Wan Jie Shen Zhu

(2022) This series is so good I'm writing my first official review. I it: it's going to be a bit tricky to write because I want you to discover the surprises for yourself. This is one of the very few anime that, while it does peripherally have a modern twist to it, they don't beat you about the head with it. In fact, they only pull out the references every 10\20 episodes or so. So when you see it, you're genuinely surprised! They also *slowly* lead you to discovery the MC's back story. They spend far more time having really meaningful explorations of what's important.

I ... will tell you that it took me multiple episodes that, also peripherally, this story is somewhat Dr. Who for a xanxia: he has female companions he deeply cares about, he uses his brain (and humor) to solve problems and the *space* he inhabits is (say it with me) bigger on the inside. And yes, he's a...wellll....you need to figure that one out yourself.

There is great character development across the board. MC tries his best to reason with those sent to kill him and, best of, he treats them right. Thus, he has one loyal band of followers because he isn't a {insert word here}.

Fun fact! He actually changes his outfit for *the right reason.* He doesn't wear either the same outfit for five seasons, nor does he change his outfit's color\keep it when he goes undercover. I really wish that the animators had actually shown a specific cross-anime shirt he referenced in the first or second episode.

Music: I have to hand it to the music director. It's not canned music from other animes. I've especially appreciated that he\she created *very thoughtful instrumentation* that complimented those deeper conversations. Even the "playful" pieces aren't ditzy.

If you gloss over this show, you're really going to miss some stellar, thoughtful interactions and plot development. Is it the best show I've ever, ever seen? Ehhhh maybe. I mean, I wish they had put this much thought (and upgraded 3DCGI) into Soul Land (eye roll).

BTTH has some of the same, thoughtful scenes (see the Gazebo in a rainstorm scene where MC is pouring his heart out to Dad while the storm crescendos and decrescendos as he lets it all out).

I'm surprised that I haven't seen this mentioned on more lists (esp. as I learned after the fact that it's one of the highest viewed shows in other parts of the world). It took me a *very* long time to understand and appreciate anime as I was long over screaming emo boys with spikey hair.

Now I spend my time loving and researching shows like this as I'm trying to write my own.

Pay attention to this one, and you'll be rewarded over and over.

As of writing this there were 108 episodes of this show, all subbed on youtube. It's about a God, Lord of the Universe... This is what made the story interesting to me, compared with other Chinese fantasy shows... They usually focus on cultivation and spend hundreds of episodes on the character trying to become godly, but this guy just starts as an ancient god who has lived thousands of years. This is pretty much the only unique value of the show, aside from the generally good storytelling and lack of over-the-top action and cliches.

Fight scenes don't span episodes, and actually have plot behind ... them.

Character development is the weakest point of this show. The MC is cool, wise, sage-like, which is befitting a thousands-year-old god... But the relationships that he forms with everyone else in the show are very superficial.

Overall, a story with a few unique ideas, set in the 'ancient chinese fantasy' theme, so if that's your thing like it is mine, then you should give it a watch.

Wan Jie Shen Zhu follows a god named Ye Chen who reincarnated from a human of the modern world. Ye Chen has many roles as a god being the successor to the Holy Palace, King of Space gods and Lord of the Universe. However, Ye Chen abandons the Gods Realm due to the gods especially the Heir to the Snow God's Country pursuing Ye Chen for his overwhelming power.

He escapes to live a life of peace in the Blue World - An ancient world in a different Galaxy from Earth. In this world, Ye Chen rescues people who have suffered from Northern Bei Di's ... tyrannical reign - a country that is controlled by antagonist gods. Ye Chen and the people he saves form a safe haven and opposing Sect called the Flower Palace which teaches its disciples high quality martial arts and methods from the modern world.

Eventually, the Heir to the Snow God's country discovers Ye Chen's weakness is his followers and sends gods to pursue them inevitably provoking the lazy Ye Chen's rage. Ye Chen begins to build his army by collecting treasures and bestowing god status on his followers preparing to eliminate the Heir of Snow God's Country.

Story: 6/10
Lord of the Universe has ambitious goals of developing a wide story consisting of several worlds and many side characters. It even skips Ye Chen's reincarnation background, the backstory of how Tan Tai and Qinxue were saved by Ye Chen and the past grudges Ye Chen had with An Xue of the Snow God's Country. Instead of these more interesting storyline establishments, Lord of the Universe follows a harsh 20-30 episodes of trying to introduce many characters to us that by the time the story truly starts its already midway through the first season. It doesn't follow the typical beginning of reincarnation series which makes the beginning bland and hard to follow.

Art - Sound | 6/10
The character design of this series is pretty good. The main character doesn't look aggressive or wimpy and his clothing is well designed. The animation does leave a lot to desire though, the movements are basic and are easy to tell they have been rigged without motion capture. Although this may be true the character closeups and fight scenes are pretty good visual experiences.

There are 2 sound tracks that stick out in this series - I couldn't find on YT so if you find it please let me know - There is a badass suspenseful soundtrack used whenever Ye Chen appears to save the day and a comedic/fun soundtrack that plays whenever Ye Chen provokes anyone from his harem. These 2 are pretty good memorable soundtracks, apart from that the series sound design and VA are pretty decent.

Character: 5/10
Ye Chen is a mysterious character in the beginning but we grow to know that he is a reincarnation from the modern world that introduces female spray perfume, Cola and iPads to the ancient blue world and to the gods. He is coined as the smartest person in the Universe by the gods but we don't get any directive content based on this apart from his dialogue explaining that he spent 900 years studying, hundreds of years mastering ancient board games and even some years indulged in sensual pleasure. We also see a glimpse of his dominance on the mortal world seeing as he controls 90% of the world's markets under a legitimate business that began on his luxury perfumes for nobles eventually spanning out more products like Cola and other modern ideas. He even has Newton's Cradle in his bedroom in one of the earlier 20s episodes.

I think by showing Ye Chen's establishments we are just spoon fed content that could have been progressive. The series instead focuses on Ye Chen's accumulation of power to fight against the antagonist and this becomes his overarching goal in the first season. The story attempts to be vast but it doesn't develop the characters in a way that brings value to their existence - it essentially skips their development and shows us flashbacks of how they came to be. This is a basic way to progress since the series is already over 100 episodes, there won't be any emotional attachment if characters die.

Enjoyment: 7/10
I feel like this series will gradually get better the more you watch as I felt toward the end, but I hope it doesn't end up like Wu Geng Ji's way of repetitive progression. When writing this review I haven't watched past the first season of Lord of the Universe but my personal favorite moment from this season is the chess battle between Grandmaster Yi Xing and Ye Chen EP57 and the ending where Grandmaster Yi Xing is astounded at the digital chess on Ye Chen's iPad/tablet.

- Unrelated Note -
I dropped this 3 times in the past week because I couldn't find a place to watch all 60 episodes in ENG SUB. Even when I found places to watch with ENG SUB, they had poorly subbed english. Some subtitles were partly english partly indonesian/malay. The original animators posted the series on YouTube but they aren't in english and whenever someone s the english subbed version they get striked. In conclusion, this series is hard to find in good english so if you find a source, cherish it.