The King's Avatar | Anime Review | Pinnedupink.com

The King's Avatar

Action anime goes a long way back, and fan standards for them are pretty high at this point in time. There are so many thrills to be had when you get your hands on a good Action series. They have it all, be it supernatural, fantasy, adventure, mystery, drama, suspense, or a bit of romance. So what makes for a real heart-stopping, action-packed series? The aspects of Audio and Video play pivotal roles in the overall entertainment, but there are so many more contributing factors.

“The King's Avatar,” also known as “Quanzhi Gaoshou,” “Full-Time Expert,” and “Master of Skills,” is a 12 episode ONA series that aired from the 7th of April until the 16th of June, 2017. It was produced by bilibili, Tencent Penguin Pictures, and China Literature Limited and brought to life by Studio B.CMAY PICTURES.

The central staff behind its production are Xiong Ke as Director, Episode Director and on Storyboard, Liu Xing on the Script, Liu Lifei as Episode Director and on Storyboard and Liang Sha also on the Script. It focuses solely on the Action genre and features the central theme of Games. It received a rating of PG-13 for teenagers 13 years or older.

Quanzhi Gaoshou is mainly based on the Chinese serial Web Novel by Author Butterfly Blue, under the same title. This work won the title of “Best Work” in 2013 and is also the very first and only 1000 Pledged Work on Qidian. Additionally, the ONA series had two more source materials to adapt from.

One is the Manhua of the same title, which is still publishing, after starting on the 10th of September 2015. This is done by the same Author accompanied by Artist Changpan Yongzhe. It has been digitally published in English under “The King's Avatar” title by Manga Toon since the 4th of January 2019.

The second is a Light Novel series of the same title, by the same author as well. A prequel was released in the form of a Movie titled “Quanzhi Gaoshou Zhi Dianfeng Rongyao” (Quan Zhi Gao Shou Movie, Full-Time Expert Movie, Master of Skills Movie, The King's Avatar Movie) on the 16th of Aug 2019 by Studio Colored Pencil Animation.

A sequel ONA series titled “Quanzhi Gaoshou Specials” (The King's Avatar - 2018, Quanzhi Gaoshou - 2018, Quan Zhi Gao Shou, Full-Time Expert, Master of Skills, Quanzhi Gaoshou: Tebie Pian) ran for three episodes from the 27th of April until the 11th of May 2018. This was followed by the 12 episode ONA series “Quanzhi Gaoshou 2” and then “Quanzhi Gaoshou 3”.

Quanzhi Gaoshou is built around protagonist Ye Xiu, widely renowned as the “Trailblazer” and a top-tier professional player within the vast online multiplayer game known as “Glory.” He is also dubbed the "Battle God'' within Glory for his peak skills and numerous contributions to the game over many years.

But the tides turn with time; thus, he is left with no choice but to retire from his esports team and to leave his entire gaming career behind, making it but a figment of his past. He then finds employment at a nearby internet café to earn his living. Here, he is not far from Glory. Thus when the game launched its tenth server, he decided to throw himself back into his beloved game one more time. But this time, he ventures into the web using a whole new character titled "Lord Grim."

Being a seasoned veteran and famous pro player, his early achievements within the new server are genuinely extraordinary and immediately catch the attention of many other players, not to mention the big guilds as well.

He leaves behind numerous players wondering about the real identity of this exceptional player in his wake. In his possession are ten whole years of experience and in-depth knowledge of Glory, but restarting it fresh with neither sponsors nor a team beside him proves to be a myriad of new challenges.

Not to mention, the game had significantly changed over the years of his absence and now presents him with a fresh platter of issues. Now alongside new and talented comrades, Ye Xiu is determined to dedicate himself to traversing the vastly eventful path to Glory's most excellent summit once again.

The King’s Avatar starts off intriguing; it boasts a fantasy universe with dynamic action scenes and a charismatic protagonist. Unlike most Anime, where the characters get Isekai’d into the Gameworld, this is about people who play the game from the real world as esports. But unfortunately, the series significantly lacks good execution, and the story is very generic.

There is no proper development around esports itself. Each episode just features Ye Xiu’s adventures within Glory, as he confronts one monster after another, breaking records in the process. Considering his background, it is no surprise that he breezes through the game, leaving no room for tension, suspense, or outcome variability. Thus viewers will quickly lose interest, as all they see is a constant reaffirmation of how OP the protagonist is.

On the other hand, there is zero explanation about how the game Glory works. None of its mechanics, skills, limitations, and the sort are made clear, and all one can do is take Ye Xiu’s word for it. Thus viewers with no idea about how MMORPGs work will be left utterly clueless. There is no exploration of the different worlds, with Ye Xiu simply creating a team of several players in each to hammer through the enemies and final boss. As for the other characters, Ye Xiu is so superior to everyone else that their oppositions and qualms mean nothing.

The story itself is disjointed, and there is no effort put in to establish a connection. The lack of consistency and explanation simply causes utter confusion to viewers.

The Characters are extremely weak with no development as well. Ye Xiu is the only character that can be perceived as enjoyable with any background to speak of. The other characters seem only to exist to bask in his glow, simply following his strategies and being overall useless. At times, it feels that they were deliberately made to look stupid to highlight the protagonist’s intelligence.

What’s worse, they have no life outside the game, no private life, no romantic involvements, no real-world relationships, no family life, no friends outside the game, no financial difficulties, no work problems, and the like. Their sole need in life is to get better at the game and someday beat Ye Xiu. There is no proper construction of character relationships even in-game, which could have made the series much better.

If anything about this show is good, it's the Art and Animation department. It is a mix of traditional animation and CGI, which could be a welcome addition or not, depending on the viewer’s tastes. For example, the clouds look fake at times, contrasting with the characters way too much. Certain backgrounds look botched with out-of-place CGI characters on them, making for an unnerving watch. The Action scene animations are superb, and commendable efforts have been put into character movements, with no still shots.

The Music and Sounds department is either decent or good. The Opening theme is "Xin Yang'' by Zhang Jie, which is an entertaining song. The ending theme is "Rong Yao Zai Lin" by Da Dan Yin Zu, which is very similar to K-pop and is pretty decent. The OSTs are not impressive, except for maybe two or three good scores. This department is neither exceptional nor memorable; it was simply there and did its part.

On a final note, The King’s Avatar is pretty much a disappointment. It lacks content, explanation, consistency, and substance, making way for a tedious watch. There isn’t much humor in it, either.

The blatant lack of exploration of the game or its characters makes viewers quickly lose interest. If you’re OK with just watching Ye Xiu bulldoze his way through all his opponents while being second to none just because of his background, then this series would be an okay watch for you. If not, it is best avoided as it has nothing else to offer.