Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
JuicyMelons1945
There are many very highly acclaimed time-travel anime. Steins Gate, Re:Zero, Takopi's Original Sin, and even shows like Summertime Rendering and Erased are praised for their creative uses of time travel to tell stories. Also at the top of the time-travel section of this site, standing at a very impressive 8.7 as of right now, is Link Click.
This is perhaps the single worst disparity between MAL's rating of a show and the actual quality of a show. Shiguang Dailiren is garbage. It's truly incredible how this show manages to use time travel in the single most boring way possible.
A lot of this stems from the show being very episodic. A client comes in, the main characters adventure into the past, learn about the client, and their story ends very soppily and sadly, which is more often than…
Read at the sourceRemanTheArchean
This review covers the first 2 seasons, as well as the "Bridon Arc".
The show is composed of roughly two parts: the mystery-thriller that's mostly centered around the time travel mechanic, and the melodrama that's more interested in side stories of various characters.
At first, the latter element gets much more screentime, with the time travel being little more than a means to go from one story to the next. The first half-dozen episodes almost take on this "melodrama of the week" quality, which, uh, if you've read my Violet Evergarden review (https://myanimelist.net/reviews.php?id=574604) you'd know I'm not a big fan of. I think episodic melodrama is particularly hard to do well, and while the scenarios here aren't quite as unbelievable as they were in Violet Evergarden, I still didn't…
Read at the sourcebbbbbbbbbbba
Holy fucking shit do I have to say this is the best shows I have seen in this whole year it’s so amazing how one show of just 11 episodes can change you so much I can’t believe every twist that this show had this is incredible amazing it had me with my eyes wide open the whole time. The story of this show is so unique I’ve never even seen it anywhere else and it’s so crazy how just one expedidor of a persons life can deeply motivate and change you it’s so crazy this is a literal masterpiece. I live the art of the backgrounds you really do feel immersed into their series and the animation it’s just incredible.
Read at the sourceavxry_avx
Before I start, I want to preface since some people don't know or understand the difference. This is a DONGHUA NOT ANIME. Donghua is Chinese animation and the differences are NOT just the language but the production and storytelling. Please do not go into this expecting anime lmao, you will not get that.
This being a donghua explains the slow start, that a lot of people who didn't like this series hate about it. Donghua, as far as I've seen tend to start off at a slow pace, so you dont get the full picture until like episode 5, however they do go really deep later on.
Now here is my review:
Link Click to me, is possibly one of the best series ever in my honest opinion, but just focusing on Season 1 I can still say its amazing. The animation is just beautiful and both the OP and ED are…
Read at the sourceVaioletteZ
This is a great show that I feel threw away its entire plot in the last 2 minutes of the final episode. Like they've ended the season PERFECTLY, then the writer couldn't control themselves and had to keep writing and wrote the story from a Your Name level of perfect ending to one that is just sadistic, evil, needlessly cliff hangery and lacking in confidence.
It just feels like they had so little confidence that people will come back for season 2 that they decided to write one of the most contrived and unnecessary endings in and ruined a beautiful story from the heart into a generic good vs evil story. I went from being extremely excited for season 2 to not even having ANY interest in continuing after the writers showed just what kind of petty people they are to the viewers and the chara…
Read at the sourceLongicaudatus
Link Click is at its best when it tells stories centering on real people and real problems. Stories about things like strained family relationships, abuse in the workplace, or being young and aimless. These stories deal with universal things like relationships and regret, but in poignant ways that tug at viewer's heartsrings. That's why the first half of the show works so well, its a psuedo-anthology thats as believable as it is emotional.
Towards the end, Link Click's quality starts to suffer greatly as it shifts focus away from what I consider its strengths (real stories and emotional beats). In the last couple episodes especially, the show takes on a crime thriller ish direction, but everything is all written very poorly. The motivations don't make sense, the machinations don't make s…
Read at the sourceliteraturenerd
Shi Guang Dai Li Ren or Link Click is a popular Chinese cartoon about time travel. This has earned it many comparisons to Stein’s Gate, but beyond the time travel element this isn’t really a good comparison. Speaking of time travel, the plot of Link Click was problematic within China since the CCP banned all time travel fiction in 2011. It was considered “disrespectful to history and unhealthy wish fulfilment”. So instead of time machines, Link Clink had to create a truly bizarre and unique magic system to get the series approved by Communist Party censors.
The series is about these 2 best friends named Xiaoshi and Guang who run an unusual business together. If they look at a photo, Guang has the power to know everything the person in the photo did or thought within a 12-hour period. Xiao…
Read at the sourceRance-sama
tl;dr: good art, decent soundtrack, awful character development and one of the worst time travel implementations of any show. It's okay, not great, not awful.
Story: 4/10
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They jump into photographs and change the past for various clients, why? Well, they don't really explain their motivations much. They simply do it. The story is one of the characters jumping back into the past to help a client, solve their problem and then return to the present. You might then wonder, why doesn't the main character go into the past to either
1) save people
2) accrue a large amount of money
Well, he can't do that. Why? The show essentially brings up the butterfly theory, that one small change can have immense impacts. For example, if I traveled to the past and took up a few seconds of your future p…
Read at the sourceLion_Sin
AMAZING.
ABSOLUTELY,
JAW DROPPING,
MIN BOGGLINGLY,
RICOCHET SMACKINGLY,
UPPERCUT BOOM TASTICALLY,
EXPLOSION OF THE NEURONS IN OUR BRAINS-TASTICLY,
AMAZING.
This show, makes you keep your back and (bottom) on the edge of your seat for 12 episodes straight as a giraffe's neck, THAT HAS NOT BEEN DONE A LONG LONG TIME FOR THE PAST FEW YEARS. To those who oppose, I MEANT THROUGHOUT THE SHOW, not just a few episodes here and there.
This show is a bang on the billboard in the history books, with a block of certified platinum cherried with a diamond on its label. Well, done China [especially Haoliners Animation League Studio], YOU BOUGHT YOUR ROCKETEERING A GAME WITH THIS, after all those crap shows, THIS IS IT.
Just go and watch it if you haven't yet, seriously, stop reading this, GO WATCH IT. A…
Read at the sourceLouis3272
Some Interesting Facts about Chinese Metaphor
There are many Chinese metaphors in this donghua, some were well translated but some were omitted.
1. In Episode #1, the name of that game company is “雀德”, same pronunciation as “缺德”, which means “wicked” in English.
2. In Episode #7, the human trafficker’s name is “梅琵艳”, same pronunciation as “没屁眼”, e.g. “No asshole” in English. Also, her surname is Mei because “Aunt Mei” is the designate of human traffickers in Chinese. This is because since 2016, “Aunt Mei” participated in multiple child trafficking cases and hunted by the police. However, she hasn't been caught till today and her name has become a symbol of human trafficker.
3. The names of the two heroes are “程小时(Cheng Xiaoshi)” and “陆光(Lu Guang)”. Combine the last character of their na…
Read at the sourcejeijing
Honestly, I can't see how this anime is ranked higher than others out there. Vinland Saga, Banana Fish, and Mob Psycho are better than this. That's not to say that this anime is bad, it's pretty good. But that's about it.
Pros:
-op and ending
-art style
-time travel actually executed good
-the plot twist at the end
Cons:
- The story leaves you with a lot of questions. This is a good and a bad thing. There is a plot twist at the end which is supposed to leave you on the edge, but there's also just not much backstory at all. Like how did the characters even get their power? Why are they working together (besides the fact that they're friends)? Who even set the "rules" for the time travel? Do they have an ulterior motive, other than their job? Etc... I really just wanted more backstory, bec…
Read at the sourceMiyaMiwu
1. There was a reviewer here who commented about how this was a lackluster sci-fi, but that's not exactly right... For one, this show can't even be considered sci-fi. It's more like magic realism. There are characters with superpowers, but the superpowers are not the highlight of the story. The highlight of this story is simply the ordinary people, the clients Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang receives, and how their past shapes the person they are today.
2. Season 1 doesn't really dive in too much in the overarching plot (that will be in season 2, as recently announced). Season 1 simply shows us what our two main characters do on a day-to-day basis, and how they meet people (their clients) who teach them what it is to live, what it is to love, what it is to be a parent, and many more.
3. This…
Read at the sourceA2NIME
The art was not to to my liking but the animation was just to the top.
The story had many characters and it was just lit. The music was good the opening and ending the songs were just to good to skip. The first chinese anime
i watched and i dont regret it its just so good from a 7 to a 10 now its 11 out of 10 for me. The enjoyment is just unexplainable. The story has one of the best mystery and thriller also the best cliff hangers.Just waiting for season 2. its just good asf i cannot tell anything more than this
Read at the sourcemystrias
"we can't change the past. dont question the future, as the future will change because of us." ─ lu guang
story: 10/10, link click isn't necessarily a show about thrilling action and the deep sci-fi structure of time travelling - it's a donghua about the hardships in life: the things from our past that still causes us regret till this day in the present. it could be personal matters revolving around friends and family or devastating things that no one could predict.. realistically, past is something you can not change - but protagonist cheng xiaoshi has the power of diving back in time through photographs (the gold of preserving memories) and the goal to make no one regret what happened in the past as much as he's not allowed to change it.
art: 9/10, there are times where it isn't consis…
Read at the sourceFotsuan
While it was airing, Shiguang Dailiren was considered the hidden gem of Spring 2021 by many fans. Now, with its strong finale and its pass to a second season, its insanely positive response by the audience will make more people watch it and discuss it. But is it really worth the hype?
First of all, let's state the obvious and answer this question to a certain audience. People with an interest in non sci-fi time traveling shows could easily enjoy this. Flashy and with style, the protagonists use photographs to enter a past moment of the same world's timeline, and control others' bodies and minds there for a few hours with their main objective being the solution of criminal cases. Using that power, they must be careful not to change the flow of events because the butterfly effect may lead t…
Read at the sourceIrDefender
Truly a masterpiece, it's not just a show about entertainment, it talks about the way time pass, our choices, our social life, and what's worthy for us. Friendship, family, friends, love. It reminds us how important and worthy they are, and sometimes we are ignoring the time we have, our family & friends. How we forgot that what's truly important and what's just a matter of time, what really matters and what is really not. It reminds us that we have something in our lives that we need to look after and care about, because someday we may lose them, then we notice, and it's too late to do something about it.
The story so far is genius with unexpected moments and emotional moments that leave you surprised. Besides that, the background and art are so effective and beautiful that fit the genre…
Read at the sourceHarmonywind5
The absolute tragedy that more haven't people watched this show kills me. This is the best anime (technically) donghua that I've watched this past season. This doesn't feel like a show that is just using the time travel as a gimmick. Its unique form of time travel and the way it impacts the characters is just so raw and emotional at times I was near tears.
The show also has abundant mystery and twists and turns. It's brilliant, and I loved every second.
As for the characters, I appreciated the bonds the main characters have, but as you would expect, the start of the show is mostly focused on Cheng Xiaoshi. Love him or hate him, I think if anyone else was in his shoes, they'd be hard pressed to do any better.
I do wish that the characters outside the episodic stories got some more fles…
Read at the sourceWaifwu
Link click is arguably the one of the most unexpected shows I've come across.
Chinese anime has been on the rise in past 3-4 years with a lot of shows coming out ranging from esports focused The King's Avatar to historical wuxia like Modao Zushi, while quite a few of them were pretty solid on their own they all lacked that one element that could make them truly stand along with the topnotch japanese anime. Link click while in no means a perfect show but the first 5 episodes are one of the closest thing to that I've seen. The plot itself is not much complex at all. Simply if you read from the synopsis it's about a couple of dudes ( AND THERE IS NO BL) who can go inside photos at the time when it was taken. Now that sounds like any classical time manipulation show but what truly makes this o…
Read at the sourceMoonRiverNights
Holy. Fucking. Shit. This jewel of a show is buried underneath all of the other great anime that have come out this spring season, but it's definitely one of the best, standing with Vivy and 86.
The concept of time travel done through photographs is so fresh compared to all the other usual types that we see in media. The story is outstanding, to say the least, and I can't believe I almost missing this from my hesitation of it being a Chinese anime - I don't know the proper term.
But I am so glad I took the leap and boy has this set the standard! The art style is pretty good, it matches the style of the show and doesn't distract from the story being told here. It compliments it so well and I would totally wear the characters' outfit choices, they're very trendy.
While I personally don'…
Read at the sourcebellfruit
There's action, there's mystery, there's this captivating concept of time travel.
It draws me in so much just in the first episode that im just dumbfounded. Its cleverly crafted mysteries don't lack anything: it keeps me curious, and always somehow end up catching me off guard. It's a donghua capable of tears too, and isn't emotionally lacking either.
Well, to start off, it’s the first thing you notice about this donghua: the art. It’s refreshing unique art style I can’t find anywhere else. It gives me a new sense of originality that’s important in these animes and donghuas, in both story and art.
If you're one for smart characters (ex. The Promised Neverland) with crafty plans then this is a good add to your watches.
This has one of the few OP/EDs that I actually don't skip (unless…
Read at the source