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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Alzrius" data-source="post: 9823606" data-attributes="member: 8461">I just finished watching <a href="https://mydramalist.com/35477-a-record-of-a-mortal-s-journey-to-immortality" target="_blank">The Immortal Ascension</a>, a live-action TV adaptation of Wang Yu's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xianxia" target="_blank">xianxia</a> novel, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Record_of_Mortal%27s_Journey_to_Immortality" target="_blank">A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality</a>.Although I'm a big fan of xianxia stories, I stumbled onto this quite by accident. A search via my Amazon Firestick assured me that I could watch <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ne_Zha_2" target="_blank">Ne Zha 2</a> for free if I used a streaming app called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakuten_Viki" target="_blank">Rakuten Viki</a>. Apparently Amazon didn't know what it was talking about, because when I downloaded the app and logged in, it had a "rent" tag under Ne Zha 2's listing. While that was disappointing, I couldn't help but be intrigued by all of the (free) live-action shows it had from East Asia, and so I started looking around, eventually finding The Immortal Ascension.Although there's currently only one season (the show being less than a year old), I should mention upfront that the show is still a fairly hefty commitment, being thirty episodes long, most of which are forty-five minutes (and a few—mostly the first several episodes—are an hour) in length. Also, the Viki app would infrequently need to buffer, and the presence of commercial interruptions was extremely unpredictable; some episodes had none, others had commercials break in frequently. It was often frustrating.Even so, I don't regret sticking with it, because the show was a lot of fun, telling the story of a young man who is thrust into the world of "cultivation" (i.e. the journey towards immortality via spiritual refinement) and trying to find a way to not only survive, but thrive.If that part about cultivation sounds odd, be aware that the show makes numerous presumptions that are similar in nature, assuming that its audience knows a lot of the basic tenets that are common to the xianxia genre. The stages of immortal cultivation (i.e. Energy Refinement, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, etc.), the use of spirit stones as currency, flying swords as a mode of transportation, spirit beasts and demons, and more are all here, with very little explanation for what they are or how they work. This is a show for people who are already fans of this kind of story, rather than a gateway for newcomers.Insofar as the production goes, it's quite good, but there were times when the special effects didn't quite pass muster, at least to me. The CGI often looked a little unpolished, and there seemed to be a bit too much reliance on the same small selection of musical themes, both with lyrics and without. Also, I'm not a fan of having the opening and ending themes both be clip-shows from the series; if you're paying close attention to what's happening, you can pick out minor spoilers from these, as you'll see characters appear in scenes that you'll know you haven't seen yet.However, the action scenes are quite good! Leaving aside the rare instance where the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_motion#speed_ramping" target="_blank">speed ramping</a> (for fast-motion instances) is obtrusive, the mixture of practical wire-work effects, CGI, and martial arts makes for an impressive combination. Some of the action instances are visually spectacular as a result, and it's nice to see that when the story calls for big battle sequences, the show doesn't shy away from giving them their due.Of course, this being the first season, things reach a resolution that is decidedly laying the groundwork for future development. I'm hopeful that we'll get to see more of this, because it was a fun journey to be a part of!</blockquote>

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