Nushen You Dian Ling

Nushen You Dian Ling follows Hu Xiaozhen and Yao Ling, two students bound together by fate after an accident leaves Yao Ling bedridden. Since childhood, Xiaozhen has been able to see ghosts and learns that Yao Ling, still attached to him, is roaming the world as a spirit, waiting for him to confess his love. Compelled by her dedication, Xiaozhen decides it's best not to show his true feelings, fearing she will disappear. How will Xiaozhen and Ling's complicated love story play out? Story & Character: 5/10 & 6/10 The story does well to articulate drama within its lifestyle components, but it feels repetitive. It follows thetypical structure of a romance drama where both sides have feelings for each other but struggle to express them. The inclusion of the occult sporadically delays the romantic progression. The occult element is an interesting addition but feels poorly executed, lacking a cohesive explanation to make Hu Xiaozhen and Yao Ling's spiritual subplot mysterious. The show often adds weak attempts at suspense, which become more predictable, making the story less interesting. Character development is more of the series' strength. The side characters feel mysterious and essential, despite their constant feeding of information to the main characters. The student characters surrounding Ling and Xiaozhen also have progressive personas, making their changes in attitude satisfying to watch. One aspect that was disappointing is the lack of character development in Xiaozhen; he remains almost unchanged and feels like the same typical nobody from start to finish. Art & Sound: 7/10 & 6/10 The art and animation are decent, reminiscent of a colorful romance K-Drama. The character design is enjoyable despite the faces looking similar to smooth, bright clay. The scenes are fairly detailed, and action scenes have a sense of cinematography. However, it is obvious that the characters are animated using keyframes, which isn't jarring until close-up shots of faces are shown, where it feels mechanistic. Sound design is passable, with voice acting that sometimes feels forced. The music choice isn't bad, but there isn't much intention behind it beyond filling the scene and adding to the atmosphere. Sound effects are similarly average, with nothing extraordinary standing out. Overall & Enjoyment: 5/10 A lot of the drama feels forced on the viewer; as a result, the suspense doesn't feel exciting or add much intensity to the story. I liked how Yao Ling wasn't the typical soft-hearted feminine girl and displayed some witty strength throughout the series, yet had moments of vulnerability. Bully Xiao was an enjoyable character too, and his development throughout the series was good to watch. This series unironically makes me want to ride in an MG Cyberster because it looked so novel. I don't understand why Bilibili would product place for an EV supercar that costs well over $70K USD in a Chinese animation series, as if we have that much to buy one. Overall, the series was decent to watch, although shallow.