The bad subtitles also didn't help with making sense of the family dynamics.