Heaven official’s blessing is the Chinese gods and ghost hunting anime. It is based on a famous fiction by ‘Mo Xiang Tong Xiu’, a talented writer who has had popular previous works like ‘The Untamed’ which made the audiences stuck at Gusu, unable to find the way out and ‘Scumbag System’.
Heaven Official’s Blessing is the story about Xie Lian, a former heir who was blessed to ascend to the heavens at the age of 17, becoming a great and prestigious warrior god, and Hua Cheng, the strongest demon king that even the heavens had to succumb to. However, this demon king has a crush on the one and only ‘Xie Lian’. He has been waiting to be Xie Lian’s special bodyguard for 800 years. It sounds romantic, right? Exactly! The story is romantic, but there is something much more than that. It is also dramatic, intense, amazing and superbly heartwarming. (The original fiction of Heaven Official’s Blessing makes the readers full of tears even more than The Untamed.)
‘Xie Lian’ is a god who ascended and descended between the mortal world and heavens up to 3 times, because he caused a lot of trouble. Even though he does not intend to cause any trouble, it still almost destroyed the heavens, so he was expelled from heaven. Every time he came back to heaven, it was only for a very short time. The length of his time in heaven is only 1 incense lighted, then he would get himself expelled again. Finally, his 3rd time in heaven, it seems he came back to receive an invoice. Lin Wen, who is like a secretary, accountant and human resource in heaven, including many other tasks to communicate with all the Gods, explained Xie Lian’s deeds and debts to pay back to heaven.
It turns out that ‘Xie Lian’ has to pay about 8,880,000 merit points as a debt. Suddenly, he became a poor god and has no merit points left. So, Lin Wen offered him a solution. If he wants merit points to pay back to heaven, he has to descend to the mortal world and collect it. At that time, there was a groom ghost that kidnapped the human brides and hid them on a mountain called ‘Yu Jun’. After a short time back in heaven to receive an invoice, he suddenly had to descend to the mortal world again. However, the heavens also showed him mercy by dispatching ‘Nan Feng’ and ‘Fu Yao’, two junior class Gods to be his assistants.
This merit mission led Xie Lian to meet ‘Hua Cheng’, a great demon king that everyone was disgusted with. ‘Hua Cheng’ was also known as ‘Xuè Yǔ Tàn Huā’ (Crimson Rain Sought Flower). He came to Xie Lian’s protection when he was in trouble. About 800 years ago, Xie Lian unintentionally impressed Hua Cheng, deep in his heart. Xie Lian didn’t even realized how he impressed that little boy, whom Xie Lian saved 800 years ago, and it became a deep relationship. Every God thinks that he is a dangerous ghost and no one wants to even get close to him. Especially when his silver butterflies that represent his soul don’t look very attractive. However, Xie Lian disagrees with that thought. He thinks the butterflies and Hua Cheng, both look great and that there is nothing dangerous. Alright, Hua Cheng is nice only to him.
After finished paying the merit debt, Xie Lian descends to the village ‘Puqi’ and takes over an abandoned cottage to create a shrine of ‘Prince of Xianle kingdom’, which represents himself. He met a little boy in red clothes napping on his wagon. That boy’s name is ‘San Lang’. Both Xie Lian and this boy are compatible with each other and San Lang became a multi-tasking mechanic for his shrine. Whatever Xie Lian needs, San Lang can get for him. Wait, is this little boy ‘San Lang’ a transformed ghost? There is nothing that can prove this doubt. Furthermore, he acts like a good boy and follows Xie Lian everywhere like a shadow, calls him Gege and looks at Xie Lian with hidden motive eyes. Even if Nan Feng and Fu Yao, Xie Lian’s assistant Gods disagree, he lets San Lang stay with him anyway.
Then there came a problem that needs resolution. So, Xie Lian, San Lang and the other 2 enraged gods have to go to ‘Banyue, a desert land, to deal with something. After the situation in Banyue has passed, Xie Lian discovers who San Lang really is.
Beautiful, gentle and emotional drawing lines
This 2D anime lines gets the audiences excited when the story begins with heaven trembling every time that a new God is reborn. Every other God must be surprised that this God is reborn again? This anime has a beautiful drawings that represent a warm, sad and loving tone all the time. Even though it is a Chinese God and ghost hunting anime, the color tone suggests a dramatic feel.
And we weren’t wrong. The story is so dramatic, including the main character’s background. ‘Xie Lian’ is an unfortunate God who was expelled from heaven to become a God that sells antiques for a living. How could his background be so pitiful? If you think Wei Wu Xian is poor, Xie Lian is much poorer. Heaven does not welcome him and people don’t want to worship him. However, he is a positive God. So, he is fine, and keeps his blessing in mind ‘Heaven bless us, there is nothing to afraid of’
This anime presents a warm and mysterious tone. Even when the main character fights with ghosts, it still preserves a strong warm tone. The animator is consistent with the concept. In other animes, we might be afraid of ghosts and demons that are the enemy of the lead character. The ghosts and demons in this anime are different. Besides the plot of the story, colors, tone and drawing lines also make us easily sympathize for all the ghosts and demons whom do not get any encouragement. The anime’s color tone is perfect. Especially when Hua Cheng and Xie Lian are together, it gives us a heartwarming feeling and makes us feel jealous at the same time.
Good plot and great story-telling
The plot is extremely dramatic which can make you full of tears in many scenes. The anime version has a limitation in facial expression but the audiences are still really into the story. If there will be a live-action version, you might cry a lot for the lead character’s misfortune. In brief, this is a dramatic and superb crazy in love anime, the lead character has an unconditional and stable love deep in his heart for Xie Lian since he was young. He always looks forward to seeing his beloved again. We could say that he will do everything and protect just as his beloved needs.
Especially the honesty in the feeling of Hua Cheng. When they are together, Hua Cheng always looks at Xie Lian with a meaningful look at all time. Hua Cheng in his true appearance is truly handsome, he is so cool and cruel, every ghost fears him. On the contrary, his reform appearance became a cute dì di, who kept following gege everywhere. He has a loyal and doubtful look at all times. This anime also has cute jokes from time to time, so we can say it has a variety of moods to enjoy. There is an exciting mood from the lead characters’ fighting scenes, even if Hua Cheng was cursed to have limited magic powers, he can still use his magic from a magic cloth sometimes. Furthermore, we can enjoy a sense of humor and cuteness from Xie Lian’s assistant Gods.
Another attractive point of this anime is how they made every character outstanding and memorable, even if some of them appear in only one scene, all characters have their own backstory. The animator doesn’t only focus on the main character, but all the characters are important, no less no more. We could say that the drawing lines by ‘Mo Xiang Tong Xiu’ makes every character look important. So, the audiences cling to the story in each scene quite easily. Moreover, the story is interesting in every episode and mission because every character has a crux of their own.
Excellence soundtrack, encouraging more emotions
After we’ve already listened to all of the original soundtrack of The Untamed, we had to seek and listen to the original soundtrack of this anime as well. Heaven official’s blessing’s original soundtrack is also emotional and intense. Even if we don’t understand the meaning of the song, it makes us really get into the story like love is love and sad is sad. In the scene where they put the haunting sound, it suddenly gives us both sad and scary feelings at the same time.
Especially the theme song and other songs that represent Hua Cheng’s feeling to XIa Lian ‘I love you so much’ from the deepest of his heart. Hua Cheng has been waiting for Xia Lian for a very long time. This anime has got ‘Luhan’, the famous artist to sing the original soundtrack called ‘Lian Cheng Ci’. Heaven official’s blessing’s first season has already finished airing for a while with a resolved ending. The indescribable romantic story in the special episode impressed the audience a lot and everyone can’t wait to watch the 2nd season already. The animators intentionally created a beautiful ending and it became a loyal love which deeply touched our hearts.
There is a rumor that the 2nd season of Heaven Official’s Blessing will be released soon. It is being carefully produced for us. Heaven Official’s Blessing got good feedback in every version, the fiction is popular, the manga has a savory mood and the anime is also excellent. Of course, the live-action version must be the next version coming. The Chinese production team is now working on it and it is currently in the casting process, how amazing! The precise release time is still a rumor, since the name list of actors are unconfirmed. There are some rumors lately about ‘Xia Lian’s’ casting, which is a character that is difficult to find a suitable actor to perform. The series’ fans have many rumors and the most recent on is ‘Zhang Linghe’, a new actor who previously had 5 series in a small TV channel. He might take a beautiful flora role who says the heartwarming sentence “If you don’t know what you are living for, then you live your life for me” that makes the butterfly have been seeking and waiting for 800 years.
Heaven Official’s Blessing
- Based on: Mo Xiang Tong Xiu’s fiction
- Genre: Romantic-fantasy, heaven gods who hunt the demons.
- Directed by: Li Haoling
- Length: 11 episodes and 1 special episode
- Watch via: NETFLIX
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