Tianbao Fuyao Lu 2nd Season

This is a solid follow up to Season 1, continuing the adventures of the Exorcists.

Story - 8/10

The story is a smidgen better than season 1 with plenty of mystery, betrayal and politics elevating the stakes.

Character - 7/10

Season 2's story suffered because they did spend a lot of time on character development, which I actually don't mind. We get detailed backgrounds of the other members of the exorcism squad, with a lot of backstory for the Wolf guy! The only thing that could have made this better is more paint brush guy.

... Art - 8/10

The CGI is actually detailed and good, with the high resolution version it actually stalls on streaming because of the amount of processing power needed to render things beautifully. The battle scenes insanely beautiful. The wolf looks realistic, dragons, all kinds of shape shifters and Paint brush master's scenes are always a treat. Action is fluid and gorgeous.

Sound 6/10

This was just fair, there wasn't that incredible scene like in Season 1 (with the Shamisen fight) in this season, so I was a bit disappointed to realize lightning didn't strike twice. Awww.

Enjoyment - 7/10

I had a great time watching this and will be starting Season 3 as soon as there is enough content to binge!

Overall - 7/10

The unexpectedly funny comedy and a good story make this a series worth watching if you're a fan of bishounen (handsome, handsome men everywhere doing awesome stuff). Love the whole exorcism crew, and it's not the standard cultivation CGI show so it's a breath of fresh air that is worth watching. There just wasn't a memorable stand out moment like the Shamisen fight in Season 1.

Story - This show actually surprised me, in that I thought the storytelling was actually improved from season 1. Unfortunately, it still has some pacing issues (particularly with the humorous moments within scenes), and the choice of when to cut off the story at the end of the season feels a bit abrupt. There are also some transitions that feel abrupt, like the phoenix king suddenly forcing the main character to make a decision, but I couldn't figure out if this was a problem with the animation or if it's inherited from the source novel.

That said, there is a lot more going on ... this season than last, which really helps. Also, now that we've been introduced to the main cast, they are sent off to go their separate ways so that this isn't just a stereotypical shounen, and we also get to dive further into the story of the wolfman (which I really loved), while simultaneously getting to have some tense zombie adventures with the two leads.


Art - this is possibly the pinnacle of CG animation. Sparkly Key is the golden standard of Chinese CG animation, imo, although this show does still run afoul of the rigging issues inherent with animating humans via CG.


Sound - really nice background music, and some excellent OP/ED tracks.


Character - I adore the wolfman character, he is the cutest. I'm also very intrigued by the new kid, and am hoping to see more of him next season. The main characters are likable, but feel a little thin in comparison to literally everyone else. Still, I'm excited to learn more about our other two team members in the future, not to mention all the new people we met in season 2.


Enjoyment - a nice, casual watch with really pretty CG graphics, and some shippable undertones. I quite enjoyed it in that sense, and was able to ignore the flaws, although the inconsistent pacing does rank this a bit lower for me than other danmei shows.