Mo Dao Zu Shi

Xian: the state of immortality that all cultivators strive to achieve. However, there is a dark energy that lies underneath—the forbidden Mo Dao, or demonic path. Through an unfortunate series of tragedies, this is the path that cultivator Wei Wuxian experiments with during his teachings. His rise in power is accompanied by chaos and destruction, but his reign of terror comes to an abrupt end when the cultivation clans overpower him and he is killed by his closest ally.

Thirteen years later, Wei Wuxian is reincarnated in the body of a lunatic and reunited with Lan Wangji, a former classmate of his. This marks the beginning of a supernatural mystery that plagues the clans and threatens to disrupt their everyday life.

Mo Dao Zu Shi follows these two men on their mission to unravel the mysteries of the spiritual world. Fighting demons, ghosts, and even other cultivators, the two end up forming a bond that neither of them had ever expected.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Wei, Wuxian Main

Kimura, Ryouhei Japanese

Lan, Wangji Main

Tachibana, Shinnosuke Japanese

Jiang, Cheng Supporting

Midorikawa, Hikaru Japanese

Wen, Ning Supporting

Shimazaki, Nobunaga Japanese

Nie, Huaisang Supporting

Hanae, Natsuki Japanese

Lan, Sizhui Supporting

Tsuchiya, Shinba Japanese

Jin, Ling Supporting

Kaji, Yuuki Japanese

Lan, Xichen Supporting

Morikawa, Toshiyuki Japanese

Jiang, Yanli Supporting

Hayami, Saori Japanese

Jin, Guangyao Supporting

Xiong, Ke Director, Storyboard, Art Director

Ma, Chendi Episode Director

Liu, Xing Script

Liang, Sha Script

Reviews

Oct 13, 2018

-Heika

Recommended

I usually write reviews either because I hate it or love it. In this case, it’s the latter.
I’m so in love with Mo Dao Zu Shi in general, (not just the animation) and I’ve started reading the novel and caught up on the currently translated Manhua. [SPOILER-FREE]

Story: 10
If you haven’t read the novel or Manhua, (like me—because I started with the anime/donghua) then it might be a bit confusing at first but you’ll get the gist of it. I personally started reading the novel and Manhua, and they give more explanations and you’ll appreciate the story more.
This is a BL/Shounen Ai Story, so ... if you’re not into that, then watch something else. (Spread love, not hate)
The story is, so far, heavily focused on flashbacks. Only the first 2 episodes are set in “the present”. I am currently on episode 9 and it’s still a flashback, so it’s a bit slow-paced. However, all the episodes are action-packed and it’s hard to look away.
[Also, Mo XuanYu and Wei Wuxian look VERY similar and I got confused as well, but I believe Wei Wuxian’s body has a longer ponytail.]

Character: 10
Everyone has a distinct character, despite some characters looking the same—you can tell them apart. Wei Wuxian is very fun protagonist to watch—he’s a troublemaker who likes to tease people and isn’t afraid to speak his mind.

Art: 10
This was what attracted me. The setting is in Ancient China and I’m in love with their clothes, architecture, etc. (All were flawlessly animated.) Everything was smooth and literally everyone is beautiful and eye candy.

Sound: 10
Although the Chinese voice acting is a bit new to me (this is only my second Chinese Animation), I got used to it and it actually sounds nice! The voice actors were very expressive in their tone of voice, which I sometimes found lacking in some Chinese voice/actors.
The background music, OP & ED were like heaven to my ears. The main characters also play instruments (flute/guqin) which sounded so badass.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Aug 17, 2020

alquimistablanco

Mixed Feelings

Long ago, the cultivation clans lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Wen clan attacked. Only the Yiling Patriarch, master of harnessing negative energy, could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he went kinda batshit crazy, killed a bunch of his friends and exploded. Now, my brother and I have found the new Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, a lunatic named Mo Xuanyu. And while his fluting skills are great, he's got a long way to go before he's ready to save anyone.

Ok, I promise I'll try to keep the ATLA comparisons to a minimum from here on out, but you ... get the picture. While this series has the bones of a good story and some awesome art and sound, its plot languishes unnecessarily for almost the entirety of the series. All the information in the paragraph above is revealed within the first 2 episodes, and the next 16 or so are exclusively flashbacks retelling those events in incredibly long detail, meaning that there is little actual progress or character development happening in those episodes beyond what is already revealed early on. The end result is that the vast majority of the series (stretching into the second season) is written as its own unnecessary prequel with all the subtlety of a 16-ton weight dropping from the ceiling.

Story/Characters: 5/10. The story had a lot of possible directions it could go from the start: starting a new life without the baggage of notoriety, hiding one's identity from former friends/frenemies, learning how the art he invented has grown and changed in the years he's been dead, observing the social changes that occurred after the overthrow of both the Wen and the Yiling Patriarch, living as a freelance demon-hunter, etc. etc. The story chooses to explore none of these and instead re-tell what it already told in the opening episodes. While toward the end of the second season we do get a glimpse of things going on behind the scenes, unfortunately most of the episodes are spent telling us stuff we knew from the get-go: Wei really likes his sister-figure. His relationship with his adoptive brother soured. He developed a way to harness negative energy, which makes him a hero to some and a heretic to others. Various miscommunications, misunderstandings and petty partisanship have cast him as a villain when really he is just trying to protect his people. etc. About 10 hours of the series is spent slapping the audience in the face with things they already know, while what was introduced as the main plot (Mo Xuanyu) is abandoned. The length of the exposition steamrolls any nuance out of the plot and twists itself in circles to justify the purity of its characters rather than exploring their flaws. Most of the characters have fewer than 2-3 character traits, one of which is almost always "loyal to family/clan" so the vast amount of time spent expounding on just how justified Wei Wuxian was or how much of a major asshole Wen Chao is was a vast amount of potential for actual storytelling in a fascinating setting wasted.

Minor gripe: the character designs are far too uniform, especially Mo Xuanyu and young Wei Wuxian. I suppose since basically everyone immediately recognized Mo as Wei Wuxian anyway, it's a bit of a moot point, but it felt lazy. I don't know if they were TRYING to make the Wen clan leader look like Fire Lord Ozai, but they did. The ubiquitous sun and flame motifs among the Wen does not dissuade this comparison.

On to the good parts:

Art: 9/10. Docking a point for lazy character design, but the art and animation were incredibly compelling. There's a good amount of noticeable-but-not-terrible CGI interspersed throughout, which works effectively with the storytelling in parts. The art really makes me wish it had a more compelling story to fill it out.

Sound: 9/10: Music is used as both theme and symbol throughout the series, with the guqin and the bamboo flute offsetting each other. Both are traditional Chinese instruments, but their use in the series underlies the difference in tone of their characters: the guqin's music is usually calm and resonant, while the bamboo flute instrumentation is often high-pitched and frantic. It was a masterful way of showcasing the light side/dark side interactions as the characters became closer entwined. Unfortunately, because the main plot spent most of its time flashbacking, the audience gets a very limited amount of the most compelling musical dynamic in the series. The VAs were generally good, although I have a feeling that they gave about five too many people the voice direction "You are an angry but scholarly middle-aged man," though that would arguably be a problem with character design.

Enjoyment: 5/10. I went into this series and loved the first few episodes, so I was incredibly disappointed to spend almost the entire rest of the series waiting for something new to happen. The art and music kept me afloat long enough to reach to the end, but ultimately it never gets far enough away from its starting point for me to have enjoyed it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Oct 16, 2021

terwa

Not Recommended

I liked the manga and the novel ,but the anime was a big disappointment
the art and Chinese voice actors were good ,but what the use
As the story filled with ugly and boring fillers , twisted of events ,and skipping important details ,focusing on other unimportant details ,and they made a short past long story (longer than the present) while in the manga and novel it focus more on the present than the past ,and that how it should be
And I don't know why they skipped all the ai shounen light cute love between the 2 mc? it was pure ,funny ,enjoyable and cute ,not to ... mention that some of it was deeply related to the story in an important way
And the most important thing they made Wei Wuxian is wrong and being possessed by evil power, which is not!!!
Wei Wuxian is a great character and the writer showed us how he is been accused of falsely sins in the manga and novel , and he would always use any power in his hand to help any person in need through the past or present ,putting anyone before himself ,even if it harmed or killed him ,he seek power to protect not to be great
and all the close people were to him abandons him for power the only one stayed in the 2 times period with him was Lan Wangji
Which also was ruin in the anime by making him stand against wuxian , while he never done that on the contrary he would always take wuxian side no matter what was the other side ,as he was sure of wuxian good intention
AND THAT MY RIEVIEW FOR THE 3 SEASONS AS THEY RUIN A MASTERPIECE
And ruin a great arc which was the left hand body tracking , and made a chaos speedy ver, which was filled with half assed explained events and flashback of important events or ignoring them ,adding silly scenes which doesn't make sense ,like the anime staffs didn't know what they were doing or didn't read the novel or manga thoroughly
This was really a bad commercial for the novel and manga
People who didn't like the anime ,don't judge it and try to read the manga or novel as mystery and cultivation was a masterpiece ,and overall it is a masterpiece

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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Nov 27, 2020 7:08 PM by Aidan | Discuss (20 comments)

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Aug 22, 2020 9:31 AM by ImperfectBlue | Discuss (37 comments)

	Poll: Mo Dao Zu Shi Episode 15 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) valkiriana - Oct 10, 2018	104 replies	by SuhSun4 »» Nov 18, 8:16 PM
	Poll: Mo Dao Zu Shi Episode 13 Discussion Xealias - Sep 29, 2018	21 replies	by Kaydansnk »» Oct 24, 6:42 AM
	Poll: Mo Dao Zu Shi Episode 4 Discussion Stardew - Aug 8, 2018	19 replies	by ScaryOwl »» Sep 28, 7:18 PM
	Poll: Mo Dao Zu Shi Episode 3 Discussion Stardew - Aug 8, 2018	18 replies	by ScaryOwl »» Sep 28, 6:40 PM
	Poll: Mo Dao Zu Shi Episode 2 Discussion Stardew - Aug 8, 2018	29 replies	by ScaryOwl »» Sep 28, 4:52 PM