| Episodes: 12 | Score: 8.7 (30672)
Updated every at | Status: Finished Airing
Type: ONA
Producers:Tencent Penguin Pictures
Synopsis
Along an empty road in the rural countryside, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji stumble across a stone plaque that reads "Yi City." Still on their quest to unravel the mystery behind the cursed severed arm, they venture into the deserted city to obtain further leads. However, with the appearance of a mysterious new cultivator, the demonic arm investigation leads Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji to a plot that threatens the cultivation world as they know it. The gravity of the new situation escalates when the two find it involves the chief cultivator of the renowned Lanling Jin Sect—Jin Guangyao. As the pair continue to piece together the crucial conspiracies of the cultivation history, their friends and colleagues grow suspicious of their motives. With the world against him, Wei Wuxian must prove he is not the demonic sorcerer people believe him to be to regain their trust and save the cultivation world from the sinister evil lurking within it. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Voice Actors
Tachibana, Shinnosuke
Kimura, Ryouhei
Reviews
joemaamah
Some stories you hate to see end, and this is one of those. Like the first two seasons, the art work is simply masterful, especially in the character designs and backgrounds. All the animation is CG, and the 2D was great throughout. The 3D though, slipped back into some of the cost saving problems that beset the first season. There are some clunkly looking sections, especially as the season continues. It wasn't a showstopper, by any means. but it did get a tad distracting. There was more slippage in the narrative writing. At times, this season was hard to follow, as it was not always apparent whetheryou were in the current time, or stuck in another flashback. It was like the writers were doing stream of consciousness, would get half way through a scene, slap themselves in the forehead, and said "This won't make any sense." Then they'd shoehorn in some backstory to pull it all together. They did manage to tie the loose ends well enough, but it struck me as very clunky along the way. Give credit where it was due though, they manage to make the ending satisfying, when there were a lot of times it didn't look like that could happen. The VAs and the direction were brilliant again, at least for what the writers gave them to work with. Still one of the best soundtracks ever. Nothing diabolic about it. This is plain old goodness. I do have to ding the animation and writing this season though, so instead of the A's the other two seasons got, this season grades at a 89/100, for as high of a B+ as I can give it. It was a master at all the things it did right, and the entire series is highly recommended.
animedicine
MDZS was a very enjoyable series overall. Strong points of the series: Good world building and setting, nuanced characters with interesting backstories, beautiful art style, good integration of the musical instrument bits, nice political tension between clans, coherent events through time, great voice acting in the original language and Japanese dub. Weak points of the series: Could have been slightly gayer, and the animation could have been better (there are also some 3D animation bits here and there which always breaks the immersion for me personally, on a positive note they weren't that bad compared to 3D scenes I've encountered in other animated series...) *side note,The immersive animated ads with product placement and the MDZS characters really cracked me up! Final verdict: good series, fun to bingewatch, makes me want to read the novel and the manhua. If you like fantasy, historical, and drama genres (and you are not a homophobe) you will enjoy this series!
cyborgtheory
Plot: 10/10 Animation: 10/10 Pacing: 2/10 MDZS is a complex story with many layers and characters. It is tragic, funny and shocking. The animation is superb and underrated - I wish the anime was more widely available in the West. However, the plot is extremely rushed in this season and it barely makes sense if you haven't read the book beforehand. There is very little time to process or make sense of such a intricate plot. Even in the last episode, they're rushing to cram in 5 different scenes with many different emotions. If the pacing was better, this could have been a 9/10 or 10/10.
banichan
When compared to season 1 and 2, this season has both areas where it does better and other areas where it's not as good. The main areas it falls a bit short are: - The story is definitely a bit rushed. I think this could have been 2 seasons but was crammed into one, making the Yi city arc VERY fast, and resulting in some sped up pacing that was noticeably too fast. They also rearranged some of the storyline - it didn't bother me too much, but I got a bit confused having already been familiar with the original chronology. - I actuallyfound the art to still be really high quality, but there was a much heavier use of CG in this season, and occasionally that could be a bit obvious. I did find that the team did a really good job of integrating the CG elements with the hand-drawn elements so that nothing was jarring, but there were a few moments where, for example, flowers were clearly duplicates of each other made via CG. However, it does as well or better in: - The music is consistent as ever, and I loved it. - The opening sequence is beautifully animated and the song is excellent, and they pair well together. - Character-wise, we get to the meat of the character development in this season. Jin Guangyao's story in particular (and Lan Xichen, by extension) was handled really well in my opinion, and it almost felt like they purposely gave this side non-canon pairing a little extra love. - This season is so gay?? There are like 3 references to weddings, they get the novel ending, and basically the entire season is just Lan Zhan staring happily at Wei Wuxian. -- If you're not already into MDZS, I would say the anime is a worthwhile option (although the live action drama is pretty good too - but I really like the franchise as a whole so I've found most versions pretty enjoyable so far). Lovely art, lovely music, and most of the original story, with a ton of shippable action, just with a bit of a rushed pace in season 3.
Lovely_Hollow
I can't express how much I love this story. The plot was amazing and the characters were all so unique and well written. (Beware there is going to be A LOT of spoilers. In the final season we got to see Xiao Xing Chen and xue yang's backstory. I loved they way they animated the characters and the way they did the backstory. And the part where Xue Yang stares at the piece of candy Xiao Xing Chen gave him while he bleeds out was so heart touching. Discovering Jin Guan Yao was the one behind the death of Nie Mingjue was AMAZING. Who would of thoughtthat the guy that killed Wen Ruohan was actually a evil piece of shit. And to add even more of a twist at the end we find out that this whole thing starting from Wei Ying being ressuracted to finding the body of the zombie arm and the death of Jin Guan yao were all planned by non other then Nie Huaisang. The only thing in this whole final season that I wasn't the biggest fan of was the background animation, They made it to realistic looking that when the characters were there it just looked really weird. It look liked someone took a picture of a place and photoshopped them right on top.This only happens in the last couple of episodes and not the beginning episodes. Other then the background animation everything else was perfect
No-Life-101
I love this series so much, and I'm saddened that this is the last season. I am planning on reading the novel, though! As usual, the art is beautiful, and I envy the artists that can create these fantastic characters and scenery. The sound design is perfect too, and the songs played suit what is being shown. The opening and ending songs are very calm, and the art shown along with the music makes me very happy to watch the show. But I was sometimes confused concerning the characters' multiple names (birth/given name, courtesy name and title) and the timeline of the events, but hopefully,reading the novel will help clear things up. I will be rewatching this series many times, and I would recommend this series to anyone interested in adventure/mystery/action types shows.
A-Ssist
Hello! Just a random watcher/reviewer. This is my first time of doing a review, so forgive me if this review is not helpful or rather not full of context or such. First off, this Anime might be my first Chinese Anime adaptation that I've watched, and heck it was kinda worth it. It was recommended by a friend of mine who have already finished the novel long since the last chapter ended. So while watching, I have someone who could give me some additional info's that wasn't included in the anime. Although I loved the series, there were just some things I've noticed, especially this lastseason. I'm kinda shocked how many people rated the anime 10/10, well nonetheless here's my review. Story telling: 5/10 Although I'm not a novel reader or first of the MDZS franchise, the episodes for this season gave me this utter feeling as everything seemed to be rushed. Each episode gave me ups and downs, sometimes left me confused, sometimes made me awed. I guess for the story telling of this last season, I'll rate it a 5/10, as each episode felt like it was rushed, well idk but it just really felt quite rushed for me at some point. It did really confused me, took me awhile to grasp to what happened in a scene etc. Animation: 9/10 I've got nothing wrong with the animation, it's pretty good. Art: 9/10 Loved the art style, it somewhat compliments the show and each characters beauty. V.A: 9/10 I can't speak Chinese, but watching the series made me want to learn Chinese. This series made me open to watch more Chinese Anime adaptation series. Characters: 9/10 I'm not Chinese, but everything seemed right or in place. Every character have their own uniqueness and I guess I love how some can be seen or compared to real life. Sound/Ost: 9/10 I enjoyed it, I can't really give more context but for me it's alright. Enjoyment: 7/10 Would still recommend to watch, I mean it is but the last season, this is the part where everything is going to be covered.. Overall rating: 6/10 I cannot completely give my reasoning why a 6, but maybe it's partly due to how I felt like there's really much more to the plot of the series compared to how the story telling went in the novel series. In short, I guess for this last season of the Anime, some parts or scenes felt like it was poorly done compared to the novel. I don't want to spoil, but the ending left me disappointed compared to how it was done in the novel. A 6 rating would prob be my lowest, but watching the previous 2 seasons, I'd say this season would be the poorest. Although the poorest, would still recommend people to watch it. Poorest not because of the plot, but how it was paced in this anime adaptation. TL;DR: 6/10, I believe this last season could have been done better. The pacing of it felt rushed, well that's just my opinion.
Niek23
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS SERIES!!! There is no other way to describe how amazing it is. Soo catchy, amazing characters and story. It is just brilliant, PERIOD! BUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTT...... In this last season I AM MISSING THE KISSING AND CONFESSION SCENE. Like for real, EXCUSE YOU, THIS IS TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!!! [could y'all like add it in or something?! It would be super appreciated] My hopes were up because of the amazing scene presented in the manhwa and novel, it literally makes the story soooo much better. SO WHY DID YOU HAVE TO LET ME DOWN LIKE THIS??? I FEEL CHEATED ON :((( Honestly I was going tomake it a 8 for overall score, buttttttttt it's just so amazing I just had to make it a 9! (I RECOMMEND for everyone to give this series a try; best would be to try out the first season and see if you like it. At the start it was kind of confusing to me as I did not have any idea of what I was getting into, but it is literally the best anime/donghua I have ever seen!)
Julio_Yifan
Before ushering my criticism, I would like to register that despite the flaws, this is a well above average show and is worth watching. I particularly like the artwork and overall aesthetic of the show. That being said, I'm somewhat disapointed with the final season. While i would rate the first 2 seasons of this show among the best in anime in the last decade, this final season dropped significantly in quality. Firstly the story in this season is rushed. For the sake of comparison, in the live action version the story in this season accounts for half of the show runtime,while here it is compressed into less episodes than the first season. This leaves significant characters without proper development. Many moments are robbed of their due emotional payoff. Also some of the transitions will be confusing for those who only seem the anime, at parts the characters jump to a new place without it being clear how and why we got there and episodes often end at rather unatural moments. Besides the rushedness, the voice acting is also weaker in this season. Wei Wuxian is annoyingly monotonic, he sounds the same in highly tense or emotional moments as when he's just hanging out and being his typical sarcastic self. I can forgive Lan Wanji being monotonic, as that is part of his character, but not Wei Wuxian. Even the writing itself is weaker and many of the emotional payoff moments fall flat. The soundtrack of the show is functional, there is nothing particularly remarkable, but all in all it is competently done. *** In what follows I'll draw some comparisons between the anime and the live action version of the show. For the first two seasons the anime compares favorably to the live action version, being superior in visual aesthetics, action and even pacing, while being relatevely equal on other aspects. In the third season, the anime is still ahead in visual aesthetic and action scenes. But in the acting and storytelling, the live action version compares favorably. Neither version of the show is well paced, the live action moves too slowly, while the anime moves too fast. To give one specific example of the differences in writing, one particular difference in the order of events robs the anime of one of the most emotionally impactfull moments in the story: **** SPOILERS AHEAD **** In the live action version the Jiang Cheng golden core reveal happens before the final confrontation with Jin Guangyao, this makes it much more impactfull and emotional since at this point Wei Wuxian is not "fully cleared" in the death of Yanli and Zixuan and Jiang Cheng has legitimate reason to behave how he does. In the anime version this is left for the last episode, which makes Jiang's actions appear out of place and the reveal fells more like rubbing it in his face than something with actual emotional impact. To finish the review, overall I give this season a 7, while the show as a whole would be an 8.5 for me. I think this season could greatly benefit from a good english dub, improving on the extremely flat voice acting displayed in the original.
GleefulViolin
This final season along with the previous two seasons are truly masterpiece! Mo Dao Zu Shi series is the first donghua I've ever watched, but I knew it's the best donghua ever made. Thanks to Mo Dao Zu Shi, the past several years I have been fangirling over WangXian (Lan Wangji x Wei Wuxian). All started with the first season, then I read the original novel.. And then manhua version (I skip the Untame, because it's the least accurate adaptation of the original novel--and live action version isn't my cup of tea). Compared to the first two seasons, this final season shows more of WangXian's relationships. Notexplicit or anything, because it's donghua.. But it gives huge satisfaction to me who are watching Mo Dao Zu Shi because its BL elements. But worry not for non-BL fan, you won't be made sick because of it. This donghua adaptation is practically stripped the BL element from the original novel, but it doesn't "kill" the flow of relationships between the characters. I suggest you read the original novel, because you will find tons of Easter eggs there. But keep in mind that the novel is rather explicit and heavy theme on BL elements *wink* As this is the final season, all hell break loose here! The climax and the unanswered questions from fans who aren't reading the original novel will be answered here. As for me who read the novel (and remember the story perfectly), I can say this donghua doing a very great job. Like I said in the beginning, this is masterpiece. If you ask me how it is a masterpiece, well.. You better find out yourself! P.S. Prepare some tissue or anything to wipe off the tears and snots before watching this.. You will need it. P.P.S. I will absolutely rewatch this again as I did with the two previous seasons.
Animanga