Whatever our dreams are – there’s always some hindrance that we must conquer to achieve that and at some point along the way, there might be some sacrifices but whatever happens, we should move forward chasing that very dreams while remembering our losses – that way, achieving the glorious victory will be an ecstatic momentous triumphant.
These are the thoughts that I would like to scream right from the very core of my heart the moment I finished watching The Kings Avatar prequel movie – For the Glory, and in this post, I will share my thoughts about the whole movie, what are its strengths, open weaknesses, and what life lessons we should treasure from it. Furthermore, the movie had been a great ride and a huge chance for us to savor the real drama of the e-sports world, giving us a glimpse at the past of our favorite characters from the current timeline of The King’s Avatar, especially our Glory’s Textbook – Ye Xiu.
The Kings Avatar Prequel Movie Review
As I have mentioned above, For the Glory is the prequel movie of The King’s Avatar that first hit the Chinese theatres on August 16, 2019, and then released in different countries in Asia in the succeeding months. In my country, the Philippines – The King’s Avatar: For the Glory had opened in SMCinemas last November 20, 2019.
The story of the movie took place during the foundation of the Glory Professional Alliance – the very first season of the Glory professional circle and the birth of a legendary powerhouse team. If we will look at the current timeline of The King’s Avatar anime (1st season) and the live-action adaptation, the movie took place roughly 8-9 years ago. I shall further discuss its story below for further explanation – but among the scopes of the movie is how the team Excellent Era begins and we also had a glanced at their original roster which brought so much glory for their team and builds the foundation of its legendary existence in the succeeding years of the alliance.
We also see some of the infamous and God-tier Glory players in the current timeline during their younger years in the movie – so if you’re a fan of Han Wenqing, Wang Jiexi, Zhang Jianle, Yu Wenzhou, Huang Shaotian, and Zhou Zekai, you definitely have to watch out for their appearance in the movie. Meanwhile, the whole movie revolves around the very heart of Team Excellent Era – Ye Xiu, Su Muqiu, Su Mucheng, Tao Xuan, and the original players, and their rival team that time Team Royal Style.
Animation & Graphics
The movie is animated by Pencil-Colored Animation, the same studio that brought us The King’s Avatar: All-Star Competition (OVA) last 2018 and I must say that they really did a great job animating the prequel movie. The fight scenes are so surreal and flawlessly done, I think it could even compete against major Japanese animation works. Among the highlight for the fight scenes for me is definitely that the final battle between One Autumn Leaf and Peaceful Hermit – as well as the whole round of Team Excellent Era vs Team Royal Style.
When it comes to graphics, I really love how much attention to detail was seen angles of the camera. I even remember Cuchallain from Donghua Reviews stating that even just an image still of chairs (the office of Excellent Era) could even give so much beauty and life in the atmosphere. The city landscape is so beautiful and the early climax of the story where Su Muqiu runs through that rain really looks dazzling and beautiful no matter how painful and tragic that part of the movie was.
Character Designs & Development
Alright, the character designs definitely look aesthetic in my eyes. They’re all beautiful and I could definitely feel the life in their existence. Probably a setback for me is the similarity in the appearance of some characters in the movie especially Su Muqiu and Qin Tianran or Xue Mingkai – or possibly it was my eyes that can’t see their appearance accurately.
Though Su Mucheng’s design looks really quite young, a young child and I share the same sentiments with the other novel readers that she must be around her teenage years that time. Nonetheless, the young Su Mucheng really looks adorable, and we could definitely see burning spirit animals present in the tiny body which we will all witness during their stint as a professional player later on in the current timeline of The King’s Avatar.
Ye Xiu really looks the typical Ye Xiu that we all expect but Su Muqiu is another thing – he is so effing handsome and it really melted our heart to see him go. The character designs for the in-game characters of the players really look amazing too, especially that of Xia Ming’s Spring Heaven, the old design for One Autumn Leaf, and even the Qi Breaker. We also had a glimpse of the other God-level account around that time including Desert Dust, Sworksaar, and Peaceful Hermit.
I really felt like every character in the story develops in any way possible we would like them to be, possibly it’s because we know already what they’re actually like in the current timeline. I think my question here would be, how did Tao Xuan end up the way he was during the beginning of the story in the main novel. How did he become such a despicable person, knowing that he had spent memorable moments of victories and defeats together with Ye Xiu, and the other original players of Team Excellent Era?
Music & Story
Throughout the run of the whole movie, there are tons of amazing music to listen to – some are melancholic, while some are simply perfect to ignite the excitement for an imminent battle or support to the ongoing climax in the story. To be honest, I used to think that the song they used in the highlight fight between One Autumn Leaf and Peaceful Hermit is quite lame until I keep on listening to it and eventually like it and said to myself “dang, this is so good and it’s really electrifying in so many ways”.I also enjoyed the fact that they used Jiro Wang’s Revenge as an insert song during Ye Xiu’s team on stealing the boss from the people of Royal Style at the beginning of the movie – as the song was previously used as an opening theme for 2018 The King’s Avatar OVA.
The peak of Glory is among the theme song of the movie and it was featured in this music video for the movie. Furthermore, another song used in the film is Walked With You.
The Kings Avatar: For the Glory Theme Song “Peak of Glory”
The Kings Avatar: For the Glory Theme Song “Walked With You”
The story had been an interesting one, showing us a facade that was never shown or revealed in the main timeline of the story. Furthermore, the entire movie had been covered in the vibes of action, drama, sadness, grief, dreams, motivation, determination, and desires for victory – yes, the whole story of The King’s Avatar: For the Glory had been accumulated throughout those emotions and different factors – all for the sake of achieving their goals and that is the PEAK OF GLORY. I could somehow not ignore some poor script-writing that was randomly dropped throughout the whole movie. It does not necessarily affect the overall outcome of people’s impression of the film as long as they could understand what’s happening in the story, however, I felt like it was done in rushed or possibly some scripts simply needs deeper or lacking some emotions or simply looks like a lackluster. Nonetheless, as long as the viewers could understand and comprehend what’s happening in the story, which definitely solves this issue.
Highlights of the Story
Among the highlights of the whole story for me are as follows:
- Su Muqiu’s death (it’s so painful but this incident had been a driving force for Ye Xiu to be who he is right now, as well as for Su Mucheng).
- The gathering of the original roster of Team Excellent Era
- The championship match between Team Excellent Era and Team Royal Style
Overall Impact and Conclusion
While the movie is a prequel and thus, independent from the main storyline that happened 8 years later, The King’s Avatar: For the Glory did give us a glimpse at the past of Ye Xiu and make us learn another side of him that we don’t know yet. It further solidifies our support for his action, his mindset, and his dreams of chasing that peak of Glory once again. It also showed us proof that the legendary status of Excellent Era that they had achieved later on was built on so many sacrifices, drama, and hard work of their players – and seeing these hardships, it’s only proof that the Glory they once achieved is real, and you must give all your best shot for achieving it.
In the end, The King’s Avatar: For the Glory movie simply made me realize that it is great to savor the victory once there’s a past that we could look forward to. And in the main timeline of The King’s Avatar novel, it’s amazing that what the grassroots team Happy is currently experiencing and their hardships are simply the same as any other team. Even the strongest team undergoes so many trials and challenges to conquer their dreams, and so even TEAM HAPPY could also chase their dreams with smiles and flying colors no matter how hard or rough the path along the way. Alright guys, if you had watched the movie already, can you please let us know your thoughts about it? We’ll surely be happy to read your opinions by leaving a comment below. For more updates, especially for the upcoming The King’s Avatar anime season 2 which will premiere on September 25, 2020, you may get the latest news about it right in your inbox when you subscribe to our newsletter.
Last Updated on November 17, 2022 by Yu Alexius
[…] Colored Pencil Animation & Design comes back as the animation studio for The King’s Avatar Season 3. The studio previously worked on The King’s Avatar Specials in 2018, its 2nd season, as well as its prequel movie, The King’s Avatar: For the Glory in 2019. […]