ANI-MOVIES, *New Gods: Nezha Reborn

The Taost deity Nezha has a hit cinematic universe based on his legend from Bejing Enlight Entertainment, but another take on the chaotic fireball was turned into part of the New Gods (no relation to Jack Kirby) franchise and its first installment, Nezha Reborn. Release in 2021, just two years after the blockbuster adaptation, this is a completely separate entity, although it's easy to figure out that it was mainly done as a cash grab on the Investiture Of The Gods novel from the Ming Dynasty, but this was produced by Light Chaser Animation Studios and sets it sets apart by taking place in a dystopian future. Light Chaser had already made an impact on international animation with their White Snake trilogy, and their New Gods movie series continued in a spinoff of Yang Jian. Many people consider Nezha Reborn to be steampunk, but given that it's in a post-disaster world, that would place it more under cyberpunk, especially with all the updated technology and mecha suits.

Donghai is an oceanside city which is controlled by the De Clan syndicate who maintains authority by subverting the city's water which is in short supply, although this fact doesn't seem to come up much in the movie. The film actually starts with Yunxiang literally speaking to the viewer and introducing himself as if he knew he was a character in a fictional story, but for some reason he also doesn't do this again during the course of the story because from that point on he relies on inner monologue to act as the narrator. After a tussle with Bing, son of De Clan's leader Guang, Yunxiang suddenly gains pyrokinetic spiritual powers, and a strange hairy man wearing a huge mask tells him that he's the latest reincarnation of Nezha. The masked man is later revealed to be none other than Sun Wukong, the genuine Monkey King who has been kicking around for centuries waiting for Nezha so they could defeat the evil Dragon King that surprisingly is Guang. Wukong trains Yunxiang on how to use his powers, even though he never seems to get any help from the actual spirit of Nezha during most of the major fights. It isn't until near the end when Yunxiang practically dies trying to stop Guang, but only when the entire city is going to be totally flooded that Nezha finally decides to lend one of his six hands to save everyone. Yunxiang now has one of Nezha's old treasures and sets out to find the remaining divine arsenal.

Being a 3D animated film, New Gods: Nezha Reborn features an eye-catching production and you will see hints of other cyberpunk titles like Afro Samurai, Akira or Final Fantasy VII. The character development is acceptable, although most of Yunxiang's friends and family seem to suffer more than he does during his progress as a hero. You can currently catch Nezha Reborn streaming on Netflix, but the spinoff movie of Jian Xing was licensed by GKids so you might not be able to find both films on the same service.