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Mo Dao Zu Shi

As the grandmaster who founded the Demonic Sect, Wei WuXian roamed the world in his wanton ways, hat...

• Author: Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
• Genres: Action / Adventure / Comedy / Historical / Martial Arts / Mystery / Supernatural / Shounen Ai / Webtoons

Warning - This review contains a lot of spoilers of the manhua and novel series, with mentions of misogyny:

A 2 star rating feels fitting for this story based on multiple observations.

The manhua for Mo Dao Zu Shi follows the same story as the novel series, only leaving out a few arcs. I actually didn’t expect it to be so on-the-nose with the novel series. I think they did a fairly decent job tackling most of the story and putting it into a comic format, given how long the novels are. However, the pacing was very fast; without having read the novels, I would have been completely lost. A lot of the dialogue was confusing to follow for this reason as well.

Regarding the characters, one thing I liked was the subtle change in the main character’s personality, Wei Wuxian. In the novels, he was very chaotic and emanated “gremlin energy” (as one person put it) which was funny sometimes, but it could also get annoying. The manhua toned down his “gremlin energy” significantly, and I thought that made him a much more tolerable protagonist.

One of my main issues with this manhua – and the novels for that matter – is that the story’s romance felt far too tropey. Most of the time when the main characters were in romantic scenarios, Wei Wuxian made Lan Wangji (the main love interest) drunk. Wei Wuxian behaved more flirtatious during these moments (which was certainly a choice). Then, using his drunken state to his advantage, would kiss and later have sex with him without his consent. (Note: He did semi-reflect on his behaviour later on, but he would always go back to it anyways.)

I’m pretty sure the reason Wei Wuxian acted so weird and flirty during Lan Wangji’s drunken states was because it made him feel less worried about the consequences of his actions. He was “safer” and in control of the situation, which is not great! I really don’t get why he had to follow through with that almost every single time Lan Wangji was drunk. It inevitably led to both of them confessing to each other by the end of the novels, after a dreadful sex scene.

There was another issue I had, and it was that there were far too many characters getting introduced and discarded within a short period of time. It made it very difficult to remember who was who, apart from the main cast. Even a character like Madame Yu (who was an important character in the novels) was hard to remember in the manhua.

One nitpick I have with this story (which feels a little unfair to use against just this manhua as it’s an issue in a lot of MLM stories, but I’ll still point it out) is the blatant misogyny towards the women in the story. They were only shown as fragile; needing to be protected by men. Or they were antagonists (like Madame Yu). Mian Mian, for example, constantly needed saving, and was even referred to as a “damsel in distress”. If it was just her who followed the damsel in distress trope, that would’ve been fine, but pretty much every woman in the series followed that trope.


To summarize, while this manhua had some strengths, its issues with pacing, story, characters, and misogyny made it difficult to read.

Also one of my favorites; easily 11/10.

11/10 page here for sure. It's soooo good.

10/10 (For the whole chapter). Honestly all these early chapter artworks are AMAZING.

This is the best one. It's spectacular.

This whole chapter has gorgeous art honestly. The cover art pairs very nicely with it as well.

This one is also very pretty, particularly in the face and hat details.

This one isn't as flashy as the others, but it's still nice. The watercolour works well.

This looks very pretty. The entire piece feels so captivating, though it's hard to say why.

The lighting carries but the vibes are immaculate in this artwork.

This is a very nice looking panel. It captures Hua Cheng's character perfectly, even in the background's faint glass shatter effect.

That moment when it's all Heaven Official's Blessings art.

But, hear me out.

It's good.