Liehuo Jiao Chou

SPOILER FREE! Drowning Sorrows in Raging Fire, one of the latest Chinese anime licensed in the West by Funimation, is a mixed bag of a show. A very mixed bag. Firstly the story. I'm not gonna summarise it here, you can read the synopsis yourself. What I would say, is that the first two or so episodes are superb as far as story goes. It's thrilling, engaging and very interesting and novel. Characterisation is good and the scene is set very well. Then, it goes meh. Very meh. It turns into a standard generational revenge story and the characterisation stops there. Not much can be said otherwise.It follows a rather boring habit of donghua of relying entirely on very long flashbacks, which I was not necessarily a fan of. Art! This show really excels here. As far as CGI donghua go, this one decided to follow a style mimicking standard 2D animation. However, it didn't make the mistake of trying too hard to look like normal anime, as is the case often with Japanese CGI anime. Because of this, it allowed itself to be more fluid, use more CG elements, and really create an intense atmosphere through use of lighting and colour palate, and therefore stand out as a distinct yet well executed work. Sound! Y'know what? This wasn't actually that bad. Not much to comment on aside from the fact that the OP and ED are way too loud compared to the average volume of the actual show. Just a little thing that can be fixed any time they want. Characters. Ooh boy. This one's gonna be a hot take. First the two main characters. They follow the bog standard dynamic found often in donghua of silly, joking, and hot-headed guy bromancing with the cool, dynamic, and intelligent guy. Nothing at all stands out there. And now the side characters. What side characters? They exist, but they're not necessarily stand-out in the slightest. Many are simply introduced and ignored directly after for the rest of the show's runtime. There is however one character who I won't name nor specify due to risk of spoilers, who becomes a main character by the end. This guy (You'll know him once you see him) is entirely built on the flashbacks so it's very hard to feel that he is distinct in any way. He admittedly has properly developed motivation, sure, but he *is* his motivation. That's all he surmounts to. Conclusion! My overall score is a five. Despite my complaints, it's not that bad. But it's not that good either. I'd argue the first two episodes are definitely worth watching, and maybe you're find more enjoyment than I did, for the remaining ten. Thanks for reading!