Current Release Status: 9/16 Episodes for Season 1 Released.
My current review of this donghua adaptaion from my perspective as a novel reader can be summed up in 2 words: Severe Disappointment.
The reason? Sterilization and/or Censorship.
As of right now, there are 9 episodes released, just halfway through the planned 16 episode season. I estimate this 16 episode season will cover approximately 240 novel chapters based on the released PVs and OP/ED shots and graphics. And I think that this donghua is set to be a huge disappointment/failure. Previously, I had seen some post on this subreddit talking about how The Charm of Soul Pets had a weak start or that they "DNF" after watching EP1. At that time, I had defended the donghua using optimism based on the novel, however after watching EP9, I don't think I can do that much longer. Much of what made me feel the novel was great has been stripped, censored or sterilized. I don't think much will change be the season's end either.
Let's start with the good:
- Animation and models - The animation and models for this donghua aren't bad. The humans are look pretty nice, I know that not really a plus since they are pretty cookie-cutter in terms of design but they look decently polished. Points for that. The different soul pets and their animations are pretty good. There are a decent variety so far and the movement/fights are decent.
But that's all the good. Now to the bad (before we get to the censorship and sterilization):
- Plot - This is atrocious. In EP1 they drop a tiny bit of explanation in written format, but they barely do any actual explanation of the plot. It's like they want to rely on the novel to tell the story and we just watch the pretty visuals. The problem with this is they didn't faithfully follow the novel like Jade Dynasty S2 (that's a whole other topic). They are pretty much montaging through everything until there is some action (like actual important novel action), and even then, there are big problems. It's hard to understand the plot at all with how the donghua is presented.
- World Building - Where is the explanation of the world building!? Unlike alot of cultivation novels, The Charm of Soul Pets is not "cookie-cutter" and is pretty unique in how it functions; it has a human cultivation system, then there is a kind of ranking for Soul Pets as well. For humans, it is a very simple, based-on-numbers system. For Soul Pets, it is similar to the min-maxing of pokemon attributes and stuff, but there are ways to raise ranks by feeding them/training them and stuff. (Admittedly, I paid some attention when reading the novel, but eventually it went way over my head and I didn't care). But at minimum, how the cultivation system for humans and how summoning of soul pets works should have been told to us. Then on to more about the world, Chu Mu has a book which he reads, but WE CAN NEVER GET ANY INFO FROM IT! LIKE WHAT THE HELL!? Can't they have the MC monologuing while reading so we can learn more about the world? I'll also provide some details below on things that should have been explained by now but weren't, in case anyone is interested:
- In case you were curious, the human cultivation system is number based. You cultivate, and when you reach a higher rank, you gain a soul pet slot (or pokeball). The levels determines how many soul pets you can summon at one time. So Level 1 Low Rank has one slot one summon, Level 1 Mid Rank has 2 slots 1 summon, Level 1 High Rank has 3 slots 1 summon, then it goes to Level 2 Low Rank with 4 slots 2 simul-summons, etc. Bet you didn't know any of that.
- Why is Chu Mu (the MC) called a cripple/trash? This is because when he was younger, he was a genius, cultivating to 2 soul pet slots early on. Then he signed a a contract with an ultra-rare soul pet which requires 2 soul pet slots. Well, being his only soul pet, MC summons it and it betrays him/runs away, occupying his only summon slot. Well, now MC can't fight because humans are inherently weaker at combat and thus he is now a cripple. In addition, he will forever be down a summon when fighting someone at the same level. That's the backstory.
- Blue Nightmare Island (where the MC starts) and its background info - Blue Nightmare Palace, the power behind everything that has happened so far, is based around an evil soul pet called a Nightmare, specifically Blue Nightmare (and White Nightmares). These soul pets are evil soul pets that feed on soul power and can kill the contractor. Thus to raise them, the palace kidnaps children and force them to sign a contract to feed the Nightmares. If they can't feed it, then the Blue Nightmare consumes the kid (and soul) and gets collected for the next round of sacrifices. For Chu Mu, Blue Nightmare Palace got hired to kill him as part of an attack against his family by the Yang family, Sir Xia happened to be passing by and decided to force a White Nightmare on him because "killing two birds with one stone" since he was going to die anyway.
Okay now let's get into the Sterilization and Censorship:
HOLY HELL! Where should I even start?
- The MC, Chu Mu - Damn, the donghua made him feel like a mostly useless twat that is constantly targeted and can't do shit. So far, he's been saved 2 or 3 times by what can really only be described as plot armor. In the novel, the MC used his book smarts and personal smarts to get everything, and it felt like he earned it through blood sweat and tears. He came from a decently influential family and was educated, he smuggled that book we seem him reading, and he reasons everything out: his strategies, how he chooses pets, how he feeds/trains/ranks them up. In the donghua, however, whenever he gets into serious trouble (when he looks down on his luck), someone or something saves him. Sir Xia saves him twice on Blue Nightmare Island, once with voice transmission, once with the White Nightmare. On Prison Island, the caterpillar/dragon saves him and annihilates his enemy. LIKE WHAT THE F*CK!!!!!
- Targeting the MC - The MC is the target of all the villains in the donghua, unlike the novel where it was a side effect or incidental. In Blue Nightmare Island, he was targeted because he was the likely suspect killing promising seeds. On Prison Island, he's antagonistic against the Yang Family people, but it is also a 3k people walk in alive, 1 person walks out alive place, so being targeted is kind of expected.
- Censorship - So this one is pretty short, they tried really hard to limit "death" and "killings" to just off the screen. All of this is expected, but it feels way to sterilized; everything is implied unlike the brutal reality depicted in the novel.
- Sterilization (or more accurately realigning Chu Mu's moral character) - they did everything in their power to polish Chu Mu into a character who is justified in everything he does. Basically every "bad" action that Chu Mu does has some kind of justification where he has the moral high ground because of something that came before. There are sparingly few, maybe in the many montages, where this might not be the case. Here are some examples where Chu Mu is the "good guy". Also, he typically doesn't attack first, unlike his ruthless self in the novel.
- EP1 - Chu Mu being a white knight and saving Ting Yu; the novel didn't have this. They lived in the same hut and she survived. She was the only one on the island who could even be considered an ally. She's not that important to the story but I did like her quite a bit.
- EP2 - Chu Mu killed that girl who tried to use poison. It could be considered justified, because he reacted her trying to use underhanded tactics and responded. In the novel, he did it because Mo Xie still needs to recover from that other killing he did. He threw that knife into her throat in the novel.
- EP6 - When he gets discovered (on Prison Island), he acts like an idiot and steps out and confronts the Yang Family guy face to face. ARE YOU STUPID? YOU'RE ON PRISON ISLAND WHERE ONLY ONE PERSON LEAVES? That person is from the family who tried to have you assassinated and still wants to kill you, WHY NOT JUST AMBUSH HIM!? Then when he "spares" him, the guy tries to sneak attack Chu Mu only to get killed/roasted afterward. ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?
- EP7 - That other girl from the Island (the one who sleeps with Cao Yi, the supervisor) gets killed by Cao Yi in a hostage type situation. Then Chu Mu kills Cao Yi in what can be a justified revenge for the girl who just "redeemed" herself. Okay, so in the novel, Chu Mu did track her down and let her go in exchange for information on Cao Yi, but they DID NOT TEAM UP, and she presumably dies to someone else, since she had relied on Cao Yi (selling herself) to survive up til then.
- EP9 - (Deliberately skipped over content) There were challenges towards him in the novel after he was given his title of Eternal Ocean Nightmare Prince. In one of the fights, he uses his Ice Spirit to insta-kill a Blue Nightmare, and because of the ice attacks properties it ends up killing the soul pet trainer. This fight and many other ruthless fights are simply removed elevating the MC's "moral character".
- Sterilization Part 2 - Where is the killing of soul pets and soul pet trainers. This is seriously lacking now. I thought things would change after he leaves Blue Nightmare Island and went to Prison Island where he presumable kills hundreds of the prisoners to emerge as the one survivor. Now? The donghua has basically removed targeting/killing soul pets and soul pet masters as part of the strategy for winning life-or-death battles.
A misc. change I noticed: they might be doing a "soft harem" with Ting Yu and other girls, not too sure since most of them are of little importance in the novel. Also the might try and push Chu Mu X Princess, I kind of got that feel from EP9.
Final Note: I really wanted this to be good. The setting and cultivation system are pretty unique among those I've read and this seemed promising from the PVs, but the the amount of novel stuff cut, "forced correction" of the MC's character, and the serious plot development/presentation issues have really destroyed this donghua. I will probably continue to watch this til at least the end of S1. Afterward (if it even gets continued), maybe continue only for visuals and/or curiosity about yet to be reveal characters. Right now, Mo Xie's cuteness is the main motivation behind continuing the series (other than my stubbornness). I hope the rest of the season can change my mind, but I highly doubt it.
Edit: Oh yeah, end of EP9 basically correlates to Book 2 Chapter 18: Bestowed a Sixth Level Soul Armor. Or Chapter 132 if you count the 114 chapters of "Book 1". |
