Hunter2022

Answer from Deepseek:

"Based on publicly available information, the upcoming movie Shrouding the Heavens: The Imperial Path is likely a re-adaptation or a condensed retelling of the original novel’s arc rather than a strictly alternate timeline sequel or spin-off."

I guess alternate timeline was not the right word. Anyways most donghua movies are not meant to be part of the main series, but more like extra stuff you could watch. And if you don't watch it, it doesn't really affect your enjoyment nor understanding of the main series.

but this Donghua is not even magical at all. If you look closer, everything was put together like they just want to do the bare minimum to honor their contract to Tencent to animate their IP/screenplay and not something they poured their hearts into.

Look at the cheesy way they populate the environment with grass blades and could tell right away their work is something like fast food instead of real food...

You mean CGI. The only AI the donghua ever used was to capture the actors motions without those white dots all over their bodies. Everything else was "hand-made/drawn" or physically acted out in real life (but captured into a virtual world by AI cameras).

No, just like the Renegade Immortal movie, it's a spinoff set in an alternate/parallel universe. Remember the kid bro of one of the bad guys? In the series he just got beat up badly by Ye Fan. But in THIS movie Ye Fan actually kills that kid, so it's definitely set in an alternate parallel universe.

Anyways, life is too funny... Soon as Tencent releases SHROUDING the Heavens movie (made by team "Mortal's Journey" aka Original Force studio), iQiyi also releases an animated feature called SHROUDED Hamlet: https://movie.douban.com/subject/38411029/

Lastly, the one thing I like, it sort of ties in with the previous live action movie called Shrouding The Heavens - The Forbidden Zone. The MC of that live action movie is actually the "Void Emperor" (Xu Kong) of the just released 3D CGI movie by team "Mortal's Journey".

Another angle to it is, Tom Cruise is actually a midget actor, but the director will try everything possible to make him seem like a tall man on camera via tricks and gimmicks.

Sword of Coming S2 donghua has the opposite problem, the camera man will try everything possible to make giant sword fairy seem the same height as Chen Pingan... D'oh! It's supposed to be a fantastical world, and a gigantic sword spirit is actually a novelty and should be exhibited/celebrated, not something you'd try to suppress with camera tricks!

OMG, wow ClouddArt animation studio sux. In Ep 12 or 13 of Sword of Coming S2, the sword spirit fairy is much taller and bigger than Chen Pingan, even though her overall figure is actually typical skinny supermodel beauty.

CloudArt simply fails to capture the size difference, ie . Her humongousness on camera. That's how you tell apart the good studios from the second/third rates. For a first rate studio, such scenes as sword fairy standing next to Chen Pingan would have you go, "holy cow she's humongous!"

But nah, if I didn't look closer, I would have thought they were both similar physical heights thnx to bad camera angles, artistic direction etc of CloudArt!

WORD OF ADVICE: DON'T WATCH THE DONGHUA ON A WEEKLY BASIS, UNLESS YOU WANNA SUPPORT BILIBILI!!

Just a friendly suggestion, unless you're looking to support BiliBili with a subscription, you shouldn't be watching such high quality donghua on a weekly basis. It breaks the flow.

Even then, you could just subscribe/keep your subscription active and not watch till the end of the season.

I binged EP1-76, took a break, then 77-124, took another break then 125-176. For me it was the best experience!

So many things become disjointed and confusing when you forgot what happened last week, 2 weeks ago, 3 weeks ago. Best to keep it all together during binging.

Like I alluded to a few posts below how the OST is mostly borrowed from another work (Renegade Immortal donghua).

I really look forward to the soundtrack/music of S2.

I would be disappointed if it didn't tried to emulate Donkey Kong Country 2 (SNES game from the 1990's) sounds.

If you 've watched the donghua, you will know S1 took place on land continent, but S2 will take place on "mini" islands in the ocean. The perfect musical theme for this kind of drama is the kind of music you hear in DKC2 involving water/island exploration and pirates!!

(This tune from Renegade Immortal, which Immortal Ascension S2 will inevitably "borrow" from, with its heavy drums sounds like Lockjaw's Saga from DKC2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEhit8JQHWE)

Go watch the donghua. There are many ppl who prefer the donghua version becoz it's done by the same studio that worked on parts of Nezha 2 (theatrical movie that made 2+ billions USD).

Personally for me 2, the live action is maybe 5-7/10 while I would rate the donghua 12/10!!

Shrouding the Heavens - The Imperial Path (full movie) is now up on YT. There are just too many sources no way Tencent can combat this kind of piracy and take them all down. New ones will just spring up...

I think for a very very long time, this will be the only movie team "Mortal's Journey" will ever produce, although obviously it's a different IP -- Shrouding the Heavens.

I've seen Perfect World, Swallowed Star, Renegade Immortal spin-off movies, None can match team "Mortal's Journey" (aka Original Force Studio) kind of visual quality and camera works.

BTW, I wish the pirate community would re-release the live action Shrouding the Heavens -- The Forbidden Zone movie in 4K. It's up on YT, but very bad quality. That movie was so funny but in a cool way.

btw, they finished airing the 8-episodes BTS special for the donghua as promised. Pretty sure the next EP 177 (or was it 178 as EP 176 had 2 "parts") of the Mortal's Journey donghua will be released soon...

Can watch all 8 episodes of the BTS with ENG subs here:

https://kisskh.at/discussions/35477-a-record-of-a-mortal-s-journey-to-immortality/148302-a-mortal-s-journey-behind-the-scenes-8-part-mini-series-airs-feb-14-2026

speaking of the Donghua...

"WE"RE TOO FRIGGIN' BUSY MAKING THE SHROUDING THE HEAVENS MOVIE, WE NO LONGER HAVE THE TIME TO RELEASE A WEEKLY EPISODE OF MORTAL'S JOURNEY"

May explain why the contract animation studio had been "missing in action" for 8+ weeks.

But hey, this is the same contract studio that made parts of Nezha 2 (grossed 2+ billions USD at the box office). So seeing the Shrouding the Heavens movie just released a few days ago by this same studio, it was worth it to get a pause on Mortal's Journey weekly donghua episode.

Is anyone watching the newly airing Veil of Shadows (I'm gonna collect all episodes in 4K then binge watch them later)?

https://kisskh.at/761731-the-resurrection-painted-skin

From the same production company Youku. Plenty of ppl have complained about the cheap/budget-looking SFX in Immortal Ascension.

I've only previewed a few seconds of action, but it seems like Veil of Shadows is over-the-top (in the best way) in visual effects! The kind of effort you'd wish they had put into Immortal Ascension S1 instead! Maybe Youku trying to make up for not putting enough $$$ into the VFX department for Immortal Ascension S1?

Actually i take it back, ending song may have been sung by a different singer, but he sounds so much like Liu Huan.

A taste of things to come -- OST for the Immortal Ascension S2:

I'm sure one or two songs from IA-S2 will be *inspired* by (not more like copying from) these fresh new songs from Renegade Immortal S2 (the second one sounds like Donkey Kong Country 2, which is a very fitting theme for the S2 of the drama...)

New OP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5bvFUEPRuE

New ED (this one sounds like DKC2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=canQTCSJGLw

Just listen to this, such blatant copying!

Renegade Immortal OP (the original -- I bookmarked the video at the "oh oh oh oh oh" part)

https://youtu.be/fVvV-9kJFw0?t=62

Immortal Ascension OP (the imitation/copycat -- also bookmarked at the "oh oh oh oh oh" part)

https://youtu.be/7QXnqnCHoSI?t=149

Not to mention Qu Hun his best friend is no more in S2, his mind was gone in S1 but his body was also killed in S2 (in the donghua but will be killed in the live action drama as obviously they haven't aired the sequel drama yet). This is/will be the most extreme illustration of "whoever comes into contact with Han Li eventually got jinxed" as Qu Hun wouldn't have become a puppet in the first place if he didn't wanted so eagerly to study together with Han Li under the tutelage of his first master...

Hmm, there is a lot of cross copying in C-ent. You know the song in Immortal Ascension that has the male singer go "oh oh oh oh oh" for most of the song? That actually came from the opening song of Renegade Immortal S1 donghua.

The most likely scenario is Youku contracted various singers to compose various songs for this drama. One of the bands being at a loss to what tune to compose looked to Renegade Immortal donghua for inspiration. After all it's the same genre dealing with Immortal cultivation . That's how they came up with the "oh oh oh oh oh" song.

Lucky for Youku, Renegade Immortal donghua now has fresh songs for their OP/ED credits. The new end song sounds like Donkey Kong Country 2 (SNES video game released in the 1990's). This is actually very fitting for Immortal Ascension S2 drama as most of it takes place on DKC2-type tropical islands admist the vast oceans.

Basically, if you want a SNEAK PEEK at the OST of Immortal Ascension S2, go listen to Renegade Immortal S2 donghua OP/ED credits. The artists contracted for S2 of this drama will be doing the same to "draw inspiration" but with much fervor becoz they have paychecks to earn!

Why does Sword of Coming S2 (donghua not "The ZERO" live action adaptation) suck?

Any of you play Honor of Kings the mobile MOBA? You know those grass blades look so unrealistic and totally cartoonish.

They used the same kind of cheesy/sloppy way to create the grass blades in Sword of Coming S2.

I was generally not impressed with the environment details in Sword of Coming S2 becoz I seen better in other donghua series..

The ONLY saving grace SoC2 had was the ending song was quite catchy. This guy also sung the ending song of Shrouding The Heavens (another of my favorite donghua). He also performed for Beijing 2008 Olympics, so this guy is not some no-name artist contracted to perform for (often low budget) donghua ending songs. Most of his songs are quite catchy including SoC2 end credits song!

The rule of thumb in C-ent is, the original name is usually too long. So when they adapt a live action version, they always need to come up with a newer (and shorter) gimmicky name. To make it even worse, if there is already a live action adaptation but older made long ago, they also have to come up with a "gimmicky" name that is different from the previous adaptation.

You would never have guessed just from the name alone The Untamed is actually the live action adaptation of The Founder of Diabolism.