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.