[Fall 2018] Xuan Yuan Sword Luminary Discussion Thread

[Buckeye]

軒轅剣・蒼き曜

A show based of a Chinese RPG set in ancient China where there are wars everywhere, and a legendary sword is the key to saving the day or ruining it depending on who wields it.

Airs: Monday, October 1, 2018

Studio: Deen

ANN Entry
My Anime List
Official Site
Crunchyroll

Notes
As usual, please try to follow these three easy forum courtesy habits when replying:
1) If you're the first person to post about an episode in any given week, please respond to the root post (this post) and indicate in the subject line which episode you're posting about.
2) If someone has already posted about an episode before you, please respond to that post (or a relevant reply to that post). Keep in the right subthread.
3) Don't use the "Reply to Thread" button because it causes your reply not to correctly inherit the subject line of the post you're replying to. Just click "Reply" to the post you want to reply to.

For more guidelines please refer to this thread.

[Buckeye]

Episode 1

Build something great.

So it begins with character introductions here as there are the sisters Yin and Ning with the former wielding a powerful sword of legend and the latter having prosthetic limbs. Then there is the MC Zhou, an engineer who is hoping to build something to help out in this war, and the empress that is intrigued with what he plans to build. Then there is Yun, who is an automaton from a wooden scroll. Pretty much, this episode was all about introducing the characters as the story is just too disoriented, but I?ll give it the benefit of the doubt for now given the show's roots. I'm intrigued by the characters and the show's setting, so hopefully the story comes in due time.

So as usual, I will give it a few episodes before deciding if I want to watch or not. I came into this show with low expectations seeing that shows adapted from Chinese source material tend to be terrible, and so far it?s holding true to that with the way the story has gone. But I?m finding the characters interesting, especially the sisters, all while the animation quality is better than what I?m used to seeing from these kinds of shows.

[Buckeye]

Episode 2

A farewell to arms.

So after the first episode went around and introduced the characters, this one goes back into the past where Ning, Yin, and Zhou were living a good life together. That is, until the Taiban empire comes in and attacks the place. Zhou is captured, and Ning tries to save him, but her arms get cut off, thus leading to her getting prosthetic arms. In all that, Cheng becomes the new queen. Pretty tragic what happened there as Ning definitely didn't deserve this.

[Buckeye]

Episode 3

Armed and dangerous.

While losing her arms is tough, at least Ning is adapting well to her new arms, and they happen to contain some deadly weapons. Even so, she isn't going to win every battle. And then Yin saves the day with that legendary sword. While it was good to see the characters in action, I'm still not sure what this show is trying to be.

So I'll give this show one more episode. While I like the characters and the action, the lack of story is something that can't be overlooked even considering that this is adapting a game of Chinese origins.

[Buckeye]

Episode 4

Kill or see others be killed.

Yin is approached by two guys as they are looking to team up with her after using the Xuan Yuan Sword to make quick work of that cyclops monster, but she's none too thrilled about the prospect of having to kill. But her mind is quickly changed just like that when somebody was after her sister's life. Pretty much, this was all about Yin making the decision that in war, she can't have it both ways. In the meantime, I just don't know what Zhou is up to.

So with that, the trial period has ended, and I'm on the fence about this show. While it has lots of the issues I have come to expect from shows adapted from Chinese source material, the characters are certainly engaging, all while I'm intrigued by the way the characters are developing. That said, being in the dark about the big picture is what hinders this show the most.

[Buckeye]

Episode 5

Those who work don't get to eat.

Now that Yin has made her choice to fight, they have quite a big fight ahead of them against the Taibai Empire. First order of business is to do something about the villagers having to give the officials almost all of their crops as they are overtaking them. While Zhao is up to something with the imperials, Mo Heng has defected to side with the rebels. Of course, Ning just doesn't realize what she's getting herself into by taking out that soldier on her own accord, but luckily they got help by two others in Rou and Yuezhi. And then Zhao made quite a statement there at the end saying to hell with that jade lion. Pretty intriguing story going on here even if things aren't exactly clear, but these characters sure are making their presence known.

[Buckeye]

Episode 6

Let's do this together.

And now, a shift in focus towards the enemy as the empress is quite an ambitious ruler. She sees an attack on her as an opportunity to seize that country. While that's happening, Ning and Yin aren't exactly in agreement when it comes to trusting their comrades, but everybody is bonded through losing their villages through war. While those two are having some disagreement, Zhao and the empress are so close that she's showing Zhao a secret passageway. That was a pretty chill episode where it's all about relationships and bonds here given how much chaos is going on around everybody.

[Buckeye]

Episode 7

Who's side are they on?

Zhao and the sisters finally reunite on the battlefield as enemies. But once they recognize each other, they stop battling amidst all the confusion and they end up going downstream in the river. And that leads to all sorts of conflicted feelings as Ning is rebelling against the Empire, thus rendering her unable to join the Empire, while Zhao has his loyalty to Cheng, making them unable leave the Empire. Things only get more chaotic when the imperials find the three before the rebels do, but Zhao smartly told them to retreat. This was the moment I was waiting for as it leads to quite a lot of bonds being put on the line in this conflict.

[Buckeye]

Episode 8

Unleash the armor.

So in all that chaos, the sisters ended up separated as while Yin refused to go with Zhao, Ning did. While Yin is determined to make the empire pay for massacring their village, Zhao is out to build the ultimate fortress in order to change the world. And thus, the conflict has just become even more personal now that not only are best friends now on opposite sides of the battlefield, but now the sisters are on opposite sides. While that's going on, Yin puts on the black fire armor seeing that a bunch of puppets can now travel on water, and the magic is pretty much useless over water, so seeing that they needed to do whatever they could to survive, the armor goes on, and those machines go down. Yin just keeps on gaining more powers there seeing that she'll need to do whatever it takes to bring peace to a war-torn land.

[Buckeye]

Episode 9

Anything for the throne.

Just as Zhao made his stance perfectly clear that he was not siding with the rebels after all that, he might very well have no choice but to do that with the latest development. That's because somebody is ruining his good name after he picked up Ning, and while she's now loyal to the empire, the fact that she has a relationship with the rebels is why this is happening. And that is leading to a domino effect where with Ning's ties makes Zhao wanted, and Zhao's loyalty to Cheng theoretically makes her wanted as well, making this the opportunity for that concubine to put her daughter Juan on the throne as it was her that cooked up this scheme. Definitely some interesting drama going on here as not everybody in the empire is on the same page, which could be the one crack that can be exposed.

[Buckeye]

Episode 10

Raindrops keep falling on her head.

Cheng just went berserk there after the latest development. So through all this, Zhao was expecting the worst, but his punishment was merely a huge demotion as the reason for that is so that he just about has no choice but to build that fortress. It certainly has been a whirlwind of emotions there, especially with Ning being tortured by drops of water as she remains tied. Quite a development that all was going to show that those three are caught between a rock and a hard place. In the meantime, Yin and company are kicking ass in those black armors that they just got.

[Buckeye]

Episode 11

It's never too late to bring the hate.

And now, Ning has gone insane being a weapon to the empire who has a target on Yin's head. I never thought this would happen, but here it is all starting with Ning being separated from Yin after their faithful encounter with Zhao. Ning is outed as a rebel spy by someone looking to seize the through from her stepdaughter for her daughter, which gets Zhao in hot water, which makes Cheng go crazy and put Ning through torture, and that turned her into a brainwashed maniac who has lost all sense of reason. Things are headed for a messy end with only two episodes left, and development being too one-sided.

[Buckeye]

Episode 12

Bad people must be defeated.

Cheng was really pushed over the edge there, first after hearing about how Commander Meng thinks about Zhao, and then after Pang tried to kill her to make Juan the empress. That just goes to show that while Cheng has the tools to become a great empress, her naivety is just too much of a problem. One more episode left as Yin and company are out to smash that fortress that was built.

[Buckeye]

Episode 13 (Finale)

That's how the fortress falls.

And just like that, Zhao switches sides to help the rebels take down the fortress thanks to Meng using it to kill Cheng and destroy the town. Yin went berserk and cut off Ning's prosthetic limbs to finally get her back to her senses, and everybody made it out thanks to her sword activating just in time and using Yun to get everybody out. Pretty solid way to end this, though the stuff leading up to it was too erratic. While Cheng is back in power, she's running the empire her own way now, and it leaves the door open for another season as Yin continues to fight. However, with Zhao and Ning their stories are finished as Zhao is blind and Ning finally reconciles with Yin going to show that the empire is not dictating their lives.

Overall, this show ended up being better than expected for shows based on source material of Chinese origin. It has interesting characters, great action, an intriguing story concept, and solid animation quality going in its favor. That said, this show is greatly hindered by poor execution with storytelling as the first half was just confusing with no sense of what this show is trying to be, all while the second half was just rushed. So in all, the action and characters made things worthwhile, and the story just shows why anime based on Chinese source material ends up flopping more often than not.

MAL Rating: