Why was it so unsuccessful?

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Dec 2022

2690

exactly what the guy above said. have you ever seen a donghua, excluding TBHX since it was co-produced by Aniplex, that became popular enough to be talked about like Solo Leveling? that's just the difference between anime and donghua. there's tons of good - peak donghua out there but they're mostly niche and not that known.
also, LoTM wasn't unsuccessful. it was successful. it just wasn't popular...why compare it to SL popularity in the first place? lol. that shouldn't be so.
it's popular in China but beyond China? not so much and I say this as a fan of the WN and series.

Dec 13, 11:08 AM

#4

uvhjctkx5ybft

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Aug 2025

4

because it still haven't jap dub there are many people didn't accept the Chinese language and others and dropped the anime but in china it is very popular bibli get 400 million new subscriptions for watching lord of mysteries only💀 and it is the highest-grossing anime with more than 500 million dollars in china but world-wide still waiting jap dub

Dec 13, 11:47 AM

#5

ToumaTachibana

Social Media Team

Japan's defender

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Aug 2017

12452

cuz it was overhpyed, people watch it and didn't like it.

BANZAI NIPPON. Nippon is the Land of freedom. Nippon is the Land of Peace. Nippon is the Land of Justice and Prosperity.

In Nippon, we trust.

We love Nippon, we love Anime. Anime love us, Nippon love us. 日本

I believe in freedom of expression.

Dec 13, 11:57 AM

#6

ktg

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May 2016

2268

They left out most of the explanations, so you won't understand anything. They even created another series where one of the characters was explaining stuff, because the adaptation was so weak.

Dec 13, 12:10 PM

#7

Arzachel0

Offline

Dec 2021

1

uvhjctkx5ybft said:
because it still haven't jap dub there are many people didn't accept the Chinese language and others and dropped the anime but in china it is very popular bibli get 400 million new subscriptions for watching lord of mysteries only💀 and it is the highest-grossing anime with more than 500 million dollars in china but world-wide still waiting jap dub

Yes, exactly LOTM is one of the largest anime in China And it will be one of the largest IP's in China. I think it's already been approved for 6 MORE seasons AND a movie, not only that all of the subsequent seasons are going to be 30+ episodes long.

Also OP, you have to understand that foreign media and shows in China is becoming increasingly harder to get ahold of, pretty soon will likely have most foreign pop culture outright banned in China, which means you'll be seeing a big boom in Chinese made media and animes. And if nothing else China does have a large enough population of young people who are already interested in this sort of media to support its own anime and film Industry.

P,S

i think in most regards LOTM is already bigger than solo leveling.

Dec 13, 12:42 PM

#8

ReMightyRon

Offline

Jan 2020

1113

Leon888 said:
I have yet to see the show, but I haven't heard of it anywhere despite it being one of the most read and acclaimed novels of recent years. I expected it to be close to the success of solo leveling, but that wasn't the case and I don't understand why, what was wrong?

It's somewhat unimaginable for LOTM to reach the level of Solo Leveling, for several different reasons, besides the fact that Donghua are less popular than Japanese anime and this adaptation could have been much better. I liked it, but it didn't do justice to the novel, so it's not hard to understand why it wasn't as successful with a wider audience beyond the fans of the original material.

Dec 13, 12:51 PM

#9

ReMightyRon

Offline

Jan 2020

1113

Reply to Arzachel0

uvhjctkx5ybft said:
because it still haven't jap dub there are many people didn't accept the Chinese language and others and dropped the anime but in china it is very popular bibli get 400 million new subscriptions for watching lord of mysteries only💀 and it is the highest-grossing anime with more than 500 million dollars in china but world-wide still waiting jap dub

Yes, exactly LOTM is one of the largest anime in China And it will be one of the largest IP's in China. I think it's already been approved for 6 MORE seasons AND a movie, not only that all of the subsequent seasons are going to be 30+ episodes long.

Also OP, you have to understand that foreign media and shows in China is becoming increasingly harder to get ahold of, pretty soon will likely have most foreign pop culture outright banned in China, which means you'll be seeing a big boom in Chinese made media and animes. And if nothing else China does have a large enough population of young people who are already interested in this sort of media to support its own anime and film Industry.

P,S

i think in most regards LOTM is already bigger than solo leveling.

@Arzachel0 I absolutely agree, especially with the last line.

Dec 13, 1:49 PM

#10

Arka_Chakrabarty

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Jun 2022

195

The content doesn't have mainstream appeal. It's pretty easy to understand.

Dec 13, 2:37 PM

#11

Nirinbo

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Sep 2018

5517

Lucifrost said:
One was made in China, and the other in Japan. Why did you expect similar reception?

Solo Leveling is the biggest animated adaptation of a South Korean web novel, and South Korea is a country very close to Japan.
Lord of Mysteries is the biggest animated adaptation of a Chinese web novel, and China is a country very close to Japan.

Leon888 said:
I expected it to be close to the success of solo leveling

Kinda ironic that the adaptation was horribly rushed precisely to appeal to Solo Leveling fans and yet it didn't get anywhere close to that level of popularity, it only ruined the party for everyone (me included) who wouldn't have minded a slow paced but richly detailed introduction to the story.

And then I have to hear that hundreds of episodes have already been greenlit which makes the decision of butchering the beginning even more nonsensical.

NirinboDec 13, 5:08 PM

Dec 13, 2:52 PM

#12

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Feb 2016

15821

Reply to Nirinbo

Lucifrost said:
One was made in China, and the other in Japan. Why did you expect similar reception?

Solo Leveling is the biggest animated adaptation of a South Korean web novel, and South Korea is a country very close to Japan.
Lord of Mysteries is the biggest animated adaptation of a Chinese web novel, and China is a country very close to Japan.

Leon888 said:
I expected it to be close to the success of solo leveling

Kinda ironic that the adaptation was horribly rushed precisely to appeal to Solo Leveling fans and yet it didn't get anywhere close to that level of popularity, it only ruined the party for everyone (me included) who wouldn't have minded a slow paced but richly detailed introduction to the story.

And then I have to hear that hundreds of episodes have already been greenlit which makes the decision of butchering the beginning even more nonsensical.

Nirinbo said:
Solo Leveling is the biggest animated adaptation of a South Korean web novel

I doubt most fans of Solo Leveling have read the Korean source material. You definitely haven't, or else you'd know that it's a comic and not a novel.

Nirinbo said:
Lord of Mysteries is the biggest animated adaptation of a Chinese web novel

Bigger than Mo Dao Zu Shi? What's your source?

その目だれの目？

Dec 13, 2:58 PM

#13

lelouchenen

Offline

Mar 2025

19

CheliosX said:
exactly what the guy above said. have you ever seen a donghua, excluding TBHX since it was co-produced by Aniplex, that became popular enough to be talked about like Solo Leveling? that's just the difference between anime and donghua. there's tons of good - peak donghua out there but they're mostly niche and not that known.
also, LoTM wasn't unsuccessful. it was successful. it just wasn't popular...why compare it to SL popularity in the first place? lol. that shouldn't be so.
it's popular in China but beyond China? not so much and I say this as a fan of the WN and series.

i heard it got 5 seasons and a movie already

Dec 13, 3:00 PM

#14

Offline

Dec 2022

2690

Lucifrost said:

Nirinbo said:
Solo Leveling is the biggest animated adaptation of a South Korean web novel

I doubt most fans of Solo Leveling have read the Korean source material. You definitely haven't, or else you'd know that it's a comic and not a novel.

Nirinbo said:
Lord of Mysteries is the biggest animated adaptation of a Chinese web novel

Bigger than Mo Dao Zu Shi? What's your source?

uh, dude? Solo Leveling is originally a web novel. the manhwa was adapted from the WN. the anime was adapted from either of them.
the guy is right.

Dec 13, 3:00 PM

#15

Offline

Dec 2022

2690

lelouchenen said:

CheliosX said:
exactly what the guy above said. have you ever seen a donghua, excluding TBHX since it was co-produced by Aniplex, that became popular enough to be talked about like Solo Leveling? that's just the difference between anime and donghua. there's tons of good - peak donghua out there but they're mostly niche and not that known.
also, LoTM wasn't unsuccessful. it was successful. it just wasn't popular...why compare it to SL popularity in the first place? lol. that shouldn't be so.
it's popular in China but beyond China? not so much and I say this as a fan of the WN and series.

i heard it got 5 seasons and a movie already

thanks to the popularity in China. yea.

Dec 13, 3:01 PM

#16

OrigamistToo

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Feb 2025

192

Reply to uvhjctkx5ybft

because it still haven't jap dub there are many people didn't accept the Chinese language and others and dropped the anime but in china it is very popular bibli get 400 million new subscriptions for watching lord of mysteries only💀 and it is the highest-grossing anime with more than 500 million dollars in china but world-wide still waiting jap dub

@uvhjctkx5ybft Dude, 400 million new subscriptions on Bilibili just because of LotM? 💀
That would mean every fifth Chinese person suddenly signed up specifically for it? China's population is 1.4 billion, and Bilibili users are around 300–350 million at best. So you're claiming that LoTM brought in more new users than the platform even has in total? Where did you even get these numbers from?
And 500+ million dollars in revenue just in China — that's on the level of a top Hollywood blockbuster's worldwide gross.
Though I've already heard from fans about the 1.45 billion people who read your little book. Fans really love mystically calculating their incredible victories.

Dec 13, 3:13 PM

#17

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Feb 2016

15821

Reply to CheliosX

Lucifrost said:

Nirinbo said:
Solo Leveling is the biggest animated adaptation of a South Korean web novel

I doubt most fans of Solo Leveling have read the Korean source material. You definitely haven't, or else you'd know that it's a comic and not a novel.

Nirinbo said:
Lord of Mysteries is the biggest animated adaptation of a Chinese web novel

Bigger than Mo Dao Zu Shi? What's your source?

uh, dude? Solo Leveling is originally a web novel. the manhwa was adapted from the WN. the anime was adapted from either of them.
the guy is right.

@CheliosX
OK, so I was wrong. But MAL says the anime is based on a "web manga." The casuals watching Solo Leveling in English or Japanese aren't going to know what it's based on any more than they know about the sources for Ghibli anime.

その目だれの目？

Dec 13, 3:14 PM

#18

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Dec 2022

2690

Lucifrost said:
@CheliosX
OK, so I was wrong. But MAL says the anime is based on a "web manga." The casuals watching Solo Leveling in English or Japanese aren't going to know what it's based on any more than they know about the sources for Ghibli anime.

that is true, lol. just wanted you to know so it's all good. casuals or people new to anime mostly don't care about where anime are adapted from.

Dec 13, 3:19 PM

#19

Nirinbo

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Sep 2018

5517

Lucifrost said:
I doubt most fans of Solo Leveling have read the Korean source material. You definitely haven't, or else you'd know that it's a comic and not a novel.

I also thought that the source material was the web comic, I only found out about the web novel while looking up info before posting my reply.

Lucifrost said:
Bigger than Mo Dao Zu Shi? What's your source?

Finding actual numbers in terms of readers isn't easy. Both have very big fanbases but only Lord of Mysteries has been archived by the National Library of China because of its cultural and literary significance (I don't know much about it but it looks like it's a big deal).

Dec 13, 3:21 PM

#20

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Feb 2016

15821

Reply to Nirinbo

Lucifrost said:
I doubt most fans of Solo Leveling have read the Korean source material. You definitely haven't, or else you'd know that it's a comic and not a novel.

I also thought that the source material was the web comic, I only found out about the web novel while looking up info before posting my reply.

Lucifrost said:
Bigger than Mo Dao Zu Shi? What's your source?

Finding actual numbers in terms of readers isn't easy. Both have very big fanbases but only Lord of Mysteries has been archived by the National Library of China because of its cultural and literary significance (I don't know much about it but it looks like it's a big deal).

Nirinbo said:
Finding actual numbers in terms of readers isn't easy. Both have very big fanbases but only Lord of Mysteries has been archived by the National Library of China because of its cultural and literary significance (I don't know much about it but it looks like it's a big deal).

You originally said it has a bigger adaptation, not that the book is bigger.

その目だれの目？

Dec 13, 3:39 PM

#21

Nirinbo

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Sep 2018

5517

Reply to Lucifrost

Nirinbo said:
Finding actual numbers in terms of readers isn't easy. Both have very big fanbases but only Lord of Mysteries has been archived by the National Library of China because of its cultural and literary significance (I don't know much about it but it looks like it's a big deal).

You originally said it has a bigger adaptation, not that the book is bigger.

@Lucifrost I meant "biggest" in the sense of importance and ambition (hundreds of episodes spanned across the next 10 years is indeed a huge project)

Dec 13, 3:45 PM

#22

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Feb 2016

15821

Reply to Nirinbo

@Lucifrost I meant "biggest" in the sense of importance and ambition (hundreds of episodes spanned across the next 10 years is indeed a huge project)

@Nirinbo
But it only has 13 episodes so far. Even if it ends up getting all the promised episodes, there is every possibility another series will have outdone it by then.

その目だれの目？

Dec 13, 4:24 PM

#23

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Jun 2025

110

Lucifrost said:
@Nirinbo
But it only has 13 episodes so far. Even if it ends up getting all the promised episodes, there is every possibility another series will have outdone it by then.

how does lotm seem unsuccessful to you. ..?

on crunchyroll it has 80k+ reviews.

on aniList it is 10th most popular anime of 2025 even though many popular manga were adapted .

on mal it is 9th most popular of year .

in china it is the most popular new anime of the year.

on imbd it has 14k rating. highest for any chinese donghua.

it was successful enough that it's WN official english and korean language was approved and has started distribution.

it was successful enough so that a new gaming company was created by tencent just to make the game .

how does this seem unsuccessful to you. .?

on YouTube reaction it outperformed 90 percent of mainstream media.

Dec 13, 4:38 PM

#24

Offline

Feb 2016

15821

Reply to supremeone55

Lucifrost said:
@Nirinbo
But it only has 13 episodes so far. Even if it ends up getting all the promised episodes, there is every possibility another series will have outdone it by then.

how does lotm seem unsuccessful to you. ..?

on crunchyroll it has 80k+ reviews.

on aniList it is 10th most popular anime of 2025 even though many popular manga were adapted .

on mal it is 9th most popular of year .

in china it is the most popular new anime of the year.

on imbd it has 14k rating. highest for any chinese donghua.

it was successful enough that it's WN official english and korean language was approved and has started distribution.

it was successful enough so that a new gaming company was created by tencent just to make the game .

how does this seem unsuccessful to you. .?

on YouTube reaction it outperformed 90 percent of mainstream media.

@supremeone55
I'm not the one who called this series unsuccessful and started a discussion complaining about it.

その目だれの目？

Dec 13, 4:43 PM

#25

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Jun 2025

110

Lucifrost said:
@supremeone55
I'm not the one who called this series unsuccessful and started a discussion complaining about it.

ok. your message was last that's why I quoted you..sorry about that

Dec 13, 5:14 PM

#26

MusashiKarlsefni

Negator

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Mar 2022

876

supremeone55 said:

Lucifrost said:
@Nirinbo
But it only has 13 episodes so far. Even if it ends up getting all the promised episodes, there is every possibility another series will have outdone it by then.

how does lotm seem unsuccessful to you. ..?

on crunchyroll it has 80k+ reviews.

on aniList it is 10th most popular anime of 2025 even though many popular manga were adapted .

on mal it is 9th most popular of year .

in china it is the most popular new anime of the year.

on imbd it has 14k rating. highest for any chinese donghua.

it was successful enough that it's WN official english and korean language was approved and has started distribution.

it was successful enough so that a new gaming company was created by tencent just to make the game .

how does this seem unsuccessful to you. .?

on YouTube reaction it outperformed 90 percent of mainstream media.

Just genuinely asking, what are you gauging MAL popularity on? Cuz I just went through the releases this year and there are 27 other entries with more members than this.

Dec 13, 5:16 PM

#27

Ren_Nohihara7005

Offline

Nov 2023

29

It was very complicated, it felt like they just threw into the world. The story got interesting, that is why I completed it. But I really couldn't understand how the power system worked exactly. The first 2 episodes were badly subbed by crunchyroll that threw Away quite a few people as well.

Dec 13, 5:19 PM

#28

Offline

Jun 2025

110

MusashiKarlsefni said:

supremeone55 said:

how does lotm seem unsuccessful to you. ..?

on crunchyroll it has 80k+ reviews.

on aniList it is 10th most popular anime of 2025 even though many popular manga were adapted .

on mal it is 9th most popular of year .

in china it is the most popular new anime of the year.

on imbd it has 14k rating. highest for any chinese donghua.

it was successful enough that it's WN official english and korean language was approved and has started distribution.

it was successful enough so that a new gaming company was created by tencent just to make the game .

how does this seem unsuccessful to you. .?

on YouTube reaction it outperformed 90 percent of mainstream media.

Just genuinely asking, what are you gauging MAL popularity on? Cuz I just went through the releases this year and there are 27 other entries with more members than this.

engagement in discussion. members can't be trusted as some anime has announced their anime for more than years . so of course the number will accumulate . that doesn't mean that higher number of members means more popular on the certain season on year.

Dec 13, 5:22 PM

#29

Offline

Jun 2025

110

Ren_Nohihara7005 said:
It was very complicated, it felt like they just threw into the world. The story got interesting, that is why I completed it. But I really couldn't understand how the power system worked exactly. The first 2 episodes were badly subbed by crunchyroll that threw Away quite a few people as well.

there are 22 pathways. each with 10 sequences . people drink potion from highest number to lowest. they can't just drink the potion together because of risk of losing control. to digest potion people use digesting method. that's all there which is told.

the concept,lore behind this will be further explored in further seasons..

what did you not understand...?

Dec 13, 5:24 PM

#30

MusashiKarlsefni

Negator

Offline

Mar 2022

876

supremeone55 said:

MusashiKarlsefni said:

Just genuinely asking, what are you gauging MAL popularity on? Cuz I just went through the releases this year and there are 27 other entries with more members than this.

engagement in discussion. members can't be trusted as some anime has announced their anime for more than years . so of course the number will accumulate . that doesn't mean that higher number of members means more popular on the certain season on year.

What are the 8 series ahead of it with this method?

Dec 13, 5:28 PM

#31

Ren_Nohihara7005

Offline

Nov 2023

29

supremeone55 said:

Ren_Nohihara7005 said:
It was very complicated, it felt like they just threw into the world. The story got interesting, that is why I completed it. But I really couldn't understand how the power system worked exactly. The first 2 episodes were badly subbed by crunchyroll that threw Away quite a few people as well.

there are 22 pathways. each with 10 sequences . people drink potion from highest number to lowest. they can't just drink the potion together because of risk of losing control. to digest potion people use digesting method. that's all there which is told.

the concept,lore behind this will be further explored in further seasons..

what did you not understand...?

yeah, I understood all that but, like, after 5 episodes. There was too much going on, how the MC got this world, something about a book, the good guys (i forgot what the police were called), The fog meetings (which was the coolest thing). I am the kind of guy who wants to understand everything at once and that is why it felt like too much. everything was going a little too fast, we were given way too much information at once. Paying attention to all this whilst understanding the power system was getting annoying.

Dec 13, 5:38 PM

#32