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Is NeZha 2 any good ?
NeZha2 is China's first big blockbuster. It's being heralded as a 'Deepseek moment' for Chinese cinema and I'm confused.
I saw NeZha 1 with my Chinese roommates and I didn't like it. The animation was expensive, but had a stock footage-ness to all of it. The jokes were Minions-esque slapstick and the core story was straight out a children's book. The movie felt miles behind nuanced works like InsideOut or Up. Ghibli is on a whole another planet. Minions is probably the analogy I would go for. Note - I saw it in Mandarin with subtitles, with a PRC Chinese person explaining any nuance I might've lost.
Now, the Minions movies made a ton of money and the west's block busters have been especially bad post-covid. I get it, it's kettle calling the pot black. Normies have terrible taste, so I'm going to avoid equating commercial success with quality. My comment is from the perspective of taste.
And I am a China optimist. My best friends are PRC Chinese and they're smart. I don't doubt that Chinese companies can compete in global entertainment or automobile markets. But why is everything that comes out of PRC China so tasteless ? There is clear absence of nuance, craft and love in every industrialized piece of crap that comes out of there. Deepseek is special because it feels inspired. DJI & Nothing also have a spark within them. But elsewhere it feels competently executed but empty. Nezha is no different. Great execution, no soul.
Is this hype organic ? Am I just a hater ?
I have nothing useful to add, since I hadn't heard of the franchise till about 4 hours ago, when someone was lauding it as a resurgence in Chinese soft power in my Twitter feed.
That being said, it gives me hope that I'll see some proper high-budget Xianxia adaptations, and soon-ish. Hopefully adaptations of the good novels!
Are Xianxia and Wuxia the same ? Peerless Dad is a wuxia novel and the manwha adaptation is great. It's Korean.
The main difference between the two is power-scaling. Wuxia only strays to a limited extent from feats that a "peak human" could perform, though there's supernatural bullshit that has roots in Chinese herbalism, alchemy, traditional medicine and the like. Xianxia takes that and dials that to 9000, then keeps on cranking.
Wuxia: The protagonist punches someone and they break through a door or wall.
Xianxia: The protagonist punches someone and they break through a mountain.
Wuxia: The protagonist finds a pill that extends their lifespan by 20 years.
Xianxia: The protagonist finds a pill that lets them live for a length of time that requires scientific notation.
Wuxia: A sword-master who spent their life meditating on the Great Dao might be able to fight a hundred opponents and win.
Xianxia: Someone's 'sword-intent' chops your dick off from a parallel dimension away.
Wuxia: You've reached the peak. True immortality is probably out of your grasp, but now all of China will remember your name.
Xianxia: You've reached the peak of the mortal realm. Yet your tired eyes spot the hints of an even taller range beyond, and you rub them while muttering something about Mt. Tai. None dare challenge you, but you're not content, not yet. After years of preparation, you go all out and barely survive after facing the wrath of Heaven for your impudence. You've managed to breakthrough and become worthy of the next realm. Congratulations, your previous powers mean fuck-all, and you're barely worthy of joining a sect in the upper realm as a janitor. Time to start from the bottom now that you're here.
This cyclic nature is one of the hallmarks of Xianxia, though it's not always a given. The usual goal for any self-respecting protagonist is to first achieve immortality, then get bored and go for omnipotence. If you're not defying the Heavens and overturning the laws that restrict you, why even bother?
Batman might be a a typical Wuxia character. Superman would be a weak character in a Xianxia setting, especially in a novel that's managed to steadily creep up in both power and page count. There are of course novels that don't indulge in the power fantasy to the extent that universes are being blown up with every punch, but that's something that people familiar with the genre wouldn't be surprised by haha.
Would Journey to the West be Xianxia? Monkey is fairly constrained in it, but he is the equal of heaven (I know they give him the title as a joke, but it's accurate, they can't beat him and he can't beat them) but he isn't really a match for Buddha, dropping a mountain on him only traps him for 500 years, he can look like anyone or anything, and he can pluck hairs from his body and make them identical copies of himself. Monkey's goal though, having achieved immortality already, is to gain humanity, which he learns his burgeoning omnipotence is an impediment to. I've heard it described as wuxia before, after reading your description it seems like it could go either way.
I think it really ought to be Xianxia. And in fact, it's a strong inspiration for the genre as a whole.
When someone is slaying gods and leaving across the universe in a single jump, they're a proper Xianxia character. Though it's a shame he still gets trolled by the Buddha through literal sleight of hand.
Besides, Sun Wukong inspired Sun Goku, and DBZ has its own share of Xianxia tropes, especially when it comes to power scaling.
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