Nezha

This had been floating on the Netflix recommendations and looked oddly familiar, even though it's been 20 years since I read anything remotely connected to Chinese mythology.

The animation isn't bad, the story is very heartwarming, the humor and the action are very refreshing. But this thing bothered the hell out of me throughout the week-end so I did some digging - instead of digging for a PhD topic- and FINALLY found something pretty old and deeply buried in my head, on purpose I think.

One of the first VHS I borrowed during my first year of having a library subscription was this animation movie : Prince Nezha's Triumph Against Dragon King

That was a time where I was still fooled by the animation style, and the assumptions over the medium's thematic. And I remember this now as the first traumatic experience watching animation. The story was heartbreaking and the way it was tackled and the sort of events it depicted were nothing I had ever read or watched before. This adaptation is different from the latest one, and the others that are available. There are different takes on the story but the character and the mythology stay the same.

I could never borrow that VHS again, and tried to forget it. It's not so bad right now though. In fact, Chinese animation stands on its own and is its own league, much like its pioneering directors and humor. There is no translating such stories to Western audiences, not as far as I see and in the shape and substance they are.

Even though the Netflix adaptation is much more mellow, it's still pretty heavy and is only here due to its established status in Asia. Still, I am happy that Netflix would bring such narratives to other countries.

And perhaps through this mellowed medium, people would be interested enough in approaching other works.

I really should focus on the dissertation scouring >.<