The Buried Tree Devil

盗墓笔记秦岭神树

6.83(1K votes)

Ranked #5686Popularity #9112

episodes

Type

ONA

Status

Finished Airing

Aired

Apr 4, 2021 to Jun 13, 2021

AdventureMysterySupernatural

Synopsis

After experiencing two adventurous events, Wu Xie returned to Hangzhou from Nansha. During his training, he suddenly received an itchy call that he hadn't met for a long time. Lao Yi and Wu Xie told about their adventures in the hinterland of the Qinling Mountains three years ago, and invited Wu Xie to go on an adventure together and explore the ancient ruins. Wu Xie and Lao You set off for an expedition in the Qinling Mountains. Here, they saw the huge Zheluo salmon, the magnificent underground river waterfall, the incredible ancient sacred tree... And Zhang Qiling, who has always been out there, also secretly helped Wu Xie.

5,627 Members

Worth Watching? — Global Verdict

7.7/10

Average Review Score

100%

Recommend It

Reviews Worldwide

International Reviews

ilalochezia

Recommended

This show is about two grave robbers who search for an impossibly large tomb from a lost civilization. It's an adaptation of one of the stories in Daomu Biji, a famous web novel series. As someone who never read the original novels, I found this show to be thrilling and immersive. Its pacing is tight, and tension often runs high as the characters slowly uncover the mystery behind the tomb. The tone is quite dark and gritty, so expect the story to be serious, especially since the characters are all adults. There are some moments of humor, though; while they mostly seem to serve characterinteractions, one hilarious sequence shows a character hallucinating about monkeys wielding machine guns. Wild. I really like how the show doesn't explain every detail. Some moments are more subtle and left for the viewer to figure out. This is good if you don't want exposition shoved down your throat, but it can also be problematic when you happen to miss a detail. An example: when the protagonist enters an underground passage, he sets the timer on his watch. At first, it's unclear why he does this. Soon after, he's being chased by vengeful zombies that almost capture him - until the timer’s alarm goes off, causing him to snap back to reality and realize that he was just hallucinating. This entire scene is silent, except for the alarm. If the character had explained out loud what he was doing, the suspense would be lost. Instead, we’re given a “show, don’t tell” moment that reveals the character’s cautious personality. Nevertheless, there are some minor details that aren't explained. While the mystery behind the tomb isn't fully explored, it isn't a big issue. It's the stuff like the hallucinations about people pointing at the main character and the weird voices on the walkie talkie that should have been explained better. I suspect they are fully explained in the original novels, but this adaptation just forgot to include them. I also want to mention that the background art is insanely detailed. Many of the landscape shots look like real paintings. The motion of characters and the paths of objects look realistic. On the other hand, the frame rates are inconsistent from time to time, and there is some noticeable CGI. Overall, if you are interested in a grave robbing adventure with maybe some plot twists along the way, be sure to consider watching this. Adjusted score: 7 / 10. Personal score: 6 / 10.

Community Discussion

Teal96ko

Recommended

I was curious why there's not many reviews yet despite hearing that the novel being a beloved works by many. So i tried watching it and ended up making my first review to support this animation. 10/10 recommended to watch even if you haven't read the novel like me. It has great pacing and engaging eps that sometimes end with sitting-on-the-edge-of-a-chair-cliffhanger. I especially like that the plot connects all the mysterious things at the end of it all. The characters personality is showed well with their expression and interaction, in fact they have their own twist if you can see the hints showed in eacheps. I love that this works aside from thrilling adventure and action you expected from the synopsis, also can show a moment filled with complicated emotions like sadness, despair, and kindness when you didn't expect it. As a stand alone animation it already did a fantastic job of showing the characters and a glimpse of the massive universe Daomu Biji series can be. If the goal is to attract new fans to be interested in the novel then i must say it's a success for me. As this animation is adapted from the third book of the novel, it surprisingly did a great job despite skipping two books. In fact I somewhat understand why it choose the third book to be adapted because it can focus on introducing Wu Xie and Daomu Biji universe without compressing too much materials in one season. Even if you don't read the novel you can still understand the story and be impressed in it. It makes me definitely interested for book one and two to be adapted well. If I must said what I dont like is that sometimes the subtitles can be confusing but it not that bad that i can't understand it. Its just doesn't flow that well i guess? The characters, visuals, sounds and expression offset that problem. Other than that its that some detail might seems forgotten in the grand scheme of things, but if I think back the plot holes is actually "explained" tough not explicitly stated by the characters, it just means you need to watch it carefully. And I think that the one that's still a mystery is probably explained more in the novel.

2 found helpfulAug 8, 2021