Wu Geng Ji

The Legend and the Hero S1 Review The gods in Wu Geng Ji are overexerting beings that control humanity from behind the scenes by enslaving prisoners of war and citizens to collect blood crystal, a rare ore consumed by the gods. The shang Dynasty, one of the great powers in the world of Wu Geng Ji rejects the overbearing gods orders to open a new blood crystal mine which leads the gods to destroy the Shang Dynasty. Zi Zhou, the King of Shang Dynasty experienced the struggles in the mines and decided to fight against the gods for the people of his Kingdom. He andhis younger brother Zi Yu fight to the death against many gods; However, even with the power of a Pheonix one of the most powerful Celestial beings Zi Zhou loses when Tian intervenes killing him. Wu Geng discovers his mother is a goddess, who shares her dying breath reincarnating him into another body to follow fate and end the gods ruling. Story: 6/10 The story starts off with great promise. The first impressions are that Zi Zhou is a tyrannical ruler by rejecting the gods messenger in the beginning. However, as the story develops and more details are revealed to us it becomes apparent that the gods are exploitative and have been for many generations. Zi Zhu's rebellion is a spark that will start a war between the gods and the humans eventually leading the war is Zi Zhu's son Wu Geng. However, in the first season we only see the character training arc and world building through the enslaved miners. The story shows a lot of promise and is actually very structured from the beginning despite being generally focused on combat aspects more than plot and character development. This fights in this series feel dragged out, the beginning fight alone lasted almost an hour, you're crazy if you think I'm going to watch back and forth fighting for that long - it does this several times in the season which is ridiculous. Art & Sound: 6/10 This series was released almost 4 years from now which is a surprise. The details and animation are pretty good for an older series. Series as old as this tend to have cheap rendered CGI and character rigging but I seem this is an exception. The sound effects and music design are average. Character: 4/10 Killing a lot of the main characters and even the MC in the first few episodes is very bold of Wu Geng Ji. It feels like this series doesn't really value character development unless its the main character otherwise everyone else serves as stepping stones for MC to get out of sticky situations. A few examples is when Wu Geng saves the ogre he fought and treated him like a friend yet he is on his deathbed at the entrance of the mines and Wu Geng does nothing to preserve him. Or the old guy that is worried for Wu Geng's health when he leaves the sleeping chambers - Seems like it could have been omitted or elaborated instead of just being an add on character scene. These gaps in character development are noticeable and distracting dead ends that I hope are fixed in the future of the series. Overall: 6/10 I might stick around on this series because I hear there is a lot of praise in the later seasons. So far, this might be a series like Battle Through the Heavens where it gets much better in the latter seasons because of change of art and story approach.

Despite the unconvincable score, Wu Geng Ji is a visually stunning series that blends mythology, dark fantasy, and martial arts into a compelling story of rebellion and personal growth. Wu Geng, a fallen prince forced to survive in a slave’s body after his kingdom is destroyed, the series explores themes of vengeance, power, and identity as he rises against oppressive gods. The animation is high-quality—especially in later seasons—with detailed character designs and epic battle scenes, while the story offers rich worldbuilding rooted in Chinese myth. Though some pacing issues and subtitle inconsistencies may affect the experience for international viewers, the series remains a standout inthe donghua genre, offering a gripping and emotionally resonant journey from weakness to defiance.