CHARACTER: 6/10
ART: 9/10
SOUND: 7/10
ENJOYMENT: 8/10
OVERALL: 7/10
‘The King’s Avatar’ is a Chinese anime that manages to be a joyous ride, filled with many badass Action settings and well-placed Dramedy that will have you wishing for ‘GLORY’ to exist in real life! (GLORY is the MMO game played in this anime) The story focuses on a superb player who’s forced into early retirement, so he creates a new character instead and starts from scratch. Some of the game settings are beautiful to behold showcasing amazing landscapes but unfortunately the anime also takes liberty in explaining the game system to the audience. The downside to this is the negative effect on the story which feels incoherent in places, so some concept goes unexplained like how the MC can employ such vast damage to his opponents? Or why can’t experience and higher-level players outdo him in matches or record breaking? I know his experience helps him a lot but that can’t just be it right? (I have many other similar queries but no need to dive into them) Easy fix is to just go with the flow and enjoy what’s unfolding in front of you. You do figure out a few things along the way like ‘GLORY’ rewards players with high APM (Actions per minute), game skills or a team player mindset. And since half of the anime is set to an E-sports theme, the eventual goal for all the players is to be offered a lucrative contract and be part of a professional team with a separate location provided for practise matches. The other half happens inside the game where all the battles take place in an arena type context with PvP style aspect to it though it’s never fully explained. The MMO featurette presented here was entertaining and played well with your nostalgia (Only if you are a Gamer!) so little things like training weaker players, forming guilds and completing missions together just made me very happy.
What makes this more fun is the journey we take with our MC, who’s practically a master of this game. With 10 years’ worth of experience, Xiu Ye knows everything about it, from its mechanics to the materials needed for crafting special weapons and the knowhow to beat different bosses! This certainly makes him an OP character but its believable to an extent, so I won’t fret too much. Although the constant praise he is showered with by everyone is too much, it’s understandable when new or mediocre players are in awe with him but when experienced players started doing the same, I had to roll my eyes! (I also understand he lost his position because of losing interest in the game due to the shift in focus from the agency. It wasn’t about games anymore, it became more about exposure and sponsorships but still I would have preferred some challenges for him in the game since he started playing with a new character) His weapon is very unique, changing forms from a spear to a sword or a gun which was very cool and the back-and-forth with between Xiu Ye and Rou Tang was nice. The pacing of the subs was an issue people had problem with. (Chinese dub doesn’t count as one! :P) But you get used to it by reading faster, still the names were a little difficult to remember which in turn hurts the side characters as they were hastily presented without giving them much screen time. In addition, some characters looked alike which is why most of them fail to leave an impression! Although the people Xiu Ye teamed up with were fun to have, especially that one person who talks too much! (from episode 11)
The artwork and animation here is a stand out, dazzling viewers with stylized fights that always manages to entertain, and the playfulness light comedy attached to it was appreciated. It’s not perfect though as Chinese anime is known to feature a lot of 3D, and while most of it looks good, some of it is either unnecessary or sloppily done. (The Internet café parts) The Voice Acting and OP/ED translated well but nothing stood out for me. I did enjoy the sound effects added whenever we were inside the game, especially during the battles. The animation during fights were very pleasing due to the details with which they were choreographed and outlined.
The light novel or manga this is derived from is pretty long and comes in depth with details of how the game works. (Class and level system, weapon crafting, etc.) So, I figure most of the loopholes from this show can easily be clarified there. Still that’s not fair to the ones who just like to watch so they better fix this problem for their next season as its very clear many details and plotlines were skipped. They need to pace themselves by slowing down a bit and explaining things along the way. Maybe have more than 12 episodes for the next season. And the side characters need more limelight, so we can care about them too. (Don’t just focus on OPing your MC!) I must commend the anime for not catering to most of anime watchers so no form of fanservice or clichéd game genre tropes shall be found here. The story feels more grownup with mature characters and real-world problems which is a breath of fresh air. Which is why Xiu Ye development as a person was done differently here, subtler and realistically put. Nevertheless, I was impressed with the animation and the action, so I am excited for another round, but they better fix their blunders or next season won’t be a hit!
