Fantasia 2024 Review: LANTERN BLADE, Stop-Motion Martial Arts Series Delights And Impresses

Lantern Blade is a web-seires directed by Zhu Ziqi at Mote Stop Motion Animation studio in China. Lantern Blade is part of the Tencent Video Original Animation Short Film Collection, an anthology with a stop-mo program. It was released in China this Summer on the Tencent platform. It is based on a Chinese manhua (comic book or manga) by the same name from author Gui Qi. 

 

Two factions are headed towards the same goal, to stop the resurrection of the Witch Mother. There is the bride dragging a man behind her. She is the last surviving member of her clan. He is the lantern swordsman, whom she is hoping can bring an end to any further suffering. On the hilt of his sword is small lantern that glows green whenever the living dead are nearby. If it glows, kill it. Then there is the goverment's own organization known as Hoofs, who they see the girl and the swordsman as a hinderance. Both are headed to stave off this event.

 

Each easily identifiable character by their design is introduced in the traditional manner, with hanzi characters (I hope I got that right), in the upper corners of the frame when they first appear. Trouble is, there were no subtitles for the names when each character first appears so we’re left with a few moments to catch up until someone finally says their name out loud. It was a gentle reminder that this series was intended for a local, Chinese audience first and foremost.

 

Information comes at you fast and quick and it might not always be intelligible either. I will admit to some confusion about two female characters that looked very similar but appeared to be on both sides of the factions heading towards the same purpose. Did I just get caught in the animated version of All Look The Same?!? Yikes. This is where you just let the rest of the series wash over you and you simply enjoy the ride.

 

In regards to the animation, it may not be the smoothest stop motion there has ever been. One could make the excuse that it amplifies the rustic and ancient settings for the story. You will have seen better stop motion animation elsewhere. Where this pays off though is in the action scenes where brevity is favored over fluidity in the animation style. 

 

The action in Lantern Blade is as good as anything that has ever been caught in live action, on film, in China over the ages. The camera moves across rooms with the action, following characters as they cut through swaths of bad guys, turn around then do it all over again. Another standout moment included twisting and turning down a hallway, swords flashing. The standoffs are equally impressive and allow for a more concentrated look at just how well the action has been animated by Ziqi and their team. The action is fast and densely choreographed. It demands repeat viewing just to catch all the details. 

 

There is a clear understanding of action dynamics at work here. Some, if not all of the animators are either Wuxia fans themselves or they all did their homework, extensively. Here, get on the same page. Here's your homework for the weekend. Watch films by King Hu, Zhang Yimou, Tsui Hark and many more over the weekend and come back on Monday, ready to kick animated ass. 

 

Whether you believe that to be just imitation over emulation is up to you. I’m on the side of the latter.

 

Complementary to the action is a weird cosmic horror element in the story. Horrible creatures are the result of the Witch Mother’s evil power. Small, wriggly creatures invade their victims and turn them into monstrosities with glowing red eyes. The Dan Harmon fan in me wants to say that Witch Mother’s victims have been Croneburg’d. The old school horror fan in me will say that fans of The Thing may just envision quicker what kind of creature designs I’m talking about here. Hey, look at me, I’m inter-generational here. Witch Mother creates the living dead, who go out and wreak havoc upon this mystical landscape and world. 

 

It’s humorous to me to write about this now, and the fun you can have matching horror influences to a animated martial arts web-series from China, because not long after watching this series we reconvened back in the cinema to watch a rep screening of A Chinese Ghost Story II on 35mm, Fantasia’s annual classic martial arts on print event. If you’re not familiar with the film there is this large creature in it, a big ass puppet, that is slow and cumbersome to operate. It’s goofy more than scary. I say that to say this, it’s nice to see a group go all in horror here and attempt to make it as fearful as they can. 

 

Lantern Blade is a series that may be a bit confusing to follow narrative wise but more than makes up for it with some really well created action scenes that should make any martial arts cinema fan happy. Horror elements make it weird and it was more fun to match influences when it was meant to be a threat inside the story. If you happen to be a martial arts and horror film fan this will definitely float your boat. On a river of animated blood!

 

Lantern Blade is what you get if John Carpenter and Yuen Woo-ping sat Phil Tippit down and said, “We’ve got this crazy idea for a story and we need you to animate it”. 

 

Tippit replied, “You had me at ‘We’ve’”.