Like anime, Chinese animation has only gotten better in the last decade, and is actively becoming a medium that’s making waves with each new release that comes out. Also referred to asdonghua, these series are just as expansive with their zero-to-hero protagonists, intriguing romances, and a general appeal through unique animation techniques that make some of the following stories beautiful to witness, if not just to watch for their creative direction.
Donghua, like the movieNe-Zha 2, has broken records with its gorgeous animationand immersive storytelling that resonated with a global audience upon its release to theatres overseas. While donghua can also extend to just about any animation created by a Chinese studio, this list will be focused on the 2D series that fall into similar genres and anime works.
10Psychic Princess (2018)
Available to Watch on Crunchyroll
Psychic Princess’ season 1 was a phenomenal donghua that featured a capable and intelligent female lead named Qian Yunxi. As the eldest daughter, originally sent away to live in the mountains, Qian Yunxi is brought back to her family to marry an enemy prince to establish good relations between the two houses. However, as an obvious scapegoat to send the lesser daughter instead of her younger sister, Qian Yunxi is treated less than favorably by the prince, leading to many arguments and battles between the two as they try to usurp each other.
Qian Yunxi is a refreshing take on a female lead, not afraid to speak her mind or be brash when it comes to dealing with Lord Ye. LikeThe Apothecary Diaries,Psychic Princessbalances a slow-burn romance with historical drama and adds elements of the supernatural through Qian Yunxi’s unique abilities. While its first season was a beautiful adaptation of the webnovel through a traditional 2D style, the second season gave its fans a glimpse of utilizing 3D models, which initially didn’t look bad, butPsychic Princesslost its maturity and depth after the characters appeared more chibi-like.
9Spare Me, Great Lord! (2021)
Available to Watch on YouTube (Tencent Members Only) and Tencent Video
Spare Me, Great Lord!may not operate as your everyday isekai, but it does involve someone getting run over by a truck. Instead of being transported into a new world, Lu Shu unlocks previously dormant and mysterious cultivation abilities within him and survives the incidental encounter. However, he tries to keep them hidden as the culture around cultivation is still being explored in society, but when an organization starts up a new program to involve those with special abilities, he has no choice but to comply while keeping the secret behind his newfound powers activation.
Originally based on a web novel written by The Speaking Pork Trotter,Spare Me, Great Lord!’sanimation only continues to improve with each season,taking advantage of striking visuals both through its cultivation and power system. The only drawback to the donghua is that, due to its age, even if only by a few years, it makes it incredibly difficult to find on mainstream services and often doesn’t come with a decent enough translation for overseas users.
What if you combined a famous monster-taming franchise like Pokémon with the distinguished cultivation genre? The results would land you right intoThe All-devouring Whale: Homecoming, a donghua about raising spirit animals into beaststhat can fight and combat others to secure sects a prominent position amongst many others, also fighting for the prestige and power. The story follows Fan Lingxiao, who has diligently trained a Devouring Whale named Kun through his family’s secret practice. He’s getting ready for his sect’s rising rank when Kun begins to grow out of his control and ends up eating Lingxiao during the competition.
He awakens a year or so later in a different body, only to find that his sect has sunk into ruin, and all of the catfish that could grow into a devouring whale have been exterminated save for one. With this young catfish, Fan Lingxiao aims to restore his sect and uncover the conspiracy behind his death.
The All-devouring Whaleis based on a webcomic online written by Mo, and is a beautifully adapted donghua that takes itself just a little more seriously than its original source. The webcomic is a bit more humorous, and while the animated version doesn’t lose that, Fan Lingxiao is a lot quieter, allowing his expressions and memories to emote for him rather than his thoughts alone.
7The King’s Avatar (2017)
Foranyone who has enjoyedSolo Leveling,Sword Art Online, orOverlord,The King’s Avatarhas to be your next watch. Ye Xiu is a professional e-sports gamer, but is being forced to offload his position as captain of the ‘One Autumn Leaf’ team to a younger player. He abandons his incredibly strong build to instead build up a new character from scratch with new abilities and uniquely personalized weapons to crawl up the ranks once more and prove that his age didn’t dull his abilities as a competitor.
The King’s Avataris a well-written web novel by Sha Liang, and its popularity has even earned it a live-action adaptation that is currently on Netflix. The donghua’s graphics are a little dated with its combination of 3D assets in addition to its 2D animation, but that doesn’t detract from it being a stellar watch for anyone who loves an underdog story.
6A Will Eternal (2020)
Available to Watch on Viki (Rakuten) and YouTube
A Will Eternalis all about one young man’s journey to become a successful cultivator and is also the best entry for fans who want to know about the cultivation genre and understand the themes and power systems of how it commonly works in most Chinese literature. Bai Xiaochun is your average protagonist, looking into methods that will get him stronger, and is often very egotistical about it in the same breath. On one hand, Bai Xiaochun is an endearing character who can also be just as easy to clown on for the situations he gets himself into.
The donghua is beautiful, and the story is simplistic in that it’s an overarching story that mostly focuses on Bai Xiaochun and his journey through life. The animation is stunning for its age as it was produced by B.CMay Studios, and the company has only proven time and time again to do wonderful work for Chinese animation with each new title it picks up.
While it may not look like it at first,Scissor Sevenshares a few parallels withMob Psycho 100, with its whiplash animation in fight scenes and fairly run-of-the-mill protagonist. Wu Liuqui is a hairdresser by day; however, in his off-time, he takes up bounty hunting to take care of his debts and learn more about his mysterious past as an amnesiac. His telekinetic powers and unruly appearance may make him look like he’s a competent hunter, but he’s far from it, often fumbling his way through assassinations.
Don’t let the wacky premise and the cartoonish style fool you.Scissor Sevenis wickedly animatedwhen the going gets tough and features some fluid, snappy scenes that keep its audience captivated from episode to episode.
4Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (2018) and Heaven’s Official Blessing (2020)
Author Mo Xiang Tong Xiu was lucky enough to see two of her works get adapted into donghua that are both stunningly breathtaking, having been produced by B.CMay and Bilibili, respectively.Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivationfollows Wei Wuxian, a cultivator who utilized the dead in his practices, and was killed as a result by the sects that had raised him. Years later, he is summoned back into the body of another demonic cultivator through a forbidden ritual. Now he must avoid getting caught again while also figuring out what happened in the 13 years that had passed.
Not only are these stories both incredibly interesting reads, but their donghua are delivered with so much dignity and beauty that faithfully adhere to their source material.
Heaven’s Official Blessingcame out a few years later by Bilibiliand is centered around Xie Lian, who ascends to the heavens for the third time in a ritual called ascension, where the higher realm deems him worthy enough for immortality and worship. While initially hilarious as he’s dubbed a scrap-collector heavenly official for having a humble ‘temple’ in the form of a shack and taking literal scraps for food, Xie Lian’s story goes so much deeper as he wasn’t only a prince that was beloved by the heavens, but a superior swordsman who has lived countless lives.
Not only are these stories both incredibly interesting reads, but their donghua are delivered with so much dignity and beauty that faithfully adhere to their source material.Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivationhas even gone on to see a live-action adaptation under the nameThe Untamedthat is currently available on Netflix.
InAvatar: The Last Airbender, there is one chosen person that is able to wield all of the elements from each distinguished nation, in theFog Hill of Five Elements, anyone can learn the secrets and mastery of the five elements as long as they are able to survive the foggy mountain shrouded in mystery. One elected official decides to brave such a journey and uncover the secrets that lie beyond, and whether a monster that resides in the mountains can give one such powerful abilities.
This donghua introduces a fascinating premise, but what really sells it is theamazing animation and fighting choreography that shape each confrontation as a cinematic masterpiece in each episode.Its style is also incredibly unique, with harsher and noticeable outlines, and yet the background scenery appears hand-painted with a softer blend. The style is reminiscent ofDemon Slayer’sartstyle while also being wholly original toFog Hill of Five Elements.
Link Clickstarts off with a simple storyline; Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang own a photography studio, but the business doesn’t involve taking cute photos of family members. Instead, clients bring photos and Cheng Xiaoshi escorts the client back to the time that is depicted in the photograph. Lu Guang keeps track of the events in real-time to ensure it doesn’t affect the future or change too much of the past. Surely nothing bad could happen when time manipulation is in play.
Link Clickreally broke out online through its plot twists and quality animation, accompanied by a well-versed soundtrack that has all tied this series to be one of the most stunning and underrated gems of donghua in the last few years. As each season seems to close on a massive cliffhanger,audiences are constantly left with more questions than answers, making thenext season all the more anticipated.
There are many misconceptions about this last entry.To Be Hero Xis considered to be both a donghua and an anime as it was worked on by both Chinese and Japanese studios, while also including both cultures within its storylines and scenery depictions.To Be Hero Xseemingly came out of nowhereand blew up in popularity for its stunning animations, quickly flipping back and forth between 2D and 3D while taking daring risks to deliver a show that is constantly leaving fans on the edge of their seats.
This series follows a selection of heroes as they all compete for the top spot, but such grandiose isn’t always what it seems. There aremany sacrifices, publicity manipulation, and dark secrets that lie on the path to becoming the best, andTo Be Hero Xisn’t afraid to delve into each one through the tragic circumstances surrounding each of its heroes. This animation really putdonghuaback into the forefront of the audience’s attention, and there’s still much more to come with future adaptations likeThe Lord of the Mysteriesset to come out.
