Tian Guan Ci Fu – Animation Appreciation

Welcome everyone, to round 2 of me making a fool of myself to talk about Chinese animation, this time featuring Tian Guan Ci Fu or Heaven’s Official Blessing. Just like the last series we talked about, Fog Hill, odds are you haven’t heard of it. And if you have then congratulations, you anime hipster you. Just like last time, this isn’t actually a review and is in no way meant to be taken as such. In fact the series is still airing right now, having just shown its 4th episode on Bilibili. Rather I just want to talk about its production and the cool things going on in the Chinese animation scene right now. So let’s just jump into that shall we? Directed by Haoling Li and made by studio Haoliners Animation League, this is Heaven’s Official Blessing!

So first up, who the hell is Haoling Li and Haoliners Animation League? Unlike Samsara Studio from my last post, these two have actually been around the block a few times. Haoliners is based in Shanghai, China, and according to their website was founded by Haoling Li in 2013. Prior to this, Haoling Li primarily worked as a storyboard artist on projects for Shanghai Television, though I was unable to find which ones. Meanwhile Haoliners is a different story, their earliest works being Lu Shi Dai and Man Tou Riji, the second co-produced with Studio Lan. Since then they have done steady work, airing consistently on Bilibili and QIY streaming platforms, slowly growing their staff. It wasn’t until 2018 that they achieved their “western debut” so to speak with their contribution to the anthology series Flavors of Youth.

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Fog Hill of Five Elements – Animation Appreciation

Hello everyone and welcome to a rather weird post about a Chinese series you probably haven’t heard of, Fog Hill of Five Elements. Now odds are you have no idea what I am talking about, and I don’t blame you. Not only are subs for this notoriously hard to find, but the ones you do find probably aren’t that good. A Graphic Design Service Subscription does not suffice in finding them. Part of that is just the difficulty of finding Chinese translators, since the Japanese translation scene is well established at this point, but another part is that no one really knows this show exists. And let me tell you, if for no other reason than the animation, the goal of this post is to change that. So lets dive in.

First up, a little about Fog Hill. As far as I can figure, Fog Hill was originally created by Hun Lin in this little 5 minute YouTube video here. Whether he made the whole thing, VA and music and all from scratch himself I have no idea. I don’t even know if Samsara Studio, the animation house behind Fog Hill, is his studio or just one he is working with. Since this is their first project and all the information is in Chinese, as an ignorant American I just don’t know. But what I do know is that 3 years later, in 2020, Fog Hill got a full 8 episode ONA season that is currently being released right now. Directed, Scripted, and Coordinated by Hun Lin, this is clearly a passion project. And even if I can’t understand the words, I can understand hype. And this? This animation is hype.

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A Closer Look: Babylon and the Male Gaze

We’re currently moving to the new domain, so I figure it’s the perfect time to celebrate the event by writing this little essay. If you read my Babylon’s weekly summary you’d know that I am mixed on Babylon as a whole, but there’s one segment in that messy show that rile me up, that I find myself still thinking about it even now, and even inspires me to envision a whole new tale in response to it. I won’t trouble your time with the latter, though, but I’m here to critique that particular segment through a specific lens. There is no spoiler and it’s about the flashback of one character, so I encourage all readers, even to those who haven’t watched Babylon, to read through this mini tiny think-piece. [UPDATE: If you want, you can watch that sequence right after the jump, from the beginning to 11:40), no prior knowledge of the show required)

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A Closer Look: The Flowers of Evil

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Well, after the Versus Show, how about some in-depth anime discussions this time? In this section I will talk in more details about anime/ manga that I’m passionate about. Please note that this is not an actual review. Honestly, I never truly agree with the concept of reviewing (and rating for that matters) at arts, at something we suppose to feel subjectively. If I want to review that much I’d rather be critic. But I’m not, at heart I’m an anime fan who love this medium just like you guys. This in-depth piece not only give me a deeper look at the works that cut me deeply, it’s also serve as a reminder of why I love anime in the first place.

Lately, the world of The Flowers of Evil just can’t seem to escape me, which is quite reasonable to be honest because psychological drama is always my thing. After all, one of my favourite director is Ingmar Bergman. For those who say this is a horror work: NO, it’s not. It feels more like TERROR for me, something that can happen in real life (while horror’s main intention is to scare you, period). I re-watched the anime again after its airing back in 2013, and this time I managed to read the manga to see how it all ends up. Thank god that the manga is finished so I don’t have to wait for months for the next chapters to come. Flowers of Evil is one of the best anime/manga out there to really understand the dark side of growing up, the detachment to the world they live in, the self-confusion, the teen-angst and the obsession and destructive relationships. I will discuss in details below, really whatever springs on my mind. As this is obvious a spoiler-heavy post, please read it at your own risk.

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Random Anime Recommendations – Episode 02

Hey, i’m back with another list of recommendations. This one is just in written form because I don’t feel like getting everything edited properly. This will still be a list of random recommendations from the nearly 1000-series long list of the anime I have seen, and I’ll still write about the different series out of the top of my head (doesn’t really give the same improvised feeling, but whatever). With this, I hope to introduce a few of you to some series you didn’t know about.


Seikai no Senki II
Seikai no Senki is the third installment of the Seikai trilogy. You need to watch them in order, however all searons are significantly different from each other. Seikai no Senki is the third installment, and the focus is on politics. What sets this one apart is how intelligent it is, and it uses that incredibly well to use these politics to create a very exciting story. And this is in combination with characters who are really, really articulate about their thoughts (this is based on a light novel, and it shows!). The first Seikai seasons were perhaps a bit dry (though still really good as well), but this one knows to excalate perfectly.


Kuchuu Buranko
Kuchuu Buranko is this unique little series about psychology. Right when you see it for the first time, this starts out with its wacky colour scheme and over the top quirky style. Yes, this was done by Kenji Nakamura, the same guy who did Tsuritama and Gatchaman Crowds. It has this formula that you nowadays never see anymore: every episode we see a person with some kind of over the top psychological problem, and the main character of the series is a psychologist, tasked with solving these problems. At first this series seems very shallow, but as it goes on we see a very interesting overall picture develop, and in the end it turned into a series that actually changed my perceptions about the practice of psychology. Its a fun show to watch, however do note that it never shies away from trying to annoy you; however if it didn’t do that you’d miss one of the big points that this show is trying to make.


Shangri-la
Now here is an interesting one. This is basically the series that nearly bankrupted Gonzo. Of course things were already going bad for them, but what they did was they bet their entire future on this series selling well. And it became a massive flop. And it’s a shame, because personally, I really liked it, although it is a series with huge ups and huge downs. The animation varies between absolutely gorgeous and off-model. The story jumps from one place to the other and it has quite a few holes. But I loved how ambitious it was. The creators came up with this really strance concept of carbon trading, and all sorts of neat and interesting ideas. The characters are also a bit of a mixed bag, but there really is a lot of charm to them. A lot of people hated this series though, Do NOT watch this if you like to objecitvely analyze your series!


Romeo X Juliet
Ah, more Gonzo. This one didn’t work, though. This is their re-imagination of the classic Shakespeare story, and in true Gonzo fashion they just created their entire own story and made thankful use of creative liberties. It really could have worked, but unfortunately the story gets really bogged down in the middle by really a LOT of emo and angsting. At a certain point the story comes to a halt and never realy picks up again and it just remains boring for the rest of the airtime. A really big shame.


Jungle wa Itsumo, Hale Nochi Guu
Here is the thing with this series: if you love black humour, then by all means: do not miss this series. The humour in this seires is pitch-black; it tries to make the life of the main character, Hale, as miserable as possible. It’s a journey to crack his mind. And in the process this series produces some absolutely delightful comedy. I watched this before starting this blog, so I don’t have a review of it on this site, but I have never seen a series that does abusive comedy with the same flair as this show. Because while most other series that are so dark, they lack one thing: they don’t feel genuine. And this series does. The downside is that this is quite a long comedy, and it’s not always funny. There will be plenty of annoying scenes amidst the hilarity. And how many other series take place in the junble? Oh, and it’s also got one of those instantly recognizable openings.


Chaos;Head
Chaos;Head is from the same series as Steins;Gate and Robotics;Notes, but apart from that it has absolutely nothing to do with them. It’s a story about paranoia and not knowing who you can trust while the fate of the world is at stake. Apparently the series really butchered the original source material it was based on, but meh. For someone who was unfamiliar to it, it was nice enough. It’s incredibly sloppy, I’ll give it that, and it’s also quite low-budget, but it has interesting ideas and interesting plot twists overall, but it’s also nothing special either. A nice watch if you’re in the mood for something paranoia-ish.


.Hack//Liminality
Tihs is one that my memory is very vague on, but what I remember is that I watched this after becoming a fan of .Hack//Sign. I was excited to see that there was more of the series with .Hack//Dusk and Liminality. While Dusk turned out to suck, Liminality had me intrigued, as it tells the background story of some of the concepts that were used in .Hack//Sign. I was young, and a lot of the dialogue went over my head, but thinking back, it definitely made an impression to me and it still stands as my second-favorite .hack//-installment after Sign.


Himitsu The Revelation
Those of you who followed my blog back in 2008 know that I was a REALLY big fan of this series. This series is based on the works of a mangaka who who has mastered the art of mystery. Her stories are the product of brilliance, and that also really shines through in the anime version. As a murder mystery, it knows exactly how much it should reveal. Every clue adds a tiny bit to the puzzle.The storie are all incredibly varied, and some of them can become really disturbing, but they are all chockful of creativity. Not to mention, the premise was amazing: after death, your memories can be downloaded and viewed, and they use that for murder victims in order to solve who killed them. Also, awesome soundtrack is awesome!


Bokura ga Ita
Here is an interesting shoujo series. I remember really liking it when I watched it. It supposedly had these really realistic characters and this very doned-down atmosphere for a shoujo series. The thing is though, that when I think back at it, I hardly remember anything that really captured me. Of course it was a long time ago and all, but I can only recall lots of angst (and I mean LOTS), along with nothing much happening for 26 episodes. So yeah, it’s probably very good if you like serious shoujo series, though I’m not sure anymore exactly why it was.


Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito
Hentai game adaptations that are actually good are really rare. Especially back in the days in which this series was released (2003). Most really are dull harems with no effort put into them whatsoever. What set this series apart though, was its sense of adventure. It’s about this traveler who goes back and forth between a bunch of creative worlds and has a bunc of creative adventures. It’s not great or anything, there are a bunch of really juvenile and annoying characters here, but when compared to the same old stuff that you usually get with these kinds of series. And I also remember that it had a really good ending: the destination was worth the journey.

Random Anime Recommendations

Hey guys, I’m currently experimenting with a new format, inspired by the podcast I did together with Deadlights, Scammp and Juno. It inspired me to do a bit more with podcasts, but instead short ones. I’ve always had the idea of writing some kind of recommendation post: I mean I’ve written a lot of reviews at this point, but for most people looking for new stuff to watch it can be very intimidating to search through everything, so in these podcasts, instead of discussing the new shows I thought it’d be an interesting experiment to just recommend some older series that I’ve watched.

What I did, is that I’ve created some random generator of all the series that I’ve seen. After deleting some obvious sequels that list totals 964 series, movies and OVAs together. For each series I get, I’ll give reasons why it is recommended, or why it’s not to be recommended. I have no idea what series will come out of it, so it’s going to be completely improvised. Yes, I like to torture myself sometimes.

Also, I apologize for my accent. I’m Dutch, but even then I know it’s terrible. ^^;

These are the series that came out of the random generator this time, in order:

– Akira
– Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu
– Melody of Oblivion
– Love Hina
– Dororon Enma-kun Meerameera
– Kowarekake no Orgol
– She and her Cat

Also, apologies for ending so abruptly. I screwed around while cleaning up and accidentally removed the last few sentences. And feel free to discuss the series that I’ve mentioned. 🙂