Well, it looks like it’s going to take a bit longer before we get the next addition to the Fengshen cinematic universe that has already given us Ne Zha and Jiang Ziya. But a film along those same lines did come out this year on Netflix, itself also based on Investiture Of The Gods. However, where the Fengshen films went full period-setting in their reworking of the story, Nezha Reborn goes several steps further. Gone is the feudal ancient Chinese setting, and in its place is an industrial, mystically-tinged steampunk setting based on 1920s Shanghai. And instead of the cheeky demon child that used anywhere and everywhere as his own public toilet, we have motorcycle racer and courier Li Yunxiang (voiced by Yang Tianxiang), who must discover the power of his reincarnated heritage in order to save his town and the ones he loves.
The animation is done by Light Chaser Animation, the same studio that ‘worked’ on the absolutely dreadful Cats And Peachtopia a couple years ago. To call this a step-up would be like saying a Guylian chocolate is a step-up from eating an actual seashell. The character designs are full-on 3D cartoons, which manage to both stand out and fit in nicely with the industrialised setting of Donghai. The action scenes are also very cool, looking like an amalgamation of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure and Asura’s Wrath in their depiction of humans wielding the powers of gods and demons to fight each other. The setting itself has got bits of Akira and Mad Max in its emphasis on motorcycle culture and the world-building to do with a water shortage (maybe even bits of Jak II in that regard).
And yet, in all that recognisability, it still maintains its own unique aesthetic and artistic identity. I’d even argue that, if the setting for this story was going to be swapped out, going all Roaring Twenties steampunk was probably the best choice to go with. For a narrative all about challenging the divine and carving out your own fate against what has been decided for you, tapping into a technological backdrop that is both rustic and built on a similar notion of man determining their own path makes a lot of sense. It even gets into a similar moral grey tone in its depiction of Nezha’s story, showing him as a demon that everyone insists only brings ruin with him wherever he goes, while the more ‘godly’ antagonists are just feeding into their own power.
I will once again admit that I am not well-versed on the original story of Ne Zha; I pretty much only have that other animated film to go off of. And in that regard, while it maintains the essential plot beats and themes (adding in a very good mentor role in Zhang He as the Masked Man), it doesn’t have the same emotional impact that I’ve already seen with this story before. Ao Bing (King Zhenhe), Nezha’s rival, is far more of a side character in this version, rather than being the other half of the film’s entire dramatic focus in the Fengshen film. That’s admittedly part of the overall lesser efficacy on the moral ambiguity of the story, since a lot of the naysaying directed at Li Yunxiang just comes across like standard ‘we’re not so different, you and I’ villain schtick.
But that’s not to say that this doesn’t work; just that it works in a vastly different way to other recent takes on the story. This is all about the aesthetic appeal and action spectacle, and on those grounds, it’s difficult to argue with an animated action flick that kicks this much arse (backed by a lot of muscular electric guitars in the soundtrack). The underlying environmental message, along with a continuation of the divine scepticism themes of the story, give it a bit of chew, but otherwise, this is meant to be enjoyed as bombastic eye candy. And it certainly works on those grounds, and if this ends up becoming the start of its own cinematic universe, I’m definitely going to check out what comes next from this.
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