Not only is the ongoing Chinese donghua Tales of Herding Gods (aka 牧神记 or Mushen Ji) one of my favorites of the current season, it also features a kickass opening theme song that makes the donghua even more appealing with every new episode.
A bangin’ OP that is a perfect accompaniment to the superb 3D animated opening of the show and that, if you play it at top notch as I do, really gets you in the mood for the next installment in the life of Qin Mu.
What is the Tales of Herding Gods opening theme song called then, and who sings it?
Read on to find out all the details, including where to listen to the song’s full version.
What is the title of the Tales of Herding Gods OP?
That OP is titled ‘Beyond the Sky‘ and is sung by Chen Chusheng (singer 陳楚生 – song title 天外的天 in Chinese), a 43-year-old Chinese singer, guitarist, and actor who has been popular in the country since 2003 when he was signed by EMI.
Since that time, he has released close to 10 albums, at least one live album, and several EPs.
His latest single, a very pretty jazz-style track in which he partially sings in English, was released on Spotify on October 30th this year.
And yes, he has an utterly gorgeous voice.
‘Beyond the Sky‘ by Chen Chusheng is on Spotify
‘Beyond the Sky’ by Chen Chusheng was released on Spotify and other streaming platforms on October 29th, with its full version currently earning just over 6,100 streams.
No, not massive streaming numbers at all.
But, unfortunately, that is generally the case for many Chinese donghua theme songs, as the studios and the soundtrack record labels often make it difficult for non-Chinese speakers to find them. (It’s hard to search for a song if you don’t understand Chinese so can’t type it into a search engine, and Spotify refuses to allow its users to copy either titles or names of singers).
You can, however, listen to the ‘Beyond the Sky‘ by Chen Chusheng on both the Spotify player below, and on the video of the donghua’s animated opening, which was released on the Bilibili Anime YouTube channel last week.
There, I made it a little easier for you.
You can watch every new episode of Tales of Herding Gods via Bilibili. And you should, as it’s absolutely beautiful.
RELATED: Read our recap of the first episode of the superb donghua Tales of Herding Gods
Entertainment journalist covering Japanese and Chinese anime industry for a decade.
Favorite donghua — World of Immortals, A Will Eternal, The Demon Hunter, Perfect World, Battle Through the Heavens, Fabulous Beasts, Spy x Sect, Soul Land, Tales of Herding Gods, Heaven Officials’ Blessing