The character designs felt a bit weird and slightly annoying at times, but they weren’t terrible. However, the storyboarding and direction were excellent. The OST was good, and the animation was absolutely stunning. I’m not sure about the historical accuracy of the film, nor do I plan to look into it. I watched this movie purely for the animation, and I thoroughly enjoyed it—that’s what matters to me. Originally, I rated it a 7, but I’ve always wanted to watch a nearly 3-hour-long animated movie. At 2 hours and 48 minutes, this came close enough. Additionally, most Chinese animated films and series I’ve seen tend toinclude magic, gods, or supernatural elements. This was the first one I watched that didn’t rely on any of that, which I found refreshing. For those reasons, I decided to give it an extra point, bringing my final rating to an 8.