Chang An San Wan Li

I discovered Light Chaser Animation when I stumbled across their 2021 film ‘New Gods: Nezha Reborn’. Since then their production value and eye for quality has done nothing but grow with every release. There’s something about their work that gets me so incredibly excited for their annual releases. Light Chaser simply make CG animated films of with substance and quality we simply don’t get here in the West, and Chang’An is the finest example of that.

Here in the West we’d never receive a big budget, 3 hour, mature, historical drama revolving around the life story of 2 poets during The Tang Dynasty. To see such ... a story presented with stunning animation which rivals that of Disney and dreamworks, with themes orchestrated towards an older audience is nothing short of a treat. And along with its absolutely gorgeous cinematography, sound design, narrative and characters; Chang’An is nothing short of a masterpiece and one of the finest Eastern animation experiences I’ve had in a long time.

https://letterboxd.com/vjestiprime/film/chang-an/

The movie is excellent. Definitely better than Suzume or The Boy and The Heron. Chinese animation has recently improve, but it is often underrated and poorly promoted. This year, there has been a lot of attention on Hayao's The Boy and The Heron, causing other great works to be overlooked.

However, we are non-Chinese, we may face difficulty with the subtitles due to the presence of many beautiful poems. And may struggle to understand the map with only a few titles or dialogues. It would be better to have a scene that is long enough for the audience to visualize the map. Beside, the character ... design, which may be perceived as being a bit fat and short-legged.