Heaven Official's Blessing

[rogueslayer452]

I have watched the first season of Heaven Official's Blessing, that is now available on Netflix, and I absolutely am in love with it. It's a Chinese animated series based off of the novel of the same name, Tian Guan Ci Fu, that is written by same author who wrote MDZS/The Untamed. I initially knew about it from the MXTX fanbase and was intrigued, but I was already very deep in The Untamed that I kind of set it aside with the intention of getting into it eventually. Well, as soon as I saw that it was going to be available to watch Netflix I figured to finally give it a shot. And I was instantly hooked by the first episode, to the point where I immediately I ended up researching more about the characters and what the story entails, and I am so deeply enthralled by everything. The story itself is quite dense (which is condensed in the donghua but still manages to make sense), the characters are deeply complex and fascinating, and it makes me really motivated to read the novel to get full context of everything since I've only gotten, like, the cliffnotes version. I mean, I already love Xie Lian and Hua Cheng, but I also find myself intrigued by the other characters as well, and the plot is very intriguing. I just love the concepts of gods and people ascending to godhood (or descending) and the complications that come with that and the corruption from within.

(Also yes, the main romance is between Xie Lian and Hua Cheng, but of course due to censorship laws they cannot make it explicit, but the donghua does a great job with keeping the flirtatious moments in tact and it's adorable, their relationship is depicted quite beautifully.)

But anyway, yeah, the donghua is wonderful, the animation style is gorgeous, and the songs are beautiful, as noted with the opening theme sung by Jeff Chang that is accompanied by beautiful artwork. The first season has thirteen episodes and each are more or less under thirty minutes, so it's a quick watch (I purposefully paced it out because I didn't want it to end too soon). A second season has already been ordered, and it's also been announced that a live-action drama adaptation is in the works by the same people who did The Untamed.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_profiterole_/]

I loved it so much! ♥_♥

Do you know if the novel is slow burn? I assume it is, but with the censorship, it's also easy to think that they get together really, really fast. Such soulmates! <3

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

From my understanding it is a slow-burn, and it's what makes the relationship stand out because of the yearning and longing and how it all builds with their relationship. There's a lot of stuff that happens in the novel, a lot of world-building and plot, and according to those who have read it while the romance is a slow-burn it's done with purpose, not dragged along, and it makes it all worth it in the end. :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_profiterole_/]

Awww, it sounds lovely! <3