What Are Your Thoughts on Donghua (Chinese Anime)?
I think they’re slowly producing works that are on par if not better than some anime. Overall they still don’t have the same quality as Anime, but they’re good enough to be enjoyable.
What they bring in the scene is the great stories adapted or inspired from the plethora of novels Chinese authors write. Particularly the cultivation stuff.
Some noteworthy Donghua I’ve liked were Link Click and Daily Life of the Immortal King.
What I don’t like about Donghua is they’re dubbing. I don’t know if it’s just the tone of chinese in general, or they don’t have good enough voice acting industry yet, but chinese dub irks me in a way that the japanese dub never did. I’ve put off a lot of Donghua because of the chinese dub, I remember watching Link Click on japanese dub instead.
What are your thoughts on Donghua?
It’s kinda weird listening the Chinese dub after so many years listening Japanese. That’s my only complaint and I believe that the issue is the one I said, we’re to used to listening Japanese voices, I even understood some words thing that I can’t say about Chinese
I recommend The Legend of Hei. This is by far the best action animation I’ve seen period. The action is so good you have to watch it twice.
AniDB and MAL rating 8/10. I’ll definitely check it out.
Noteworthy comment I found while checking it out:
The English version of this movie has many differences, its runtimes are not the same, there is a colour palette change and it is missing the second Ending Song that was only released for the JPN version.
Haven’t watched any yet, but I’d be keen.
I read a lot of Wuxia/Xianxia manhua, like Martial Peak, Apotheosis, GOMA etc, and would be interested in a similar Donghua - got any recommendations?
I think the distinction is somewhat arbitrary. There’s Japanese anime shovelware, good and bad anime. Chinese studios have been making contributions and have been part of the Japanese anime industry. So I don’t make a distinction generally or primarily.
I guess the biggest factor and differentiator is the audio language - if that is where you want to draw the line. (A consequence of the primary or only targeted market.)
I’ve watched one with CN dub, which was an interesting experience. But I’m willing to accept and explore it and it feeling different - what matters in the end is the dub/voicing and general audio quality.
The one I watched was ok. Decent, but not more. I watched it through. I peeked into Link Click - which is rated quite high on AniDB (8/10) - but it didn’t particularly get me invested and interested. Which is not a Donghua vs Anime thing primarily though.
Overall I think it’s a very good thing. China is a big market and has the chance of becoming a big industry - even moreso than it is now. It means we can and will get more products, more to choose from, more good stuff too. I’m looking forward to it.
I’m not seeking it out actively. But AniDB is one of my discovery resources, and it lists them too. (Condition created primarily for the Japanese, Chinese, or Korean (“CJK”) market) So I will see them and consider them for what they are.
Now I’m wondering whether the one I watched a while ago was Chinese or Korean. 🤔 I don’t quite remember.
I’m watching Link Click. I don’t mind the audio: they’re in China and it just makes sense they speak Chinese. That’s one of the best thrillers I’ve seen yet. The hand-drawn animation does not have the polish you would see from the best Japanese studios, but their 3D CGI is easily better than Japanese and much of Western animation. Maybe it’s because they have more expertise in games like Genshin Impact.
