The King's Avatar S2

“Attitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Optimism is a choice. Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice. Whatever choice you make makes you. Choose wisely.”

The King's Avatar (Quan Zhi Gao Shou, Full-Time Expert, Master of Skills) is a Chinese web novel, which centers on eSports. Witten by Butterfly Blue, the novel was published on Qidian Zhongwen Wang website between February 28, 2011 and April 30, 2014. It also received the title ‘Best Work’ in 2013.

In a nutshell
The story of The King's Avatar tells a story of Ye Xiu, who is a professional player of the online MMORPG game called ‘Glory.’ Glory is a well-balanced game, where the only thing that really matters is a player’s skill; the game offers fighting against both other players and NPC enemies. Ye Xiu, also known as the ‘Battle God,’ is the player that every Glory player knows about, he is a legend, an idol; many people will do everything only to shake his hand. However, when you reach great heights, there will surely be people, who will do everything, even sell their soul to the Devil, only to see you fall. And Ye Xiu life is not an exception. Ye Xiu’s friends, colleague, and teammates make him give up on his career as one of the most successful competitive player of Glory.

Story
Sometimes you need to sacrifice something, so that you can achieve great heights. Ye Xiu is the person, who had to give up on many things only to make his dream become a reality; he is a cyber sportsman and such a life choice negatively affected his life. Take for example his relationships with parents, who never tried to understand their son. This, however, never stopped Ye Xiu from keep going. And the world of sport is very cruel, even though some people underestimate cyber sport. Bur for Ye Xiu to become one of the best competitive players, he will, of course, have to face many enemies, and so the second season continues the story of Ye Xiu, who is not ready to give up on his passion no matter what. Story wise, even though they butchered the novel and many things could have gotten a better attention, it still never was that much of a problem. After all, a Chinese animation that focuses on cyber sport is not something the industry shows that often. What I am trying to say is that cyber sport is an awesome theme for future anime and manga series; there has been far too many isekai and sport anime, however, cyber sport is not something that you will see that often.

Art
On the one hand, Quanzhi Gaoshou's graphics look amazing. In fact, I could not even believe my eyes when I saw the first episodes. Excellent camera work, backgrounds, camera angles; it looks even better than some anime. In terms of graphics, Chinese titles have a huge potential for a growth. Just look at the screenshots and you will understand what I am talking about. On the other hand, the only thing that I did not like was the characters designs. They turned out too ... perfect, perhaps? Every character here has a model appearance and we all know how cyber sportsmen look like. Of course, some of them do have great looks and even sign contract with modeling agencies, but not simply all of the players. So, they could have featured some nerds for some realism.

Sound
Quanzhi Gaoshou uses some epic soundtrack, diluted with lyrical compositions, which fit dynamic battles and dramatic scenes. Unfortunately, I do not know the composer, but that person did one hell of a job to make this Chinese animation that enjoyable for the viewer. Whenever an OST piece kicks in, it never is annoying, but perfectly fits the Chinese animation and helps make your watch even more enjoyable. On top of that, I also enjoyed the voice acting, the voice actors, too, contributed to this Chinese animation greatly. Even though, I have little to no knowledge of Chinese, their voice acting was very enjoyable.

Characters
Ye Xiu has neither a team, nor the sponsor, nor his life’s goal. He finds work at nearby café, where many staff members admire Ye Xiu, but no one really knows his true identity. After a little while, Glory opens its 10 server, and Ye Xiu decides one more time to throw himself into the game. He now has to make a new character and form a new team. Together with his new friends, Ye Xiu one more time decides to dedicate himself to the game in order to become top one Glory player and return his title of ‘the best.’ With new friends, he forms a team of players, who with the help of Ye Xiu become a real problem even for skillful players. Long story short, characters wise, nothing changed. Quanzhi Gaoshou 2 still focuses on not only the main character, but also gives enough time for supporting characters to shine. And this just makes this anime that enjoyable to follow.

Maybe the best thing about this Chinese animation is the fact that Ye Xiu keeps going no matter what. Even though the situation, he was in, was pretty much the dead end. Yet, he never tried to complain. Ye Xiu, as a character, is a person to admire. Just imagine what would you do, if you were him? Would you still try to pursue your dream, or just give up?

Enjoyment/Criticism
I did mention some flaws, I would love this Chinese animation to change; however, they have never been a problem for me. Story wise, this Chinese animation offers a great story that you will hardly find in any other anime and manga and simply because of this it is that enjoyable to follow. Other than a brand new story, there is great animation, likable characters and awesome OST. Well, played China! I really hope that China will make more animation similar to Quanzhi Gaoshou.

Overall
All in all, Quanzhi Gaoshou is a very unique animation, no question about. Truth be told, I believe that some drama would make this Chinese animation a bit better, close to a masterpiece. Yes, it has a very unique storyline, no question about it, as well as very well-written characters. But there is nothing that would make Quanzhi Gaoshou a masterpiece. However, it does not change the fact that Quanzhi Gaoshou deserves an 8/10. Do give a try to the first season, it does look a bit weird at first, but after a while you might love it.