By Chinazam Ikechi-Uko. 

      In celebration of the Chinese New Year which takes place on the 22nd of January, I’ve decided to curate a list of the 5 best anime from China. Chinese animations are called Donghua; however, the popular anime website, MyAnimeList classifies them as anime. Donghua isn’t nearly as popular or as liked as its Japanese counterpart. In my life and time as an anime lover, I’ve only met one person whose go-to source of entertainment was Donghua. But let’s change that in this year of the rabbit (The Lunar New Year marks the transition of the Chinese zodiac sign from one animal to the next, and 2023 is the Year of the Rabbit, the year of hope because the rabbit is seen as the luckiest animal). There are a lot of good Donghua and I’ll be your guide to your first 5. Let’s go…

The Daily Life Of Immortal King:

        With a 4.5/5 rating on Crunchyroll, the popular Netflix anime series is based on a Chinese novel by Kuxuan. It follows the story of Wang Ling, a cultivated genius who defeats a powerful demon at age six. But now that he’s sixteen, he faces his greatest battle yet – Senior High School. 

The King’s Avatar:

       Are you a fan of gaming anime? Well, this is one for you then. The acclaimed Chinese anime depicts the fictional esports scene in China where the story revolves around a multiplayer online video game called Glory. Widely considered the best player in the video game Glory, Ye Xiu was captain of the esports team before being forced to resign from the team, giving up one of the most vital accounts in the game. Now he works as the manager of an internet café and reinvents himself to return to online glory.

Bonus: It also has a live adaptation on Netflix.

Scissor Seven:

         You’ve heard about it, read about it and probably even seen it at some point. Yes, the renowned Netflix show is Donghua. It’s a comedy series about Seven (the name of the protagonist), who fails a crash course in professional killing and opens a barber shop on Chicken Island in a disguise. Eventually, he decides to become an assassin and gets stuck in a power struggle between two rival factions while he tries to recover his lost memories.

 Link Click:

          This is perfect for anyone who loves time travel shows. The tale is about the adventures of friend duo, Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang who run a “Time Photo Studio” and accept requests from clients to relieve them of regrets. Through a photo provided by the client, Cheng Xiaoshi can travel back in time to the moment it was taken and assumes the identity of its photographer, with him absorbing the photographer’s memories and emotions in the process. The two work under the conditions that they have only 12 hours with one chance to travel in time and find what their client is searching for, while also leaving the events of the past unchanged.

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation:

         A true shounen classic, there’s even a little tournament among the clans. A state of immortality known as Xian is something that all cultivators strive to achieve. Yet to every yin there’s a yang and there is a forbidden demonic path or Mo Dao that cultivators must evade. Cultivator, Wei Wuxia, accidentally walks the demonic path during his experiments and is then accompanied by chaos and destruction leading to his demise by only his closest ally. It follows several interwoven stories: two parallel tales recounting the events of Wei Wuxian’s past and present lives, the investigation of the mystery behind a fierce dismembered entity presently terrorizing the cultivation world. 

Bonus: The English-translated novel is a New York Times Bestseller. What I am trying to say is the plot… is great.