Anime 50441 Qian Cong Shou

This was a pretty good donghua, one that I hope gets more attention and a second season.

The action sequences are definitely the greatest strong-point of this show, they were very fast-paced and exciting. For this reason I'd highly recommend people give this show at least 2 episodes before deciding whether to continue or not, as the action sequence in episode 2 is very good. The "Power Word" magic system used by the characters in the series features some interesting super powers, but more than that the main character Qiancong really makes the fights interesting with how he uses his own cunning to make up for ... his (initial) lack of a Power Word ability.

The CGI character animation may initially be off-putting to some, but I think it works well for the show. The CGI character animation allows for much more fluid movement, making the fight scenes much better. Furthermore, the animators tried make the character models look as close to 2D as possible, through the use of cel shading. Overall, this show is a fairly good example Chinese CGI used well. The music was also always pleasant to listen to.

The cast of characters were decent for the most part. Some of the secondary characters were goofy or unremarkable, but the main two leads were pretty good, particularly the main character Qiancong. I enjoyed Qiancong's crafty style of fighting, I always appreciate shows where the protagonist relies on strategy over simply having the more overpowered ability. When he does eventually unlock his own Power Word ability, it is definitely the most interesting ability in the show. Furthermore, Qiancong is a very headstrong and passionate protagonist, I found it easy to root for him.

My main problem with the story is that the show never clearly defines what the "Qiancong Guardians" are. From the context clues it's apparent they are some sort of peace-keeping organization, but beyond that little is explained about how their organization works or what their role in the world is. The story revolves around this organization and our group of protagonists trying to become members of it, so this was a significant issue I had throughout the story. For a comparison, it's kind of like watching Naruto or Bleach, but if the stories never explained what the purpose of the Shinobi or Soul Hunters are.