I heart, I heart, I heart this! Quite the "Blessing" to come across it.

karokfish

I saw this in my Netflix suggestions. Not Japanese (i read subtitles anyway), but I gave it a try and I am so glad I did. I watched all 13 episodes over two nights in a row. The next day, being Sunday, I binged watched all 13 episodes again! At first, it was to catch all the exposition in the beginning. And throughout, there are snippets here and there that tie in later. (And it's playing again in the background as I write this, lol)
In this universe, there are at least 3 realms - Heaven, Mortal and Ghost. People can ascend to the Heaven Realm and move back and forth. They can also be banished/exiled back to the Mortal Realm. I like this idea. Keep in mind, there are multiple gods, who have deputy gods, and ... armies? Not sure how the Ghost Realm works but the ghost kings seem to live in the Mortal Realm too. We follow the central figure on his third ascension. It says something about his character at the "fuss" he creates on ascending.

The characters are all "pretty" but not overly effeminate. I enjoyed the stories and the interactions among the main and recurring characters (the deputy god duo are entertaining).

I enjoyed watching in the original language too - far easier than Psychic Princess. (Don't get me wrong though, I can hardly wait for new episodes of Psychic Princess to show up.) is it because this is a predominantly male cast? I thought with Psychic Princess that I just wasn't used to watching "anime" in a language other than Japanese. But HOB proved it wrong. I think it might be Mandarin vs Cantonese, or dialects in between. And the background music is quite calming too, when they are just talking.

I hope there will be another season of Heaven Official's Blessing. I want to know what's under the bandages on Xie Lian's neck and on his legs and why/how. Also, what is Rouye and how did XL get it. I suppose I could look up the books. Most importantly, I want to see how San Lang keeps looking out for and protecting XL. XL is kind, caring and intelligent,,, and dense when it comes to the feelings of SL. I would love to see how their relationship progress.

score 10/10

karokfish 13 April 2021

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw6810228/