Yao Jing Zhong Zhi Shou Ce

This being a Chinese anime, you can't compare it to traditional Japanese anime. They just aren't the same thing so judging this anime based on other Japanese anime just doesn't seem fair. Take what I am saying with a grain a salt, for me, this anime is really good because I can understand the mandarin (Chinese) they they are saying. The English subs which you find on the internet just don't do this anime justice. As for the story itself, it doesn't work unless you put your heart into the anime. Sure this anime isn't a masterpiece but its a far cry from many low ... budget Japanese anime.

Spirit Seed Manual follows a modern day Chinese otaku Yuan Ding, who is transported into a fantasy world with magic, vampires and the typical fantasy tropes. However, upon discovering he has no affinity for magic at the magic academy entrance exam, he becomes an outcast and decides to spend his life as a gardener. Fortunately, he stays with a man who had fairy seeds which are said to help breakthrough your cultivation once successfully grown. Yuan Ding overtakes the old man's dream of cultivating a fairy seed and finds himself in a lot more conflict than he bargained for as the fairy wants to kill ... him. Will this otaku's dreams be realized in the next life?


Story & Character: 5/10 (Spoilers)
Spirit Seed Manual starts off as the usual fantasy isekai but more uneventful because Yuan Ding doesn't have the run-of-the-mill overpowered magic affinity. Instead, he becomes an underdog character that gains his powers from cultivating fairies. Fairies are said to be immortal, transcendent beings who was former human but live on as a seed because of their cruel past life. The story follows this idea by making the main character fight against himself in these flashbacks with the fairies to increase his compatibility with them; Ironically enough Yuan Ding claims he doesn't want to treat this new world as a game but in the end he literally treats the past life with Lotus Cream as a game when he fails. Furthermore, there are many events in the series that are just unexplainable beyond plot armor like when the Vampire killed him but he was brought back to life with the Vampire's vitality?? or maybe the scene where he is brought back into the Magic Academy and his personality changes when he seduces a girl (The vampire's charm) yet when he fights toward the end it's like his charm powers doesn't even exist. The dragon he meets changes sides like it's no big deal; He fights Yuan Ding in the first encounter and betrays him in the third encounter; Finally back on his side after exiting Lotus Cream's flashback world - I don't understand this plot convenience and the characters fragile personalities. The alternate Yuan Ding and flashbacks does kind of tick me off because it doesn't really add value to the actual plot of MC becoming stronger using fairies (outside of the idea of compatibility with Yuan Ding).


Art & Sound: 6/10
The animation did feel pretty choppy but the art quality wasn't too bad considering it's a 2D series straight from the mainland. (resource availability & budget) It wouldn't be your typical 2021 series in Japan but it doesn't exactly feel low budget. Character design was good, I like the otaku clothing/style character Yuan Ding maintains throughout the series since it adds to his demeanor. The sound was also above average; Most of the time the music is just a typical fantasy themed happy backing track. When it gets serious it naturally changes to that high BPM suspenseful music. I liked the voice actors since they naturally fit the characters. Overall, sound and art department gets an above average.


Overall & Enjoyment: 5/10
Reviews will now become more frustrating to make since there is no ENTER for a new line; Literally changes the experience for the worse. I did enjoy the character conflict between Lotus and her sister toward the end since it made a bit of sense and had some level of complexity in a senseless isekai. The story has pretty poor pacing because the flashbacks last 2+ episodes while everything else goes by in a flash dragging the series out even more; We got a pretty half-assed ending for great evidence. (another fairy seed to cultivate, greattttt...) The series went from trying to awaken MCs magic to trying to collect fairies like pokemon to trying to change the past like Erased to bonding with overpowered females that can end the world like Date A Live. Not my best donghua watch.

The failed push at a story cursed this show for me, it seemed rushed and jumbled, and having to reconcile the past with the present, seemed to take up a bit of time as a man encounters his soul from once upon a time.

The anime seems to push for the guy to be trying to improve himself. from his actions this time around, but as both are personalities far apart, it is hard to watch at stages, as he tries to fix the broken of two opposite characters.

Sadly I find it is the typical artsy Chinese anime, heavily relying on music and art to make ... up for this. We see a guy arrive and judged with no magic, just to find he has a tiny bit. Of course, this can't be the end, so he becomes OP'd by discovering how to open fairy seeds.

As his number of fairies grows, the combinations and strength increase, and with someone to restore his mental strength too, he becomes a powerhouse. As quickly as he is asked to join a school to grow his fairy magic, he is kicked out as otherwise another kingdom will destroy the school, and in moments like this, they are so rushed.

There is no stage between events, no build-up in the storyline, or no discovery of how to use powers, binding with fairies to become trusted, etc, except in battle and the back in time jumps, that spoil the battles, as looking for solutions to the past. They would of been better off showing how they were gained at the start, how little they trust people now, and how hard it is to win loyalty, but alas, it never.

It could of been a nice idea, but was so poorly done, that for me, it sucked as an anime, and wasn't really enjoyable, more just watcable