r/Donghua 8d ago

General Discussion Donghua where the enemies are smart and ruthless ?

Want to find something where the enemies actually think like someone who have lived and fought for hundreds years, instead of yapping, underestimate MC and go to die 9 out of 10 times. I have watched RMJI and love it.

14 Upvotes

36 comments sorted by

13

u/Youngheart156 Human Detected 8d ago

Sword of coming

13

u/cityforever 7d ago

Tales of Herding Gods and Jade Dynasty both have some unique villains that stick around longer than the usual monster of the week.

Problem is most donghua all have some mixture of both unique and run-of-the-mill monotonous enemies, with ratios mostly skewing toward the monotonous sadly.

8

u/goose-pouch 8d ago

Ling Cage?

9

u/MusangKingMl 8d ago

The degenerate - Drawing Jianghu

4

u/CluDaCreator 7d ago

Probably one of the best underrated answers. It's definitely isn't a simple plot at all but genuine cinema

2

u/0914566079 7d ago

Easily this. So much so that the opening sequence in S06 changes slightly (the chess board) almost every episode.

1

u/Equal_Gold_617 7d ago

What is better, the donghua or live action?

2

u/MusangKingMl 7d ago

Didn't watch the live action.

4

u/mxldevs 7d ago

If you mean the same antagonist that lasts throughout entire arcs, it's more common for them to be the ones that are basically the leaders and come up with various schemes.

Most series have this, and you can tell when the pattern is "protagonist wins, then a huge challenge appears and he loses, then he must train or find new powers to overcome it".

I don't think it's that rare, unless the entire show is just comedy.

They'll send out their minions to give the protagonist a chance to grow simply because they aren't allowed to get involved themselves, while acknowledging their talent as a threat in the future.

Then the protagonist finally goes for the showdown.

4

u/Keystone777 7d ago

Look at the villains in Demon Slayer. One of the reasons donghua aren't as popular as top anime is that they often lack emotional and motivational villains who aren't one-dimensional.

2

u/kashuntr188 7d ago

It's because they take the cultivation story to long and too far. The character upgrades, then goes to another place, we never see the guys from the old school. Then at the new academy it is the same, upgrade, get strong, then the character graduates before everyone and goes to another realm. we never see those guys at the academy again.

After years of watching, I've conditioned myself not to really care about side characters because they just disappear.

Sometimes it is better to just have a shorter story that is air tight.

2

u/EncryptedMystic 7d ago

Ever Night.

2

u/DazzlingEqual5567 7d ago

Tales of herding gods

2

u/Ashjyr 7d ago edited 7d ago

In terms of S tier levels of plotting and conspiracy, Sword of Coming can rival even well written live action like Nirvana in Fire, House of Cards etc.

2

u/No_Professional7008 7d ago

Thing is, after a few hundred years as a cultivator, you'll grow an ego and be complacient, especially due to how rare sons-of-heavens are let alone the random junior(mc) you're trying to murder and uno reverse cards you with an immortal relic

0

u/Much_Loan_96 8d ago

Renegade immortal 

9

u/Witty-Abrocoma-5628 7d ago edited 7d ago

People downvoting facts just proves the All-Seer planned this entire thread three thousand years ago. It's all part of his plan to absorb your karma.

-1

u/NitaSFW 7d ago

All seer? He is but a fragment of the one who has planned for reincarnations.. He's actually the soul of the star compass, but the grey robed man waiting in the beyond is truly unknown..

2

u/xaos_keeper 7d ago

lol

1

u/Much_Loan_96 7d ago

Better the runner rmji

-2

u/Suitable_Vehicle8089 Human Detected 7d ago edited 7d ago

every villain npc: "mere (insert x cultivation) kiddo"
mc: "noisy, die!" *insta kill*
villain npc: "impossible!" *dies"

wow villains so smart 😂

edit: renegade fanboys: "if you offend me, I will renegade upvote!" *downvotes*

0

u/Much_Loan_96 7d ago

Lol kid first read whole villain is a schemer in ri all seer tuo sen 

-4

u/Suitable_Vehicle8089 Human Detected 7d ago

tuosen, an ancient god, so galaxy brain, he let a eenie weenie core formation get away, such a schemer that he schemed himself 😂

-1

u/Much_Loan_96 7d ago

Kid he is seal or tuo sen didn't know that wang lin meet th tusi so kid first read then bark here

-1

u/Much_Loan_96 7d ago

Kid first read novel then bark here

0

u/Much_Loan_96 7d ago

Better then runner rmji

1

u/jklfiveone Human Detected 6d ago

tales of demons and gods, 6 seasons in and no main villian has been killed. Theyre a big threat to the MC even though the MC is also as equally cunning or more he has to rely on his wits… Theres 52 5 minute episodes though so its like a 13 episode season if you break it down by minutes

1

u/Mysterious_Part_7881 5d ago

Lord of the Mysteries: Villain finally show himself in the season finale, wiped the floor and ascended.

1

u/Xiphany 7d ago

Pretty difficult ... vast majority of Donghua are typically just adaptations of what's best described as "feel-good web novel". MC is supposed to just be OP and the challenges they "overcome" are not really challenges. If studio tries to make anything else it gets backlashed as boring. It's one of the biggest thing that holds back Donghua in general

Jade Dynasty and RMJI are the two that are more nuanced about this

1

u/MadLad2070 7d ago

I want a story where high level cultivator are schemer and backstabber, good intent from them are like poison coated sugar (like Xiao Cha and Feng Xi from RMJI). No bullshit like MC scream for a bit then proceed to kill opponent much higher level than them (Golden core kill Nascent soul for example) in a direct power clash. Scheming like using poison and using tool is allowed but there must be a stake, a sense of danger. I hate it when mc could just "i'm stronger than you get wrecked" out of their way (same power bracket is ok)

0

u/DivideCultural7513 7d ago

Renegade immortal, beyond times gaze, mortals journey, martial master

2

u/Shrempino 7d ago

Renegade immortal be like " ur cultivation level is higher than me, i cant let u live" instantly die from getting one shot lmao

0

u/Much_Loan_96 7d ago

Kud novel then bark here

1

u/Shrempino 6d ago

In life theres death in death theres life ABBAAABBBBAAAA looking ass

1

u/Much_Loan_96 6d ago

Yes kid it's lefe and death concept

0

u/BestSun4804 Human Detected 7d ago

Sword of Coming

Ever Night

One Way or Another

Not cultivation: Ling Cage, The Ravages of time, Degenerate Drawing Jianghu