Heaven Official’s Blessing, also known asTian Guan Ci Fu, is an animated series based on a series of novels by the same title written byMo Xiang Tong Xiu(墨香铜臭), the same author behind the books that were turned into the live-action drama,The Untamed.Heaven Offical’s Blessingis an exquisite blend of mythology, romance, and mystery that has something for everyone. The way those three facets of the story move in harmony creates a story that feels epic in scale yet simultaneously extremely personal and human.
Heaven Official’s Blessing, like all of this author’s stories, is a Xianxia novel. Xianxia (仙侠) is a niche sort of fantasy genre from China that incorporates many elements of Taoism and Chinese mythos to create a pseudo-historical fantasy.Heaven Official’s Blessingtakes place in a vibrant and lively environment. As part of the Xianxia genre, it draws heavily from ideas based on Taoism and Chinese mythos. The staple of the genre is its “cultivators” – like exorcists with swords – who roam the world squashing out evil and cultivating their own spiritual power in the hopes of becoming immortal. Thus, this is a world of gods and ghosts. And inHeaven Official’s Blessing, as the name suggests, we are largely concerned with the pantheon of gods making up the heavens.
Our story begins when Xie Lian, a disgraced god, ascends and achieves godhood for the third time. He arrives at the heavenly court to a less-than-enthusiastic welcome. His return to the heavenly court was so thunderous that it knocked down quite a few golden palaces and the other gods who weren’t Xie Lian’s fans to begin with. This wracks up a large sum of debts for him as soon as he walks through heaven’s gates. Thus, our story starts with our disgraced god, forced to turn to scrap-collecting to get by, returning to earth to do odd jobs in an attempt to pay off his debts to the heavens. Along the way, he meets a mysterious young man named San Lang who insists on tagging along on Xie Lian’s adventures despite ostensibly being an ordinary human. Though things are quickly revealed to not be as they seem.
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Much like any fantasy series worth its salt,Heaven Official’s Blessinggains much of its robustness through the complex relationships characters have with each other. Since most of the characters are made up of people who are centuries old, there’s a lot of history to unpack. Xie Lian alone has a whole host of issues with nearly every member of the heavenly pantheon he’s ever met, and with the ones he hasn’t met, he’s quick to stumble his way into offending somehow.
And of course, you can’t talk about character relationships inHeaven Official’s Blessingwithout talking about the romantic entanglement that is the backbone of the whole series. From the first season of the show, we only get a few romantic scenes between Xie Lian and San Lang, but as the series continues to unfold it blooms into a wonderful tale of devotion. And devotion is at the heart of this series whether that be devotion to a person or to an ideal.Heaven Official’s Blessingis a story of resilience that shines its brightest in its darkest moments. The relationship between Xie Lian and San Lang is a wholesome warmth amidst the cold and calculated conspiracies that dominate the majority of the plot.
Thus begins an epic tale of romance and deception, all steeped in the mythos of gods and ghosts and the various ways they rule over their domains. Everyone is vying for power and glory, and Xie Lian is just looking for his next meal. But each day only serves to cast light on the corruption of the heavens. While the engaging mythology and wonderfully spun romance plot alone would suck you in, the strongest appeal for this show lies in its many mysteries that get slowly unwound as the story unfolds.
In season one, we’re largely concerned with the incidental mysteries Xie Lian sets out to solve as a newly re-ascended god. But we also get plenty of time to puzzle over his 800-year history as a scrap collector through a mixture of flashbacks and the recurrence of long bygone events. They prove that the past cannot remain dead and quiet, instead, it seems every past event is determined to be a thorn in Xie Lian’s side in the present. These weaving storylines of past and present lead to the unraveling of Xie Lian’s many varied relations with the other heavenly officials, the true meaning of the bandages Xie Lian wears, and especially the true identity of San Lang (who, to be fair, does not seem to be trying too hard to keep that truth a secret, but Xie Lian is polite enough to keep it to himself).
The mysteries of this first season set up intrigue and strong character dynamics that leave viewers wanting to learn more and more. How did Xie Lian fall out with his two former attendants, who are now gods far more respected than him? Why does San Lang tag along on so many adventures? And of course, as a three-time god, how did Xie Lian fall from that position two times before?
The slow unraveling of these plots may feel somewhat frustrating to new viewers, but there are nearly a thousand years worth of intrigue, politics, relationships, and betrayals to dig into. With nearly everyone starting off the story under false pretenses and their own agendas, the mysteries are not so easily resolved.
The first season ofHeaven Official’s Blessing, while having wonderful mysteries and conclusions of its own, is very much a prologue for things to come. With Season 2 comes a shift in the plot that draws more attention to the Four Calamities – the 4 ghosts who are the bane of heaven – and with them around, things can only get more complicated and far more intriguing.
Heaven Official’s Blessingis a sprawling fantasy narrative grounded in some extremely non-human characters with some extremely human personalities. It’s an epic journey that will likely take the animators years to complete, but it’s well worth the wait. This story has something for anyone who holds a sense of optimism and hope for humanity, and the narrative rewards are astounding. This is only the first step, but like any journey, it needs only start with one.
