The King's Avatar (Chinese: 全职高手; pinyin: Quánzhí Gāoshǒu) is a Chinese donghua web series aired in 2017, based on the web novel of the same name written by Hu Dielan.[1] The series depicted the fictional esports scene in China where the story revolves around a multiplayer online video game called Glory.[2] The series was produced by Chinese internet company Tencent.[3][4] A three-episode sequel premiered in 2018, and a prequel film, The King's Avatar: For the Glory, had a 2019 release.[5] The long delayed second season aired in 2020, and the third season aired in 2024.
| The King's Avatar | |
|---|---|
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| Chinese | 全职高手 |
| Literal meaning | Master of All Classes |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Quánzhí Gāoshǒu |
| Genre | Action Adventure Esports |
| Based on | The King's Avatar by Hu Dielan |
| Written by | Sha Liang |
| Directed by | Ke Xiong |
| Voices of | Zhang Jie C Xiaodiao Ye Qing Xia Lei Liu Sanmu Baomu Zhongyang Jin Xian |
| Opening theme | "Conviction" performed by Zhang Jie "Glory Returns" performed by Dadan Yinzu |
| Composer | Fantasy Music |
| Country of origin | China |
| Original language | Mandarin |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 41 + 3 special |
| Production | |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Production companies | G.CMay Animation & Film (season 1) Colored-Pencil Animation Design (specials, seasons 2-3) |
| Original release | |
| Network | Tencent QQ Tencent Video bilibili YouTube |
| Release | April 19, 2017 – present |
Plot
editThe King's Avatar follows the story of Ye Xiu, a professional esports player living in Hangzhou, China. Widely considered the best player of the video game Glory, Ye Xiu was captain of the esports team, "Excellent Era", holding the account of the 'Battle God', 'One Autumn Leaf' before being forced to resign from the team, giving up one of the strongest accounts in the game and leaving the competitive scene due to his unwillingness to take part in any marketing to profit the team. Ye Xiu ends up finding work as a night-shift manager at Happy Internet Cafe, where he meets Chen Guo, the owner of the cafe who happens to be a huge fan of his alias 'Ye Qiu', his former team and character 'One Autumn Leaf'. While awaiting his return to the competitive scene, Ye Xiu continues playing the game, building a character from scratch and pursuing the championship and glory.[2][6]
Characters
editTeam Happy
edit- Ye Xiu (formerly in Team Excellent Era)
- Voiced by: Zhang Jie (Chinese); Yuichi Nakamura (Japanese)[7]
- Chen Guo
- Voiced by: Ji Guanlin
- Su Mucheng (formerly in Team Excellent Era)
- Voiced by: Tong Xinzhu (animation), Liu Xiaoyu (audio drama) (Chinese); Mamiko Noto (Japanese)[7]
- Tang Rou
- Voiced by: Qiao Shiyu
- Bao Rongxing
- Voiced by: Teng Xin
- Luo Ji
- Voiced by: Zhang Boheng
- Qiao Yifan (formerly in Team Tiny Herb)
- Voiced by: Su Shangqing
- Wei Chen
- Voiced by: Feng Sheng (aka Tute Hameng)
- An Wenyi
- Voiced by: Chenzhang Taikang
- Mo Fan
- Voiced by: Zhang Fuzheng
Team Excellent Era
edit- Sun Xiang
- Voiced by: Liu Sanmu
Team Blue Rain
edit- Yu Wenzhou
- Voiced by: Xia Lei
- Huang Shaotian
- Voiced by: Ye Qing
Team Tiny Herb
edit- Wang Jiexi
- Voiced by: Wei Chao
- Gao Yingjie
- Voiced by: Shao Tong
Team Tyranny
edit- Han Wenqing
- Voiced by: Song Ming (aka Baomu Zhongyang) (Chinese); Shinichiro Kamio (Japanese)[7]
- Zhang Xinjie
- Voiced by: Bian Jiang (animation), Zhang Fuzheng (web series)
Team Samsara
edit- Zhou Zekai
- Voiced by: Jin Xian
Series overview
edit| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | |||
| 1 | 12 | April 7, 2017 | June 16, 2017 | |
| Special | 3 | April 27, 2018 | May 11, 2018 | |
| 2 | 12 | September 25, 2020 | December 4, 2020 | |
| 3 | 17 | May 31, 2024 | September 15, 2024 | |
The first season aired from April to June 2017. A three-episode OVA sequel was released in May 2018. A prequel movie was released in August 2019 and the second season aired from September to December 2020. The third season aired from May to September 2024.
Season 1 (2017)
edit| No. overall |
No. in series |
Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Ye Qiu? Ye Xiu?" | Xiong Ke | Liang Sha | April 7, 2017 | |
|
Ye Qiu is kicked out of his team that he has captained for 8 years due to his unwillingness to take part in marketing and promotion deals making him unvaluable, despite his skills and his 3 straight championship with the team in the first 3 years. He eventually remembers the opening of the new server and walks into an internet cafe near the team headquarters and finds himself starting at the bottom and working at the internet cafe as a night-shift manager. | ||||||
| 2 | 2 | "The Skilled Supervisor" | Xiong Ke | Liang Sha | April 7, 2017 | |
| 3 | 3 | "Adventurers Are Always Free-Willed" | Xiong Ke | Liang Sha, Liu Xing, Zhu Ke | April 14, 2017 | |
| 4 | 4 | "Wild Bosses Are Meant to Be Stolen!" | Xiong Ke | Liang Sha, Liu Xing, Zhu Ke | April 21, 2017 | |
| 5 | 5 | "A Single-Player Game?" | Xiong Ke | Liang Sha, Liu Xing, Zhu Ke | April 28, 2017 | |
| 6 | 6 | "Blade Master" | Xiong Ke | Liang Sha, Liu Xing, Zhu Ke | May 5, 2017 | |
| 7 | 7 | "The Greatest Boss in History" | Xiong Ke | Liang Sha, Liu Xing, Zhu Ke | May 12, 2017 | |
| 8 | 8 | "Youngsters, Let's Meet Up!" | Xiong Ke | Liang Sha, Liu Xing, Zhu Ke | May 19, 2017 | |
| 9 | 9 | "Public Enemy" | Xiong Ke | Liang Sha, Liu Xing, Zhu Ke | May 26, 2017 | |
| 10 | 10 | "Master Tactician's Strategy" | Xiong Ke | Liang Sha, Liu Xing, Zhu Ke | June 2, 2017 | |
| 11 | 11 | "Using the Right Method to Tell You What Is Considered Brutal" | Xiong Ke | Liang Sha, Liu Xing, Zhu Ke | June 9, 2017 | |
| 12 | 12 | "10 Years of Glory, and It Continues" | Xiong Ke | Liang Sha, Liu Xing, Zhu Ke | June 16, 2017 | |
Specials
edit| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Episode One" | Shi Juansheng | Unknown | April 27, 2018 |
| 2 | "Episode Two" | Shi Juansheng | Unknown | April 27, 2018 |
| 3 | "Episode Three" | Shi Juansheng | Unknown | April 27, 2018 |
Season 2 (2020)
edit| No. overall |
No. in series |
Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | 1 | "The First Step to Return to the Professional World" | Unknown | Unknown | September 25, 2020 |
| 14 | 2 | "Happy New Year" | Unknown | Unknown | September 25, 2020 |
| 15 | 3 | "God`s Realm" | Unknown | Unknown | October 2, 2020 |
| 16 | 4 | "Unspecialized Strikes" | Unknown | Unknown | October 9, 2020 |
| 17 | 5 | "Professional Scrap-Picker" | Unknown | Unknown | October 16, 2020 |
| 18 | 6 | "Negative Example" | Unknown | Unknown | October 23, 2020 |
| 19 | 7 | "Boss of Excellent Era" | Unknown | Unknown | October 30, 2020 |
| 20 | 8 | "Ancient Gods" | Unknown | Unknown | November 6, 2020 |
| 21 | 9 | "Material Problem" | Unknown | Unknown | November 13, 2020 |
| 22 | 10 | "Champion Heart" | Unknown | Unknown | November 20, 2020 |
| 23 | 11 | "Little Cold Hands" | Unknown | Unknown | November 27, 2020 |
| 24 | 12 | "Team Happy" | Unknown | Unknown | December 4, 2020 |
Awards and nominations
edit| Award | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14th China Animation Golden Dragon Award | Best Serial Animation Award (Gold Award) | The King's Avatar | Won | [8] |
| 16th China Animation Golden Dragon Award | Best Serial Animation Award (Bronze Award) | The King's Avatar: For The Glory | Won | [9] |
| Canada China International Film Festival | Best Animation | Won | [10] | |
| China Literature Award Ceremony | Animation of the Year | Won | [11] |
References
edit- ^ "Tencent's Chinese eSports anime is really anime but also extremely eSports". PCGamesN. 23 August 2016. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
- ^ a b "Esports Anime – The King's Avatar Coming 2017". Akshon Esports. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
- ^ Esports, Tencent. "Cheng Wu: Tencent Esports Will Realize New Power in the In-Depth Layout Year of Esports Industry". www.prnewswire.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
- ^ "Tencent to adapt esports manga into anime – The Esports Observer". The Esports Observer. 2016-08-23. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
- ^ "Popular online novel spawns animation film". China Daily. August 21, 2019.
- ^ "The King's Avatar is A Must-Watch If You're An E-Sports Fan | Go! - Globe". Retrieved 2018-09-05.
- ^ a b c Dempsey, Liam (May 16, 2023). "The King's Avatar: For the Glory Donghua Film Reveals Visual, Trailer and Dub Cast for Japanese Release". Crunchyroll. Retrieved May 16, 2023.
- ^ "中国动漫金龙奖斥资千万元扶持正能量动漫创作". Xinhua News (in Chinese). September 30, 2017.
- ^ "第16届金龙奖获奖名单公布！". Sohu (in Chinese). September 6, 2019.
- ^ "第四届中加国际电影节落幕 14个奖项揭晓". China News (in Chinese). September 19, 2018.
- ^ ""心动四子"王凯、肖战、张若昀、罗云熙，喜提"阅动人心经典形象"的荣誉". SMG Shanghai TV Official Channel (in Chinese). 18 January 2020.