Fabulous Beasts’ Chugou and Shanque character PV drops as Season 5 premieres in February
Michelle Topham 
Chugou and Shanque character PV intros the lovey-dovey couple
The wonderful Chinese donghua Fabulous Beasts, Season 5 is due to premiere on February 20th and, with that in mind, Bilibili is ramping up the promo pieces.
This week, we got a Chugou and Shanque character PV that intros the adorable couple — “wife” Chugou and “husband” Shanque — otherwise known as ‘the fodder dog and the chickadee’.
And yep, if there is any doubt that Shanque thinks of Chugou as his and his alone, all you have to do is watch the PV to see how he behaves when others try to claim Chugou as their own.
Who are Chugou and Shanque ?
Shanque is a cat-spirit mountain god who watches over part of the Yunnan Mountain Range.
He is known for being bold, blunt, but also very caring and, because of this, eventually forms a close family bond with Chugou.
Chugou is a straw-dog mythical beast made of hay who initially hates humanity.
Later on, however, Chugou becomes gentle and falls in love with the mountain god cat Shanque, eventually becoming his partner and parent to their children — Nangua, Doyua, and Xiao Dingdang.
The pair have become two of the most popular characters in the long-running Chinese manhua Fabulous Beasts (aka You Shou Yan or 有兽焉,), due to how sweet they are together.
The popularity of Fabulous Beasts
The Fabulous Beasts donghua is based on the manhua by Xue Xia Mao Yao Zi.
Published on Weibo, WeChat, and Bilibili since October, 2017, the series has amassed an enormous following in China.
Even without an official English translation, however, the manhua has also become popular outside China, as various fan-translated versions have made it accessible to the world.
RELATED: These Fabulous Beasts avatars are adorable! Download them for your social media
Fabulous Beasts is popular with people of all ages because it turns traditional Chinese mythological creatures into cute, funny, low-stress slice-of-life characters that are easy to watch while also being emotionally comforting.
Its short episodes, meme-friendly humor, and fit with Bilibili’s community culture have also made it highly shareable and addictive.
Premiere of Fabulous Beasts, Season 5
The first season of the manhua’s animated adaptation premiered on April 14th, 2023, and almost immediately became available with English subtitles via the Made by Bilibili — Chinese Donghua Animation YouTube channel.
Season 2 arrived on June 30th 2023, followed by Season 3 on May 17th, 2024 and Season 4 on August 2nd, 2024.
All four seasons have earned tens of millions of views on YouTube alone
The long-awaited fifth season of the hit Chinese comedy fantasy donghua premieres on Bilibili on February 20th.
It is again being animated by the superb animation studio, Fenz (All Saints Street), and is currently scheduled to release 12 episodes of around six minutes per episode.
Look out for the fantasy donghua dropping its first episodes on Made by Bilibili on YouTube next month.
And, of course, if you haven’t yet watched the first four seasons, you can watch all four now in the video below now.
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Steven Reynolds