Review of The King's Avatar

Quan Zhi Gao Shou, or King's Avatar, can be seen as many things. China's first big-budget foray into the world of animation. A realistic take on MMO gaming in Anime. An OP protagonist stomping everyone with masterful mechanics and strategies. The long-awaited "eSports anime". A character study about a master of his craft striving to reach the peak one last time. It is all of these and yet none of them, a unique entity that is truly one-of-a-kind both as a novel and in animation. The entire novel clocks in at a whopping >1700 chapters, of which this first season covers ~250 in 12 episodes.Now for a more detailed breakdown...

1) Story
King's Avatar has a fairly simple premise. The man known as the "Textbook of Glory" (Glory being the MMO game at the center of this anime) carried his team to 3 championships in the glorious past, but is now being discarded by his organization because of his rising age and unmarketability. Now he must start over as a new character on Glory's newest server, where he quickly rises to the top due to his unparalleled experience with the game. He meets both old friends and new, and eventually builds a team of his own aiming at the pro gaming scene as his final hurrah.

I will say there are occasional flaws at times, especially in regards to pacing. The source material loved worldbuilding, including long discussions about the game mechanics and the current events of Glory's pro scene. The animation cuts down on these exposition dumps, which can be both a plus and a minus. In general, the story takes a while to start up, as Ye Xiu and his friends are initially engaging in relatively small-scale activities (leveling up, setting dungeon records, etc.).

It's a fairly predictable plotline overall. However, King's Avatar understands that the simplicity of its plot can be used as an advantage. There are no obvious plot holes, and every character behaves in a sometimes startlingly realistic manner. Like a sports anime, King's Avatar is very much about the journey, not the destination. And what a journey it is!

2) Art
The Chinese animation studio behind this has really gone for a distinctive, detailed style in its character design. (I personally love it). Of note, they do use quite a bit of CGI, especially for backgrounds: some instances it turns out fine and is practically invisible, while other times... not so much. They will also recycle some animations, such as when the main characters are repeating the same skills in-game.
However, I will say that every single fight scene is a joy to watch, complimented by unique situations and the choreography to go with them. And my gosh do I want to buy a poster of the beautiful character designs.

3) Sound
I was impressed by the consistent quality of the music and sound design for this anime. Each song fits very well with the appropriate scene. The main OP is surprisingly catchy. The voice acting is also excellent--every voice actor fits their character perfectly, from Ye Xiu's calm and dry attitude to Chen Guo's brash spunkiness to Su Mucheng's sweet playfulness to Huang Shaotian's babbling. Not much to criticize here.

4) Characters
Given how this season was limited to 12 episodes and many characters only had limited screentime so far, I feel that the studio did the best they could to flesh out each character.
Even the most minor of characters have understandable motivations, they have realistic biases that color their thinking, they try to make logical decisions based on their knowledge of the situation... they all feel human, which is my highest praise for a character. And yes, every single character is an adult, so no high school level drama here!

Let's take our main man Ye Xiu as an example since he gets the most spotlight anyway. Normally, I avoid OP protagonists because too often they come across as blatant wish fulfillment for their audience, with a cardboard box for a personality. However, Ye Xiu's character strikes a perfect balance between "a Glory god incarnate given his gaming knowledge" and "a sympathetic human dealing with very relatable problems." We of course enjoy the many moments where he is delightfully badass and smug about his own awesomeness. But we also empathize with his struggle against time and his own age, his unresolved feelings about his former heights of glory, his deeply hidden sorrow at being kicked out by the team he poured his soul into, his compassionate mentorship of all the adorable noobs he meets.

Best of all, the show can be surprisingly delicate/subtle about the depth and growth of its characters, from major to minor. (Of course some characters got cut out or reduced in the transition from novel to animation, but I think the adaptation definitely preserves the spirit of the original work.) Overall, while this area of King's Avatar isn't perfect, I get the feeling that it's doing its best with the time it has. This means the characterization of this show can only go up from here as we get more scenes with each character.

5) Enjoyment
I will admit that individual biases will definitely color this area. I personally had extreme amounts of fun with both the show and the original web novel. At times it made me cheer. Other times it made my heart hurt. And there were many many instances where I just couldn't help but laugh at the hilarious situations.

But there are specific types of people I would highly highly recommend this anime to.
- If you want a take on gaming/esports that is both realistic and turned extremely awesome... this show is a love letter to every level of gaming: from the colorful trash talking/ranting to the helpful/kind advice, from the most clueless of noobs to the most seasoned of pros.
- If you have strong nostalgia for MMOs and cooperative gaming in general... this show will hit that button like nothing else in existence.
- If you want colorful character designs (both real-life and in the fantasy world of Glory) and awesomely choreographed fight scenes
- If you want a show that knows how to have fun, while also quietly pointing at the real world of gaming beneath the surface. It never takes itself too seriously, never engages in silly melodrama, it knows exactly what it wants to be: an awesome protagonist kicking tons of ass, helping his juniors, and fighting his own battles both in and out of game.

Overall, does King's Avatar have its flaws? Of course, just like any other anime. But most of all, King's Avatar is a joy to watch.