Its hard to know what sort of show Tong Zhi Zhe is. At first glace its seems like a gritty mystery detective show, the first 2 episode arc certainly supports this. But as the show progress’s it clear that its more like a thriller/ romance show with the plot revolving around the relationship between main character Zhang Dabao and Tang

The most appealing aspect of the show is Zhang Dabao and the relationships between Zhang Dabao and love interest, Tang Jing and Zhang Dabao and best friend, Egg.

Although the show mostly revolves around Zhang Dabao solving crimes and defeating the antagonists that emerge, these aspects are the weakest aspects of the show. Crimes are instantly solved when Zhang Dabao looks at a crime scene which activates his ability to instantly solve a crime by just looking at a crime scene, this renders any of the mystery and intrigue behind the crime obsolete.

Most of the culprits and antagonists in the stories are fairly one dimensional and characterless. The one antagonist that is slightly interesting only appears at the end of the show and the conflict between him and Zhang Dabao is foreshadowed at the end of the show and promised for the next season (if there is going to be a season 2, which seems unlikely.

The show would be considerably worse if not for the character of Zhang Dabao. What makes Zhang Dabao character so appealing is two sides of his character that are balanced fairly well. On one side is the idiotic, clueless and socially awkward Zhang Dabao and on the other side is a decisive and heroic Zhang Dabao. That first side of him is portrayed in a way that makes his character more endearing than annoying like other dumb main characters. This is also helped by a good performance by his voice actor. Zhang Dabao is a simple character but his desire to help others and rush headlong in danger for others makes it hard not to like him. His character is well symbolized by the nearly identical captain america logo on his shirt.

Zhang Dabao’s relationship with Tang Jing is the one of the main aspects of the show and is the main way that the story does and will progress. Tang Jing is a fairly standard damsel in distress character but there is not a completely generic character with her feelings for her ex boyfriend providing enough potential intrigue for the relationship between her and Zhang Dabao.

The one other aspect that the show does fairly well is the relationship between Zhang Dabao and Egg. The dialogue flows quite naturally and provides the few jokes that the show has. Both Zhang Dabao and Egg show there selflessness for each other at certain times during the show.

Technically the show is typical of most other Chinese works. The art is quite simple and bland and the animation is quite jankie and poor. The show also struggles to get the perspective right is some shots that make it look poorly made. Graphically the one highlight is the character design Tang Jing, while it actually is a quite simple design, it is a good looking design.

Tong Zhi Zhe is simple and has no frills, there isn’t any deep meaning to be discovered and for the most part Tong Zhi Zhe is disappointing and quite generic in plot and character. What saves the show is the character of Zhang Dabao. Zhang Dabao while not the most deep character, is just a very likable character and you just want to see him succeed.