Thousand Autumns

As an adaptation of the novel this only gets a 4/10. If I were rating it as a stand alone show, I'd give it a 5 or 6 out of 10. My review is spoiler free for both the donghua and novel. Story: 4/10 Compared to the novel, the pacing is extremely rushed. Every episode features one of the climactic moments from the novel, so the show just feels like a montage of all the cool fight scenes, with very little down time in between. For context, many of these fights happen weeks if not months apart from each other but the donghuadoes not make this very clear. I think they were maybe worried the slower pacing of the novel would be boring in an animation so they focused on the martial arts more. While martial arts are a big part of the novel, I would say it focus more on the philosophy behind martial arts, as well as Daoism, Buddhism and Confucianism and how they play against one another. The animation also changes the order of events, often combining 2-3 separate events into one to save on time and money I assume. This makes things a little awkward, and can sometimes make the characters actions and motivations seem strange without the prior context established in the novel. Art: 6/10 It's OK for a CGI Donghua. I feel like when held up against shows like Scumbag System it obviously looks a lot better, but it's also not as good as other CGI donghua that are years older. The facial expressions can often look hilarious or uncanny valley, which I wasn't always sure if that was intentional. My biggest complaint was in the set design/backgrounds. They frequently re-use assets and scenes throughout the donghua which makes the setting and location hard to determine, which is only compounded by the animation not clueing in the viewer enough about where/when the story is. For context, this is based on a historical(ish) novel that takes place during the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-589AD) in China. However the animation changes the name of a lot of the major locations and figures(possibly due to censorship/political reasons?). The characters are constantly traveling all over China (big part of the plot) and a lot of this is lost when it seems like they're just moving between the same 3-4 recycled scenes. Strangely enough they went and created some really cool scenes for 2 important moments in the show. I can understand wanting to make an impact with these scenes, but I feel like it might have been a waste of resources since both of them actually just happen in a generic forest in the novel. Would have rather they spent the time, instead of creating these two lavish set pieces, on creating a few other basic ones to improve the flow of the story. Title cards establishing time+place would also have been helpful. Sound: 3/10 The re-used the VA's from the drama CD for the main two characters. They did OK, however I felt their performances on the drama CD were better. This is probably due to one of the main characters being very very different in the animation from how he is portrayed in the novel. Now I'm not sure if this is just a result of the pandemic, but I've noticed a lot of productions from the last 1.5 years have extremely poor sound design. A lot of low quality stock sound effects are used and it tends to break immersion when I keep hearing the same SFX from a 20 year old RPG maker game in my 2021 donghua. I'm willing to accept the pandemic interfering with recordings on this though. Character: 5/10 A lot of the characters are changed either greatly or subtly in this adaptation. The most obvious is one of the protagonists YWS. I'm not particularly complaining as his character is so hilarious in the donghua, it was the only thing keeping me watching for all 16 episodes. Very meme-worthy performance. That being said, he's supposed to be a much more serious character, so having him burst out with his Signature Laugh^TM during an extremely emotional moment made me not sure if I wanted to laugh or cry. Enjoyment: 4/10 I had my hopes up after seeing the first 2 episodes. It seemed like a pretty decent quality adaptation. When I had first seen the trailer over a year ago, I wasn't too hopeful this would be a good adaptation at all. After watching everything, it was just OK. Conclusion: As web novels are becoming more and more popular, we are seeing more and more adaptations following. However, I am a little worried the rush to take advantage of this hype will cost on production quality for many series. That, and the growing amount of censorship is a problem too. Thousand Autumns is probably one of my favorite novels, yet I hadn't even realized the animation was out and for free on Youtube until 6 months after it aired. I really don't think this animation is making many waves, despite how well-liked the novel is because they are essentially so different from one another, it's hard for fans of one to like the other adaptation. Anyone except for die-hard fans probably won't bother. TLDR; go read the novel instead.

Thousand Autumn recap Thousand Autumns is a Chinese wuxia-style redemption donghua based on a Chief Disciple (clan successor) of the righteous sect Mount Xuandu, Shen Qiao who becomes involved in a plot of assassination. In the world of Thousand Autumns is mainly split into 2 factions: righteous and evil; Shen Qiao finds himself targeted by assassins from the evil Beimu Clan by the conspiration of his fellow brother disciple and elders. Shen Qiao becomes poisoned and falls of a cliff narrowly evading death and chances upon Yan Wushi, Evil Huanyue sect leader. Now a crippled blind, Shen Qiao has been replaced in Mount Xuandu and nolonger has status; However, Yan Wushi takes care of him and tests Shen Qiao's righteous resolve as he encounters the world from the bottom of society. Eventually, Shen Qiao opens his eyes on worldly affairs from the bottom and shares his sympathies with commoners like his Master insists. His journey of the world is a test he takes upon himself to find his identity. Story: 5/10 Thousand Autumn has an interesting plot that I have not rarely seen in other donghua, it reminds me of Mortal's Journey. The way Shen Qiao falls from the top and integrates himself in the bottom of society experiencing hardships and enduring it to progress is a nice show don't tell method of story-telling that isn't restricted to montages or timeskips unlike Mortal's Journey. However, that is also why I didn't particularly enjoy this series - it has a lot of inconsistencies and parts that I just don't understand. Firstly, Shen Qiao who has now fallen and become somewhat of a cripple is injured and blind - In the entire series when he fights he is always projecting himself as he has internal injuries that haven't healed. Logically, I would heal myself and grind cultivation to not get hurt again and stay out of the spot light. Secondly, in the beginning of the series Shen Qiao constantly makes it a point to visit Mount Xuandu but he has no place there anymore so his journey there is only to talk to his brother disciple the main co-conspirator in his betrayal - Now he needs to fight his brother disciple to leave the place but with no inner qi or cultivation base for that matter and ends up getting saved by his bestfriend Yan Wushi. Thirdly, multiple times throughout the series he has encounters with Bai Rong who is literally all red-flags because she is the enemy yet she helps him (probably because of the second Solarity) and a second later she is in conflict with him - eventually switching between those two states as the story progresses. Essentially, the execution of events are what I didn't like about the story; Shen Qiao is constantly taking Ls because of his twisted, stubborn logic which is a sign of progress in the beginning but it just gets to the point where it doesn't become enjoyable. Art & Sound: 7/10 The art and animation were very high quality which is a sign of large budget; The male characters faces are very glossy and soft and peachy red with a lot of smooth seemingly motion tracked facial expressions. The fight scenes are well coreographed and have somewhat significance in the development of the plot and also aren't over the top overpowering. The blow exchanges appear realistic apart from the colorful qi particles that exit characters during the fights. However, I did notice at 8:04 in episode 1 Kunye was fighting on the top of a cliff when Shen Qiao fell and when he entered the scene he's seen floating on a raft at the bottom of the cliff - how he can find/make a raft in a matter of minutes beats logic but there are many instances of scenes that don't make logical sense like this in the series which is kind of hard to un-see. The sound, music and VA were very high quality. Most of the series is covered in suspenseful music which definitely suites the aura of fighting and mystery. Character: 2/10 This series doesn't appear to value characters as every other character apart from Shen Qiao and Yan Wushi are used to set the scene. Characters like Bai Rong come and go in the series which makes them hard to grasp and more like a filler character to narrate the story for us to consume. Other characters like the monk create friction between Yan Wushi as they come and go as well. They are afraid to kill of superficially developed characters because they still have value in Shen Qiao's redemption and its the commoner characters that get killed off instead. Also one instance where the character development makes no sense is when Shen Qiao trusts the commoner guy that sides with the powerful emperor assistant (or something) when they get the carriage to leave the city, Shen Qiao literally leaves the city without the carriage which doesn't really make sense since he asked for a carriage and also nobody thought to pursue them outside of the city.... Enjoyment & Overall: 4/10 The story is good but I don't like the characters, especially the main character because of the illogical decisions and personality that is developed throughout the series is not fun to watch. This might not be suitable for my taste anyway but in terms of progression Mortal's Journey is much better structured and reveals more information to viewer.

Okay, so. I understand there are some flaws to this series, and I just...don't care. I will elaborate below. Story: "It's super rushed! The pacing is off compared to the book!" Yada yada, I don't care. If you come to an anime adaptation expecting an exact version of the book, you're probably not going to enjoy yourself and instead nitpick your way through. For someone who hasn't read the book, the story was interesting, I loved the worldbuilding, and I am thoroughly intrigued. It's also very much a series based on part of an existing novel - do notexpect to figure out everything or get full character development for everyone, and you should be fine. Art: This is definitely on the lower end of the budget scale for danmei series, but the studio did a decent job (compared to, say, Dinghai) with what they had. Sound: Good. Nice opening. Character: Some book fans were apparently very mad about Yan Wushi's character. I...do not care, he was GREAT. He's voiced by Wu Lei, who is just top notch - I could listen to him be a dick to people and/or hit on the main character all day. He is hilarious. I was excited every time he was on screen. I actually ended up liking the main character as well, despite him being the "pure and nice" type, mainly because he was simultaneously also very powerful and not an idiot or particularly naive. You may get this impression at first, but the series actually makes sure to clarify as we go that he does know what's going on, and choices he makes that seem naive are often purposeful on his part. Enjoyment: Aside from some animation flaws, I enjoyed this series quite a bit and am very hopeful for season 2. Honestly it could just be an entire series of Yan making flirty comments and/or shutting people down and I'd be here for it.

They said that this has a BL/Boy Love feel, so I tried watching it, (I'm a fujoshi haha🗿) (Oh yeah, this is from my language to English (translate) so maybe the language will be a bit strange, I've commented in my language, but it was deleted by the moderator😭 I don't know the rules about comments, and this is my 2nd comment so I'm sorry🗿🔪) Here's just each person's opinion about how much to score, if here it's just my opinion.. Many people say that those who have read the novel are disappointed with this donghua, if I haven't read the novel so I don't know.. My opinion onthe STORY The plot isn't that heavy (in my opinion) about fighting over what volume (treasure) and the golden flower ring, well typical stories in general, like the villain wants (goal) to rule the world (?).. I don't know about this It's just that my brain is narrow or doesn't work, here's the plot of the story, I can only get the gist of it, if the explanation 'why can it be like this or that' is confused, I'm like I'm speeding it up (the plot of the story) I don't know, of course the story is clear in the novel, so, for those who watch the Donghua, it's a bit like that (a little confused) As for the CHARACTER Most of all, the MC (ShenXiao) is seen as kind, innocent, 'clean'. Even though the NPC has been mean to you, you still CARE (don't hold a grudge), Sometimes those whose hearts are not strong enough for the MC's 'kindness' (like me🗿) might be a bit annoyed with the behavior of the NPC that the MC has helped... If ML is nyah 🗿(YanWushi) it's rare for an ML to laugh hahaha😭 (I'm not used to seeing ML laugh), especially when the MC likes to be close to him dagdigdug 👁👄👁(My fujo soul is struggling). Not so 'cold' like a refrigerator (YKWIM) Other NPC or VILLAIN characters who are quite IMPORTANT, are not given a reason why they can become enemies, or their past is not shown, at most only the MC is quite clear, if YanWushi has not been shown his past.. About the ANIMATION I like the BACKGROUND, it's quite realistic, especially the shading, gosh 👀💖 If the CHARACTER animation is not that stiff, it just has some shortcomings.. There are shortcomings in EXPRESSION, so sometimes it's not so effective/not so expressive- like the reaction is lacking.. The FIGHTING scene is also not that stiff, I quite like it. Indeed, sometimes there are scenes that are prolonged, or there are some that are long-winded, even though I know that it is a kind of 'explanation', but well, if it is not talked about/explained, it is okay, though, I am not used to Donghua, I also often forget the character names (well, I often forget the MC's name too) especially Donghua with 3D animation, I give this a 7/10 first. The GOOD (in my opinion) are in -Cool background -The story is also quite good (although I don't really understand it) -Their couple (ShenXiao and YanWushi or our MC and the red girl or others) -Their animation graphics are normal (not good and not bad either) -The characters are handsome (especially the MC is a pretty guy haha🗿💕) THE DISADVANTAGES (in my opinion) -The expressions are not very noticeable -There are parts that are long-winded even though the storyline is quite fast -You already know here the enemy/villain's goal is to steal the Ring to -control subordinates (?) so maybe to have soldiers like that, but after that I don't know what for, to rule the world? I don't know (did I forget, or hasn't it been explained yet? I don't know) - I like it, they fight, but it's not clear, suddenly they just leave, oh my.. - I think it's because I'm not used to donghua, but compared to the other donghua, here it's sometimes funny- yeah that's it - The story is a bit too fast (I know the reason, because this is a donghua not a novel), but yeah- That's all for now, just RECOMMEND for those who LIKE BL or NOT, also recommend for those who are bored/confused about what donghua to watch, this is also good, this is MY OPINION, so you guys judge, our tastes are indeed different so yeah 🗿(I don't know how many times I've read/watched manhua/donghua stories about cultivation until I get bored haha)