Sanshiliu Qi

This donghua is set in the Han period of ancient China. Specifically during the Xiongnu campaign. I don't know anything about ancient Chinese history but this series does seem to trail (somewhat) the historical accounts and it taught me a bit. The story follows a group of martially gifted individuals who go from causing trouble in the capital to embarking on an epic Journey to the West. The driving force of the story is the main protagonist who first needs to help his brother who got hastily sentenced to death and then realize his own newly found ambition. Story-wise it's not that interesting. The cast of charactersis very varied, but ultimately also uninteresting as character development is barebones. The main attraction of the show is probably the spectacle factor. Slow motion combat, chase scenes, crazy martial arts, impressive scenery, marching soldiers, oriental dancing, impossible archery, constant battles and some questionable song scenes. Visually it's stunning. I watched it in 4k and I cannot fault it on anything in the visual department. It's one of the best looking donghua's I've seen. Characters and motion-cap are superb. As for music. I think the studio made some sort of partnership with a rap group as they hit you with these random rap songs out of nowhere a few times. Most of the music is also very modern. Which in a way helped me with taking the show less seriously and let me just enjoy it for what it is. The music is good. The rap is meh. It's a great looking lighthearted mediocrity with a short runtime. 6.9/10