Scumbag System Donghua: A pleasant surprise
I know SVSS fans had low expectations for the donghua, including myself, but it has a lot of heart put into it. Sure, the animation isnât the best but thatâs more a budgeting issue. With what they did get, the donghua team did amazing work!
Scumbag System makes up for itâs subpar animation with very good storytelling. It managed to capture the essence of SVSS immediately.
This mocking narration by Shen Yuan of the basic premise with 2D animation so perfectly establishes the story and what kind of a person SY is. His humour, personality and how he sees the novel gets established very quickly and you canât help but get attached to this dumbass who hate-read 6666 chapters of novel.Â
The next thing that caught my attention is the relationship between Sy!sqq and Lbh, how they establish where they are now and what they will be to one another in the future. I was happy to see that they didnât try to imply any romance between Nyy and Lbh to un-homo it all. So far, theyâre doing a lot to show how much sy cares for lbh. The observations from afar, they little moments between them in the op, and the BIGGEST, most beautiful fucking symbolism of all;
The Jade pendant and the Leaf
That pendant plays a really important role in their relationship in the novel, but the visual representation of it here exemplifies it. You have to watch the scene to know how beautifully it panned out. Leaves are very explicitly related to Sy!sqq here. Shen Yuan uses them to protect Luo Binghe from the shadows. Yes, Luo Binghe lost his mother and she is irreplaceable but he isnât alone anymore. Shen Yuan will protect him.
The third thing which I loved was the attention to detail when it came to the MCs. Shen Qingqiu is absolutely, mind-boglingly gorgeous. They put in so much effort to make him beautiful. Itâs nothing like the first few trailers.Â
THIS MAN! LOOK AT HIM!! WHATâS HE SO GORGEOUS FOR!?(to distract us from the ctrl c+ ctrl v bg characters). He isnât just pretty though. Heâs expressive as heck. My main concern with 3D was expression, but the combination of all the painful effort into facial expressions added to the VAâs amazing work made Shen Yuan come alive!
They didnât skimp on Luo Binghe. Oh no no no. This baby had me cooing at him in his entrance scene. He has large eyes and the prettiest face, plus he is even shorter than Ning Yingying when 14. They did a lot to make him the âpure white sheepâ.
Look at this and tell me your heart didnât break a little.
The VA also captures the âIâm so baby UwU!â thing perfectly and it just makes me want to protect this kid even more. Watching the episode, Luo Binghe had so many expressions going on when he got beat up by Ming Fan and his dumbass friends, I could feel his panic. The scene where heâs searching for the pendant, his frantic body language + the micro-expressions they tried to fit in. Perfection. I want to weep.Â
The donghua team is doing their very best to preserve the feel of the novel. Itâs fast paced but it doesnât feel like it and leaves you wanting more. Both episodes ended in such cliffhangers I wish I could just binge through this. Theyâre preserving the romantic elements between sy!sqq and lbh to whatever extent they can(the ed and op, my god they have me screaming)
Speaking of, the Opening and Ending are so beautiful. The Opening is stuck in my head.Â
JUST WATCH THE DAMN THING!
Yes the animation is clunky but the dialogue delivery, the comedic timing and the MC character designs+the soundtrack make up for it. Donât let it go just because itâs a little difficult to get used to because youâll be missing out. The donghua team did their best and I applaud them for doing so well.Â