Yi Nian Yongheng
a review by RenxRen
a review by RenxRen
Cultivation is an umbrella term used in the West to describe the popular Chinese fantasy subgenre Xianxia. I cannot argue how challenging and complicated it is for writers to pull off such a feat. For hardcore fantasy fans, cultivation is essentially high fantasy fiction with immense worldbuilding and a partially hard magic system. This subgenre utilizes Chinese folklore, mythology, medicine, alchemy, and several more elements all together to flesh out a new world full of mysteries and wonders. The basic idea is cultivating life force to attain immortality by training through meditation, martial arts, and other energy-based methods. The cast is usually enormous and there are many clans with different cultivation approaches and, by extension, cultures, and politics. An example of such donghua that broke through the anime community is Mo Dao Zu Shi, mostly known for its Boys' Love subplot rather than the cultivation part.
Yi Nian Yongheng (or A Will Eternal) is a donghua, originally a novel written by Er Gen, that shamelessly earned a position in the top cultivation series of all time. Not only did he build such an elaborate (sometimes jarring) magic system, but he made a charming cast too. Usually, a plot-heavy story reduces its characters to one-dimensional tools for the sake of future major events, but Yi Nian YongHeng let the characters take charge and lead us on their adventurous journey.
Because of my total ignorance regarding the correct usage of Chinese names, titles, and regions, I'll consult the fandom wiki of the series. I want to avoid butchering the names as much as possible and respect the native speakers. Also, please mind the spoilers. There'll be no in-depth analysis but I may refer to major plot points.
The protagonist, Bai Xiaochun, is one of the most flawed and entertaining characters I've seen in fiction. This conclusion comes from both a quantitative and a qualitative basis. Before I dive into his personality, I'd like to begin with his motivation and his relationship with cultivation. You see, our main character is frightened of the idea of death and obsessed with attaining immortality. It was hinted that his parents got gravely ill and slowly passed away in his presence. He's willing to use any tool and skill on his disposal to meet his goal, ignoring the morality and collateral damage behind his actions. That strong will and hard work, however, allowed him to emerge victorious and be the chosen one.
As I mentioned, Bai Xiaochun is flawed yet endearing. He's full of contradictions, and that's his strongest suit because these contradictions are conditional and show how deep his character is. I'll give you three examples. He's the biggest coward and the bravest warrior on the battlefield. Confusing, right? Not really. Due to his irrational fear of death, he stays away from fights. He either runs away on the spot or deceives his opponents with lies. As to his friends and family, he gets rid of his act and massacre every enemy around him. This leads me to the next example. Xiaochun is boastful, yet he has no pride or honor. When he does something exceptional or nails it to an exam, he'd walk around and brag to people's faces, jokingly degrading them and sowing his demise. When his superiors call him to reward him for his heroic deeds, however, he puts an act about the life-threatening trials and the emotional distress he went through, and, later, he asks for an extravagant exchange like treasures, secret techniques, weapons, etc. Lastly, he's dishonest with sincere intentions. Yes, he evades responsibility for some of his actions, deceives many people for personal gain, and steals. However, he won't hesitate to throw himself in a bloody fight for his friends, save them from a dire situation, and fix his mistakes if they are too harmful.
Xiaochun's shticks and quirks are the icing on the cake. Apart from his phony personality, he's a troublemaker. For instance, there's a recurring joke of him destroying every place he's living in because he experiments with alchemy or he practises with new techniques. Thus, people admire him and hate him at the same time; they even throw a party when he decides to travel far away. On top of that, he's a flirt and a bit of a pervert. Even the king of the beasts (his pet) copied his behavior and resorted to questionable (funny) things.
Other notable characters are Li Qinghou (his master and father figure), Big Fatty Zhang (a great friend), Song Que (his rival at the moment), Du Lingfei (his love interest and potential traitor), Song Junwan (an enigmatic woman from a rival sect), and many more. I'd love to list why I like them, but I had to justify my praise about the protagonist's characterization.
I'm glad that the story turned the tables on me!! Initially, it was straightforward with slow pacing and light-hearted moments. There were barely any politics, warfare, and action-packed tournaments involved. "Ah," I thought, "it's the magic-academy type of show". No offense, but I craved intrigue and intense battles with high stakes. Oh boy, did I get them. Many random and out-of-place events took place in the first half of the series, and you had to be very careful to point out the clues and connect the dots. Unfortunately, sometimes the dialogue was off, and the subs didn't help. Keep in mind that every episode tells a crucial piece of information, and you cannot trust almost everyone. Nothing is filler. Even the slice-of-life moments will strengthen the relationship between the characters and info-dump something important about the cultivation world. The series pays you off with hype and mystery when you think it gets boring.
It was the first serious event when the realization struck me like thunder. A gory, relentless, and suspenseful battle royale in a dark rainy forest broke out. In this world, death is common, and the survival of the fittest applies. Killing is okay unless it's stated otherwise. Fairness and justice are generally utopian concepts, and the author understood the cruelty of his creation. There was no space for altruistic nonsense outside an individual's mind. Even the most influential characters couldn't force their ideals on their subordinates because it's common knowledge that everyone has their agency. The protagonist had his vision, desperate to be heard, but his tries were in vain. There were two times when he got berserk and executed a bunch of foes because they didn't listen.
Another thing that the author does masterfully is subverting our expectations of the rivals and villains, a task that most fictional works fail. They seem despicable and maybe appalling at first; it might be their cold demeanor, their cunning approach, or their murderous intent. When Xiaochun gets to know a select few, you see them in an entirely different light! There are MANY layers under the surface.
Before I get into my criticisms, like any cultivation series, worldbuilding never ceases to amaze me. The history, mythology, medicine, et cetera, are so rich and multi-layered that it takes one blink to get lost. It is a double-edged sword, and I cannot stress enough how tricky it is to construct such an epic world. If you are a detail-orientated viewer, you pause every few seconds and take notes. If you're a lazy viewer like me, you absorb the core mechanics of the given concept and skip the in-depth analysis. My style doesn't apply to everyone, and I can understand their potential disappointment.
One of my primary issues was the overall pacing. Several time skips threw me off. From my experience, I can see those time jumps working in a book format but not on screenplays. It takes a solid resolution for the characters to smoothly transition into the future. Although it was a broadly logical step, it felt awkward. On the other hand, they handled the individual scenes perfectly. Their pacing varied throughout the story, but it was highly compatible.
My opinion on the overall direction is crystal clear from the above. Generally speaking, the tone, atmosphere, and animation were outstanding. Even the battlefields were jaw-dropping. The sceneries were majestic and fantastical with great detail. The natural environment enclosing the warriors was ominous, having a personality itself (sometimes literally). Every rustle of the leaves, every ripple on the water's surface, and every cloud vailing the skies had to offer something. The choreography and the characters' expressions were top-tier, not overdramatic, and certainly not underwhelming.
My criticism is about certain aspects of the direction and animation. The transition between the scenes, sometimes, was unpleasant. Character A does something, * hard cut *, character A meets character B, * hard cut *, character A does something else alone an hour later. We can assume there's another pacing problem and a lack of transitional filler scenes.
I won't refer to specific poorly-animated scenes because they were very few and of small value.
A Will Eternal left its mark in the cultivation genre community and easily slipped into my top ten animated series of all time. The cast was fresh, funny, and colorful with many hidden aspects that pleasantly surprise the viewer. The composition of the world is definitely memorable, but what sold me the most is the unique and striking geography. I also have to give credit to the well-balanced exploitation of the genres, as I never felt that comedy overshadowed drama and vice versa. Apart from the temporary pacing, animation, and transitional issues, it did a splendid job in those areas too. I'd recommend this donghua to adult (seinen) fantasy viewers more than the YA (shounen) ones because its formula matches the former target group more.
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