#Fucken hell tumblr u really hate main blogs now dont you

[riddlesmoon]

okay fine ill write out my thoughts on Nezha because i have a bunch of them. tbh i feel kinda weird about being perceived about anything related to Nezha... not least because of yume so im tagging this veryyy sparingly. edit from halfway through writing the post: this shit is SO FUCKING LONG??? im colouring and bolding and smalltexting everything so it isnt a big block of white.

1 day later edit: its over 5000 words lol help me. also edited and added a few clarifications

and obviously, MAJOR SPOILER WARNING for both Nezha films.

TABLE OF CONTENTS NEZHA 1 1. the jokes 2. the story 3. other notes NEZHA 2 1. the jokes + overview 2. the story PERSONAL NOTES

NEZHA 1

1. the jokes

we must start with the first movie. i have said this so many times in every review to my friends and family and on Letterboxd but i will say it again. i believe Nezha 1 suffered from what ive dubbed the "Wandering Earth effect", where they put in a lot of cheap jokes because theyre worried the film wont do well. but then they get greenlit to make a sequel and now have the confidence to go all in and blow everyone away.

slight tangent to talk about Wandering Earth—its a Chinese film about the sun dying so earth has to rocket away from it and find a new place to live. Wandering Earth 1 was extremely underwhelming for me, littered with a lot of random jokes i was kind of meh about, and it felt kind of disjointed overall. which is why i barely remembered it when i went to watch the sequel, which i was absolutely floored by. then i went to rewatch the WE1 and was like "what the fuck is this?!?!" like, my ratings for WE1 and 2 are 1.5 stars and 5 stars respectively. not that my ratings are very good metrics honestly but the point is the quality difference is so big.

after i finished Nezha 1 (before watching Nezha 2 the very next day lol) i had this hypothesis because Nezha 1 had a lot of cheap jokes as well and since Nezha 2 was now the fucking bestselling animated movie of all time, there had to be a jump in quality.

i really felt like the quality of the first movie steadily increased as the number of jokes decreased lol. like at first there were a lot of gags (ugh "guy screams like a little girl" trope my beloathed. okay we get it ha ha its funny when a big tough guy acts like a girl ha ha isnt he such a pussy!!!!!) but the story started getting more serious and they decreased. they didnt vanish completely, but thats fine tbh. they just need to be tasteful and not overwhelming or over-the-top, which i think Nezha 2 did fairly well.

2. the story

but back to Nezha 1. i think it has all the elements of a good story. there are very obvious themes around "not letting your birth dictate who you are" and "fuck destiny and fate, your life is what you make it" and "prejudice is fuckin Bad" and on a smaller scale "isolating and treating a kid like an outsider is definitely going to stunt his growth and make things worse". but they felt kinda... faint? i think they couldve, shouldve leaned into them more. like be SERIOUS!! stop trying to make it a lighthearted comedy this is a really moving story :((

for example, the dragons' whole issue is they helped Heaven defeat demons and for that they get to guard the demon jail... which doubles as a jail for them too. we only get Shen Gongbao's motivation reveal later in the film which is fine (i thought his initial appearance was very funny though. yeah guy-who-looks-like-Pitch-from-RotG, im sure you are not going to be the villain later (in retrospect this is me making assumptions based on stereotypes, which is what the movie is literally arguing against, but in my defense this was the beginning of the movie when i still thought this was going to be a silly casual kids movie. i will elaborate later))

i just wish this was emphasised a little more. less for the audience and more for Nezha himself, because he doesnt know why Ao Bing is going sicko mode on Chentang Pass. he runs away before Ao Bing's dragon heritage is revealed to the village and they realise the dragons stole the Spirit Pearl, so his motivation stopping him doesnt include "bro you are NOT evil like people say you are. i would know." or "bro you did not have a say in the circumstances of your birth. i would know (2)" its just "bro stop trying to destroy my fucking home?"

i cant remember when he even realises Ao Bing is the Spirit Pearl, i dont think Shen Gongbao wouldve told him that part. like... im thinking about it... he does seem to know by the time they hold hands under the lightning, when did he find out.......

anyway. obviously the lesson can be extrapolated by the audience, but i think it wouldve hit harder if Nezha was aware (and i think the movie was still meant to be somewhat directed at kids, so i thought theyd be more overt about it...) like Nezha clearly has heard some rumours about the dragons, because he laughs at Ao Bing's horns the first time he sees him (though it feels like more of a "u look stupid" laugh than prejudice from being taught the dragons are untrustworthy) (though it could stem from the same place, just that he doesnt take it seriously.) (but he does readily accept that Ao Bing is on his side vs the yaksha)

of course you can also say "well, that actually does help get the message across better because it shows that from the start, Nezha doesnt have any preconceptions about Ao Bing('s kind)!" but idk. i think not being prejudiced is slightly different from understanding and actively choosing to go against/unlearn prejudice. mostly because its a more realistic thing for viewers to learn rather than "just never be prejudiced in the first place!"

but i guess if its a movie for kids they should be learning from Nezha's perspective? no that doesnt work because the village kids are actively hostile to Nezha... ALSO IM NOT SAYING their prejudice isnt justified. of course he hurts the villagers and theyre understandably afraid, but we are watching from Nezha's perspective and (should) know that hes acting out because no one is willing to give him a chance, which just feedbacks into a negative cycle and it really should not be on the kid to break that cycle but alright

of course of course you can also say that the unlearning prejudice part is for everyone else to learn, not Nezha himself. but he should still be aware of it, imo.

iirc what happens is Ao Bing says something along the lines of "you cant beat me without using the full power of the Demon Pill, also please stop youre gonna die anyway and i have to do this" and Nezha is like "去你妈的 shut the fuck up, i dont HAVE to do anything (WE dont HAVE to do anything), I MAKE MY OWN FATE (WE MAKE OUR OWN FATE)"

technically on Ao Bing's side he can interpret this as the correct 'lesson' ("i dont think you being a dragon means youre evil, you can make your own choices") but on Nezha's side hes going thru his crisis and learning he doesnt have to be the demon people think he is, not fully understanding Ao Bing's struggle with the expectations his father laid on him. its sadly not fully explored, which is kinda fair since Nezha is the fuckin protagonist, but their journeys are parallel and mirrored, and theyre both on the fucking poster (BOMB fucking poster to use the scene where Nezha holds his spear to Ao Bing's face btw. WHY did he have to stand so cuntily huh. not standing straight no he had to lean to one side slightly. SERVING!!!)

what the hell was i talking about? right so. Ao Bing's character arc isnt emphasised as much as Nezha's which is fair but i think it wouldve made for a better message if they did. or maybe im talking out my ass.

3. other notes

well, moving on, loved the reveal of his dad's plan to take the lightning for him, and the overall revelation that he always believed Nezha could be reformed, contrasting with his portrayal up to this point as the 'rod' to his wife's 'spoil' ("spare the rod, spoil the child"), which gave the pessimistic impression that hes harsher on Nezha because a part of him still believes he is a demon. so you find out he had faith in Nezha the whole time, he was just hard on him for his own good etc. what a typical Asian parent line honestly but i dont have a huge issue with it because that reveal was really good.

also liked the portrayal of Nezha's mom as a general alongside her husband. yes #girlboss and all but paired with her unending love for her son, it doesnt feel like a flat "strong woman who is not weak (feminine)" trope. theres something to be said about mothers in fiction but i will Elaborate on that in the Nezha 2 part of this meta, because oh boy.

its also an interesting way to ensure Nezha grows up even more isolated—a typical portrayal id expect would be his dad does the demonslaying and his mom stays at home and pampers Nezha the whole time. but that wouldnt jive with Nezha's need for validation and attention that causes him to sneak out and cause trouble for the village. (yeah at this point i was like ohhh this movie is actually about childhood neglect (half-joking))

which begs the question, what if Yin couldve spent all her time raising Nezha? if she could give him the attention he craved would he have still turned out like this? perhaps not, because the criticism Nezha receives does cause him to "live up to" the villagers' perception of him being a demon (as i said, feedback loop); so if that didnt happen we JUST WOULDNT HAVE THE STORY... which was also why it was a genius move to send Li Jing up to Heaven for a year, forcing Yin to take over the demonslaying job and not be able to spend time with Nezha.

this is really convoluted and messy i dont really have any rhyme or reason when writing this. i just felt unsatisfied with the first film; i thought if they didnt try to have so many comedic moments, and really sincerely told a story about two children fated to be 'good' and 'bad', subverting those expectations and then joining hands to truly take fate into their own hands—like, just take it seriously, man. but, whatever, it wasnt done THAT badly, i still enjoyed it.

NEZHA 2

1. the jokes + overview

ooooh boy. lets start with the comedy—VERY much toned down compared to the first movie. there are definitely still jokes, but they arent as... obnoxious? honestly im not sure how to articulate my distaste for the jokes in the first movie, might have to rewatch and analyse every one of them and why they didnt contribute to my enjoyment lol. maybe cuz its 2019 and the jokes are dated? would 2019 me have enjoyed them? unsure.

but anyway. 2 hour+ movie, absolutely GORGEOUS animation, seriously, i actually wanted to rate this 4 stars but scenes like the big fuck off tree pushed it to 4.5 stars. seriously, i usually advocate for pirating movies, but this was truly an Experience to watch in the cinemas. like it genuinely conveyed the amount of GRAND that Heaven should be. and the moment i left i heard another hall playing Nezha and was like "damn i wanna sneak in and rewatch it". i did not want the experience to end.

2. the story

so anyway, Nezha 2 definitely takes itself more seriously than the first, which i think is very good for it. it also has a LOT more going on, goddamn. from the get-go we've got Ao Bing fucking DYING AGAIN, Ao Guang giving them an ultimatum or hes blasting Chentang Pass to bits, training montage with plany off jokes, gut-wrenching Nezha's brothers scene that was preceded by Deer guy's incomprehensible targeted racism to the dragons—

(seriously, he sounds like he has a vendetta against them for no logical reason. like Doylistically its obviously just to make Nezha/Ao Bing/Taiyi uncomfortable and angry at the injustice, but Watsonianwise it just reads like he very specifically dislikes the dragons? which may make sense if they are considered a major enemy of the demon hunters, but theyre just... not. theyve literally been chilling for years (ok to be fair we dont know this for sure but it definitely comes across like that, with the way Ao Guang places his hopes and expectations on Ao Bing (as the third son) to finally save the dragons' reputation)

i guess it could make sense with his reveal of being a deer demon so maybe dragons helped defeat their kind (??? though all the demons the dragons are shown to be suppressing seem very oceany) but it really just felt so out of left field. regardless of reason, its still a strange outburst from someone who has acted quite dignified the rest of the time. does he just have a very strong grudge. thats fair, but still feels random. especially because the rest of the Immortals clearly do not think this is as serious a problem. like youd think they would be more pressed than the demon who bought into their rhetoric but okay! well i suppose thats also possible... the pick-me minority who is a stricter cop to prove theres worse ones out there and theyre the good one right haha)

which reminds me i actually did not really SEE the immortals/demons, oppressor/oppressed allusions until i read this meta. i mean like, i did, but only the oppressed side. like yeah theyre unfairly discriminated against for their birth and theyre lich rally trying so hard to get on their oppressors' good side (trying to become xian) and failing (the sect was always planning to siege their village) but i did not really SEE Heaven as active oppressors. like, as a whole. till now im still interpreting this as Wuliang specifically just being a bad egg, because the rest of the Immortals have not been shown to be anything like him, or as bad as him (granted we only meet them for a short time, but just goes to show how readily i accept that the establishment is inherently good lmfao... i suppose we'll find out in Nezha 3 if theyre all racist too :) which would fit the themes way better if they did, honestly) edit from the future: not oomf telling me its obvious i dont watch any wuxia because i did not see the Heaven=oppressors allusion 😭😭😭

btw what the fuck is the Deity War or whatever. like they keep saying that shits coming but did they ever actually explain what thats about lol. and ughhhhh i just knowwww the Jinzha Muzha shit in the 3rd movie is going to be soooo much and also why the fuck did they just drop Ao Bing having two brothers as well but theyre dead or some shit. i mean its to show that he understands Nezha's pain, but thats all we get!? like youre just gonna leave it there like is Ao Bing just Ao Guang's 3rd try at this "appeasing Heaven" plan (in which case, nice, dude, no wonder your siblings double-cross you instantly) or did they just die completely unrelatedly like bro we cannot rely on the original legend because (according to Wikipedia) Ao Bing's character is radically different from the original story (a villain) so WHO ARE THEYYYYY. but fine sure maybe theyll elaborate in the 3rd movie...

bro i cannot stay on topic to save my life where the hell was i. oh yeah i was actually planning to add one more note which was i actually cannot fucking remember the Deer and Crane's names. like i thought the subs said Deera and Crana for some reason, but i cant find anyone online talking about it lol.

um right then weve got Shen Gongbao's family which was... yeah heartbreaking honestly. really kills me that Ao Bing kept holding onto Zhengdao's hand for so long that Xiaobao, who took a WHILE to reach the scene, managed to catch him holding it. but i guess he cant really just... drop it... so i dont really blame him. its just an unfortunate coincidence all around but thatssss how we get plot rolling! i was just like ohhhh nooooo Shen Gongbao's gonna be pisseddd and Ao Guang told them to follow his orders oh nooooo

also it wasnt really clear like... why Xiaobao rushed back. iirc what happened was his dad used the rainmaking spell, and Xiaobao perceives that as a sign that something is wrong, but this isnt really explained? i think the demon hunters also get a bit !!! when that happens? and Taiyi wanted to pull Ao Bing out at that point (i might be misremembering when he has this urge lol, couldve been before Ao Bing froze the river) so it seems like a last resort move.

i suppose since his power is teleporting between electric currents in the water, making it rain could be a sign that he has to turn the battlefield in his favour, and either 1. the demon hunters think this is not something he should be able to do (as in, they want to keep him weak), or 2. its a spell that he is literally like, legally not allowed to use, but desperate times call for desperate measures. is it really desperate though. its just a xian wannabe beating his ass... well, pride is a helluva drug. OKAY no he probably did feel like he was defending his village. see up to this point i:

actually thought these were like. deadass constructed test grounds for the xian trials. obviously this isnt the case because after Ao Bing defeats the groundhog marmot (interesting, i did not know that meme was a marmot. or what a marmot even was. i was honestly losing it in the theatre and i could feel my mom sitting there impassively because she doesnt know the meme LMAO) leader they all swarm in to capture them.

so the trials arent like, designed specifically for candidates but just, "bring them along on their usual demon hunting route and let them have a go." which to be very fair, i think they did say that. but the way they all watched from afar and it looked like a goddamn set piece for a film crew really gave that vibe, so i at first really just thought "ok Nezha is just joining some class" and that was the trial lol. but no he was actually supposed to fight Shen Zhengdao.

very unfortunate and then bambambam Chentang Pass is completely obliterated, wow. tbh i was not very believing at this point i was like yeah no im sure they found some way to survive and then the yaksha appeared out of the rubble and i was like OH YOUUUU YOU ARE HERE FOR THIS EXACT REASON.

of course we later find out that Gongbao did not decide to kill the entire village over this, but that Wuliang appeared (??? for some reason i cant remember why he decided to pay a visit) and was like damn son what the hells goin on here. Ao Run mentions the Spirit Pearl and Demon Pill swap (and deadass this doesnt get elaborated upon so Wuliang's actions are not a result of knowing the switch) and Gongbao accuses him of orchestrating this attack because he knows that Nezha was supposed to do those demonhunting trials... (very sad that Xiaobao dies without knowing Nezha/Ao Bing were innocent in all this)

and Wuliang's like ohh too bad so sad anyway you guys are like one step away from destroying this place? and offers to free them in exchange for scapegoating Ao Guang as the evil dragon king who destroyed an innocent town. and theyre like lol yea sure lets do it

Gongbao making a last stand when he couldve survived with the yakshas help was also so damn touching. as this fantastic meta says, Gongbao's backstory reveal in this movie really reframes him from a villain to someone more sympathetic, who isnt just powerhungry but also a filial son and brother (and we Chinese love our filial piety dont we). and now that his family is dead there isnt a point in trying to ascend to godhood, so he throws himself into a frankly doomed and already-finished battle.

and then we later find out he survived; maybe Wuliang foresaw using him (since he wouldve presumably already have kept Zhengdao alive by that point. oh did he go find Gongbao specifically to use his fathers death over him?!) and saved him or at least mustve whisked his body away. excellent excellent. moving on

so Nezha goes ballistic unable to find his parents and heads off to finish the third trial and become xian. gets the elixir to revive the lotus (which... okay... i cant not say it... it looks like... milk :) right... just milk... hahaha.......) and shoots off to go fuck up Ao Guang. Ao Bing wants to stop him but Taiyi is like you cant do ANYTHING until you have a body anyway so please sit your ass down.

then by this point Wuliang has gotten ready to start cookin (demons and dragons into immortality pills) and Nezha and Ao Guang are pingponging off each other until Taiyi, his parents, and Ao Bing arrive, redirecting Nezha and Ao Guang's hostility to Wuliang. then the epic Nezha/Ao Bing vs the three dragon kings battle kicks off (of whom Ao Run is truly the only formidable one seriously theyre all like "oooh Ao Run has this SPECIAL CLAW that can create rifts in space" what the fuck do the other dragons have??? absolute fuck all!!). ngl im not sure they would be more powerful as human(oid)s than dragons but we wouldnt get an epic fight sequence otherwise, so, fair enough.

the part where Ao Bing and i dont remember which dragon king, the thin one, their weapons are glued together by Ao Bing's bing and they have to fuckin juggle Nezha's spear was quite cool though i really do think they couldve had an easier time just breaking the ice and fighting normally. but yes kings show off your footwork! (and it is more visually interesting, i admit)

and i was so expecting a scene where Ao Run redirects one of their attacks into each other. thank you Homestuck for making that teleportation/rift-in-space tactic live in my head rent free. honestly she... probably couldve solo'd them like she just has to send them to the bottom of the lava pit or something LOL. but yes that wouldnt be very fun...

oh and this whole time Nezha's parents, Tianyi, and Ao Guang are fighting the Deer and Crane demons (i wont lie i thought Crane's power reveal was super awesome), until finally they all get stuffed into the big OMMMMMMMMM cauldron (dgmw it was an epic sound effect. but once it plays more than three times, it starts to lose its lustre...) oh and Wuliang literally sticks pins and needles into Nezha and Ao Bing's bodies which was pretty fucking horrifying. but also, visually, kind of funny that theyre stuck A-posing for a while. i mean i know theyre in excruciating pain, sorry guys, sorry.

honestly when they got fucking thrown in i really thought they could solve shit by just. picking them up and bringing them together so they could utilise the energy/power-absorption abilities of the Chaos Pearl, but uh i guess no one thought about that! despite the fact that thats literally the whole reason they split apart the Spirit Pearl and Demon Pill in the first place cuz it was tooo powerful! (i mean they do it later but maybe we couldve *sniff* done it a little quicker *sniff* and prevented Yin's death)

ugh the whole scene with Nezha and his mom was heartrending. the hug in the beginning not being returned so she hugs him now, when its going to pierce her so horribly, her being the first to believe in him ever since his birth (dont forget she had to carry a fetus for THREE WHOLE YEARS BTW), just being a Loving Mother in general... then Wuliang offers Nezha the Oblivion Pill in exchange for letting his parents live (okay so in retrospect this is a pill that erases memories and presumably Wuliang would employ him as a servant afterwards? but while watching i had no idea what it was supposed to be lmfao. i was just like okay. it has the colours of the Chaos Pearl. what does that mean.)

but Yin knocks it away, Nezha and his parents have a breakdown over not wanting the other to die for them and then his mom deadass just FUCKING TURNS INTO A PILL. i cannot believe thats how the pill formation works but it is comically horrible. eat it and your mom will be with you forever, Nezha!

so that was really sad, but i could not help but think ahhhhhh the "mom sacrificing themselves/dying for their children" trope strikes again! and a woman dying for a man's character advancement! like it was incredibly incredibly sad and i cried, but i was still keenly aware of that in my head lol, as someone who has read a bunch of Lily Evans meta recently...

like i know it can be WAY more gut-wrenching to have the mom die. its a trope for a reason. but they already subverted things with her being a general, couldnt they have had the dad die maybe... it couldve made for an interesting Nezha/mom Ao Bing/dad parallel afterwards but okayyy fine. side note this film does not pass the Bechdel test, does it. which is not a real test it was just a joke between two lesbians but well... we can see the lack of women here.

Nezha's body being perfected by the fires of Samadhi was cool as fuck though. especially since they literally hinted it not two minutes ago with "hes the only one who wont burn in here" lol. bishounen Nezha woohoo!!! grabs Ao Bing's hand and everyone pushes the cauldron open a la Finding Nemo fish net scene.

and—i mentioned this at the start but the fucking TREE thing, with the demon hunter legion forming the golden leaves of the tree, was fucking beautiful. really shows off the scale of things. then the cauldron breaks and they have the big fight in the air, Oubing go beat the shit out of Wuliang and do their handholding energy absorption inside his tree prison thing (nice going dude, maybe instead of crushing them together you should have held them separately?)

Wuliang admits defeat and leaves, and i immediately thought "oh my god we are getting a 3rd movie. or are they gonna wrap things up real quick i cant tell if its been 2 hours already" and then. oh my goddd. the final scene, Ao Bing leaving and Ao Guang telling him he can go back if he wants and they hug ARHGHGHGGHHH. and he comes back to Nezha (edit: AFTER NEARLY THE WHOLE DAY HAS PASSED BTW, someone pointed out the sun is in the sky when he leaves and is setting when he comes back. Nezha really waited there for hoursss 😭) and Nezha says his "because we're still young" YES! YES!! flipping a phrase that is usually used in a "youre so young of course you dont realise that life is cruel and thats just how it is" and turning it into YEAH SO WHAT??? we're young and not yet beaten down by the hardships of life. why does it have to be so cruel? why cant we make things BETTER? YEAHHH!!!!!!

also the ink painting credits was pretty until they DELIBERATELY put the Nezha/Yin hug back-to-back with the Ao Bing/Ao Guang hug like OKAY JUST FUCKING KILL ME WHY DONT YOU??????

and the post-credits (its really funny that they made drawings to specifically remind you to stay for post-credits. why the hell were people getting up to leave during the credits BRO THEY SAID THERES POST-CREDITS?????) with Wuliang getting trapped in the prison was really fucking funny. face recognition joke just like Nezha 1's fingerprint authentication joke (i do like it when fantasy media includes references to modern technology. like yeah, some of this stuff would sound magical to someone from that age?) and Deer and Crane beating the fuck outta him was the funniest thing in the whole movie to me. though on a deeper note i wonder how Deer and Crane really feel about Wuliang. it could just be for laffs... it could also show that they do have some compunctions about their roles...

PERSONAL NOTES

tbh didnt know what to name this section the entire meta/review is my opinion after all. anyway this part is just about how i came to know/watch the films.

i remember when Nezha 1 came out in 2019. there was another Nezha movie that came out alongside it, which i only remembered as Nezha: somethingsomethingsomething (it's New Gods: Nezha Reborn lol) and i remembered hearing that one of the Nezhas was really good and one kinda meh. but i had no idea which was which. so i just shelved it for the future.

then bam. Nezha 2 out. is it that good? whatever. i still dont know which was the good one. its the fucking ALL TIME BESTSELLING ANIMATED MOVIE????? goddamn! my parents started talking about watching it. we checked Netflix, they had a Nezha film but my dad said it was the wrong one.

skimmed over some clips and pics of Nezha 1 and i literally only saw clips of kid Nezha (which makes sense, he is a kid for 80% of the movie), and mostly gag clips so i thought oh its a kids movie or something? and i did not have high hopes for Chinese animated kids movies after Little Door Gods disappointed me so hard.

my parents were still asking to watch it. i was still putting it off by saying "well we have to watch the first one so we have to figure out where to pirate or stream it." then i saw some fanart online of Ao Run and i was—i was like theres girls in this film? theres characters that arent the little kid??? incredible because that person actually drew Ao Bing right there and i did not give him a second glance. but now i love him lol.

and then we watched Nezha 1 on some Chinese streaming service that would play ads, like, every 5 minutes. granted, the 'basic' premium we paid for allowed us to SKIP the ads, but they would still play like fucking youtube ads. fucking insufferable, i hate capitalism. anyway i was like ohhh!! because Ao Bing was really cool, and i was like "no one told me theres a PRETTY BOY in this film???"

then Nezha also turned into a pretty boy. i was like DAWG OKAY WHAT???? (ironically i wouldve known this or expected it if id bothered to look up the poster which just has him. right there. but instead i got entirely jumpscared)

then he turns back to a kid at the end. okay. THEN IN NEZHA 2 HE TURNS INTO HIS BISHOUNEN FORM AGAIN, SLAY, AND DOESNT CHANGE BACK. therefore i would like to say this represents the movie moving past the 'kids comedy' genre and onto more serious pastures and the 3rd movie will probably have even less jokes. just kidding they probably will have the same amount of jokes as the 2nd, it was an alright balance.

also. i dont actually know a lot of Chinese mythology, like, ive never read the books or legends or anything. so when Nezha got his ribbon, and the gold bangle(?) goes onto his wrist, i did not recognise it from knowing my own culture. i recognised it from a dont starve together mod i played ages ago.

my final note is: im honestly scared for Nezha to get popular in English-speaking spaces, because Oubing, and i just know some dense mfs are gonna be like "HES A KID???" (i mean ive already seen some Tiktok caption going like "ummm they have a BROTHERLY relationship akshually" like girl 1. most people are shipping their bishounen selves 2. theyre both three fucking years old 3. just close your eyes

thank you for coming to my ted talk.