Review of The King's Avatar

The relatively short 12 episodes Chinese-made anime garnered plenty of hype pre-release, largely due to its quality of animation, and in the end that may be its only selling point, as everything else are just... okay. The series revolves around an ex-pro e-sports gamer, with the very opening scene kicking the protagonist from the height of his game down to the gutters. Before you immediately raise the "revenge story" red flag, the series does explore a BIT of that successful revenge adrenaline, but far less effectively than your typical shonen like One Piece that would make you punch the air. The protagonist doesn't seem to geta kick out of revenge, so viewers can't exactly empathise.

Okay, so e-sports, is it a psychological character drama exploring the complex problems in this field? Again, touched upon, never to full potential - the protagonist at times laments pro-gamers don't have a livelihood outside e-sports, and that is it... What? No exploration into internet addiction? Unemployment? Aging out of professional gaming? It's there ripe for the taking, but nobody took it!

Then is it like SAO? With a lot of scenes having characters animatedly interact in-game? A virtual reality? Explore the duality of one's existence? Or expand upon game mechanics? NO! The random super-saiyan moves have NO CONTEXT, no weight, nothing to compare against, so we don't feel they're exceptional! They're just random ex-machina ploys used to illustrate the protagonist's skills. All they feel like are cheap, immaterial pretty lights.

And the character tropes, Christ... we have the girlfriend-who-isnt-a-girlfriend, another girl (potential harem conflict?), annoying energetic sidekick, nerd, annoying energetic female friend, way-too-over-the-top villains, and a whole bunch of guys who think "cool" is trying to act all detached and aloof all the time, finally the protagonist, a mellow guy that pretty much doesn't care what happens, perpetually stuck in a casual smile, with all the appearance of an omniscent god amongst lowly mortals - with such an obvious advantage and no chance to loose, where's the SUSPENSE again?!?

These aren't human characters, they're cliched stereotypes of what the creators think girls will fawn over, perfect pretty-boys who are superior in every way.

The music is your run-of-the-mill adrenaline fest with some truly cringeworthy supposedly "funny" moments. The animation is undeniably skilled, and perhaps the chief reason why the series is so short, which leaves no room whatsoever for in-depth character development.

If you have truly ran out of things to watch, this won't be an unbearable experience, but neither can the over-compensating animation make up for its utterly dull story and characters.