The All-devouring Whale: Homecoming” EP4 clip shows off Chinese donghua’s superb animation
Steven Reynolds 
The All-Devouring Whale: Homecoming animation is really very good
While Episode 5 of The All-devouring Whale: Homecoming dropped earlier today, and I have already watched it, there are several scenes from Episode 4 of the Chinese donghua I’m still fixated on.
An episode that, along with its first, I think are the best two episodes of the animated series so far.
A couple of those scenes I enjoyed from The All-devouring Whale: Homecoming, Episode 4 just showed up in a new Episode 4 clip video that dropped via the Made by Bilibili YouTube channel today, and made me obsess over them again.
And, if you watch them closely as well, you may see why donghua fans have been commenting that the animation in The All-devouring Whale: Homecoming is some of the best Chinese 2D animation we’ve seen in a while.
Not perfect, and not yet as smooth as a typical Japanese anime — at least not the whole way through an episode — but definitely well on the way, and with several scenes in each episode turning out to be outstanding.
The animation for The All-devouring Whale, however, is produced by Big Firebird Culture — one of China’s top animation studios, as well as the creators of the soon-to-be-completed first season of The Super Cube, the excellent comedy adventure Spare Me, Great Lord!, and all five seasons of Beryl and Sapphire.
No wonder then they have done such a great job with The All-devouring Whale: Homecoming so far, right?
The All-devouring Whale: Homecoming, Episode 4 clip shows off donghua’s superb animation moments
The just-released clip concentrates on the segment of Episode 4 where Liu Fengmang and the Lingxiao Sect have invaded the Ease Sect in an attempt to save Su Muchuan and his kidnapped spirit pets.
During the following battle, scummy Yo Yang, head of the Ease Sect’s Leisure Society branch, has seriously injured Liu Fengmang’s sect mates, and is now going after him.
That, of course, is when Liu releases his catfish.
A spirit pet that has already reached the Soul-Building Stage of cultivation, and so is already larger and more powerful than when he first bonded with it.
A violent battle then takes place between the catfish and Yo Yang’s pet spirit Shadow, until Liu’s vine spirit is able to grab the Shadow and restrain it.
The catfish then goes into action devouring Yo Yang’s shadow pet, sucking and sucking and sucking it into his mouth. Until it eats him whole.
The battle scenes leading up to that, followed by the way the vines so smoothly wrap around the Shadow’s body, and the devouring itself, as the Shadow is being chomped on and then gets yanked up into the air, only to spin around and around as its body is sucked into that gaping catfish mouth, are very nicely done.
Smoothly animated, and with such a cool art style as the body of the Shadow whirls around and around and then begins to break up.
Plus, it’s done with such a nice panache to all of it – as the animation, art style, sound effects and music come together — you can just tell the animators of Big Firebird Culture must have been thrilled with what they achieved.
Yes, The All-devouring Whale: Homecoming does still have some stilted animation in some scenes scattered throughout the first few episodes but, overall, I have been impressed with what Big Firebird Culture is achieving so far.
With seven more episodes to go, let’s hope that quality continues.
Check out that short clip from The All-devouring Whale: Homecoming, Episode 4 down below. You can then watch the just-released full episode down there as well.
About the Author
Michelle Topham 
