Going to copy and paste my ramble to my friends but basically!!:
OKAY OKAY GUYS I KNOW THE STANDOUTS THIS YEAR FROM CHINESE ANIMATION ARE NEZHA 2 AND THE LEGEND OF HEI 2 BUT I NEED TO PUT IN A GOOD WORD FOR THE FILM NOBODY!!!! 🥺 🥺 🥺 🥺
Finally got to see it tonight (I am SO glad I live near a city with a big Chinese population so the film was still showing; I heard it only got to show in LA for like 2 weeks and it was during a road trip I was on so I was scared I’d miss it). 🥹
The film is focused on the life of the small-time yao that get no names and are basically henchmen in Journey to the West where they’re basically cannon fodder for Sun Wukong ADKFJSKFJSKSH.
In the movie, the plot is that the main characters (a boar and a toad) decide to impersonate Sun Wukong and his gang to try and be respected but also gain immortality, gathering two other yao to help them on their journey. 🔥
It’s a very funny movie but also pretty low-key—less flashy in terms of action than The Legend of Hei 2 and Nezha 2 and also sillier than the former but less immature than the latter!
It also has a very hopeful message and themes since it’s focused on the underdog and kind of more clearly reflects our reality (since the yao suffer from the hierarchy system and struggle to keep/find jobs).
I even forced my younger brother to watch it and it’s actually his favourite donghua film this year out of the other 2 I similarly forced him to watch in theatres. 😆
Here’s the trailer!:
Official MV:
Behind the scenes:
And kind of depressingly, we only have one video on YouTube reviewing it… 😭
But they really liked it too!:
Plus it has legacy too since it’s animated by the Shanghai Animation Film Studio, which was practically responsible for all animation in China after the 1920s-1930s in the 20th century before China opened up in the 1980s, and they evidently have tons of important historical animation under their belt like Uproar in Heaven (1961-1964) and Nezha Conquers the Dragon King (1979).
Nobody even references SAFS’ work with the Journey to the West characters, along with the iconic 1986 adaptation. ^^
Evidently Nobody itself is not doing too hot in western theatres and has already left some theatres, but I’d encourage you guys to watch it in theatres if you can! It is quite a pretty film and it’s cute and funny and honest and subdued and heartfelt and adds a really fun new dimension to Journey to the West.
It actually makes it so that this story doesn’t mess up the JttW canon at all despite using a villain directly from the story, so it can totally be taken as canon. 🔥
My favourite character is surprisingly enough the weasel ALFJSKDJSKS. HE’S ANIMATED PRETTY CUTELY AND HE HAS A FUN LITTLE PERSONALITY AND ARC TOO!
(Actually all the characters have pretty strong character arcs!)
OH AND I ALMOST FORGOT TO MENTION THIS BUT NOBODY IS NOW CHINA’S HIGHEST-GROSSING 2D ANIMATED FILM EVER!!
This mini film was based on a story recorded in a Tang dynasty anthology, Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang. This story is about two scholars travelling in Mount Song (the mountain where Shaoting Temple located). They got lost but they heard snoring. They found a person sleeping on a wrapped package, so they woke him up. They asked him if he knew the route. The person didn’t reply and went back to sleep. They called again and again. Finally he woke up and said, do you know that the moon was forged with seven precious treasures? It is a globe and the shadows on its surface are a result of the sun shining on it. The moon has 82 000 technicians to maintain at all time, and I am one of them. Then he opened his package and revealed his tools as well as two jade-white rice balls. He gave the food to them, telling them that while the food won’t grant them immortality, it would give them a healthy life. He stood up and pointed them the way, before abruptly disappeared. The two lost scholars were full after they ate the food, and they both got a good and peaceful death at the end of their life.
A documentary using real footage recorded by the three Shenzhou 13 astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping, and Ye Guangfu during their six-month stay on the Chinese space station in 2021-2022.
