Xian Ni

This review is for first season / 38 episodes.

I am writing this review because there is only one available and my guy said only bots gives this anime 10 out of 10, so I am kinda offended and he can eat sh**.

He noted that web novel is good and anime as a whole is bad adaptation.
- "animation is trash, the voice acting is trash, the music is trash, the story is trash"

I do not read web novels so I will not comment on that part but I do not know what my guy expects because compared to a lot of other chinese anime everything he ... noted is at least decent.

My answer to him is that he should watch at least some of anime below before commenting like that:
1. Peerless Martial Spirit
2. The Secrets of Star Divine Arts
3. Alchemy Supreme
4. One Hundred Thousand Years of Qi Refining
5. Ten Thousand Worlds
6. Against The Sky Supreme
7. The Wonderland of Ten Thousand
8. Supreme God Emperor
9. The Legend of Sword Domain
10. Spirit Sword Sovereign
11. The God of War Dominates
12. Ancient Myth
13. The Success Of Empyrean Xuan Emperor
...

At first I gave anime gift grade 9 out of 10, but after 20 episodes or so I changed it to 10 out of 10 purely because it was so much fun for me watching main character saying one big F U to the world at some point.

Negative:
1. Start of anime is bit random, so you are not really sure what to expect.

Neutral:
1. "Situ Nan" (some random guy who only has his soul left and follows main character) is kinda nerfed version of "Yao Chen" from "Battle Through the Heavens".
2. Main character does not stay in one place for long, more like jumping from one to another due to circumstances of him running from someone, etc. where I personally would like to enjoy worldbuilding aspect little bit more.

Positives:
1. I really like "Wang Lin" (main character) character development through episodes (especially episode 10 and onwards), as he is just some random guy at start of anime who does not know a lot about world and cultivation and then eventually he learns how cruel world really is.
2. Power levels and scaling is easy to understand.
3. Animation is among better/best ones for chinese 3d anime.
4. Action scenes are interesting enough and main character also has cool abilities.
5. Girl who fails for main character is also done well from how she acts / her behavior to how she looks (spoiler: she is beatifull)
(she is only shown in few episodes for now, but they should come together at some point I expect)
6. As I understand same guy who wrote "A Will Eternal" wrote this peace of art and that is one of my top 10 anime, so I want to support this one also.

An early review, but this show is a total disappointment for me.
Going in with no information on the source material has been a pretty miserable experience.

The visuals are fine. The animations are fine.

The story is not. The pacing is not. The characters are not.

You are constantly starved of any sort of meaningful character development, fights feel meaningless & there's no plot ever being developed. There is barely any context as to what the main character is trying to do at any given time, or what happened between time skips. You are constantly asking who these random characters who look identical to eachother are.

The official? ... subtitles seem to be machine translated & also ignore on screen text.

Only reason I'm not giving it a fully negative review is because it has okay visuals & I think some people just want to watch the main character kill people occasionally & that's enough for them. Or maybe people familiar with the original novel want to watch it & perhaps it's good for that.

Xian Ni is an unfortunate example of a poorly executed adaptation. I see that newcomers aren’t prepared for the neutering about to take place but be prepared to be amazed!

The animation in Xian Ni is disappointing and disgusting. The quality is subpar, and the 3D animation feels clunky and unpolished, the CG looks bought and paid for by the asset. It's a far cry from what fans of the web novel should expect, and it will detract significantly from your viewing experience. If the animation doesn’t leave you debilitated and crying ‘uncle’, the story will! 1/10

The voice acting lacks the emotional depth and nuance needed ... to bring the characters to life. It feels flat and uninspired, making it hard to connect with the characters or become invested in their journeys. Wang Lin barely has any lines and the grim atmosphere that Xian Ni is famous for has been replaced with a highfalutin musical number and bright imagery.
The music is equally unimpressive, failing to enhance the atmosphere or complement the narration or combat scenes. Compared to other anime, the soundtrack feels inadequate and doesn't leave a lasting impression; the opening and ending songs are decently palatable but haven’t left an impression on me. There is NO Japanese dub available and there will probably never be, which is a big minus. 1/10

The story is another needlessly propagated issue! The intricate cultivation system, which is a significant aspect of the web novel, is entirely skipped over! These elements are crucial to the story's depth and appeal. This omission left the storyline feeling hollow and disconnected from its source material. Numerous chapters are crammed into single, rushed episodes, resulting in a disjointed and confusing narrative. The web novel of Xian Ni is known for its detailed world-building and complex cultivation system; “was” I should say, prior to the massacre. The censorship, a big issue with Chinese publishers, diluted the original content, making it unrecognizable to fans of the novel. 1/10

Fortunately, Xian Ni fails to deliver a quality adaptation of the web novel or even provide enough originality to stand on its own like the original Fullmetal Alchemist. Its animation, voice acting, and music are all subpar, and the storyline is butchered beyond recognition. My advice? Don’t even bother touching this adaptation and read the web novel instead. The novel offers a far richer, more immersive experience that the anime simply cannot match. 1/10