Xue Yu Xin

What if you and your family were stranded in enemy territory? This anime is a dramatic retelling of the life of Megumi Sunahara, also known as Zhang Rongqing, a Japanese youth unable to return to Japan from China after World War II. And because of the setting, it’s also about the founding of New China. Since the protagonist identifies as Chinese and joins the People’s Liberation Army, and there are many mentions of the Chinese villagers’ goodness, it sometimes feels like watching a propaganda film. And I’m sure there’s an agenda behind Xue Yu Xin (Blood and Heart), but I’ll review the premise, execution, characters, ... art and animation, and soundtrack.

PREMISE: Has the potential to be boring if you don’t care about history. Raises warning flags if you’re familiar with the history between China and Japan.

During WW2, Japan oppressed China. Some Japanese civilians lived in China like Fire Nation colonies. When Japan lost the war, colonials needed to leave en masse, which resulted in terrible traveling conditions and some people getting left behind—including Megumi and his mother and younger sisters. He is the only one in his family who can speak any Mandarin.

EXECUTION: Brilliant and heart-wrenching.

Each scene feels like it matters—to frame the story, set the tone, show the world, etc. There’s no exposition dump at the beginning, though there is narration to explain time skips and other significant changes.

At the end of each episode, there’s a segment like from a documentary. As in, real-life or dramatized clips instead of animation, and narration instead of dialogue. If you’re interested in history, it’s a great extra! But if you just want action or story, these extras are literal exposition dumps removed from the anime itself. Take it or leave it. :)

CHARACTERS: There is essentially only one character—the main character. And maybe the colonel. Everyone else exists as a one-dimensional paper doll or as a role to advance Megumi’s character.

Maybe it’s the runtime, but there were missed opportunities to better flesh out Megumi’s relationships with other characters, especially the rest of his family. His mother is literally nameless. And I was surprised that he as the oldest sibling could speak Mandarin while his younger sisters couldn’t. There’s a good scene where his sisters are chased by another kid for being Japanese, and Megumi scolds his sisters for going outside when they need to hide their identities. Aaand then it’s never mentioned again.

ART & ANIMATION: Solid artwork, decent animation. I like Megumi’s character design—simple, but not too plain compared to the other characters. And I really like the clips in the documentary segments.

SOUNDTRACK: Amazing. You’ll either like or hate the OP, which switches singer and style for the last part. The ED, like almost all donghua EDs, is beautiful and fits the anime well.

I recommend Xue Yu Xin if you’re curious about the history of China or a story about a Japanese boy living his best life as a Chinese-identifying soldier who helped create modern China! ^^

Xue yu Xin was an amazing adaptation of a real story that gave great insights into the Chinese revolution and land reform. It is a story that touches your heart and lets you feel all sorts of emotions if you are able to root for the main character, a japanese boy who lived a truly remarkable life. The anime gives interesting insights into life under the imperial occupation of Northern China through Japan during WW2 and the often overlooked tyranny of the Kuomintang and landlords. It also shows the struggle of the PLA liberating village after village in it's fight for a new China. When ... one important character died during battle I actually cried and many other scenes gave me goosebumps

Story: 9/10
Pretty much as amazing as a real story can be

Art and Animation: 7/10
China is still not on Japan's level but it#s catching up quick. I really liked the art style

Music: 9/10
I really liked the Music, espescially the opening and ending were amazing

Voice acting: 10/10
I've never seen an anime before that actually hires foreign voice actor (from Japan in this case) to play important roles. The first few episodes were almost entirely in Japanese

Overall: 8/10
Really an underrated gem that deserves more attention. Something every history nerd and China fan should have on their watch list

Xue Yu Xin follows a Japanese boy named Megumi Sunahara who travels to northeastern China during the Imperial Japanese Army’s occupation. Caught up in the conflict, Megumi soon discovers that Japan has lost the war, and the Imperial Japanese Army retreats, leaving behind many Japanese occupants. Given the opportunity to fight for what he believes is right, Megumi adopts the alias Zhang Rongqing and enlists in the People’s Liberation Army to fight against injustice. How does Megumi, now Zhang, fare?

Story & Character: 7/10
The story is a docudrama-style retelling of a real-life account during World War II and the Korean War. Each episode covers different segments ... of Zhang’s life in a condensed form full of adventure and conflict. While it covers life events in detail, it lacks depth and clarity, likely due to the extensive time scale the series spans. Nonetheless, it offers a satisfying story with a bittersweet ending, making it well worth watching for its captivating narrative alone.

Character development primarily focuses on Zhang Rongqing, with many surrounding characters, except for his family members, having little significance to the plot. The characters with good and bad intentions impact his development significantly, making his growth with each encounter refreshing.

Art & Sound: 7/10 & 6/10
The art and animation in this series are consistently high quality, with noticeably better CGI than other modern series. However, the consistency varies, with some scenes displaying disproportionate character faces and choppy whole-body movements.

The sound design is unremarkable but effective. I enjoyed the mix of Japanese and Chinese voice acting, which was professional in both languages. The series uses fewer thematic soundtracks and sound effects than other action historical dramas, which is expected given its retelling style.

Overall & Enjoyment: 6/10
Xue Yu Xin was an interesting watch. It was less emotional than some historical dramas but had authenticity and meaningful development. The character personas were as expected, and the events didn't feel bland. However, it would have been better to see more in-depth coverage of specific events, such as Zhang’s recon missions or training, to enhance character development beyond just a single character.