Fu Yao has emotional motion sickness.

This is them at the tea house where they met in person again for the first time in 800 years…

I imagined Mu Qing making a vulnerable face for a split second, but before anyone notices it, he’s back to the facade.

Idk why I keep making mini Mulian animatics to songs I first listened to when I was like 15…

(Nan Feng in the back, blabbing…smh🤦‍♀️)

now that the S1 donghua is over, what are your favorites scenes (top 5 maybe if there's a lot)? what's your fave song? and what's your overall opinion about it? did haoliners do a good job or it could be better? i love reading your thoughts!!! have a nice day and stay safe :D

Hi there!~ I’m definitely excited to talk about the donghua!!!

Okay so to start off, some of my fave scenes are: 1) THE FOREST WEDDING SCENE -- to no one’s surprise! 2) THE SINNER’S PIT CATCH -- also to no one’s surprise 3) The Banyue-General Hua-Pei Su flashbacks -- i.e. the part where XL gets killed and Banyue is left to mourn, and later where PS sees her strung up in the sinner’s pit ;u; 4) Puqi Shrine Domestic Housework -- to be fair thats like the whole episode but hey! 5) The communication array scene with XianLe Trio -- this one tugged at my heartstrings aaahh

These are just the first 5 that really came to mind, but I’m sure I’ll remember a lot more as soon as I publish this ask lol!

Overall, I have to say I’m really pleased with the donghua -- especially in terms of pacing and how they used the medium to its fullest effect. For the pacing, I predicted back in October it would end exactly at the “what would you like for dinner, Hua Cheng?” scene if they paced it well, and it DID, so I was pleasantly surprised lol. I didn’t feel like any parts were rushed, though interestingly I did feel some parts were a little slow. E.g. if they cut that random mini-subplot with Pei Su’s (Pei Xiu?!) jealous superior out, maybe they could have had Hualian return to Puqi Shrine for the actual zinger. (Though also animating Puqi Shrine and everything in it is a lot more work than a blank Desert bg lol so I get it.) I mainly wonder if they added that whole bit because of censorship reasons, to show that PS wasn’t as cold and calculating as he is in the novel--but rather that he was desperate and pushed to his limits. Moral greyness is often not looked upon favorably, with there having to be a clear hero/villain divide. It’s also probably why HC’s backstory was revealed in ep1 itself--to show that he is in love with XL, to soften his snark and Ghost King persona ahead of time.

As for how they used the animation medium, I think things like how they did the Banyue-XL-PS flashback was really well done. There wasn’t very much dialogue especially for the one where XL was “killed,” but the tone and significance were very clearly communicated to the audience. Same for when PS saw BY strung up in the sinner’s pit. You could see the anguish on his face, and understand why he might’ve done bad things in order to save her. There was still very little dialogue or exposition there, but there didn’t need to be.

Naturally I’m aware of the issues/controversies that have plagued the donghua and I really don’t wanna get too into them all over again lol! But I just hope that that’s the last of it, and we have an easy breezy season 2 and onwards! There also some animation errors and quirks here and there, but that’s kinda to be expected with like every animation, so I’m not holding it against them. I’ve watched a lot of currently-airing anime with goofs too, and they all get fixed eventually. Haoliners even went back to fix things already like the color of HongJin and such, so that’s good to see! Other than that, I hope the animation studio has ample time and resources given the commercial success of the first season, so they can make season 2 really good!

I also ADORED all the music, to bits. I think “红绝” (Hóng Jué; Red Supreme) was my favorite. I love the melody so much, and many have said it’s Hua Cheng’s character song, so it fits very well in my opinion. Of course my next favorite is “ 一花一劍” (Yī Huā Yī Jiàn; One Flower One Sword), which is Xie Lian’s. They’re both SO spot on. I think the reason Red Supreme is my favorite is simply because I really like that Lift (idk the exact term) that happens around 0:45 (ED ver)/1:10 (Full ver) and in a few other verses. I’m weird about small things like that in music, because it can take a song from 10 to an 11 for me in just a second lmfao! But otherwise, it’s actually very hard for me to choose because whoever the lyricists are for these songs absolutely know what they’re doing. The fact that every single song for the donghua is a love ballad is perfect. :^)

Also worth mentioning, I REALLY love the manhua song for Hualian! It’s a duet and it’s so lovely~

Thank you for sending in this ask! I had a lot of fun gushing about the donghua hahaha. 😘