Introduction
The heavens shake, the thunder rumbles, and Xie Lian appears with an apologetic smile—again! Eight hundred years prior, he was a beloved martial god, known as the Crown Prince of Xianle. Now, he ascends to the heavenly realm for the third time, but simply as a pitiful scrap-collecting god with no followers behind him.
On his first mission, Xie Lian finds himself alone in the dark moonlit night. There, a gentle man dressed in red guides him through the forest. However, as abruptly as he appeared, the man suddenly dissipates into a swarm of silver butterflies.
Xie Lian later learns that this mysterious stranger was none other than Hua Cheng, the Crimson Rain Sought Flower, a Ghost King feared by both demons and gods alike. But before Xie Lian can figure out why Hua Cheng would help a Heavenly Official like himself, he meets San Lang. A young man possessing great knowledge on not only the Ghost King, but also the now forgotten Crown Prince, San Lang decides to accompany Xie Lian on his journey of unveiling the mysteries of the past.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
LegionIscariot
Heaven Official's Blessing is about a banished god prince traveling with a ghost king.
The anime starts pretty strong with a very good murder/ghost mystery with a really good build up and twist (but a lame conclusion)
This is when the prince unknowingly meets the ghost king who saves him.
The prince is now on a journey to learn more about the ghost king, and why he is so hated and feared by the gods.
There is a lot of homosexual tension between the god prince and the ghost king.
Flirtatious conversations. Sharing a bed. Braiding each other's hair. Walking together while one is dressed as a female bride.
(and after doing a bit of research i guess it is actually meant to be a homoerotic anime)
After the initial 3 episodes the story slows down alot. Focusing alot on conversation.
Its not…
Read at the sourcethegrr8
i just have only good things to say about this. so glad it got adapted to donghua. there’s this certain charm about chinese animations like this. i was used to the final fantasy style of animation they have going on (forgot what that type of animation is called) and it was a bit of a turn off. so glad they adapted this one to this type of animation. MXTX’s other work that got adapted to donghua was the final fantasy type of animation and i was a bit disappointed ☹️
i read the novel years ago when this wasn’t that known. i remembered loving everything about it despite only being fan translated. kudos to the translators!
on another note. they really have to update the japanese seiyuu section. they failed to include SQX’s male seiyuu and JW’s. smh. i wonder who manages these information? an…
Read at the sourcedj_lilmeow
The light novel series behind this show has an international cult following. I myself was inspired to read the books, so this review is informed by my knowledge of the full story.
For me, the main appeal of this series is the likeability of the main character, Xie Lian. He has a kind heart but is treated poorly by everyone. His goodness vs how badly he’s treated feel almost artificial- like emotional manipulation- but I still fell for it. It’s very fulfilling to watch him find happiness and somebody who appreciates him.
The story arcs themselves aren’t bad- interesting enough- but I think the main appeal is watching Xie Lian finally get the love he deserves.
This is show is BL. I didn’t realize that at first and wasn’t familiar with the genre, which caused some confusion and then surpr…
Read at the source50Fiftillididee
Beauty Among Blessings In Disguise °8.8° °Outstanding° S1 episodes 1-13🔍 some minor spoilers
A newly reinstated son of Heaven's emperor has a mission on earth to clear out an evil spirit that is nabbing and killing brides. He sets out with two lesser-god/warriors. One thing leads to another and they end up in several skirmishes while meeting a variety of characters while encountering a mystery or two, to-boot.
This is the most popular offering of Haoliners Animation League. They are faithful to the style and feel of Japanese anime but the show also has the elegance that is strictly Chinese. The voice acting is exactly like a Chinese live-action fantasy piece, and China does some of the best fantasy in the world. I have a preference for dubbed anime because I usually like the English-sp…
Read at the sourceza_hra
I highly highly recommend everyone to watch this. It's such a beautiful written story. Just as it was in the novel's first volume and man I loved it. MXTX never disappoints. The art style is beautiful and the story was already so good, the animators did a great job. It was just so good. And how well Nan-feng and Fu-yao at pretending iykyk. It's clear and simple. I like how a God comes to be friends with a Ghost. The way they both trust each other. And Xie-Lian is just so kind hearted. Even after knowing who Hua-Cheng really is, he still considers him as his friend. And idk what people say, but it's so clear that both Nan-feng and Fu-yao cares about Xie-lian. Even tho they act like that but still. I haven't read all 8 volumes, so hoping not to be disappointed later on... but from the anime…
Read at the sourcejoemaamah
Way too many people calling this series BL, but I call BS. Yeah, I admit there's some pretty sus scenes. But it's not like the MCs are swapping spit or giving each other reach arounds. It's not really the driving force behind this show. It's awfully tame in that regard.
That being said, more people really need to give this series the chance it truly deserves, and not listen to the drivel being spewed about it. The artwork is simply beautiful and that is reason enough to recommend this title. But there's lots more. This is probably the best animation I have seen come out of a Chinese studio. It's not perfect, BiliBili swung for the fence, and lined a double off the wall here. There is a lot more to appreciate than denigrate.
The character designs aren't just pretty, but have some depth…
Read at the sourceShinshoku
Starting this with the disclaimer that I have not read the novels, I have however read the comics (up to the most recently available English translation). I'd like to preface this (as I've seen a lot of people unfairly complaining about this) - the comic art can never be translated as beautifully into an animation version. However, the art is still absolutely stunning in these series (so highly recommend you invest in watching this with HQ streaming). It's so beautiful, and while it took me a few episodes to get used to the character's looks in this donghua (as I was used to the comics), I got very into the art and new style of retelling this story. The music is stunning as well.
Story wise it was very faithful to the comic, cannot comment about the novel (but we all know this is as censo…
Read at the sourceEmmyBomb
I really enjoyed this show. I haven't read the light novel but intend to because I think the light novel will have much more to offer in terms of lore and story telling. My main issues were with the subtitles as there were errors or badly placed.
Story: 8 - Definitely a slow burn. There were some points I was a little lost, this may be due to issues with the subtitles. It was gripping. Iwant to know more about the characters and the history of the characters.
Art: 9 - Beauitful. Though my one issue was how the corpse brides looked, it wasn't good but it isn't enough to take away a paoint because everything else was amazing. I am guessing they wanted to put more of the budget into more important scenes.
Sound: 9- It was okay, I think because I am used to watching japanese anime the voi…
Read at the sourceSnackO
MUST say this first but if you're homophobic even the slightest bit, I won't recommend this. Now, it is soft BL and does contain references of it being there, however it shouldn't affect your overall watching experience and if you think about it, just think of it as them being super friendly as they aren't in an intimate relationship yet.
Now onto what I think. (I've been meaning to write this for a long time but just never had the time to so here I am with a very late review...)
I freakin' love this anime!! My rating says otherwise only because I am craving for more. Clearly this season left me a good amount of questions such as how Xian Le became a lowly ranked individual when he was once a god, despite that we do witness for a couple short seconds of how much he was loved when he was a…
Read at the sourceanudesh
So. I've never written a review before. I'm just here to say that, if you guys are following this donghua story closely, and are interested in keeping up with the new episodes airing this season, then you should read the novels too. The donghua adaptation does not compare to the books. I myself watched the donghua first, and couldn't wait for season 2 , so I read all the novel translations. The donghua story and the chemistry had me hooked, but some parts were confusing; especially for someone like me who is more used to Japanese dialogue. The books will make everything crystal clear, plus reading will make the donghua more exciting than ever! If you don't want to spoil the watching experience, then just read the chapter after the donghua episode airs. But by all means, I recommend reading…
Read at the sourceKillyChides
The production and animation quality is stellar, if not for some underwhelming character designs (*cough* Hua Cheng *cough*). The pace and writing, on the other hand, is a glaring issue with this adaptation.
The original TGCF book is one of my favourite pieces of fiction ever, by far the best romance story I've ever read, and I was a bit underwhelmed with this. The pacing was very strange, making the story's opening even more scattered than it was in the book (which is by far the weakest arc already). I haven't read the first arc in a long time, and even watching the donghua, I had a very hard time understanding what was happening. I think it should have been rewritten to be clearer and more engaging for the viewers, because we don't have the book narration to guide us through some plot…
Read at the sourcekatkatkatkat
y’all … what does gege mean
I’ve seen tons of this show through internet osmosis and always wondered about these dudes with long hair and now have finally had time to check it out. Since there seems to be every sort of media to exist about this story, I decided to try the donghua first, since animation is a medium I'm very familiar with. I will say that this is a donghua-only review, so it will be mostly about how it’s production affected the story for me.
I’m not sure what I expected, but I’d say I was pleasantly surprised. Right off the bat, I can see it’s popularity - I love a solid action-adventure story with a solid romantic subplot, and this seems to be one that’s done properly - incorporating the development into the story and not being thrown to the side. I feel like it’s very r…
Read at the sourceHimei25
i just watched it this year, it's a really impressive visual masterpiece, only one thing is lacking.. if xie lian was made as a woman it would be perfect.. i speak as a man.. when there is a romance hub in both of them my heart flutters imagining that he is not a man.. really very beautiful and great.. despite all that I hesitate to continue even though I like it so much.. thanks to the original author and crew for making this masterpiece.. and hope to find more with such interesting story and connection should 🙏🙏☺
Read at the sourceAbuShaitan
Watching an anime in chinese was honestly tougher than I thought... It was at times hard to follow because of it's speed so I especially recommend watching it for your own understanding
now
Story: The first episodes had some pretty high pace which I'm absolutely not oppossed to - but my problem with TGCF was that it did not use it's limited time that well. Usually the first episode(s) is/are there to introduce the characters, explore the mechanics or explain the world they were in. While TCGF introduced us (a bit) to our protagonist Lian Xie it did not do that as well in the other criterias I've mentioned - as an example I would've liked to know the structures of "heaven" or it's relationship to the mortal realm - I think that alone would've made things clearer. Same as the role of our…
Read at the sourcemandlien
First of all, I must qualify that I'm a MXTX fan; I love all three of her works. So I'm heavily biased.
Would I suggest this story to someone else? Yes, with someone caveats. TGCF is amazing, and I love it, but it would be better to check for content warnings before watching it. There are a lot of things people more squeamish than me may not want to see.
Despite my recommendation, I still would suggest anyone to check her books before anything else. With more details, getting more into the head of the main character, and MXTX is great at writing mystery and body horror along with her romance. I just think it's the more complete version of the story and better at the mystery; the donghua tends to introduce some answers to the mysteries waaay to soon for my liking. Still, this is a review o…
Read at the sourceInter_anime
Something I have been interested in is non-Japanese anime (or anime-influenced) works, and Donghua (Chinese animation) is one of the fast growing in this sphere. As of the time of this review Tian Guan Ci Fu or Heaven's Official Blessing has a score of around 8.4 on both MAL and IMDB, so I thought it would be worth checking out. Unfortunately it was a bit of a disappointing experience. I should also clarify that I have not read the source materials of the show.
Starting off with the positives I will give Tian Guan Ci Fu this: the animation is gorgeous and the production is top-notch, easily compatible with the best anime has to offer in that regard. The fluidity of how the animation flowed in particular was well done, including the actions scenes and op. I can't say I am much of a fan of…
Read at the sourcemeworai
tbh, i can't really remember all of the story plots since i watched this a few months ago(short term memory) but i do remember it being a favorite of mines?? lol. i think this was done very well, even the stories were carefully explained. i learned more through the donghua than the manhua lol. although i like the manhua art much more, i'd like to give congrats for all the artists working on the animation!! alll the windy scenes were just so;; amazing!! i discovered the manhua before i discovered the animation. tbh?? i was surprised they even did a animation version so i stayed up the whole night to finish it and omg, i finished it over the span of hours. tbh, my brain couldn't fully comprehend as to what was going on, but i was able to get the general idea. i can't wait for seaosn 2 :)
Read at the sourceimarat4life
I think that the reviews on this are either bad or extremely good there's only a few in-betweens, I guess it depends on what your preferences are. In my opinion both the drawings as well as how the story is developed, is beautiful I also have read the manhua and it is exactly like the donghua(the animation) normally when the mangas/manhuas and mahwa are made into series they're not portrayed exactly like the points which were made in the books. But little to no details were changed when making the donghua, I loved this short story it includes a little of everything from romance to comedy I loved the characters and their backstories some of their interactions were also very funny. overall i totally would recommend this series, and i do hope they continue animating it.
Read at the sourcerattybagel
One thing I didn't like about this adaption from the novel was that sadly, the donghua didn't "translate" as well as the manhua was able to. The donghua is missing some parts from the original novel, though it's a good watch when you've read the story.
I can tell if people dive into this donghua without reading the novel or manhua, they may be very confused. As the donghua misses out on some dialogue and some "fillers" (if you can call it that) from the novel that helps the world-building.
Though give donghua a shot! It's always worth trying different types of animation from different countries. I always think the original sub (being chinese) is always the best shot! So try out the Chinese sub. :)
The Chinese VA did wonderful jobs on understanding the characters, though I have not heard…
Read at the sourcer0tten_angel
I'm obviously biased but anyways here's my extremely short review. This donghua healed something in me istg. Everyone needs Hualian in their lives. Now I'm a huge Tgcf fan, at this point I've consumed every single media related to it and Mdzs. Imo if you love this, you should definitely give the novel a try because it's just incredible.
Now coming back to the actual donghua, the animation, as well as the music, is outstanding, I loved it. The story arc isn't my absolute fav since we're stuck in the Ban Yue arc for the 2974382 time but it's still pretty good.
It was just a good time and overall I enjoyed it a lot!
Read at the source
