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Haven't seen the original? By all means, try this one - it's got some fun & unusual story elements you might enjoy.

Watched the original? Yeah, I'd give this one a pass. They made changes to the art style and the main character that kinda wrecked it. The original had a grittier art style and the main character was really the whole reason the show had that "mob" feeling. The new one has a softer art style, which ok, maybe you can manage. But they KILLED the main character. Ugh. From the stupid expressions on his face to the line delivery, it's felt ... like a doofus in a suit was just playing with a bunch of kids. I had hoped to see some new content and was kinda excited for this, so I gave it a shot - but honestly, I wanted to cry after the first scene and I just couldn't get into it afterward.

A nice departure from the stale, trope storylines so often depicted in Chinese donghua. Very unusually, it's got a more Western feeling - not a cultivator or pill pot anywhere! The castles, knight's armor, weapons, magic - yes magic - even the dragons, are closer to the ones you would normally see in Western fantasies. I kind of want to underline that because I don't think I've seen another donghua with these elements - and I've watched a lot of them.

I really enjoyed the storyline, which was more linear and better developed than most, the elements of humor, and the more classic "journey" of ... the hero. The animation style was pretty good and the effects were well done as well.

On the downside, the story jumped a bit here and there - they probably could have doubled the number of episodes to really build the characters and adventures better - and they had a really odd mix of monsters and references to other Western fantasies. It was a bit like Tolkien meets Greek mythology meets Eastern Journey to the West meets Game of Thrones meets penguins.

Despite the odd moments, it was fun and different; I'd definitely watch another season.