Thanks to Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (MXTX) and very devoted BL fans, the MDZS review I wrote is the most upvoted review I have ever written. How could I miss the opportunity for clout by dropping another bomb review? (You can interpret ‘bomb’ as amazing or terrible)
However you look at it, MXTX have done pretty exceptional, even with the ongoing court scandals. She hasn’t written many novels but all three of her existing novels have been massive hits. Gaining a huge Chinese and foreign following. As we know, MDZS’s popularity is already off the roof and now comes the TGCF anime. And no, I’m not
...
going to write a review about Scumbag System, in fact, let’s pretend the anime didn’t exist, I want clout but not that desperate.
Okay, I’ve hit my intro quota, let’s get dive right into the pit! No need to pull me back up Ruoye.
I gave the anime a very warm 6 instead of a neutral score of 5 because I think it is actually an alright anime and go easy on it, not too critical for once, rare occasion. If you clicked in from seeing this ranked 22 (dropped to 67 as I revisited it now, 2 above Fate Zero s2) on the top anime category, you might be thinking what’s this? Why? I will reveal to you right now, read the first line of the review. China continuously brings us content that they censor, crazy, I know.
Story:
Not to be that person “THE MANGA WAS BETTER” but TGCF is a one-million-word slow burner type novel, 1,144,742 to be exact. (For reference, The Harry Potter series is 1,084,170). On top, one million Chinese characters is much more than one million of English words due to succinctness of the language.
The anime is alright in terms of adapting, due to censorship, some details and story is either cut or been made tame, however, it doesn’t have a major effect on the main body of the work. Okay, so it follows the novel closely, why does it still feel so damn slow?? As mentioned above, the story is a long slow burner, the 11 episode is 10% of the whole worldview, we are just hovering on top of the iceberg, haven’t even landed on it. There are so many foreshadows in the anime that is glanced over if you never read ahead which is why it’s dry if you don’t see how it’s a twist later on. Like whom the fuck is this San Lang guy why is he so op?? TGCF is another Chinese Xianxia novel, the genre has a lot of lore and terminology which can be difficult to digest for a new watcher. The story itself has lots of lore that isn't explained in the anime, so that’s a double whammy on concept and story.
Animation:
The section that pains me regarding Chinese anime. Let’s talk about the good part, the animation compared to other Chinese animated series, it’s pretty good. The art for the OP and ED, absolutely beautiful.
However, in the sea of good Japanese animations, it is hard to break through. TGCF is pushing it in terms of fight choreography, some frames are subpar. Not to mention that one fight scene in Ep9 that looks oddly similar to a scene in Attack on Titan. Yike Haoliners, that’s low, plagiarising a top airing anime of the season like nobody will notice…
Some scenes have 3D incorporated which is a bit off since the eyes can clearly recognise it’s not the same. Ep6 was just bonkers, the mouth flaps don’t match, random loop footage, wrong audio mixing, they fixed it now but my god if you saw the first upload you would be like what the heck.
As for character designs, it has the same problem as MDZS and a handful of Chinese animes. Everyone has the same face more or less. There are only two type of design that exist here, bishie main cast and then ugly commoners, this is actually a good way to see the foreshadow, if the character is drawn like a bishie, they are important, eg. the reveal in Ep11 of that Bishie which apparently nobody recognised because everyone look the same. Before anyone have a go at me how this is Danmei (Tanbi in Japanese), which is a pursuit of two beautiful handsome men in a romantic relationship but come on I want to differentiate the characters too. I’m not the only one with this problem because I’ve seen people in the comment go “omg is this xxx what a plot twist”, no sweaty, I know they have a cape on so you can’t tell what clothes they are wearing because that was the only indication.
Sound:
The OP and ED are amazing, all sang by very good Chinese singers. The 2nd ED contains acrostic lyrics, which is a neat detail.
Voice acting is overall not bad, little stiff for some characters but it’s not big problem.
As for music, I’m about to slap the editor. If you watched this on Funimation you won’t have this problem. I watched TGCF on official Bilibili, which has an ad that features a yoghurt at the beginning of the episode after you press play, the ad is animated with Xie Lian saying ad lines with music playing in the back. When there’s an emotional or climatic scene in the anime, they play the same soundtrack, I have been conditioned to associate that specific soundtrack to the yoghurt and it become a reflex reaction and I just go ah full of peach bits, full of love, this yoghurt is the real thing, this takes you out of the scene and you can’t go back. Come on, do you not have budget for this, you took a sponsor, get a new track on that ad please.
And the very end:
The anime has ups and downs, not a bad watch. Hard on new viewers, you've been warned newbies.
Until next time
天官赐福 (Tian Guan Ci Fu)
百无禁忌 (Bai Wu Jin Ji)
(What's with the rated 10 reviews written by accounts made two days ago with this as the only review they have written, who paid you to do this, where can I sign up?)
Alternative Titles
Synonyms: TGCF, Tian Guan Ci Fu
Japanese: 天官賜福
More titlesInformation
Type:
ONA
Episodes:
11
Status:
Finished Airing
Aired:
Oct 31, 2020 to Jan 2, 2021
Producers:
bilibili
Licensors:
Funimation
Studios:
Haoliners Animation League
Source:
Web novel
Duration:
26 min. per ep.
Rating:
PG-13 - Teens 13 or older
Statistics
Ranked:
#1792
2
based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.
Popularity:
#1565
Members:
157,442
Favorites:
5,749
Available AtResourcesStreaming Platforms | Reviews
Filtered Results: 71 / 73
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Your Feelings Categories Jan 1, 2021
Thanks to Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (MXTX) and very devoted BL fans, the MDZS review I wrote is the most upvoted review I have ever written. How could I miss the opportunity for clout by dropping another bomb review? (You can interpret ‘bomb’ as amazing or terrible)
However you look at it, MXTX have done pretty exceptional, even with the ongoing court scandals. She hasn’t written many novels but all three of her existing novels have been massive hits. Gaining a huge Chinese and foreign following. As we know, MDZS’s popularity is already off the roof and now comes the TGCF anime. And no, I’m not ... Jan 1, 2021
Chinese animation is on the rise.
With anime enjoying an explosive surge of popularity in China over the past decade, it’s a bit of a surprise as to why higher budget, domestically produced works tailored to an older audience have taken so long to appear. Nevertheless, donghua has finally begun to make its mark on the wider anime community, most notably with The King’s Avatar in 2017 and Mo Dao Zu Shi in 2018. Tian Guan Ci Fu is the first donghua that I’ve watched in its entirety - like many others, I was intrigued by its placement in the top airing list, alongside the eager ... Jan 2, 2021
Outstanding, beginning to end. A pity that the end came so soon!, i seriously hope we get more seasons on this.
When i started watching this, i did not realise that it was from MXTX, the same author as another of my favourite donhuas MDZS - shame on me!. I had not read the novel prior, but i have now, and cannot wait for more of this beautiful animation to come back. And really looking forward to the extra episode in February. I have not watched near as much Chinese animation as Japanese, but recently, they have nothing to envy the other. This is an ... Nov 7, 2020
Story: 10
(I'm going to have to base my story portion off of the book a bit since there are only three episodes so far) The Story in this is really amazing, honestly, the storyline is really good- it's dark, complicated, but not too hard to follow and it explores a lot of dark themes as well. It does have romance elements as well which are handled very well (It's relatively subtle, so if you're not into romance, especially a romance between two boys, don't discount this since the storyline is really good even if you take out that element. I can't talk too much about the ... Jan 2, 2021
Coming here to review the donghua after completing all 11 episodes.
Preface: I am stating beforehand that I have not read the novel of Tian Guan Ci Fu, thus, all my opinions are based on whatever the show depicted. Despite being familiar with the main characters for a very long time (since knowing about MDZS about 2 years back), I didn't have much ideas about the plot of TGCF. All I had been hearing about it is that it has angst and a very emotional setting. STORY As the genres suggest, TGCF features cultivation, martial arts (xianxia) and romance (danmei).The show kicks off with our protagonist, Xie ... Nov 9, 2020
Is this the best that Chinese animation has to offer? Perhaps. Only time will tell.
Heaven Official's Blessing, or TGCF for short, is the latest series that has come out of the land of The Red Dragon, and it has also out of nowhere taken the top spot for currently airing series. So is this something worth checking out? Does this have the potential to become "the next Mo Dao Zu Shi"? In all honesty, I'm heavily leaning towards 'yes'. (Speaking of Mo Dao Zu Shi, the series is an adaptation of the novel series penned by the same author.) To make one thing clear, compared to ... Nov 8, 2020
I really love the story, and every element in it is top-notch. I gotta say, like many others, I'm obsessed with this donghua too. I too think that the production team had done an excellent job with this adaptation. The characters, scenery, the songs, I love every single thing about this anime!:)
Especially the song at the very end of the first episode, it moved me into tears as their surprise caught me off guard, and that was brilliant I must say! As for the rest of the episodes, I love them all the same. And episode 3 got me so hooked up on ... Nov 16, 2020
After reading the novel back in 2019 it was like a dream come true finding out the donghua trailer to it.The whole story is a masterpiece, 10/10 - recommend!
What i liked the most in this novel is how every single situation in which the main character finds himself can be described by the single sentence - He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. And it's historical too, by reading this i learnt so much about chinese food,landscapes,history,etc. (mdzs and now tgcf) (guqin).Honestly the author managed to convert me into historical things she writes that godly! The comedy is gold, i love how Xie Lian can't cook ... Nov 21, 2020
So far, I'm still at episode 5 but in a summary it's basically about how a prodigious prince, Xie Lian cultivated to the point where he ascended into the heavens, and his fall from grace back to the mortal realm. One of the things I love about the show is how Xie Lian ascended to the heavens, only to realise that the heaven officials are just as, if not more petty, shallow and hypocritical then the mortals who are worshipping them. Xie Lian soon discovers that what the heavens find pleasing might not always be moral, in fact they often rooted in appealing to the
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May 28, 2021
Beautiful anime with terribly translations and confusing storyline. Storyline goes between dragging and tons of characters and plot being introduced within 1-2 minutes.
Story: 5/10 - Mediocre and confusing. Goes between dragging and break-neck speed plot development wise. Art: 8/10 - Very good. There are parts with 3D animation that looked low quality/like they're from the early 00s Sound: 9/10 - No complaints. Characters: 5/10 - The series really isn't long enough to delve deep enough into their backgrounds for real character development, but from what was able to be developed, was okay. Nothing amazing. ... Jan 7, 2021
Eh, to be honest, it isn't that great. Don't get me wrong, it's good, but not gonna lie here, it's not that great, at least not as great as everyone is raving about. I was never a huge fan of the original novel, but some of the problems of the original are exemplified even more here.
Let's start with the good stuff: the animation is really pretty. Sometimes there are mistakes, but most of the time, it's amazing. I love the art style, and the animation is super smooth and the subtle clues included in the animation is enough to make these kinda bland characters ... Jan 5, 2021
Disclaimer: I have not read the original source material and am fairly new to this genre.
So I just finished the last episode of this donghua and... I really had no idea what was going on most of the time. I continued watching because I'm a big fan of Mo Dao Zu Shi (or The Untamed for the drama series), and as this is a story by the same author I had high hopes. Unfortunately it just got more confusing instead. The art was pretty though, and I enjoyed the characters and how they interacted with eachother (the bl moments were cute too), but I felt ... Nov 8, 2020
Tian Guan Ci Fu is by far the most beautiful story I've ever had the pleasure of reading.
The donghua is a wonderful visual adaptation of the original text. The soundtrack is spectacular and truly touches the heart of viewers. The animation is fluid and the character designs are very fresh and appealing. To think that the donghua team was able to bring such fantastic and beautiful work amidst a pandemic is truly impressive! As someone that has read the novel more than twice, I'm very pleased with the adaptation so far. I couldn't stop my tears while watching the first episode, and I still cry ... Nov 8, 2020
I've read the manhua and was super ecstatic when I heard that they were developing the donhua!!! It's been such a ride watching the last three episodes, from the art development which is honestly one of the best I've seen thus far-- to the beautiful music that really sets the tone for each scene and flows well with the dialogue. I love how they've kept true to the story-- though it does seem to take a slow pace it goes well with setting the tone for the official meeting between the two main leads.
I do reccommend reading the translated version of the manhua, it ... Nov 8, 2020
This donghua (anime is a term exclusively for Japanese animation, please call it donghua) is an adaption of the popular Chinese danmei (boy's love) webnovel 天官赐福 of the same name by author 墨香铜臭. So far, it has been very loyal to the original source material. Though there are some slightly altered and removed scenes, it's understandable because of the 11 episodes planned for two arcs. As for censorship, I didn't mind at all because the atmosphere between the two leads was totally there! Props to the donghua team for that. And if you've been wanting to read the novel, go for it! It's very much
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Nov 22, 2020
I am not an expert in aspects like judging the CGI quality and others, but this is my personal review.
First of all, I had a very low expectation towards this one, because i've seen Ling Qi, a donghua by Haoliners too, and it is not that good. That's why, at first i was so sad and wondering why this donghua didn't picked up by BC May and Tencent. I mean, look at MDZS. The art is soooo good. But episode 1, prove that my opinion is wrong. I didn't think that Haoliners can produce such as good animation. I can see that they put ... Nov 9, 2020
The novel this is based on is one of my top 3 favorite stories of all time, and so far the donghua has been following it almost to a T, so (for now) I will rate this adaptation based on the source material.
To fans who haven't read the books: The beginning will feel a bit slow and confusing, but it's like that to establish a backbone for the story and start foreshadowing major events to come. Everything in TGCF happens for a reason. If you stick with it this season, then when the later arcs are adapted you will be in for a treat. Also, the ... Sep 18, 2023
The production and animation quality is stellar, if not for some underwhelming character designs (*cough* Hua Cheng *cough*). The pace and writing, on the other hand, is a glaring issue with this adaptation.
The original TGCF book is one of my favourite pieces of fiction ever, by far the best romance story I've ever read, and I was a bit underwhelmed with this. The pacing was very strange, making the story's opening even more scattered than it was in the book (which is by far the weakest arc already). I haven't read the first arc in a long time, and even watching the donghua, I ... Nov 8, 2020
Firstly read this novel in 2019 when I was studying abroad. Since this is my first time to leave home and went to an unfamiliar place, this brought me a lot of anxiety and worries. However, this story which is about belief, dream and love truly gave me the power to be faced with the difficulties and frustrations. Now, the novel has been animated and produced by bilibili.com. Though there could be some defects in the arts and frame number, I am appreciated that the efforts made by the producers, directors and voice actors etc. And special thanks to MouXiangTongXiu because of writing this story
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Jun 8, 2021
I understand that this animation was based on a novel series, I'm also not overly familiar with Chinese animation. Just a preface.
Story: Having delved into MDZS a little (the live action, the animation didn't impress me), I had a general expectation for TGCF. Mythic romance, very serious world-building, character driven action and a hit/miss ensemble cast. I was pleasantly surprised by how TGCF drew me in right off the drop, where MDZS had left me a little underwhelmed. The introduction to the world and characters was straight forward and rational. The story, what little we get of it throughout 11 episodes, is reasonably good. As ... |