Shiguang Dailiren: Yingdu Pian

TL;DR If you haven't watched this arc, I recommend holding off until the new season. I'm reluctant to have any strong negative opinions about this arc, mainly because it feels more like a transitional arc, laying the groundwork for the next season. Whether these six episodes are good or not depends entirely on the new season to fill in all the gaps they've left here. It created more questions than answers and doesn't tell a contained story on its own. The introduction of new characters is as vague as ever. I'd even argue that we don't know much more about Lu Guang or Cheng Xiaoshi either. Lu Guang's background and the origins of the superpowers are still unknown. It's been almost four years since the first release. I'm starting to think some viewers are more attached to their headcanons, predictions, and theories than to the source material itself. The unfortunate situation of an original donghua that doesn’t come from a manhua or book has only fuelled this. Because how else do you cope when you love these characters so much, and all the content they release is Lu Guang in a Cinnamoroll outfit? I can see where they're going with this, told in a backwards(?) timeline, typical time-travelling butterfly effect, etc...but as the episodes progress, it just feels like wishy-washy suspense. There's no character development with the new characters. Who's Vein? Still don’t know. What's Liu Xiao's relation to Xia Fei? They sat in a car together once. What happened to Cheng Xiaoshi's parents? Not sure. Does Lu Guang have a secret power we don't know? I cannot answer that. The annoying thing is that you can't seem to have a discussion about it on any platform without someone throwing out that Huixiaohui interview with Li Haoling, as if it explains everything—and if it does, why isn't it in the show? Why do audiences have to watch a half-hour video defending poorly executed plot points? Just a heads up, watching or reading any of Huixiaohui’s or reddit threads' speculations and treating their analyses as canon only proves my point above about people being more attached to their ideas of the show. I’ve come to terms with the fact that original shows are difficult to fund and produce, but I still have a lot of hope for this. I bought a bunch of the merchandise and went to the Surprising Click concert last year too. It's probably pennies to them in terms of production, but it's my copium that maybe they just need that extra penny to give us a satisfying ending. Maybe buying the Lu Guang in a Cinnamoroll outfit is in fact crucial to the final plot.

This little side story takes some time to wrap your head around. Especially when watching it on a streaming service that provides weird subtitles (looking at you crunchyroll). But if time is taken to digest it and do a lot of rewinding it starts to make more sense. The plot reveals and twists are in true Link Click fashion. But the vibes still felt different from season one and season two. Don't expect it to be exactly like what you've watched before. But I believe the true season 3 will be better off having the room to breathe now that Bridon Arc has happened now that we have been introduced to most if not all the important characters. There is a lot going on in the show but it got me hyped for the next season.

Absolute nothing content. The episodes themselves are a snore-fest, the story is more interested in hinting at timelines we don't see than actually developing the new characters introduced, and none of it culminates into anything meaningful. At this point, we're two seasons and several years deep into Link Click, so having as many scenes dedicated to conveying what was already explained multiple times just feels like filler. In what is meant to be an arc answering questions, no questions are answered and more mysteries are seeded. The series continues to have a real problem with showing something exciting and then having to laboriously catch the viewer up to get to that exciting moment and this entire season feels an endeavor in that pursuit except it never quite lands on actually exploring why the antagonists are doing the antagonism. The whole production feels confused on what it wants to accomplish and so it succeeds at doing very little. It's not all bad, mind you. Animation is serviceable. There's a little excitement that bookends the arc so that it's not all just the nothing that permeates the middle of it. The initial premise of Lu returning to the past is interesting but nothing of worth is done with it. Just skip this and go on to the next arc when it is animated--this arc doesn't stand on its own and it is hard to see it meaningfully mattering to anything yet to come.

Compared to previous offerings of this title, this arc leaves me a bit perplexed. Art work was about the same. Solid, with good background work and great character designs. The animation wasn't quite as good, but it's a lot better than most animation out there today. Something of a quibble at best. Lots of new characters introduced, but frankly the development comes up hard and short. There's just not enough episodes to do them all justice. The shortness of an arc, rather than a full season, hurts the narrative as well. While what is presented is intriguing enough, things are much too rushed. The ending, while not bad, seems to be a crash landing. It opened up a lot more questions than it answered. Watched the sub and usually I don't care for Mandarin. This VA cast did a decent job of conveying the emotions in a scene. The direction was fair, with the overall rushed nature making things a bit rough to tie up nicely. While I hugely loved the first two seasons, I feel a bit shortchanged by this arc. While the seasons got A grades from me, and I didn't find this too obnoxious, I can't see fit to give it better than 84/100 B for all the loose ends it leaves dangling. Here's hoping we get a real season soon to tie up the plotlines. Good news! Season 3 has been announced.

Pretty much the only time a rushed final episode has downgraded my score from a 8 to a ⁷ (was tempted to put 6). This is a prequel-sequel that leaves off from the cliffhanger at the end of season 2, where Lu Guang travels back in time to save Cheng Xiaoshi's life. It uses Butterfly-Effect time travel logic to send the boys off to Bridon (London) to uncover Cheng Ciaoshi's family secrets. There's a lot of cute character moments and interesting plot twosts that make the forst 5 episodes engaging, but my main problem is this: It's an "arc" that resolves nothing. Previous Link Click seasons has cliffhanger finale episodes but they told a self contained story. This does not. The Final Episode resolved itself through a shitton of Deus Ex Machina - characters having abilities they had not previously been shown to have etc. Without explanation, foreshadowing or buildup. It's meant to be cool and thicken the plot, but it just feels cheap. Like a pitch for the next season (which will be the official 24-ep 3rd Season). This is a half-season labelled as a side story, but even that inplies it tells a self contained story. It's a very entertaining side story mind you, but don't go in looking any kind of closure on anything, is all. Oh and as ever, the backgrounds and IP/ED are brill. Thanks LAN Studio.

ep 1 oh beautiful...ep 2 3 tf is happening .......ep 4 5 oh ohhhhhhhhh...ep 6 oh..tf is happening ... . funny but dont have better way to explain how this felt though small but no way lacking...but but for 6 ep they tried to fit in too much which made it feel especially in end ep too quick maybe they could have the last ep a bit more longer ...s1 was subtle with its plots and yeah laidback which made it much fun ..2nd season great...but this arc was great with its fair share of flaws.. . but still.. . the main time travelling plots and new abilities are fascinating ......and lu guang now on the drivers seat also feels...what can i say "Tasty"... . This was not bad with its plots but now its taking too much surprises which are not subtle which makes the story hyper focused on the characters and that's where the problem comes they have done a very subtle way of character development in s1 which is not too much nor too less just like a aesthetic or what can i say cool or vibey..which is now serious and main so if they made eps bit tad longer just to include some character traits it would have been fine i think....but dont get persuaded this still was a mysterious and make you include in the story anime..and is recommended.. ..hope this gets continued as its been...if it will be i'll be there... . Thank You.. . until next time...bye........ (they never fail with the music in this series....)

TL;DR “Marketability ruins art”, or whatever. As anime, this arc is fine. It’s decently produced. The writing is okay. The OP/ED are nice. As link click— well, considering season 2, I’ll stop myself here. Bridon arc is perfectly in line with season 2, which makes me feel like link click will no longer ever be what it was in season 1. Character replaced with fan service. Ideological tension replaced with fan service. The show’s main gimmick— TIME TRAVEL— basically also replaced with fan service. And, while the fan service objectively isn’t THAT egregious (despite my griping), on top of taking up precious screentime, it’s also super bland. Filling your cast with pretty men doesn’t replace telling character-driven stories! I have nothing against fujoshi; this just feels like they’re producing TV for the sole purpose of creating stereotypical buzz scenes to get fujos to open their wallets. Erroneously, at that! Fujos flock to works that feature strong, character-driven thematic/mimetic rivalry, which link click had in season 1 and threw away for… mass-marketable fan service. Fujos, you should get mad! I have spent plenty of time watching mediocre television, and, worse, good television that becomes mediocre. Every gintama has a silver soul. Very few promising TV originals can stick the landing. Tale as old as time— so maybe this is on me, for persisting, for not yet counting link click entirely as a lost cause, despite what it’s been these past several years. And, I mean, as its own thing, it’s fine television. If you’re attached to seeing the characters, it’s fine television. It’s just lost the majority of what made those characters and stories interesting. For a premise about going back in time, there was shockingly— well, considering season 2, not actually that shocking— little build-up, suspense, consequences, et cetera, to do with TIME TRAVEL. We have so much time loop fiction, and so much time loop fiction about saving someone from dying, that I feel like it shouldn’t be hard to reference? And yet, nothing, time is just in the name. Instead, we have more pretty boy screentime to (probably) sell more merchandise. Super powers are slightly better utilized than they were in season 2, but man, nothing like season 1. Was there a secret ace in the season 1 writing room? I feel like people forget that power systems are most meaningful when they reflect something in the meta-textual layer of the story itself, which link click DID in season 1. Omniscience-as-fate versus travel-as-change, though not particularly original, was very well done. Baked INTO the characterization of LG and CXS, and therefore their relationship, the plot, et cetera. Here… well, I guess the super powers work as plot devices, in the most superficial manner possible. Feels like they’re just set dressing for more pretty men. i actually think the ending (like, the last 10 minutes of the season) was the best of the entire thing. Better than anything in season 2. Vaguely ideological fight that plays into the final bit, vaguely suspenseful and meaningful use of plot gimmick powers, vaguely interesting questions left hanging for us in season 3 (though I hold out no hope). An echo of what made link click good in season 1. Perhaps I’m a pessimist, but I feel like the writing in season 2 and this arc has been primarily guided by marketability to a specific viewership. What they’ve been doing with Qiao Ling (!cool girl power! without giving her her own story and character), and now, this endless assault of pretty men, just screams “fujos and women who play mihoyo gacha games, give us your money”! What’s tragic is that this approach fails to recognize what makes that particular viewerbase flock to a work in the first place. Sure, there will always be people who just enjoy a pretty face of little substance, but the works that really grab the fujos DON’T intentionally pander to them. They aim instead to be universal, to write universal character-driven story. Link click had that. It threw it away. What it feels like a lot of writers don’t realize is that, to create characters that humans like, you have to write them like they’re humans, not just pretty faces, not just one-dimensional interactions. To create relationships that humans care about, the characters in the relationship must be written like they’re humans, not just tik-tok edit black hair-white hair stereotypes. It doesn’t matter if you’re writing friendship, brotherhood, sisterhood, parent-child, straight romance, lesbian romance, gay romance, coworkers, strangers, partners, enemies, whatever— if they’re not human, it doesn’t matter. And money, unfortunately, ruins humanity. Well, we’ll see if they’ve made enough off of plushies by season 3.

If you've stuck around this long into the show you will have an at least decent time. It's a very very transitional season that adds a lot of new questions while answering only a few. Most will very likely be used in season 3. Overall it's a very mixed bag for me. It had very limited time to flesh out the setting, the plot and the characters and still filled a good chunk of its runtime with slice of life moments that maybe could've been used to further the plot. It feels rushed in some parts and dragging in others. But all of that is subjective after all. Link Click is awesome. I loved the first season. I enjoyed the second season in big parts but this feels like it just can't stand on it own 6/10

I enjoyed Bridon Arc, but while the previous two seasons worked great as "individual stories", here I feel like not much happened and at the same time it was just a kind of vanguard to the next season - I usually don't mind that at all, unfortunately here the plot felt too stuck at one point and we didn't really get anywhere. However, the first episode of the series deserves a special place here - it immersed us in the beginnings of Lu Guang and Xiaoshi's friendship and it worked here. The rest of the series starts a new plot, but as I wrote - it's still the tip of the iceberg and I'm a little disappointed that they barely developed the cliffhanger(s) from the end of the second season. I still enjoyed it, but this series is missing something...

I'm having a lot of trouble understanding this mini-season. Apparently, it's a side story that takes place directly after Season 2, but the plot doesn't move forward. On the contrary, more characters are introduced who ultimately turn out to have no real importance to the story. [Edit: Okay, now I've seen it's a also the prequel before season 1, wich make it even more confusing] Everything becomes confusing as the episodes go by; we lose the connection between these events and the previous seasons. The new characters are clearly just there for aura farming. Above all, the behavior of the two main characters changes completely. They go from having a solid friendship and being partners to having clearly ambiguous romantic tension with each other and the new characters. While the character designs are obviously beautiful, I get the impression that I just watched a successful attempt to pander to the audience by creating cute, openly gay moments. Although I have nothing against that, I find it unfortunate and disappointing because, until now, the series was very gripping, not confusing and interesting. I hope the Season 3 will focus more on what made the show great. I also hope that if they keep these characters, they will use them wisely this time, rather than having them contribute nothing to the lore for six episodes.

This is a good show with good animation and good writing. Yet as it felt so different from season 1, I actually searched if they had the same writers. It is the same writer but it felt so different. Season one was a masterpiece, in my mind, and this is not. Season one was tight and episodic, with emotionally powerful self-contained stories (like the one episode with the earthquake). Bridon arc shifts to continuous thriller plot with conspiracy, time loops etc. It has less emotional payoff per episode in my opinion. I also found it more confusing and have less clarity in the plot unfolding.

Even as a massive superfan of this series, I have to admit that this prequel left me feeling incredibly disappointed. Both Season 1 and Season 2 of Link Click were phenomenal, and in my opinion, the groundwork was already there for Bridon Arc to be a fantastic addition to the series. Unfortunately, I don't think it lived up to that potential. Far too much time was spent on convoluted and ultimately inconsequential subplots, while the more interesting plot points were either barely explored or overshadowed by fluff and fanservice. I understand that, as a prequel, this arc isn't necessarily meant to directly tie into the present day conflicts of Link Click, but even taking that into consideration, it feels like very few of the loose threads introduced throughout it are ever properly tied up. Aside from introducing characters like Xia Fei and Vein, I genuinely find myself wondering what the overall purpose of this arc was. So much of it feels like setup for something that never actually comes. It's setup after setup after setup, with very little payoff. That being said, I don't think I can form a completely definitive opinion on Bridon Arc until Season 3 comes out, since that's presumably where all of the setup from this arc will actually pay off and become relevant to the larger story. But judging it as a standalone story, it's pretty mediocre, and without a doubt, it's the weakest "season" (???) the series has produced so far.

This season for me I can’t make my mind up on whether it’s as good as its predecessors or not however what I can say is I wish it had more episodes to work with - it was really convoluted and introduced a lot of new characters that should’ve been given alot more eps to be fleshed out however regardless of that and especially on a rewatch after understanding the previous seasons throughly the way the Bridon arc links to the end of s2 and it all being tied together is fucking phenomenal - once again the animation was absolutely sensational and the change up of the op and Ed’s I loved a lot - in this season we see a lot more development of lu guang and we really see how much he really cared about cheng - it is pretty difficult at the start to pinpoint the correct time of the events and what comes first but when it falls together especially having watched s3 eps 1 and 2 how it continues on seamlessly and integrates what happens in Bridon is phenomenal - even with some of the gripes I just still think it’s so fantastic