Liehuo Jiao Chou

Story:
This story was a classic Priest novel type, but with an interesting modern twist. I'm invested! I want to know what happens next and get more into the details of the past of the two main characters and how they're connected.


Art:
The animation is quite nice for CG, and the faces are stylized in a unique way. The backgrounds are beautiful.


Sound:
Good! Well fit, nice OP/ED.
...

Character:
I saw another review describe it as classic red/blue characters, but I don't /entirely/ agree. It definitely has some vibes in that direction, but red ends up being smarter than your average red, and blue ends up being, uh, pointier than your average blue. There is also a distinct vibe of there being more and more to uncover about both of them, each time we learn something new.

Also...I kind of love the various random side characters, particularly the boss and the various team members. Even the villain characters were pretty interesting, and often didn't go the way I expected.


Enjoyment:
Honestly, my recommendation is not to get too deep into danmei novels if you want to enjoy the anime adaptation. I keep seeing people complain about adaptations being not faithful enough, or rushing the pacing when compared to the book. The thing is, if you haven't read the book or don't have a deep attachment to exactly how things are there, then the series tend to be quite enjoyable.

While there's not much by way of outright romance, this was likely never intended to be romance-focused anyway. Priest tends to write more story-focused novels, rather than specifically romances. The important thing here is that the two main characters have a lot of interesting tension and history and interactions, which is imo is better for establishing a pairing people will enjoy than any hand-holding/kissing scenes. I was actually pretty invested in these two by the end of S1, but then again my romantic sensibilities are a bit skewed away from typical romance elements.



Overall, I really liked this show, and my wife liked it even more! Hoping to see a season 2 announced at some point.

SPOILER FREE!
Drowning Sorrows in Raging Fire, one of the latest Chinese anime licensed in the West by Funimation, is a mixed bag of a show. A very mixed bag.

Firstly the story. I'm not gonna summarise it here, you can read the synopsis yourself. What I would say, is that the first two or so episodes are superb as far as story goes. It's thrilling, engaging and very interesting and novel. Characterisation is good and the scene is set very well. Then, it goes meh. Very meh. It turns into a standard generational revenge story and the characterisation stops there. Not much can be said otherwise. ... It follows a rather boring habit of donghua of relying entirely on very long flashbacks, which I was not necessarily a fan of.

Art! This show really excels here. As far as CGI donghua go, this one decided to follow a style mimicking standard 2D animation. However, it didn't make the mistake of trying too hard to look like normal anime, as is the case often with Japanese CGI anime. Because of this, it allowed itself to be more fluid, use more CG elements, and really create an intense atmosphere through use of lighting and colour palate, and therefore stand out as a distinct yet well executed work.

Sound! Y'know what? This wasn't actually that bad. Not much to comment on aside from the fact that the OP and ED are way too loud compared to the average volume of the actual show. Just a little thing that can be fixed any time they want.

Characters. Ooh boy. This one's gonna be a hot take. First the two main characters. They follow the bog standard dynamic found often in donghua of silly, joking, and hot-headed guy bromancing with the cool, dynamic, and intelligent guy. Nothing at all stands out there. And now the side characters. What side characters? They exist, but they're not necessarily stand-out in the slightest. Many are simply introduced and ignored directly after for the rest of the show's runtime. There is however one character who I won't name nor specify due to risk of spoilers, who becomes a main character by the end. This guy (You'll know him once you see him) is entirely built on the flashbacks so it's very hard to feel that he is distinct in any way. He admittedly has properly developed motivation, sure, but he *is* his motivation. That's all he surmounts to.

Conclusion! My overall score is a five. Despite my complaints, it's not that bad. But it's not that good either. I'd argue the first two episodes are definitely worth watching, and maybe you're find more enjoyment than I did, for the remaining ten.

Thanks for reading!

TLDR:
confusing and superficial lore, poor action scenes, cardboard flat personalities, typical stereotypes of 90% of donghua (old man who has a compulsive obsessive need to touch his beard while blabbering some wannabe-mystical nonsense, fatty looser as comedic relief, weakling whiny dumb dude, etc).
On the positive: no "how dare you!", and surprisingly no mega huge boobs fanservice.

Ok, actually I have nothing else to say.
I could just add that the animation is "decent", it doesn't suck but it is not fluid either (sometimes it even has an almost motion comic stiffness).
And episodes are shorter than usual.
Overall, it's not unwatchable, but I can't recommend it and still look ... in the mirror and be proud of my otakuness.