Doupo Cangqiong: Nian Fan

I sprint watching from S1 to current season since last year. Each episode seems important as we see the growth of Xiao Yan from the beginning. Being considered as a genius and praised by the whole clan, Xiao Yan's cultivation falls to Dou Zhi Qi, 3rd stage. Xiao Yan is faced with struggles when hiis clan took distance from him, mocked and insulted him, but the only light in this young man's life was a girl named Xiao Xun Er. He was always ed by her, despite her strong background and peerless talent.

Troubles never come alone as Xiao Yan faces with his fiancée, ... Nalan Yanran and Ge Ye who comes to Xiao Clan and under the compulsion of the Misty Cloud Sect. Xiao Yan meets with Yao Lao and discovers that he is the real reason for his fall in cultivation, and of course he is happy because he finds out he can cultivate Dou Qi. He accepts a man in spiritual form named Yao Lao as his teacher. Yao Lao also decides to train him as an alchemist. With the help of many medicines and pills, Xiao Yan regains his cultivation even faster than before when he was considered a great talent.

The story would continue to evolve to see his battle to go further as to help his teacher and save him from the Hall of Souls. He make new friends wherever he goes and helps them. There are all the elements we need in a storytelling, as we carry on to understand Xiao Yan journey as a cultivator. Currently, we have enter Volume 12. There are 5-6 volumes for the donghua to complete. And Xiao Yan is currently Dou Zong 4-stars.

At first, I was confused as to whether I should watch it or not, and finally I decided to watch it. I came from season 1 to this season, I thought I wouldn't like it very much, but I loved it. If you have any prejudices in your mind, remove them from your mind, because it is worth watching so many episodes and I can't wait even for the new episodes. The anime is not bad, it is recommended to watch, you should definitely try it.


(The story is not bad, I enjoyed it, the drawing is very successful, the characters are extremely unique, they ... all have different minds, the characters' analysis of the situation and their reactions are interesting, I think other people will like this series, the reason is that it has a different style and attracts people.)

"Doupo Cangqiong: Nian Fan" follows the aftermath of events in the Yun Lan Sect and is essentially setting up as the conclusion. It begins with the Jia Nan Academy arc, where Xiao Yan seeks his second Heavenly Flame: the Fallen Heart Flame. This arc serves as a buildup to his revenge against Yun Shan and the Yun Lan Sect.

This is where everything starts to fall apart. After the second Yun Lan Sect arc—which inevitably takes place in Doupo Cangqiong: Nian Fan—the show begins to decline, especially if you've read even small parts of the Doupo Cangqiong novel or watched one of those AI-voiced summaries ... on YouTube.

The show basically turns into a Naruto/ Bleach-style anime where nearly every episode revolves around a battle. Old side characters are power-crept into irrelevance. Dou Huang characters are essentially extinct, and even random young adult NPCs end up stronger than Hai Po Dong. The cultivation speed becomes absurdly fast—everyone and their mother levels up multiple times within a year or less. Along with that, the pacing becomes extremely rushed. Some battles are glossed over or heavily shortened. Human-to-human, emotionally important dialogues from earlier seasons are either deleted or trimmed down so much that they lose all meaning.

Emotional scenes are also cut short to make room for more battles. How can you tell? Because emotional soundtracks that were frequently used in the past are practically never played anymore—those types of scenes no longer exist. You're essentially hearing the same four or five battle-themed tracks in every episode.

The only real improvements are in the special effects and animation, which have significantly improved—no denying that.

Also, for those rooting for a particular girl: if her name isn't Xiao Xun'er, she has no chance. The directors and writers have made it very clear in recent episodes (~episode 143 and beyond) who they're backing and who they aren’t.

Maybe the sudden shift is due to an attempt to appeal to a younger audience with a shorter attention span. But I truly cherished the emotional scenes from past seasons—they gave weight to the fights. Back then, even advancing a single star felt meaningful. I’m giving this show a fair 7/10 because early Doupo Cangqiong genuinely meant something to me. I think many longtime fans who followed the story through to Xiao Yan’s fight with Nalan Yanran would agree—it was a great show, and we tuned in every week. Nowadays I am just hoping they won't butcher the ending like they did it to Douluo Dalu.