Against the Gods

It might be hard to sell you Against the Gods, considering it is another one of hundreds of reincarnation transmigration cultivation donghua. Even for someone like me who is not a fan of this genre, this hits different and it hits hard. Let me try to explain why. Art & Animation: This is where the show sweeps the rug under its own legs. It`s full 3D, and not a good one. Starting from the worst: dragons and other large scale fights out in the nature - It`s comically bad. There are points where it`s not clear if it`s just ultra janky 3D or done with puppets or modellingclay. Not only the monsters themselves, but almost every fight with them and many scenes where they are flying over mountains or forest and also some of the large scale skills and explosions - these are drawn/modelled and animated so poorly that it really makes you wonder if this isn't some kind of school project made by a half-dozen students in their free time. Everything else is luckily done much better if you can get over the initial cheap-3D-shock effect. Character designs are great. Ladies are properly beautiful, villains look just subtly evil as they should and good guys look good. Surprisingly, the appearance of each individual character is very distinguishable, and on one occasion where there are 2 similarly looking characters, people around immediately notice it and start talking about it, which is golden. Poor mimicry in certain moments is definitely an issue, but that brings us back to the overall cheap 3D which would be a never-ending cycle to talk about. Human vs. human fight animations are varying and hard to judge, because from very trashy at the beginning, they are progressively getting a lot better, but the improvement may also partially be a result of a viewer gradually getting used to this kind of animation. Nevertheless, there are some really good looking fights or at least parts of; and there are some really off-putting ones. Just like with the animation in this show overall, it depends if you are able to stomach the bad stuff to get to the goodies. Sound: Not exceptional, but almost always does what it needs to do. The usual background music is calm and doesn't disturb anything, sometimes even uplifting. Dramatic music has so many levels and thanks to that is on point every time, enhancing the experience or at the very least not weakening it. Sad music could be a little sadder and some of the casual conversations could use more relaxed music than the tense or slightly dramatic one, but those are small nitpicks and it doesn't really take anything away from the show. Sound effects are very solid, especially considering how many different sounds had to be used, and never once it made me think something is off. Pretty much same with the voice acting, as much as one can judge with 0 knowledge of Chinese language. Story: Starting with only a grudge from his previous life, our protagonist quickly finds a purpose in protecting his family who raised him despite various complications, than he expands it to also help a girl that became his wife despite even greater complications. Than he finds even a much greater purpose in helping another [s]girl[/s]entity, which basically requires him to be one of the fastest progressing cultivators ever. But as he becomes stronger and stronger, he comes to understand how small he still is in the universe, meets entities beyond human understanding, entangles himself in several other quests and challenges of various scale, mostly having something to do with helping a beautiful girl overcome a very, very tough situation. This richness, ability to stay in a correct tone and never being too forced are the main pillars and reasons why the story is so engaging, even though it might seem not complex or original enough. Characters: Yun Che is easily one of the best characters of all time. He is gentlemanly, humble and highly intelligent. As he even explains himself - he only plays arrogant when he needs to to keep his face and his standing. His interactions with other characters is on point almost every time, except when he unnecessarily provokes someone a bit too much, but then he is always able to deal with the consequences, so I guess even these times are mostly okay. His attitude to women is on a next level. He does first and last thing for them, but he is never being a simp, as he wins their favour then uses it to various degrees. He is never too shy, passive or indecisive but he is also never overly needy, let alone perverted. This also applies in general. His natural honest behaviour combined with enough confidence wins people around him and irks the jealous ones in very believable ways. Going to details on every single character would take hours, so let me just summarize the others: all the ladies around Yun Che have distinguished personalities and clear reasoning behind them. Most of them are very strong and respectable and all of them are breathtakingly beautiful - by everyone's standards, and trust me that the reactions to them are very refreshing, compared to almost anything I can think of. Every one of them plays an important role in the story and it's very clear that we have been shown only fragment of their involvement and importance, and that is something that could be said for the whole story. Villains usually have a very simple, but therefore very grounded and relatable/believable reasoning. More precisely, this is one of these shows where it feels wrong to call them villains, because they are just guys on the other side of the coin, being incredulous of Yun Che's feats and jealous of him, which is extremely understandable, considering he showed up out of nowhere. There is not much to say about other side characters, as they are just right in their place and not upsetting the viewer. Yuanba is a little annoying at the beginning, but gets exponentially better, through tolerable to even likeable. Value: As already mentioned at the beginning, it cannot be fully separated from Chinese stereotypical cultivation shtick, and has countless elements of it included. Despite that, it tries to avoid being cheesy as much as possible and is quite successful at that, bringing a lot of aspects other similar shows could learn from to the table. Unfortunately, it's not on a level to be something revolutionary, and therefore could be soon forgotten by general public, even if it finds its way there by chance, but for anyone who is a little bit more interested or invested in this specific type of shows, it's a very brightly shining gem we want to treasure and hope to get more like this, possibly with better animation and thus potential to reach the very top. It's a show I can easily see myself rewatching in a few years, perhaps when next season will be finished. Enjoyment: Just to say I enjoyed it immensely would be an understatement here. The main storyline alone is enough to get me immersed and cut me from the real world for hours, but then there are so many little details. So many little pleasantries, nods to the viewer, subtle jokes, situations with just the right outcomes...as already described, the fights are gradually getting better, until getting to a point you won't be able to just sit still on your chair, despite whatever animation is used at that point. Not a single feeling overstays its welcome while you watch this. You will get happy, sad, angry, thrilled; get you portion of romance, comedy, drama - just about everything, without ever feeling like that was too much, and without it all being chaotically mashed together like in many other shows. Here it's somehow very-well balanced and manages to keep you wanting more of everything it offers. All in all, if viewers can get over the quite terrible animation or get used to it, this show will never let them down in anything else and keep getting better and more interesting as it goes on. It is very rewarding in all of its categories. Strongly recommended.