Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
PrN_8
Pacing. If the pacing had been handled properly, this could’ve been great.
There was a lot of hype on social media about how massive the source material is and how unique the power system is. Maybe that’s true—but the anime didn’t manage to present it well. I found myself constantly Googling and watching YouTube explanations just to understand what was going on. Eventually, I stopped doing that and just followed the main story loosely.
If the source material has too much content, cramming everything together and expecting viewers to keep up isn’t a good idea. That’s exactly what this felt like. It seemed tailored more for people already familiar with the world rather than anime-only watchers.
Animation
Honestly, very good. The animation quality and camera angles are strong. However, it…
Read at the sourceSteelingMax
I have still to encounter a good donghua, these shows producers think shiny images substitutes having a compelling story with good characters, as people say, doesn't matter how much you polish a turd, in the end it's still a turd.
The 2D animation is super inconsistent, really stiff in dialogue scenes without any sign of character acting and the bad character desing doesn't help. The 3D bg stands out way too much in scenes that aren't covered in shadows, making the 2D characters look really out of place and whenever we have a tracking shot, the bg looks like miniatures. Action scenes are the only times the 2D team seems to be put to work, but they're still awkward, i also have no idea what the Nightmare power actually does in most fights sequences, are people sleep fighting? are they just…
Read at the sourceAIC01
I honestly dont get why people keep saying Lord of the Mysteries is too hard to understand The clue is right there in the title It literally promises layers of mystery hidden truths and mind bending twists You pick up a book called Lord of the Mysteries and then complain its mysterious? Thats like ordering the spiciest dish on the menu and being shocked that it burns. Thats why its called Lord of the Mysteries not Lord of the Obvious.///Lord of the Mysteries is a unique story that stands out with its mysterious plot intriguing world and clever twists i think most people will enjoy this anime.
Read at the sourceBleiser13
It's like playing elden ring for the very first time.
It's fresh, doesn't baby sit you with the plot and feels epic and beyond yourself. You don't immediately know everything that is happening like in 99% of anime. True to it's "lord of MYSTERIES" name. It's seriously a world of its own unlike all the other slop that relies on bad humour and fan service to keep you watching.
To really understand it, you have to watch all the way from the 1. episode until the last 13. episode. Totally worth it though. Only watching first few episodes will leave you confused if you decide to stop watching and it's a good thing.
Read at the sourcespills_colors0w
I specifically created a MAL account to rate this series as an anime only. The problem these days is that many people have developed an attention span of a child. People complain about the story being disjointed and confused but you’re supposed to watch the whole thing or at least until episode 7 to even begin to understand the structure of the story.
The plot is phenomenal. Everything is building up to the conclusion but people drop it way too early and then complain about it being confusing. ITS A MYSTERY SHOW, YOU ARE NOT GOING TO FIND THE ANSWER ON THE FIRST EPISODE. Jesus. Ignore the bad reviews about people saying they dropped it because they were confused because most of them drop it in the first 3 episodes when the plot hasn’t even begin to coalesce.
All I will say is have faith…
Read at the sourceakuar
It's true that the art and animation are amazing, but it is not worth it if you don't understand the story. It seems that they wanted to put too much information in 1 season, so they were forced to cut essential parts of the novel. Most of us that didn't read the novels don't understand anything. Jumps from one part of the plot to another and comes back with no explanation. Things that happen assuming that you already know why they're happening.
So in conclusion: wonderful style, horrible narrative. If you didn't read the novel, you'll probably have to search for explanations of the episodes on YouTube, as I did. I'll drop this anime because I can't watch an episode, watch the explanation on youtube and even so, I don't understand it completely.
Read at the sourceNikforreal
Overall: 10/10
Lord of the Mysteries is such a fantastic donghua that it not only does the hype justice but also proves that even an adaptation of that enormous novel can be done.
Story: 10/10
Pacing is quick, particularly in the opening three episodes, dropping viewers into a world of mystery, steampunk, and supernatural energies. Though quickness may come off as overwhelming at first, the show does a great job of answering many of its questions by the end, rewarding close listening and repeat viewing. The story is multi-layered, tense, and cosmic-horror-filled, faithful to the spirit of the original novel yet surprisingly mainstream-friendly.
Characters: 9.7/10
Klein's development is handled with subtlety, so he is a very relatable and interesting protagonist of donghua. The cast of s…
Read at the sourceC4bs
Whether you like it or not, Chinese animation (donghua) is still a huge novelty for most anime fans. Although some have already earned their rightful place among the most avid viewers of Eastern works, many people are still reluctant to enter this new world, whether because Mandarin is still unfamiliar to their ears or because of the more genuine and innocent meaning of the word prejudice: a preconceived notion based on other people's opinions that donghuas are still light years ahead of their Japanese "cousins."
But the current anime season could represent a long-awaited turning point for Chinese animation, and one of the main drivers of this phenomenon is Lord of Mysteries. Based on a hugely successful novel, the donghua was immediately announced, as the original narrative was highly pr…
Read at the sourceNetzach_Maayan
I love the webnovel, I have read the entire thing though 4 times now and would highly recommend it. The anime adaptation however suffers from attempting to adapt the entire first volume in 13 episodes. The amount of content cut is absurd. The novel has many overlapping story lines intertwined, the anime has chosen to have each episode be a single story line from start to end. Doing this not only is very destructive to the original plot, but don't leave any time for explanations and character development. The show fits way too much content, in incorrect order, with an overarching plot that has no buildup, lacks clarity for new viewers, and is very disrespectful to the original work.
That being said, if you have read the novel, I suggest watching select episodes of the show to enjoy the ani…
Read at the sourceJomiar
I came into this show with no expectations. Never heard of Lord of Mysteries Before. Right off the bat, a dark, brooding voice explains the basics of the magic system in this world - essentially drinking potions to grant you abilities. You progress through different levels until you basically become a god.
Youre then thrown into a room with a guy who shot himself in the head. Don't worry - he's our MC, and he got better. Head wound closes up. He soon finds that he has a strange extra power (I mean beyond healing mortal damage to his brain - that's just the start). MC then find himself involved with folks who drink those potions and act as a sort of police force. He then goes on to develop both his extra power as well as his potion powers in a very interesting world.
The first episode was…
Read at the sourceRC_Seeker
Most of these reviews are coming off of the first three episodes. And as an anime only lets just say the first 3 episodes are rough. Extremely fast, the changing between different pieces of the story felt choppy and they used minimal effort to actually consolidate these things in between these points. Overall the first three episodes were enjoyable but really did feel like they were hurting your own comprehension of what's happening. I stuck with it though and progressively if you are able to grasp everything it throws at you early on the building blocks to the concepts that follow are quite easy to keep track of and sometimes later on (episode 10) I think they might've went overboard with how they explained what was happening and what is to come which contrasts how the series had started.…
Read at the sourceHrosan
As a anime only I've only heard about lotm novel so I decided to watch donghua which is my first donghua and the first episode captivated me swiftly maybe because I watched too many generic animes now days but the premise of lotm got me hooked instantly. As a mystery show it lives up to its name. After the 6 episode it become my favourite completely and ep 7 was most intense. ep 8 and 9 were rollercoaster of emotions and 11-13 were truly cinematic. I watched them sailing seas since I couldn't wait for the anticipation. Tho, I plan to rewatch it again in dub. Imo, this show deserves rewatch since the fast pacing of initial 3 episodes gets a lot easier after rewatching, viewer can also notice many foreshadowings and details of this show. This shows have all my favourite genre and elements wh…
Read at the sourceThea-Space-Fox
OK, I'm anime only here so this will probably be different for novel readers, but I found this series to be incredibly interesting and worth watching and yet it was incredibly confusing at times.
This isn't my first donghua so I know than they tend to move quicker that japanese anime and they expect you to pay attention to details and come up with your own explanation at times and generally I don't mind that type of story telling, I like it a lot when they don't spoon feed you every answer in like 5 seconds but this was a bit too quick pacing wise.
This is a high concept worldbuilding and people who haven't read the novels might struggle to follow along at times. This is definitively NOT a brain off kind of watch. I highly recommend the English dub as it's very well made and it's easier…
Read at the sourceReMightyRon
I'll tell you the truth about this Anime adaptation of Lord of Mysteries that people don't accept, it's very simple, basically the anime was made mainly for fans of the Novel, which doesn't necessarily mean that those who haven't read the original can't enjoy the anime, but as the original is extensive, deep and detailed it becomes an impossible task to add all that amount of information and elements present in each chapter.
Many events were done in a different order than in the novel or simply cut and shaped differently, so to put it simply, is it worth watching as a mystery anime with a bit of supernatural action? YES! WITHOUT A DOUBT, but those who haven't read the original will be able to pick out all the nuances of the plot between the lines? NO DOUBT THAT NOT!
But I recommend that…
Read at the sourceAyszed
Lord of Mysteries is a stunning watch with incredible potential for storytelling. It is a steampunk eldritch fantasy in a world that is entrenched with magic, divination, top-hat wearing gentleman wielding guns and tarot cards, gothic madams who can appear out of nowhere erase you without a trace, and secret organizations of every flavour. And did I mention eldritch horror? Interlaced between all that is an abundance of wholesome moments as well. It has great characters, a thought provoking power-system, and a setting full of mysteries just like the title suggests. And the reveals end up making for a true delight.
So here is the absolute barebones summary of the beginning to get you started: our main character does a "luck enhancement ritual" at the beginning of the series after a series…
Read at the sourceheirofDeath
This series requires you to trust the process and have patience.
Anime-only. I watched all the donghua episodes and it was truly a cinematic experience. It’s more like a movie rather than an anime. Also, it’s best to binge-watch it since you will remember a lot of the context from before.
Now, about the series, I watched the first four episodes and I was just confused and decided to drop it. Everything felt disconnected; I couldn’t make sense of the information being thrown at me and I was confused about half the things. Well, I went to the novel readers and spoke to them about it and gave my complains. Often they said, “have patience and trust the process.” I was like cool. Sure, the world is intriguing—I am not even going to bother talking about the cinematography, art design, and so…
Read at the sourceIshawdee
My first review on MAL lol. I’m kind of excited, so here we go!
So, I’m kind of an anime-only when it comes to Lord of Mysteries. I tried reading the novel while watching the donghua, but since the donghua is fast-paced and the novel is slow-paced, I eventually gave up on trying to follow both. By the time I finished the entire donghua, I had only read about 60 chapters of the novel—which basically covers the equivalent of just 3 episodes of the donghua, or even less.
So, I think I can confidently still call myself an anime-only and tell you, as an anime-only, that this donghua is AMAZING.
You might wonder: how can this adaptation be amazing when it’s so darn fast compared to the novel? Well, the thing is, the novel isn’t exactly what you might expect. It’s not that the donghua is doing…
Read at the sourceKevinLDD
This show is quite something.
On one hand, one can easily call it a terrible, 2/10 adaptation, and I can't even argue since that's not an incorrect statement. So much detail, world building, and characterization was omitted from the original webnovel to the anime that the end result feels incoherent and illogical. Everything is ultra fast, you never get enough time to be immersed, and the power "system" with all the ritualistic magic and random names and gods doesn't seem to make sense at first glance.
HOWEVER, I derived so much joy, excitement, hype, and feelings from this mid adaptation that it shook me. The final few episodes genuinely brought tears to my eyes despite being filled with questions, and the ending left me wanting so much more I immediately ordered the novels to savor in my…
Read at the sourceShineix
Lord Of The Mysteries is one of the greatest fictional stories of all time and the Donghua did not disappoint being an absolute masterpiece as well. This review will go over the entire Donghua as a whole and talk about it's flaws and positives.
First the flaws, the only main issue of the LOTM Donghua is the first 3 episodes, I'm not even joking. The truth is that LOTM starts of extremely slow paced and since it's trying to appeal to many viewers which most are only seeking short, fast and brainless entertainment, the studio decided to dump exposition and information with fights to hook viewers on. However this was a mistake and caused a lot of outrage. Besides the bad directing and pacing of the first 3 episodes there are really no other flaws besides what your personal preference might b…
Read at the sourceXcerft
Anime only here,
Lord of Mysteries is a fascinating show with a compelling story revolving around a unique steampunk setting in a world full of magic and dangers.
I have some disclaimers though, this anime is not for everyone.
Like a lot of Chinese source material, they do not spoon feed you answers. They will only drip feed you with hints.
If the MC is confused, chances are, you are going to be confused as well, that's just how it works. Now hold your questions and prepare for a journey of twists and turns.
While the pacing in the first three episodes is indeed fast, this show is definitely not meant for you to watch in one go. In fact the more I paused, replayed and confirmed my suspicions, the more I enjoyed it. The people who like to theorize and solve mysteries are the ones who are…
Read at the source