Cang Yuan Tu

The Demon Hunter tells the story of ongoing wars between Saints and Demons; Meng Chuan who loses his mother and fellow villagers in a series of demon attacks seeks power to eliminate demons from the world. He begins his journey cultivating under Ge Yu of Dao Academy after being allowed back into the Meng family residence with the goal of awakening his secret technique, a special awakening that bestows powers suited to the martial art cultivator. Meng Chuan diligently practices in hopes of one day entering Yuanchu Mountain, a village of saints where he can learn the techniques to break through into a full-blown saint. ... How will his journey turn out?

Story & Character: 8/10
The Demon Hunter has a very bold appeal where the more you watch the more immersive it feels and emotionally invested you become in the characters. Although the story in a general sense is your typical childhood tragedy - revenge plot against demon bad guys, It does it with as much emotional build up as possible. The story doesn't sugar coat battles and we see it in several occasions throughout different major plot events - The story also doesn't stick to poorly written arcs of internal family infighting or other noble family drama beyond what is necessary for world building and character development. The main arcs that occurred felt populated and had important significance to the story but there were some arcs that didn't fit in with the overall story where it became dragged out - An example would be the Palace Master's summons for Qiyue, Meng Chuan and Yan Jin and assigning of a special mission.

The characters aren't dumb - especially the antagonist who is calculative cunning to the point where we don't know who they are or what their motives are. There are a lot of themes that this story tackles such as grief, redemption, jealousy, betrayal and corruption which we see through the characters; They have unique convincing personalities that change overtime the more they interact between each other especially with the catalyst, Meng Chuan. However, for a series at this point of development the characters do lack depth to a certain degree especially important characters like Liu Qiyue or Yan Jin and Mei Yuanzhi. The reason is because they aren't entirely in focus until later in the story because the scope is minimal at the start to establish Meng Chuan's character. Small dialogue between Meng Chuan and side characters feel irrelevant until they re-appear later in the series which gives it a shock appeal; This works well with character development as it becomes more about showing and not 'telling' and I really enjoyed this approach especially toward the end when everything comes together. Overall, story and character development were very appealing despite their flaws.

Art & Sound:8/10 & 7/10
Art is wonderful, animation could be improved there were scenes that could have been key-framed better but the fight scenes and overall choreography were visually appealing. From the impact frames to the bright colors of secret techniques, this series does well to add substance to the battles and make it feel decisive. Wu Qi vs Meng Chuan was an example of this, the attacks looked heavy and swift at times thanks to the bright auras and ambient particles/leaves speeding up or slowing down. Some scenes felt lower quality than others especially in the Demon Slaying contest but at important events within the series the quality is maxed out as well as the cinematography and fight choreography. The demons and monsters felt creepy and gory which definitely worked to tell the story better, I enjoyed the fact that they didn't skip out on limbs being cut off or sharp objects impaling characters.

Sound was good, there wasn't anything that stood out as a negative in terms of sound design. The voice acting was good quality, sound effects felt suitable for the movement of characters and the environment. The music choice worked well to add effect to the scenes but it would have been better to have an overall theme for emotional impact especially in sad and happy events of the series.

Overall & Enjoyment: 7/10
7hr3m29s was well worth watching this series; Although some segments felt dragged out there was a lot of lore not only in the beginning but also toward the end that you needed to listen to in order to understand the initial beginning sequences. It doesn't give all the details in one go which I enjoyed about the series in its entirety, this helped with character development as well as plot establishment and progression. Some aspects could have been improved on and I'm sure will be in the next season but for now it was a good watch worthy of 7/10.

When I previously tried 3D Donghua back in 2018, the high rated shows like Soul Land & The Legend and the Hero were wildly unimpressive visually & pacing wise. Some of these post 2020 releases however are clearly beginning to raise the bar.

This show has consistent visual delivery, good animation quality & nice SFX. I think character designs are mostly good, but somehow the main character's transformation/power up design is a complete flop & I prefer just about all side character designs. The fight choreography is enjoyable, and some moments mix music & animation in a way that's a little reminiscent of Arcane's music video ... segments.

It just sucks that the story is not the best & there are some cringe moments. But for every bad moment, there's a good moment to balance it out.

Looking forward to the next season if one is coming.

Generally speaking I am very picky when it comes to Chinese shows, mostly because subtitles are extremely hard to follow due to sheer speed they talk and some really ass-backwards traditions they tend to push as good ideas. This one has all those issues but it's mostly about fighting and main character's growth, so it doesn't pose a huge issue.

Animation, while obviously CGI, does not feel out of place. It's readable and fluid but also choreographed well. It's not the best looking CGI but it's good enough and very entertaining to watch.

Biggest complaint I have with this show is its story and characters. At times ... it feels rushed and then very next episode will feel rushed compared to previous one. It's as if they are trying to make each episode feel faster and more awesome, but didn't realize it makes it all look extremely weird. While they are growing main characters, it feels too fast and without any effort so it comes off as insignificant. In fact so many new skills are thrown at us every episode I lost count so far and I have no idea what is power scaling of each.

Overall decently choreographed but boring and shallow show. You might enjoy it if you come for the spectacle, but don't come for any story or depth, because there's none.