The Master of Diabolism 3

Before ushering my criticism, I would like to register that despite the flaws, this is a well above average show and is worth watching. I particularly like the artwork and overall aesthetic of the show. That being said, I'm somewhat disapointed with the final season. While i would rate the first 2 seasons of this show among the best in anime in the last decade, this final season dropped significantly in quality. Firstly the story in this season is rushed. For the sake of comparison, in the live action version the story in this season accounts for half of the show runtime,while here it is compressed into less episodes than the first season. This leaves significant characters without proper development. Many moments are robbed of their due emotional payoff. Also some of the transitions will be confusing for those who only seem the anime, at parts the characters jump to a new place without it being clear how and why we got there and episodes often end at rather unatural moments. Besides the rushedness, the voice acting is also weaker in this season. Wei Wuxian is annoyingly monotonic, he sounds the same in highly tense or emotional moments as when he's just hanging out and being his typical sarcastic self. I can forgive Lan Wanji being monotonic, as that is part of his character, but not Wei Wuxian. Even the writing itself is weaker and many of the emotional payoff moments fall flat. The soundtrack of the show is functional, there is nothing particularly remarkable, but all in all it is competently done. *** In what follows I'll draw some comparisons between the anime and the live action version of the show. For the first two seasons the anime compares favorably to the live action version, being superior in visual aesthetics, action and even pacing, while being relatevely equal on other aspects. In the third season, the anime is still ahead in visual aesthetic and action scenes. But in the acting and storytelling, the live action version compares favorably. Neither version of the show is well paced, the live action moves too slowly, while the anime moves too fast. To give one specific example of the differences in writing, one particular difference in the order of events robs the anime of one of the most emotionally impactfull moments in the story: **** SPOILERS AHEAD **** In the live action version the Jiang Cheng golden core reveal happens before the final confrontation with Jin Guangyao, this makes it much more impactfull and emotional since at this point Wei Wuxian is not "fully cleared" in the death of Yanli and Zixuan and Jiang Cheng has legitimate reason to behave how he does. In the anime version this is left for the last episode, which makes Jiang's actions appear out of place and the reveal fells more like rubbing it in his face than something with actual emotional impact. To finish the review, overall I give this season a 7, while the show as a whole would be an 8.5 for me. I think this season could greatly benefit from a good english dub, improving on the extremely flat voice acting displayed in the original.

Hello! Just a random watcher/reviewer. This is my first time of doing a review, so forgive me if this review is not helpful or rather not full of context or such. First off, this Anime might be my first Chinese Anime adaptation that I've watched, and heck it was kinda worth it. It was recommended by a friend of mine who have already finished the novel long since the last chapter ended. So while watching, I have someone who could give me some additional info's that wasn't included in the anime. Although I loved the series, there were just some things I've noticed, especially this lastseason. I'm kinda shocked how many people rated the anime 10/10, well nonetheless here's my review. Story telling: 5/10 Although I'm not a novel reader or first of the MDZS franchise, the episodes for this season gave me this utter feeling as everything seemed to be rushed. Each episode gave me ups and downs, sometimes left me confused, sometimes made me awed. I guess for the story telling of this last season, I'll rate it a 5/10, as each episode felt like it was rushed, well idk but it just really felt quite rushed for me at some point. It did really confused me, took me awhile to grasp to what happened in a scene etc. Animation: 9/10 I've got nothing wrong with the animation, it's pretty good. Art: 9/10 Loved the art style, it somewhat compliments the show and each characters beauty. V.A: 9/10 I can't speak Chinese, but watching the series made me want to learn Chinese. This series made me open to watch more Chinese Anime adaptation series. Characters: 9/10 I'm not Chinese, but everything seemed right or in place. Every character have their own uniqueness and I guess I love how some can be seen or compared to real life. Sound/Ost: 9/10 I enjoyed it, I can't really give more context but for me it's alright. Enjoyment: 7/10 Would still recommend to watch, I mean it is but the last season, this is the part where everything is going to be covered.. Overall rating: 6/10 I cannot completely give my reasoning why a 6, but maybe it's partly due to how I felt like there's really much more to the plot of the series compared to how the story telling went in the novel series. In short, I guess for this last season of the Anime, some parts or scenes felt like it was poorly done compared to the novel. I don't want to spoil, but the ending left me disappointed compared to how it was done in the novel. A 6 rating would prob be my lowest, but watching the previous 2 seasons, I'd say this season would be the poorest. Although the poorest, would still recommend people to watch it. Poorest not because of the plot, but how it was paced in this anime adaptation. TL;DR: 6/10, I believe this last season could have been done better. The pacing of it felt rushed, well that's just my opinion.

MDZS was a very enjoyable series overall. Strong points of the series: Good world building and setting, nuanced characters with interesting backstories, beautiful art style, good integration of the musical instrument bits, nice political tension between clans, coherent events through time, great voice acting in the original language and Japanese dub. Weak points of the series: Could have been slightly gayer, and the animation could have been better (there are also some 3D animation bits here and there which always breaks the immersion for me personally, on a positive note they weren't that bad compared to 3D scenes I've encountered in other animated series...) *side note,The immersive animated ads with product placement and the MDZS characters really cracked me up! Final verdict: good series, fun to bingewatch, makes me want to read the novel and the manhua. If you like fantasy, historical, and drama genres (and you are not a homophobe) you will enjoy this series!

Plot: 10/10 Animation: 10/10 Pacing: 2/10 MDZS is a complex story with many layers and characters. It is tragic, funny and shocking. The animation is superb and underrated - I wish the anime was more widely available in the West. However, the plot is extremely rushed in this season and it barely makes sense if you haven't read the book beforehand. There is very little time to process or make sense of such a intricate plot. Even in the last episode, they're rushing to cram in 5 different scenes with many different emotions. If the pacing was better, this could have been a 9/10 or 10/10.