Key Takeaways
1. Pacing Issues: The adaptation struggles with pacing, cramming too much content, which leaves viewers confused and detracts from the story’s suspenseful buildup.
2. Unique Genre Blend: While categorized as isekai, it diverges from typical conventions with its dark Victorian setting and Lovecraftian/steampunk influences, making it less mainstream.
3. Clarification of Format: “Lord of Mysteries” is a donghua (Chinese animation), not a traditional anime, which differentiates it from similar series like “Solo Leveling.”
4. Viewer Engagement Disparity: The series has garnered significantly fewer likes compared to “Solo Leveling,” indicating a gap in viewer engagement and popularity.
5. Potential Disappointment for Fans: Fans of the original web novel may find the adaptation lacking, given the high quality and acclaim of the source material.
Lord of Mysteries made its debut yesterday, June 28, as the newest animated series in the recent wave of manhwa and web novel adaptations. Two episodes, each lasting 35 minutes, were released to attract viewers’ attention. While the animation has received generally favorable reviews for its artistic style and direction, the initial episodes have attracted notable criticism for their pacing, managing to adapt over 40 chapters from the original material.
Pacing Problems
These two episodes face challenges because of their pacing. It’s important to mention that the novel begins at a very slow pace—almost like a slice-of-life story—but the anime tries to fix this by cramming in lots of content into the first episodes. The absence of slower scenes and the careful buildup of suspense leaves viewers confused about what’s actually happening. This could be a critical mistake, especially for a series that explores several unconventional themes and features a distinct magic system.
Unique Genre Approach
In technical terms, Lord of Mysteries falls into the isekai category. However, it quickly breaks away from common genre conventions due to its dark Victorian atmosphere and the blending of Lovecraftian and steampunk influences. These elements make it stand out but also make it less likely to achieve the widespread popularity of other isekai titles or more accessible power fantasies like Solo Leveling.
Clarifying the Format
Though referred to as an anime in this discussion, Lord of Mysteries is actually a donghua—a Chinese animated series produced by the Chinese studio B.C May Pictures and inspired by the Chinese web novel of the same title. In contrast, Solo Leveling is based on a Korean novel but is created by a Japanese studio, thus qualifying as anime. The dubbing situation is also noteworthy; Lord of Mysteries is in Chinese, and a Japanese dub has not yet been released more than 24 hours after the premiere. Casual viewers typically prefer the latter option.
Viewer Engagement
These differences are evident in the numbers. Within 48 hours of Solo Leveling’s first episode being released, it received over 110,000 likes on Crunchyroll. In comparison, Lord of Mysteries’ first episode has garnered only 14,000 likes over 30 hours post-release. Clearly, a significant gap in popularity exists. Whether this gap narrows will depend on how the series addresses its pacing and dubbing issues in the weeks ahead.
In any case, it’s unlikely that it will ever reach the soaring popularity of Solo Leveling. There’s no shame in that—after all, only a select few shows achieve such heights. Unfortunately, fans of the original novel might find the adaptation disappointing, and rightly so, given the quality and acclaim of the source material.
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