So I found this Chinese animation was on the MAL Top 50 list for weeks. I did some research and found some curious facts....

Nov 18, 2018 5:38 AM

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Nov 2018

Firstly, some disclaimers:

1. I have not watched this one (or most of anime discussed here yet), as I'm a rookie to the anime world and I was actually using MAL synopsis and reviews as a reference source for choosing which anime to watch in the near future (just signed up here so I haven't had the time to move my anime list to here yet, don't worry if you see that my profile is currently blank). The following discussions are based on discussions of the animation in other languages and does not contain any spoilers.

2. However I happened to live in a city in the Far East where you can have friends watching anything from anime, Hollywood busters to Chinese TV dramas so I do have experiences to all these genres. The interesting combination of genres for the anime is important to my conclusion.

3. This is only my opinion based on what I read about it; however I would think this is at least an educated guess.

So it happens that I have very recently become interested in the world of anime, with only sporadic exposure before (it's hard to have zero experience where I live though - Japanese culture influence is everywhere in my city), and I was looking around for what kind of animations I want to watch here and on MAL (among other sources).

A week or two ago I was reading on the number of series in the MAL Top 100 do members here watched, and many were perplexed that this unknown animation was floating in the Top 50 with a 8.7 score.

Seeing that the animation name is in Chinese made me raise my eyebrows - Chinese animation has been more of a target for ridicule and the better ones still struggle to get to the skill levels of Japan, even animation films that end up as local blockbusters (there was one in 2016 about a big fish that was purported locally as one that can rival the Miyazaki animations - in the end the animation ended up decent but a bit short and the plot was criticized as choppy and emotionless).

And then there's this "MDZS" that somehow floats around with the likes of Haruhi Suzumiya, S;G, TTGL et al., and yet I have never heard about it (in a place where Chinese TV shows are really popular!). Further more it seems to be one of the "magical/martial arts" or wuxia themed ones - I like the novels from this theme, but I also know stories from this category is hard to comprehend in other languages as they usually interweave with Chinese cultural references and terms, which are hard to translate into any other languages. Furthermore, they go much deeper into character personalities than Kung Fu films. So I was perplexed that many people actually can appreciate such kind of animation on an English website.

Well then, there must be some reason making it the latest pinnacle of Chinese animation, no? However checking on my local forums shows......no-one at all talking about it. 🤔

Hmm maybe I'll try somewhere else. I did found some sporadic posts for this on the section of a Taiwan-based forum (where the amount of discussion is broadly comparable with that of MAL), but most of them are from only one or two members.

What little I gathered from there was that the animation is based on a Chinese web novel published 2 years ago, which is BL-themed and mainly aims on the female reader category. The animation was drawn using the Chinese water-ink painting style.

Wait a minute. A Chinese.......wuxia.......BL animation getting into the MAL Top 50 with an 8.7 score? This is as far as from the mainstream genres of MAL/Reddit that I could have imagined. I must have missed something, one Chinese animation that managed to do what no others have done before - not only being popular in China (it was first streamed on the streaming website of Tencent, the "Chinese Google" ), but somehow widely acclaimed elsewhere.

Hmm, I guess I have to dig deeper then. Let me try looking around in an anime and games forum in China (that I know of) then. Perhaps people would be actively discussing it on there. 🤔

And this is where things started to look.....interesting.

While I did find many threads talking about many local productions or animations with major Chinese participation (e.g. the film above or the one a few months ago jointly produced by Chinese animation directors and Makoto Shinkai's animation studio), I only found 2 or 3 threads on this animation.

Reading through these threads and........the attitude of discussion was downright weird (compared with other anime discussions including the Chinese examples above), so as to speak. There's one thread where someone praises this animation and these are the responses:

"Are you an advertisement bot?"

"You know how controversial the novel author is? Her (IIRC the author is female) fame all came from that crazy fanbase and paid-to-advertise spammers. And then there's that previous accusation of her copying other's works....."

"You might be hard in finding others to discuss about it in this forum - not many watch BL-themed animations here at all."

"I'm going to report you for advertising. You know that in some other forum you can be banned for talking about this work?"

...........hmm? 🙄

So not only anime watchers in China don't have high praise for it, but the original novel author and her fan base is a topic of taboos, and there's accusations of involvement by social media spammers manipulation?

I know that social media spammers involving entertainment are somewhat more influential in China than you may see on FB, Twitter, Reddit or on Japanese sites, and that many Chinese TV dramas/novels/films were rumored to have exaggerated popularity by paid-to-promote social media accounts, but this is the first time I know that even animations does that. It's a complete mess that I fortunately doesn't have to face in my own city.

After digging deeper I found the following reports:
- The animation is an adaptation of the author's 2nd web novel work published in 2016.

- The author has a core fan base described by others as "crazily promoting the author's works to outlandish levels and attracted an equally crazy anti-fan base".

- The author was accused of copying other's works in another novel and lead to Internet brawls of the two groups as above. It doesn't seems to be the case, however apparently the author's response was controversial (not sure what happened there).

- The author was accused of making use of paid-to-promote social media accounts to promote the works (which, as I wrote, seems to be pretty common in China for films, TV dramas, novels etc.)

- There was a news a few months ago in China that a middle school student, who's a fan of the concerned novel author, found out that his teacher is one member of the "anti-fans". He and other fans put up the teacher's private information on the web, which lead to others fans harassing the teacher on the Internet to the point of the teacher attempted to commit suicide. While this is representative of only a few extreme fans (if the news is actually true, this is disputed), from what I read it seems that both the author's fans & those who hate this author were notorious for their acts on the Internet. I have no idea what's going on there!

So what does that mean to the MAL ratings? IMHO someone probably either created fake accounts on MAL, or called upon the author's fans to come to MAL and pushed its ratings way up (which is easy to do for a work that few people on MAL actually watched). I also believe that there's some chance of paid-to-promote actions involved in this.

(hard to say about the 4 reviews on MAL though - some looks genuine, although there's 1 or 2 that looks too generic enough (i.e. without mentioning any specific details of the animations) and I take them as suspect. The animations and backgrounds look decent and fresh to me, but still very far from what I will expect from a "MAL masterpiece". Similarly from the synopsis I have read the plot seems to be quite good, but nothing that I have seen can pinpoint what makes it special from many other similar themed stories/dramas/novels in China to the point that it can stand out from hundreds of others. It certainly doesn't look trash, but there's nothing that looks likes to me that can support an average rating of 8.7)

If this is true, I have no idea why would they go to a non-Chinese website to promote, but I guess it could be either to advertise the animation in other places, or to show the "high rating" back in China ("Hey look, even Western foreigners like it so much that it was rated higher than EVA!").

I hope someone can take this issue to the administrators of MAL and ask then to check if there are bots involved in this rating. I don't usually want to suspect others, but this is far more of a potentially serious issue due to active promotion and perhaps click/watch rates at possible stake (i.e. commercial interests involved) - it has much more implications than, say, rumors of FMA fans trying to downvote Your Name so that FMAB can be MAL's no. 1. There's just too many strange things going on with the ratings and what I read about the animation's backgrounds. If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.

If anyone has more information on this (particularly if you have really watched it, or you are familiar with Chinese web novels/animations/dramas), please comment below. Thanks!

Nov 18, 2018 2:39 PM

melovche

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Nov 2018

You don't need to waste your time doing this kind of research. Chinese people do not even know websites like myanimelist. They have their own trusted rating systems. Myanimelist has no meaning for Chinese fans. They already got 8.9 score in 豆瓣 rated by over 39k people (https://movie.douban.com/subject/27015848/), 9.5 score in official airing site Tencent Video. This series got a second season before it ends so it is quite successful.

They also have no interest to promote in this website and they do not even air this anime outside China, because westen fans see a random Chinese anime will just ignore it. And it is interesting for a person not to watch even one episode but spend tons of time doing interesting research.

melovcheNov 18, 2018 2:53 PM

Nov 18, 2018 4:13 PM

0nnen

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Mar 2012

Did all this background check but wouldn’t take a glimpse at the actual stuff, you really are...determined, aren’t you?

I know all the fuss about the original piece which is an overrated kitsch story wth infamous maniacal fans.

HOWEVER, the animation is pure art, undoubtedly the best 2D Chinese animation in decades. And it received tons of undeserved attack from the crazy fans for improving the story.

To me MDZS animation is like an honest and smart young man whose father is a violent lying alcoholic. And I take offense when someone discriminates against the son because of his father.

0nnenNov 18, 2018 4:21 PM

Nov 18, 2018 9:32 PM

AdmiralHypper

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May 2016

You know you could always watch it and decide for yourself rather than going through all this stuff. As for me, i have decided to watch it after liking the synopsis and so far so good. Animation is fluid, ost is nice and i especially like the story. I recommend giving it a fair chance rather than trying to find reasons to not watch it.
Seriously it is just 25 minutes give it a try.

Nov 19, 2018 3:04 AM

shintai88

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May 2009

12621

Its a great show, it brings something completely different to the table.
And its really not BL, its more Brotherhood than BL.

http://shintai88.deviantart.com/ Just some of my artwork (Total Noob Btw)

http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=14885218
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMw9h7UH_6ciM7Swteaf5UA
http://www.twitch.tv/shintai88

Nov 19, 2018 11:25 AM

Akit0

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Jan 2009

shintai88 said:

And its really not BL, its more Brotherhood than BL.

Original novel is BL.

But in those parts of the novel, which were animated in the 1st season, wasn't anything explicit.
Just some hints of Lan Wangji's one-sided crush.

But yeah, due to censorship and because animators probably aiming for a wider audience,
it's safe to assume that in later seasons too wouldn't be anything beyond "Brotherhood". (sadly)

Akit0Nov 19, 2018 11:52 AM

Nov 19, 2018 11:39 AM

tsunaashi

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Sep 2018

Maybe people rated it highly because they thought it was good

Nov 20, 2018 3:30 AM

shintai88

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May 2009

12621

Akit0 said:

shintai88 said:

And its really not BL, its more Brotherhood than BL.

Original novel is BL.

I am planning to give the novel a try. BL really isn't for me, but I have heard that the Novel itself is really good, so once I have finished what I am reading I planning to give it a read later.

But yeah due to Censorship in China I doubt the BL would be to explicit.
Also its just fresh overall compared to alot of the typical anime that is being release in Japan.

Nov 20, 2018 3:40 PM

Chuck92

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Mar 2014

You know you have some serious paranoia issues right? I mean I couldn't reach another conclusion to your psychotically abnormal behaviour. You could have watched at least 3 to 5 episode instead of doing some pointless and misleading "research". MDZS ranked highly because it's that good. Sometimes it just happens right, not every possible thing can have conspirators, little schemers and a trace amount of mumbo jumbo okay.

Chuck92Nov 20, 2018 3:53 PM

Nov 20, 2018 4:25 PM

#10

Goldflosse

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Aug 2018

What do you expect from a country who just sentenced a writer of homoerotic novels to 10 years in prison?!

Can't say anything about the accusation of her copying other's works, but unlike you i watched it and the animation is really good, with a fantastic art, gripping plot, lovable characters and beautiful score. Have watched many anime and its definitely worth being in the top 100 on MAL. It should actually be more popular.

By the way i counted at least 20 reviews here, you mentioned only 4.
Don't know on which dubious websites you were, but next to the anime it exists already a manhua to the novel and the Chinese are doing a life action drama series right now additionally based on Mo Dao Zu Shi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aojn0XnDoh4

GoldflosseNov 20, 2018 5:30 PM

Nov 20, 2018 4:26 PM

#11

BackstageMage

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Oct 2018

788

Imagine having this much of no-lifer juice.

Don't worry about being lame now, you were always lame anyway!

Nov 20, 2018 8:30 PM

#12

0nnen

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Mar 2012

Goldflosse said:
What do you expect from a country who just sentenced a writer of homoerotic novels to 10 years in prison?!

Stop telling twisted tales. She was sentenced for illegally publishing and selling over 7,000 copies of pure porns about 17 year old raping his teacher in disgusting manners, and the buyers include teenagers.

Nov 20, 2018 11:31 PM

#13

Goldflosse

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Aug 2018

0nnen said:

Goldflosse said:
What do you expect from a country who just sentenced a writer of homoerotic novels to 10 years in prison?!

10 years in prison for a fictitious love story. That's way over the top. Child molesters weren't punished as severely as the writer. And that's fact and not a tale.

Nov 23, 2018 3:07 AM

#14

shintai88

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May 2009

12621

Akit0 said:

shintai88 said:

And its really not BL, its more Brotherhood than BL.

Original novel is BL.

Since I am not a fan of BL, I would prefer the brotherhood option, but I can see why its a shame for people who have read the novel.

That said there are alot of subtle hints of the BL moments in Season 1 which I had overlook cause I didn't realise the show was based on BL Material, which becomes obvious when you rewatch it.

Not sure how explicit it will get in season 2, as you say censorship and reaching a wider audience will probably affect it.

Nov 23, 2018 7:58 AM

#15

Nightmare_Grimm

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Sep 2018

106

shintai88 said:

Akit0 said:

Original novel is BL.

Hmm.. you replied twice to the op of the comment.
And you went from this:
-"I am planning to give the novel a try. BL really isn't for me, but I have heard that the Novel itself is really good, so once I have finished what I am reading I planning to give it a read later"
(you mean watching the donghua first, you got me confused.)

to this:
-"Since I am not a fan of BL, I would prefer the brotherhood option, but I can see why its a shame for people who have read the novel."

I don't get the sudden reaffirmation that you're not into BL for the same comment that you already replied to before, and then mentioned your subjective preference for brotherhood than BL, while of course it's free to point your choice out to express what you like or not in a friendly manner, but why the need to mention again that you're not "into BL" to make you reply to the same comment twice? it's like you don't want to be looked like that you're into that "stuff" from others, it's a useless reaffirmation tbh.

Back to your mention that "you prefer brotherhood" in your second reply, sure again it's your free opinion, everyone has their own and to each their own, but not every show/novel has to cater to your interest, not every anime has to have brotherhood, if you want that you got a lot of them to enjoy out there, but just why you suddenly said that you can see that reading the novel as a shame? is it because that it has two guys falling in love and just because it's not "your preferred option", that's rude, as a novel reader who enjoyed the novel for its plot. The novel is way more than BL, it's solid plot, interesting characters, exciting events.... the novel being seen as a merely BL by some people is ignorance at its best.

There won't be anything explicit in season 2, in fact it's impossible, even kissing there won't be any, knowing China bans gay romance on their television due to the strict Chinese government, so no innocent shounen ai let alone yaoi.

Nightmare_GrimmNov 23, 2018 8:03 AM

Nov 23, 2018 8:19 AM

#16

shintai88

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May 2009

12621

Xiao_XingChen said:

shintai88 said:

I think you mis read my reply.

I meant that its a shame for the people who have read the novel to not be able to see the BL scenes animated in the Dong hua.

And I am sure I only said I am not a fan of BL once. My original comment "And its really not BL, its more Brotherhood than BL." was based on my experience of watching the first season before reading up later that the original source materials was BL.

For me who hasn't read the novel, I didn't even notice BL elements till I read some of the comments and reviews of the show.

in regards to Brotherhood comment, I just really enjoy the whole sworn brother thing in Chinese stories, like in Water Margin, Three Kingdoms, and other martial art novels.

Nov 23, 2018 8:35 AM

#17

Nightmare_Grimm

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Sep 2018

106

shintai88 said:

Xiao_XingChen said:

I apologize then, sorry and thank you for your clarification.

I see, I was honestly amazed how can you see the subtle hints, as it's no easy to see that if you didn't read the novel, but then again I myself read the novel and still there are some hints that I couldn't even notice until mentioned by others from comments on social media.

And I see, your preference for brotherhood is understandable of course just what I initially said, I just misunderstood the "shame" thing from your comment, sorry again. :(

Nov 28, 2018 2:08 AM

#18

FujoWaifu

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Nov 2018

Hi. I created an account just to reply to this...But I,tbh, didn't bother reading the rest of the text, after reading the disclaimer (thankfully you put it) and this text:
"So it happens that I have VERY RECENTLY become interested in the world of anime,"
But i STILL want to reply just as you posted this, even without watching/reading it... Because, i am a bit of "aggressive" fan, i'll "fight" for it even if people verbally abuse me. Only in case of mdzs, because i owe it my happiness, the plot and characters i fell in love with (the same characters whose name i couldn't remember until i read the novel).
Who, i mean who, just WHOOOOO gave you this stupid idea to derive a looooonnng boring theory of fandometrics, without any knowledge about the subject?
Please, i believe you have eyes and ears? An above average brain definitely as it is capable of so much research for remembering names? Why dont you,just watch it instead? MY POILTE AND HUMBLE REQUEST IS, WATCH IT till the end, which isnt the end of this season, but the 3rd one. If you arent convinced, READ IT... Gain sufficient knowledge, then be the judge, be the lawyer, be the researcher, be the lecturer whatever...
Fun fact: the way i promote mdzs is like i am an advertiser. Well, I MAYBE AN ADVERTISER, BUT I AM NOT A BOT! YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS TO DEHUMANISE ME!!!

Nov 28, 2018 3:39 AM

#19

sufod01

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Apr 2017

Wait. You did ‘so much’ research on this anime but you didn’t even watched a single episode? Moreover you are new in the world of anime? How can you really judge an anime merely based on rumors? This is like those people who hates BL so they will just put a bad ratings without watching it.
Btw the anime is closer to brotherhood/shonen ai than BL. I watched a few episodes (will watch the remainings later) and i must say that the art and music are great, it’s what which stand out the most for me. Also, high praises are coming from the novel readers community (the english one) about this anime, definitely worth to be in the top 100.

Nov 28, 2018 7:32 AM

#20

Inklein

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Jun 2015

Just my opinion, but I think you guys are being a bit harsh on the OP.

I know that you do need to watch the series in order to accurately review its contents- I have watched it all, and I've started reading it too btw. But this is just information pertaining to the background of series and not a direct criticism of the series' plot itself.

It's like observing the highly visible fanbase of any series that has gained a rapid following. People outside of it often notice what is happening inside of it too. Perhaps there are some extreme and potentially false facts, but I know I would do some research before deciding whether to watch it or not.

The OP is apparently a newbie to the world of anime, so I think they deserve to be cut a bit of slack. Why not welcome them, or suggest some series to watch to introduce them to the wide world of anime? Like FMAB for an action-driven fantasy or Death Note for those interested in a high-stakes crime series?

Real or not, I found this information interesting. Chinese animation is only just starting to break through the anime ranks and it's good to see opinions from all sides.

Dec 2, 2018 9:07 PM

#21

GoesWithTheWind

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Jan 2016

I'm surprised you're getting attacked so much for this post, but that may be telling of why this show has such a high score.

It's clear the fanbase of this show is very... passionate about it, if their intense responses are anything to go by. The high score is likely from this anime not having many others besides said fanbase rating it, as I can't even find any subtitles in English (language of most Myanimelist users).

Although I would also point out that there being genuine fans who did rate the anime so highly doesn't necessarily disprove the existence of bots, though it's seem rather unlikely.

Dec 3, 2018 12:38 AM

#22

Akit0

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Jan 2009

GoesWithTheWind said:
I can't even find any subtitles in English (language of most Myanimelist users).

Guodong Subs subbed it.

Dec 18, 2018 8:57 AM

#23

mir308

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Dec 2018

OP, I feel like this is a series that you will enjoy if you say you enjoy historical fantasy set in Ancient China. Also, you shouldn't ever use popularity as a metric to judge quality otherwise you'll be missing out on a lot of good stuff.

As for the animation between China and Japan, I feel like Japan at the moment has its unique style whereas China is drawing influences from both the West and Japan. Historically speaking, both countries have good animators. Even if China isn't releasing their own works, it wouldn't be out of the question for Japan to outsource labour to Chinese studios. Besides several key animations, I wouldn't be surprised if other countries are doing most of the heavy lifting in Japanese anime.

Dec 22, 2018 5:50 PM

#24

kell234

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Apr 2015

Those who saw male friendships are clearly latent homosexuals. Even in the first series, they alerted that there were no normal female characters. Once again rechecked tags. After suspicion escalated. After instead of the standard scene in the bath they showed her the same, but without women my ass flew to the moon. I understood that the moderators did not specifically put the BL tag, so that more people would start watching

Dec 22, 2018 6:04 PM

#25

SymphonyofNight

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Dec 2018

kell234 said:
Those who saw male friendships are clearly latent homosexuals. Even in the first series, they alerted that there were no normal female characters. Once again rechecked tags. After suspicion escalated. After instead of the standard scene in the bath they showed her the same, but without women my ass flew to the moon. I understood that the moderators did not specifically put the BL tag, so that more people would start watching

Do you really need to repeat some of the sentences from your first post from other topic? you made it clear that you're just one butthurt homophobe whose not only ignorant to the story but also blinded by your own prejudice.

Dec 22, 2018 6:24 PM

#26

kell234

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Apr 2015

I wrote to the moderators, so thay must add shoinen ai tags. My ass really hurt lol. Bb my read only

Sep 18, 2019 9:47 AM

#27

Nxt_Arsenic

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Jun 2019

163

How much time did you spent making this shit story...to me its not the novel or writer but you seem to be fishy...Go and watch at least 3-5ep before saying all this shit....Animation is really good...character development and world building is top notch...I watched 15-ep season in just 3 days despite such buzy schedule...It has an mind blowing plot for a person who is into historical and drama...

Sep 28, 2019 1:19 PM

#28

Ko-me

Offline

Nov 2016

you either have too much time on your hands, bored or you just don't get how "fan base" works. either way you sound like a Homophobic that see something that people love and already decided they are bots and not real. cause yeas, bromance could not be "good" or what people can like.

okay, it is your own problem not mine. but at least don't make up bullshit about it and lie to people. I really feel sorry for people who actually believe your BULLSHIT!

and has others already point out - the animetion is great, the plot is amazing, the world building is top notch etc...and yeas you won't find any BL in the dounga, only brotherhood/best friend kind of type. so no, the love story won't be in there, so you can be happy. though I don't see anything wrong with loving someone. but china been china, it will not approve any gay stuff.

has for the author, it funny to me how people blame the author for becoming popular for writing something "good". it's not like you can pay people to become popular on the Internet unless you are a politician, which I doubt she is LOL I guess china will hate anyone that dare to be different/write something good without trying to slander their name. I hope that someday china will become a better place for authors to express themselves without fear for their good name.

Oct 1, 2019 1:09 AM

#29

Liaeves

Offline

Aug 2012

1642

So basically what you're saying is that you don't like how high in ratings Mo Dao Zu Shi has and want us to report to MAL???? Sure, dude. Sure. Who are you to judge when you haven't even watched any of the episodes or are completely new to anime/donghuas??

You can't tell me what to watch and what to like. I got interested in this series whole heartedly for the plot. I've never even heard of this donghua at all until I stumbled upon a rec on MAL.

It makes sense for this show to be receiving a lot of love, because this donghua is one of the many types of media it's been produced. Mo Dao Zu Shi is originally from a novel. They then made a manhua, live drama, audio drama and this, the donghua. Of course that's going to attract a lot of fans because there are different types of media fans are attracted to.
If animation isn't their style, they'll read it. Fan of dramas? Sure, there's one for this series. All these options have made a lot of fans want to check the other types of adaptions of this series (I believe), which made this series gain a lot of of attraction.

Of course, the storyline and characters have to be good for the audience to enjoy, and it looks like to me, it succeeded to gain a fanbase.

So stop crying over MDZS having a high rating when you haven't even set foot into the world of anime/donghua or the series at all, and let other people enjoy what they want.

Oct 6, 2019 4:36 AM

#30

RuthieW7

Offline

May 2018

Don't let it being in Chinese put you off.
I'm actually Chinese and I've heard this series thrown around for a while but because I grew up overseas I almost discriminated against Chinese 'anime'
Big mistake.
This is probably one of my favourite series ever and I highly recommend everyone to watch it.
P.s. if you really like this show you could also go watch the live action. Normally live actions are trash but The Untamed is maybe even better than the ajime
You did not hear it from me

Oct 6, 2019 4:39 AM

#31

removed-user

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Jul 2018

564612

Did anyone even read everything that op wrote?

Oct 7, 2019 7:31 AM

#32

Catsrcutest

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Feb 2013

Thanks for all your research OP, I learned a lot I didn't already know about the series. All in all my reply to you will be, "don't judge a book by it's cover".

I guess I'm one of those people who can be considered part of the hardcore fanbase, though I am European and not familiar with Chinese or other Chinese novels. I found the "anime" through Tumblr, which I can imagine is the case for quite a few of the western viewers (or Twitter), and got fascinated by the stunning art and animation mainly. I have since then read the novel and am even starting the drama - though I hardly ever watch live action series (even western series).

I'd say the book is quite good on it's own, definitely an interesting and fun read, but not necessarily worthy of such a grand adaption as this "anime" really is. So in that manner, I can understand why you're puzzled, OP. That being said, the "anime" really is just that good. I think this is due to three things:

The art/animation is absolutely gorgeous. Any anime-watcher would be intrigued upon seeing gifs from the series. It's that pretty.

The soundtrack is good as well. it fits the series perfectly and to people that aren't used to hearing traditional Asian music, it seems ethereal.

The first season covers the best part of the novel - filled with action and where you really get to know the characters. The dynamic between the two MCs makes the show fun and the slow breakdown of Wei WuXian adds an extra depth that causes the plot to go a little beyond just being entertaining. The production of the show was really good, pacing was right and there was a good mixture of action, sentimental moments and humour that would appeal to a broader audience.

And lastly, personally, I found the setting to be just magical. Probably because I don't know anything about ancient Chinese culture. And when you combine this with stunning art and pleasant music, the experience is just good.

I don't find this series to be a masterpiece. It does not necessarily deserve a space on MAL top 100 shows. But it's definitely a good show, worth a watch. Give it a try, OP, then you can judge for yourself.

Oct 14, 2019 7:06 PM

#33

Yiling_Patriarch

Offline

Oct 2019

So I guess I should start with the fact that I am a huge fan of this series. I wasn’t always a fan of course, first I watched the donghua and fell in love with the characters and plot. After watching the animation I sought out the novels English translation.the book, similar to the animation, was also very compelling. My enjoyment of the novel leading me to become a pretty big fan.
Now I think that you are mistaken when you proclaim that mo dao zu shi’s High rating is due to bots. It’s a pretty small niche in the west, seeing as it only recently got an officially sub, I doubt any money would be wasted on bots.
The fans are intense, yes, perhaps not to the level you appear to make them out. They may get into feuds with anti fans but that’s usually the extent. The only other things I can think of that has called fans to drastic action is the dramas production and the scum villain’s self saving systems manga adaptation. Both of which are relatively justified. As the drama was going to turn the main males into sparing rivals in a heterosexual love triangle. A move that considering chinas already sparce and unfavourable lgbt représentation was obviously not received well. The SVSSS, another novel by the same author as Mdzs, comic was dissed and insulted by an artist of the company producing it. The artist herself claiming she was working on it and making it purposely ugly. This understandably angered fans and even after it was revealed she wasn’t, they still dropped it due to controversy.
The plagiarism anti fans have claimed is largely unfounded, and the animation you call average shows just how unaware you are of actual good animation. Seriously. Why comment on its animation if you can’t tell shit on the ground from high quality? how does one comment on animation that they’ve never seen? You can see how your comment causes frustration as you talk about a series as being mediocre whilst never having watched it?
To reply to someone else of this form who has claimed its high rating might be due to only fans of the show rating it; well when a show as obscure to western fans as this arises, I find it hard to believe it has enough of a pull to do this on purpose. People rate it high because most people who watch it really like it. I myself have never heard of this anime prior to watching a short review on it. Even then I was reluctant because I didn’t believe I would get enough of the elements I was looking for. Yet I watched it and fell in love. Due to this I believe it’s the shows merits that make people rate it so high.
Most people who watch it really like it. Is that so hard to believe when you see the stellar animation, good development and characterization of even minor characters, entertaining plot and great voice acting.
I don’t believe the show is infallible, the 2D animation is wonderful and 3D backgrounds are nothing short of breathtaking. But some of the 3D animation, by god. There are 2-3 scenes where it’s noticeable atrocious.
The drama adaptation itself I’m not a big fan of, though not entirely relevant, I’d like to show case that I’m not blinded by my love for mdzs, but rather that it’s been well earned.
The drama has over exaggerated acting and horrid CGI, overall it’s an okay drama, not that I watch a lot of drama but I’m sure it’s no masterpiece.
Anyways all This to say that the rating is rightfully earned and I think OP may not be being entirely truthful about his statements. His analysis of fandom leads me to believe he is not as new to the anime world as he states. And his conspiracy seems too In-depth for a passing curiosity yet not researched enough to give a shallow and misleading impression.

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Poll: » Mo Dao Zu Shi Episode 15 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) valkiriana - Oct 10, 2018	103	by HaruYing »» Mar 24, 2:12 PM
» I thought anime/manga from other countries was not allowed on MAL? Kimiko-chan - Dec 14, 2020	5	by senekohan »» Feb 19, 8:06 AM
» I'm telling you egosumjohn - Dec 8, 2023	7	by Watch_Kuranado »» Dec 11, 2023 1:35 PM
Poll: » Mo Dao Zu Shi Episode 8 Discussion valkiriana - Aug 23, 2018	31	by HagePotPotato »» Sep 13, 2023 8:30 PM
Poll: » Mo Dao Zu Shi Episode 1 Discussion Stardew - Aug 8, 2018	43	by HagePotPotato »» Sep 13, 2023 1:14 PM

So I found this Chinese animation was on the MAL Top 50 list for weeks. I did some research and found some curious facts....

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