It appears very much as though Sparkly Key Animation Studios has another big donghua hit on its hands.
At least if the stunning first episode of their latest animated work Tales of Herding Gods (aka Mushen Ji) is anything to go by.
An episode I watched earlier today, and sat almost with my mouth open through half of it as the smooth animation, in-depth world development, the unique characters and their voice actors, wonderful character designs, elaborate backgrounds, and the donghua’s overall art style were mesmerizing.
It even features an opening and ending theme song that are actually memorable. Something that isn’t always the case with many donghua series.
So good is Tales of Herding Gods, Episode 1, it is easy to call it one of the best first episodes of the current donghua season.
If the Chinese donghua continues with that level of quality throughout its planned 26 episodes, it will be one of the standouts of the entire year.
Anyway…if you haven’t yet watched Tales of Herding Gods, Episode 1, but would like an idea whether the donghua’s plot may interest you (it will if you prefer an unusual fantasy donghua with fascinatingly odd characters), here is our recap of the entire episode to help you decide.
Tales of Herding Gods, Episode 1 recap
The episode kicks off with a baby in a basket floating down a river in the middle of the night as strange creatures look on from the river banks.
This is obviously a dark fantasy world but, when you look closer, you realize the baby isn’t floating but is instead being pulled along by a person who is underwater underneath the basket.
The scene shifts, still at night, to a rundown rickety village and to a house where, around a table, we see a group of strange looking people who appear to be old warriors.
On the table is the baby, still in his basket, while the old people, mostly men, complain that they cannot possibly bring up a child. Besides how did the baby survive the dark, considering it is dangerous to be outside as soon as daylight ends?
One of the men points to a glowing gold medallion around the boy’s neck that, like the pendant on the statue in the village, has the ability to ward off evil.
As the baby cries, the men then throw him around the room in what, for all intents and purposes, looks like a way to either kill him or make sure he is tough enough to survive in the harsh environment they obviously live in.
Especially considering it is called The Great Wasteland.
Until an old woman walks forward, takes the child from the men, and says she will raise him. “I have cows and milk”.
The chief of the village then names the child Qin Mu. After all, if they are keeping him, he must have a name.
Later on, the elderly woman — now known as Granny Si — is at home with the baby and is sewing something. (Her character design, the wrinkles on her face and hands, her stooped posture, her grey hair piled on top of her head, the beads and tassles on her dress, are all so beautifully done by the way).
But, as a dark, evil spirit appears close to the baby then disappears into a cavity Granny Si is mending, we see what she is sewing is the face of a woman who is strung up with red threads and appears to be dead.
Then comes a funny sequence where Qin Mu is thrown around, falls from trees and cliffs, crawls in dark places full of centipedes, rats and snakes, falls into water and is almost eaten by a huge fish, is grabbed by a bird and taken to the bird’s nest to be fed to its chicks, and generally gets into nothing but danger.
While all this is happening, he is laughing delightedly, until he grows up into a boy still doing the same crazily dangerous things, and then to a young man — still in love with danger, while laughing and enjoying his life.
At one point, Mu climbs up the steep face of a rock shaped like an old man, just because he can.
Once at the top, he falls asleep, it starts to go dark (remember — danger!), but when he wakes up he is back in his own bed with Granny Si chastising him for falling asleep close to dark, and her having to rescue him before something kills him.
Soon after, Mu leaves riding the cow, telling his grandmother and the chief he is going to herd the cattle.
Granny Si tells the chief she is worried about Mu, as he hasn’t had any awakening so cannot cultivate. If this continues, he won’t live very long, as non-cultivators have short life spans.
Another village member comments Mu needs the Blood of the Four Spirits as that may help him awaken.
Meanwhile, out in the wasteland, Mu is lying around and then climbs onto the cow to go back home. But the cow suddenly bucks him off and runs away.
When he eventually catches it, the cow speaks to him, begging him to remove a metal object that is embedded in his head.
But, when Mu pulls the silver pin out of the cow’s skull, the cow immediately falls over dead. There is then a ripping sound from the cow’s stomach, and a woman’s arms and head appear covered in blood.
It turns out, she is the woman Mu’s grandmother had strung up at home when he was a baby, and the pin was supposed to keep her trapped in the cow.
Of course, being evil, the woman doesn’t thank Mu for freeing her, but instead tries to kill him.
After a fight, and Mu running away, he is eventually saved by Granny Si and an elderly lame grandpa who shoot a metal pin through the woman’s skull, killing her immediately.
It turns out the woman was the wife of the lord of Xianglong City but, when she finds out her husband is cheating on her, she kills the woman he was cheating with and then comes after her child. (Qin Mu).
Granny Si, however, saved the baby by binding the woman and her soul to the cow. For decades or even forever, if Mu hadn’t removed the silver pin.
Granny Si and the lame grandpa then throw the dead woman and the cow in the river where they float away.
The episode ends with a group of mysterious cultivators perched in trees and looking at the dead woman, who is now nothing but a skeleton.
But, because of the way she was killed with a pin shot through her skull, they believe her death is due to the Heavenly Demon Sect.
And now, they are going to head into the Great Wasteland to find the demons and kill them. Yikes!
Tales of Herding Gods, Episode 1 is one of the most fun donghua episodes out this month, and a gloriously lavish visual extravaganza that had me watching it a second time as soon as the first time was over.
Just to study what I had missed.
The full episode is currently streaming for free via Bilibili Animation’s YouTube channel. You can also watch that video embed down below.