Low expectation for the show. The donghua was confusing as hell. The gimmick of only showing you bits and pieces of the whole story at a time only worked with Three Body (Tencent Drama). I don't work with Sword of Coming donghua.
I think this kind of IP is best suited for trilogy movie. I wouldn't want to slog thru 24+ episodes of dramatic confusion when a 6 hours trilogy could save me all the torture!
I am a fan of Yang² but.....this one missed the mark for me especially after all the hype. The cinematography…
It's not the adaptation itself but the source story.
Deepseek seems to agree that Fanren Xiu Xian Chuan (the novel) is inferior to another work:
"The Final Tally
If you measure popularity by "cultural impact and reverence within the hardcore novel reader community," Renegade Immortal often has the edge. It's the story you recommend to someone who wants to see how deep and tragic the genre can be. It's a masterpiece of dark xianxia.
If you measure popularity by "mainstream success, accessibility, and the quality of its multimedia adaptation," Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality wins. Its donghua is a gateway for countless new fans into the genre and is a benchmark for production quality. It presents a more "complete" and polished package to a wider audience."
-------
In otherwords, Deepseek says Record of a Mortal's Journey is more popular becoz of the high quality donghua (and lesser extent this live action drama), but readers around the world like the Renegade Immortal novel story more.
-------
Oh, how I wish they put the same budget of Ancient Love Poetry to make a Renegade Immortal live action drama!
My other lamentation is Fanren got such a top studio to animate the donghua, but Renegade donghua leaves much to be desired. Myanimelist says the 1st season of Renegade only goes up to EP 128. I wish they fired this studio and hire another to animate EP129 and beyond!
Just watched up to EP 40 of Renegade Immortal donghua. The story is too similar to Fanren almost like both authors…
The Ending: Wang Lin spends millennia searching for her (Li Muwan) reincarnation across countless worlds. He eventually finds her, and they are finally reunited for good, transcending life and death together. (Paragraph provided by Deepseek)
This is what I meant by Renegade Immortal has superior romance. That is almost the classical level of White Snake but reverse (girl looks for guy reincarnation) .
BTW, I hope they animate this ending. I would be disappointed after watching over 250 episodes of Renegade Immortal donghua to find out they stopped the series half way ( ran out of budget or lack of viewer interest to continue to the end)
I watch this on a wall projected image (probably 100 inches or larger and in 4K). I don't feel the vastness of scale of the place, nothing! Darn second rate studio got to animate this donghua.
Compare this to the scene (in the donghua) where Han Li and CQQ had a private meeting on a daisy field in Yellow Maple Valley, I felt that was a real place and I was really there. That's what a first rate studio looks like/produces!
Just watched up to EP 40 of Renegade Immortal donghua. The story is too similar to Fanren almost like both authors were copying from each other.
I always felt Renegade Immortal is a superior story to Fanren, and the first 40 episodes proved I was right. In fact the part I like the most is the ML + FL pairing. In Fanren, Nangong Wan is almost an old hag compared to Han Li. Not in Renegade, I haven't read the novel, but the FL appears to be slightly younger than the ML. In fact the FL had an older brother that helped with her appearing younger. Romance is also more pronounced in Renegade.
I'm not talking about the sex scene like in Fanren (under seductive gas influence between Han Li and Nangong Wan). I'm talking about touchy feely show of affection type.
HOWEVER, I hated that Tencent hired a second rate studio to animate Renegade. I felt if they recruited the same studio as Fanren, Renegade Immortal can easily be my #1 rated Xianxia donghua! This donghua Renegade Immortal can be so much better in the hands of an expert studio what a waste of an IP to let another studio animate it...
Just about the only thing Renegade got right was the appearance of the ML and FL CGI 3D models, and I felt they were templates provided by Tencent's in house CGI departments not something modeled by the animation studio they hired.
BASICALLY: Fanren donghua -- superior visuals becoz being animated by prob the top studio from China. Renegade Immortal -- superior story superior romance, but very crappy looking visuals.
I know eh? I like this aspect of the story the most. Han Li succeeds based on his own steam and effort. Want to…
Yes, but the difference is Han Li could choose NOT to use anything that was grown and simply feed them to his spiritual pets. On the other hand the bead directly gives Wang Lin power and even protects him when his life is in danger.
The other thing is Han Li is a lone rogue cultivator. He doesn't have the support of rich family members or relatives or the backings of a powerful sect behind him. So him possessing a magic green bottle is just leveling the playing field for Han Li when it comes to herbal resources. Having the green bottle doesn't guarantee him immense power. He still has the risk his life to obtain the root, plant, or seed in order to grow them.
okay!!I have seem several wuxia cdramas and I have to say this is not like others...here the MC is not specially…
I know eh? I like this aspect of the story the most. Han Li succeeds based on his own steam and effort.
Want to know of a polar opposite which I must say is rather embarrassing? It's almost a parallel story where a poor village boy joins a sect and that starts his cultivation journey. The story is Renegade Immortal. He tried his best to gain entrance to the cultivation sect, like Han Li, but ultimately failed the test like Han Li. Now the embarrassing thing happens after he fails the entrance exam, he finds a cheat in the form of a sought after treasure/magical bead. From then on, he becomes powerful only becoz he has the cheat in his body, not like Han LI that has to endure on his own efforts.
In other words after the first few episodes of Renegade Immortal, we're no longer watching ordinary Han Li become strong, but rather a cheater cultivator called Wang Lin, who only forges ahead becoz nobody besides him has the cheat bead.
Few could become Han Li based on their own craftiness, but almost everyone could have become a Wang Lin so long as they accidentally stumbled upon the bead when they first began their cultivation journey.
BUT still, even after all that, Renegade Immortal is still fun to watch, but I'm not as fond of it as Fanren Xiu Xian Chuan!
Just watched EP1-24 of Renegade Immortal the donghua. I couldn't help but notice how similar it is to Fanren. The donghua starts out with a bunch of powerful people fighting over some bead. This mirrors the fight scene between a bunch of nascent soul fighters over some treasures emitted from a furnace much later in Fanren.
There is also a Li Feiyu and XuanEr type character. Except XuanEr's father seems to be in the same sect as her mother (not some evil demonic scumlord).
Unfortunately Renegade Immortal was animated by a second tier studio.
I'll tell you what a first tier animation studio from the Mainland China looks like. I use a movie projector to watch all my dramas and donghuas and movies and ONLY in 4K (unless it is absolutely impossible like the earlier seasons of Douluo Continent 1 when 4K wasn't even mainstream). In Incarnation (aka LIng Cage) donghua by BiliBili, I could get scared of heights/develop height sickness. The same with Fanren donghua. When Han Li watched Mo Caihuan join a band from very high above on his flying boat, I could feel the height sickness.
With Renegade Immortal, I felt nothing. The only saving grace it had was the FL looks cute, but that's just Tencent forcing the animation studio to make her appear a certain way to be consistent with other high quality donghuas they (Tencent) produces.
Omg what's with all the scenes that were cut out excessively? I'm at episode 22 and can barely understand what's…
For this kind of drama, I always advocated watching the donghua animation first for this exact reason, to become familiar with the story so you focus your attention on the nuances that differ instead of trying to resolve the confusion in your head.
Anyways, I watched the drama immediately AFTER I binge watched EP1-76 of the donghua. I didn't notice any skipping in the drama other than it would have been too expensive to do everything the same as the donghua as those scenes would have required TOO much time and money to build the actual sets (or scout a filming location) and tack on the CGI.
Contrast this to "Superman" Han Li that's just Han Li + old red rag, seems like BiliBili/Original Force didn't put too much thought into designing the "Superman" red cape of Fanren Xiu Xian Chuan...
I'm on EP124 of the donghua. Does Han Li ever go back to his flying boat after he obtained the "Superman" red cape that allows him to fly even faster than before (not to mention making him look like a cultivator "DC Superman" too)?
Every live action adaption drags out to the max compare to the donghua. But this was a good adaption. It will…
I wouldn't mind Fanren to be the 1st 1000 episodes donghua I will have ever watched so long as it's done by the same animation studio, Original Force. This studio is extremely good. They can take any average IP and make it look stellar with spectacular visuals.
Which reminds me of that famous liner from Douluo Continent: A (true) artisan takes NOT fine materials but common materials and makes exquisite works out of them.
Like the master swordman. He wields NOT the most expensive luxurious sword you can buy from a blacksmith but a beaten up looking twig...
Every live action adaption drags out to the max compare to the donghua. But this was a good adaption. It will…
I doubt it. They compressed 63 episodes of the donghua down to 30 episodes of the live action. After you've seen the donghua, the drama felt super-rushed. Yang Yang will be 40 years old if they drag the pace you're suggesting.
My opinion on why the donghua is so popular for an overcrowded marketplace as xianxia fiction:
1. Most xianxia series are produced like a super-long blockbluster movie. Just action sequence after action sequence.
2. Fanren Xiu Xian Chuan on the other hand is like a virtual reality TV show -- follow the mortal to become an immortal virtual reality TV style.
2 is more refreshing than 1 in an overcrowded market place. May explain why Fanren Xiu Xian Chuan brings such HUGE profits for BiliBili in terms of subscription membership!
Drama follows the donghua to a tee. You should start from EP63. That's the teleportation goodbye old world scene.…
But that's only a little minor nuance. There are somethings that don't work when adapting a live action. They never showed Han Li learn superspeed from Li Feiyu, so in a sense, the donghua is much cooler! BUT overall, there seems to be very little variation between the live action and dongha.
Here is the official BiliBili Fanren Xiu Xian Chuan playlist on YT (I've bookmarked/indexed the EP63 for you, the part that was covered in EP30 of the live action):
You notice it is 100% identical to EP30 of the live action, except:
1. They want to save the death of Mo Caihuan for EP1 of S2 of the live action. If they killed her off in EP30 of S1, viewers will think Nangong Wan has no more romantic competition, and they won't be interested or come back for S2.
2. In the donghua, Mo Caihuan is seen with a young girl. At first I really thought she was her daughter. BUT NOT, she's actually her niece. This young niece is only appeared twice in the donghua, the last in EP63 so Mo Caihuan has someone to talk to before she passes away. This maybe the only difference between the donghua and live action as the epilogue of EP63 in the donghua says Mo Caihuan passed away sometime before EP64.
Drama follows the donghua to a tee. You should start from EP63. That's the teleportation goodbye old world scene.…
How so? I watched the live action shortly after I finished binge watching the donghua EP1-76. There was no MAJOR difference between the live action and donghua except, in the live action, Mo Caihuan gave Han Li the jade treasure after her family refused to hand it over. In the donghua, they never animated the part but it was assumed Han Li eventually got handed the jade from the Mo family. That was the only major thing that was different.
Also, the fatty character at Yellow Maple Valley (that didn't live/survive very long), while he did not exist in the donghua, it would looked awkward if Han Li talked to himself at Yellow Maple Valley, which is why they invented him into the live action story... They did kill him off rather quickly afterward (just one lightning bolt sent him away)
I think this kind of IP is best suited for trilogy movie. I wouldn't want to slog thru 24+ episodes of dramatic confusion when a 6 hours trilogy could save me all the torture!
Deepseek seems to agree that Fanren Xiu Xian Chuan (the novel) is inferior to another work:
"The Final Tally
If you measure popularity by "cultural impact and reverence within the hardcore novel reader community," Renegade Immortal often has the edge. It's the story you recommend to someone who wants to see how deep and tragic the genre can be. It's a masterpiece of dark xianxia.
If you measure popularity by "mainstream success, accessibility, and the quality of its multimedia adaptation," Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality wins. Its donghua is a gateway for countless new fans into the genre and is a benchmark for production quality. It presents a more "complete" and polished package to a wider audience."
-------
In otherwords, Deepseek says Record of a Mortal's Journey is more popular becoz of the high quality donghua (and lesser extent this live action drama), but readers around the world like the Renegade Immortal novel story more.
-------
Oh, how I wish they put the same budget of Ancient Love Poetry to make a Renegade Immortal live action drama!
My other lamentation is Fanren got such a top studio to animate the donghua, but Renegade donghua leaves much to be desired. Myanimelist says the 1st season of Renegade only goes up to EP 128. I wish they fired this studio and hire another to animate EP129 and beyond!
This is what I meant by Renegade Immortal has superior romance. That is almost the classical level of White Snake but reverse (girl looks for guy reincarnation) .
BTW, I hope they animate this ending. I would be disappointed after watching over 250 episodes of Renegade Immortal donghua to find out they stopped the series half way ( ran out of budget or lack of viewer interest to continue to the end)
https://kisskh.at/755725-shui-long-yin
Immortal Ascension gotten old. People still comment here becoz the donghua still airing.
https://youtu.be/Kff0VzBXj7s?si=zxh3ZDlf2TJ9OjdF&t=41690
I watch this on a wall projected image (probably 100 inches or larger and in 4K). I don't feel the vastness of scale of the place, nothing! Darn second rate studio got to animate this donghua.
Compare this to the scene (in the donghua) where Han Li and CQQ had a private meeting on a daisy field in Yellow Maple Valley, I felt that was a real place and I was really there. That's what a first rate studio looks like/produces!
I always felt Renegade Immortal is a superior story to Fanren, and the first 40 episodes proved I was right. In fact the part I like the most is the ML + FL pairing. In Fanren, Nangong Wan is almost an old hag compared to Han Li. Not in Renegade, I haven't read the novel, but the FL appears to be slightly younger than the ML. In fact the FL had an older brother that helped with her appearing younger. Romance is also more pronounced in Renegade.
I'm not talking about the sex scene like in Fanren (under seductive gas influence between Han Li and Nangong Wan). I'm talking about touchy feely show of affection type.
HOWEVER, I hated that Tencent hired a second rate studio to animate Renegade. I felt if they recruited the same studio as Fanren, Renegade Immortal can easily be my #1 rated Xianxia donghua! This donghua Renegade Immortal can be so much better in the hands of an expert studio what a waste of an IP to let another studio animate it...
Just about the only thing Renegade got right was the appearance of the ML and FL CGI 3D models, and I felt they were templates provided by Tencent's in house CGI departments not something modeled by the animation studio they hired.
BASICALLY: Fanren donghua -- superior visuals becoz being animated by prob the top studio from China. Renegade Immortal -- superior story superior romance, but very crappy looking visuals.
The other thing is Han Li is a lone rogue cultivator. He doesn't have the support of rich family members or relatives or the backings of a powerful sect behind him. So him possessing a magic green bottle is just leveling the playing field for Han Li when it comes to herbal resources. Having the green bottle doesn't guarantee him immense power. He still has the risk his life to obtain the root, plant, or seed in order to grow them.
Want to know of a polar opposite which I must say is rather embarrassing? It's almost a parallel story where a poor village boy joins a sect and that starts his cultivation journey. The story is Renegade Immortal. He tried his best to gain entrance to the cultivation sect, like Han Li, but ultimately failed the test like Han Li. Now the embarrassing thing happens after he fails the entrance exam, he finds a cheat in the form of a sought after treasure/magical bead. From then on, he becomes powerful only becoz he has the cheat in his body, not like Han LI that has to endure on his own efforts.
In other words after the first few episodes of Renegade Immortal, we're no longer watching ordinary Han Li become strong, but rather a cheater cultivator called Wang Lin, who only forges ahead becoz nobody besides him has the cheat bead.
Few could become Han Li based on their own craftiness, but almost everyone could have become a Wang Lin so long as they accidentally stumbled upon the bead when they first began their cultivation journey.
BUT still, even after all that, Renegade Immortal is still fun to watch, but I'm not as fond of it as Fanren Xiu Xian Chuan!
There is also a Li Feiyu and XuanEr type character. Except XuanEr's father seems to be in the same sect as her mother (not some evil demonic scumlord).
Unfortunately Renegade Immortal was animated by a second tier studio.
I'll tell you what a first tier animation studio from the Mainland China looks like. I use a movie projector to watch all my dramas and donghuas and movies and ONLY in 4K (unless it is absolutely impossible like the earlier seasons of Douluo Continent 1 when 4K wasn't even mainstream). In Incarnation (aka LIng Cage) donghua by BiliBili, I could get scared of heights/develop height sickness. The same with Fanren donghua. When Han Li watched Mo Caihuan join a band from very high above on his flying boat, I could feel the height sickness.
With Renegade Immortal, I felt nothing. The only saving grace it had was the FL looks cute, but that's just Tencent forcing the animation studio to make her appear a certain way to be consistent with other high quality donghuas they (Tencent) produces.
Anyways, I watched the drama immediately AFTER I binge watched EP1-76 of the donghua. I didn't notice any skipping in the drama other than it would have been too expensive to do everything the same as the donghua as those scenes would have required TOO much time and money to build the actual sets (or scout a filming location) and tack on the CGI.
https://youtu.be/hvYxaSvYyJQ?si=06zk3GcIyEhs4hv5&t=813
Contrast this to "Superman" Han Li that's just Han Li + old red rag, seems like BiliBili/Original Force didn't put too much thought into designing the "Superman" red cape of Fanren Xiu Xian Chuan...
Which reminds me of that famous liner from Douluo Continent: A (true) artisan takes NOT fine materials but common materials and makes exquisite works out of them.
Like the master swordman. He wields NOT the most expensive luxurious sword you can buy from a blacksmith but a beaten up looking twig...
This is perfectly "legal" if you plan on buying it later at your own convenience.
1. Most xianxia series are produced like a super-long blockbluster movie. Just action sequence after action sequence.
2. Fanren Xiu Xian Chuan on the other hand is like a virtual reality TV show -- follow the mortal to become an immortal virtual reality TV style.
2 is more refreshing than 1 in an overcrowded market place. May explain why Fanren Xiu Xian Chuan brings such HUGE profits for BiliBili in terms of subscription membership!
Here is the official BiliBili Fanren Xiu Xian Chuan playlist on YT (I've bookmarked/indexed the EP63 for you, the part that was covered in EP30 of the live action):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB9RnDsoyP8&list=PLBakWosU0sfhr6k1-ldCYx05AYZ8HwslC&index=113
You notice it is 100% identical to EP30 of the live action, except:
1. They want to save the death of Mo Caihuan for EP1 of S2 of the live action. If they killed her off in EP30 of S1, viewers will think Nangong Wan has no more romantic competition, and they won't be interested or come back for S2.
2. In the donghua, Mo Caihuan is seen with a young girl. At first I really thought she was her daughter. BUT NOT, she's actually her niece. This young niece is only appeared twice in the donghua, the last in EP63 so Mo Caihuan has someone to talk to before she passes away. This maybe the only difference between the donghua and live action as the epilogue of EP63 in the donghua says Mo Caihuan passed away sometime before EP64.
Also, the fatty character at Yellow Maple Valley (that didn't live/survive very long), while he did not exist in the donghua, it would looked awkward if Han Li talked to himself at Yellow Maple Valley, which is why they invented him into the live action story... They did kill him off rather quickly afterward (just one lightning bolt sent him away)