Battle Through The Heavens Season 3 Anime Review
Hey guys, I just finished the 3 rdseason of the popular Chinese cultivation anime Battle Through The Heavens. The series had been one of my personal favorites among my list Chinese anime for many reasons and that includes the fact that I have fully finished its novel, and I felt attached to the characters. Throughout the three (3) seasons of Battle Through the Heavens, I can safely conclude that the 3 rdseason is the best so far in many aspects especially in animation quality, story, and music.
In fact, my fellow fans of the anime and novel alike may actually have this question on their mind already, Is there going to be a Battle Through the Heavens Season 4? Though we can’t answer this question yet, with how season 3 ended and with so much source material left to be adapted, I do not see any reasons for the anime NOT getting a sequel. I believe we’ll have news about this matter in the next few months.
Despite not having any definite news about the possible Battle Through the Heavens 4 thseason, I am more than happy to share my thoughts about the recently concluded season 3 which really did have a huge improvement compared to its previous two (2) seasons.
Battle Through the Heavens season 3 had been divided into two (2) sections and these were definitely among my personal favorite parts in the early stages of the story in the novel. The first part is about Xiao Yan’s infiltration in the snake-people tribe, his encounter with Queen Medusa, and his dramatic sad partings with Yun Yun. The second part revolves around his journey on rescuing Qing Lin and bringing the Mo Clan to its end which is a dramatic turning point in the novel for Xiao Yan as he was finally able to be strong enough to fight against people who are significantly stronger than him. Although there had been some major revisions in the story in this part, I shall discuss it later in the music and story section of this post.
The 3rd season of the anime premiered last July 21, 2019, and it has been a great surprise for the fans but we couldn’t simply complaint about that since we’d been waiting so bad for it.
To be honest, there had been no major character development here to our main hero Xiao Yan aside from the fact that he matured here quite a bit. He finally grows up as someone who is can handle things by himself to certain extend though he had relied upon Yao Lao is so many ways. He is no longer that little naive kid that always needs Yao Lao protection and advice. He could finally make decisions on his own and he is slowly learning the ways of the world and how to deal with the adults.
The most precious development on him I think is the moment that he part ways with Yun Yun but in the end, chosen to save her against the Elders of the Snake-people tribe. I sincerely felt the sadness in the scene where he needs to go and left Yun Yun. It was such a heartbreaking scene and I felt like Yun Yun had been one of the most unfortunate among the women who had been connected to Xiao Yan throughout the entire story of the novel. The affection between Xiao Yan and Yun Yun despite the huge gap in their age is just noticeable and I could definitely feel the chemistry there.
Here we could notice the huge improvement in the anime, the animation had been pretty solid and far superior compared to season 1 and 2 of Battle Through the Heavens. The 3 rdseason definitely raised the bar here, and I am really thankful that Motion Magic invested time and money on the animation here as I believe that they could definitely do it especially seeing how they effectively animated Martial Universe last January.
The fight scenes were among the highlights in Battle Through the Heavens Season 3. The battle between Team Gu He (including Yun Yun) against the Snake-people Tribe was just beyond beautiful. The special effects were amazing especially those floating stones and landmasses in the Snake-people place. The visuals were beautiful too and when the Angry Buddha Lotus Flame (combination of Green Lotus Core Flame and Chilling Bone Flame) appeared — that was a real mesmerizing scene.
Finally, the character designs were the same with season 2, as many fans had been afraid that every season may come out with different character designs just like what happened with the 1 stseason and the 2 ndone. It feels great that they stick with the 2 ndseason’s design and this appearance of Xiao Yan is even better. Yun Yun’s design is still pretty as usual and even more beautiful than we previously saw her at the special episodes of Battle Through the Heavens Season 1. Queen Medusa’s design is also the same as what we had seen from the Song of Desert special episodes. In general, the Snake-people Tribe character designs were done beautifully, even Xiao Yan’s form as a Snake-people member when he infiltrated their base.
The rest of the characters including Xiao Yan’s brothers, Hai Bodong did have good character designs. My biggest surprise is Nalan Yanran whom we had seen a new design compared to her previous appearance in the first season which really looks older than her actual age.
One of the redeeming factors of the anime is the music because it was just beautiful and amazing. I think Motion Magic really invested time to make amazing songs of their anime as the music in Martial Universe was pretty lit too. The opening theme of Battle Through The Heavens Season 3 is pretty catchy despite sounding like a generic Chinese song. The ending theme is somewhat different though as I really enjoyed the classic Chinese vibes and accent in it was simply addicting.
The story of Battle Through The Heavens Season 3 follows almost everything from the novel except for the last part. I felt like the adaptation was done pretty well this season and the infiltration to Snake-people Tribe was exceptional. The assault to Mo Clan had been a smooth one though I am expecting more fight scenes from it. However, they really filled up the empty hole there with the fight scenes in the season finale. Here’s the major revision in the story took place too, as instead of having the Dou Huang from Heavenly Serpent Mansion took the full blow of Angry Buddha Annihilation Lotus Flame, it’s the Mo Clan patriarch Mo Chen that took the hit and I felt like it’s a great revision with well-executed storytelling. I am more than satisfied with it than seeing Mo Chen doomed with the Bone-Chilling Flame. Furthermore, Xiao Yan doesn’t have real enmity towards the Heavenly Serpent Mansion so I don’t want to see them received the full blow of Xiao Yan’s wrath. Nonetheless, I am happy to see Hai Bodong as an ally of Xiao Yan as he will play important roles in the possible sequel of Battle Through the Heavens anime adaptation.
In general, Battle Through The Heavens Season 3 had been a great ride that didn’t disappoint me at all. It was nothing spectacular at its best but definitely better than most of the Chinese anime that I had seen this year. The big improvement in the animation quality and the story writing is even more amazing and made its ordinary story a worthwhile experience to follow.
So, what’s next? On my end, I am seriously looking forward to Xiao Yan’s arrival in the capital of Jia Ma Empire and eventually meeting the powerful people there and made a name for himself. In Battle Through the Heavens Season 4 soon, we could expect to see Xiao Yan make a scene in the alchemist competition, meeting the Nalan Clan, and the Imperial Family of the Jia Ma Empire. Obviously, we might also see him fighting Nalan Yanran in the highly anticipated battle after the 3 years agreement.
In Tencent Video Animation 2020 Conference, Battle Through The Heavens Season 4 has been confirmed. I also highly recommend the anime viewers to start reading the novel of Battle Through the Heavens as well as its manhua. You may also want to watch the anime adaptation of Martial Universe, and The Grand Lord — both Chinese anime was based on a novel written by Heavenly Silkworm Potato, the same author that wrote Battle Through the Heavens. If you wish to watch some more donghua like this, you may check our post: List of Chinese Anime Like Battle Through the Heavens.
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Originally published at https://www.yualexius.com.
