Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m happy to announce our commencement of a new project, which is also technically a return to an old favorite. Having brushed up on Lang Wu Yao’s history with the altogether excellent Bewitching Melody of the West, today we’re breaking into the third season of Thunderbolt Fantasy, and seeing what the long-suffering Shang Bu Huan has been getting up to.

It certainly hasn’t been an easy pair of seasons for our curmudgeonly sword-snatcher. Thunderbolt Fantasy’s first adventure saw him handling basically all the legwork for Dan Fei’s mystical journey to the aptly named Demon Spine Mountains, all while suffering the persistent mockery of weed wizard Lin Xue Ya. Season two only ladled on more sources of frustration and indignity, ranging from that smarmy hunting fox Xiao Kuang to a sentient, malevolent sword known as the Seven Blasphemous Deaths. It’s been a bumpy ride, but also a highly entertaining one, offering dazzlingly realized battles and plenty of Urobuchi’s reliable wit. I’m sure our Edgeless Blade will have ample new troubles awaiting him this time, so let’s dispense with the recap, and dive right into Thunderbolt Fantasy’s third season!

Episode 1

We open on our good friend Lin Xue visiting an old companion, as he pours a drink at the grave of the Screaming Phoenix Killer. Gosh does this show have some great nicknames

“There’s been such a shortage of decent villains these days. It makes me miss the time when you were out for my blood.” Coming from Lin Xue, I can actually believe this. He’s basically the opposite of Shang Bu Huan – while Shang would be happy to live in peace for the rest of his days, Lin Xue is only happy in times of chaos, and particularly when he is outwitting some furious enemy. As he outright declared in the first season, it’s not the allure of acquiring treasure that drives him, but the thrill of leading dangerous characters around by the nose

Lin Xue casts away his glass and it explodes into feathers, because Lin Xue cannot avoid being extra in everything he does

Spending time with Lin Xue is reminding me how delightful the “character acting” is in this franchise. The characters in Bewitching Melody of the West generally moved normally, but Lin Xue is all sweeping, melodramatic gestures, constantly swinging his hair around his shoulders. You can really tell how much he loves being himself

He meets up with our overall hero squad: Shang, Lang Wu, and spearman Juan Can Yun

And we’re picking up right after season two, with our heroes having decided that leaving the Seven Blasphemous Deaths lying in a ravine somewhere is probably not a permanent storage solution

“This place already has a reputation for being home to assorted heretic sorcerers.” The world of Thunderbolt Fantasy is just so rich in unmediated fantasy, so brimming with melodramatic invention. Urobuchi is truly unchained here; no fantastical idea is too much for this world, resulting in a place that feels like dark fantasy JoJo, with preposterous monsters and abilities lurking around every corner

“We’re gonna need light. I’d appreciate if you’d take point.” After two seasons of bickering, it’s nice to see Shang and Lin Xue cooperating so easily

Lang Wu strikes a chord, and uses his remarkable sense of hearing to essentially map the cave based on the echo. Nice creative use of one of his lesser abilities; with its party-based dynamic and rambling adventure structure, Thunderbolt Fantasy often plays out like a particularly inventive tabletop game. It wouldn’t be the first time Urobuchi’s tabletop sessions were adapted into a show!

Lin Xue helpfully suggests they have become ensnared in the Labyrinth of Darkness

The party arrives at a mysterious underground structure, marked with plant-like crystals

We are introduced to Yi Piaomiao, an unfortunate-looking man who is presumably one of our new villains

A whole cabal of villains here! Another newcomer Wan Jun Po, and our old necromancer buddy Xing Hai. She explains that she’s reconfigured the Demon Spine Mountains to her own needs, creating a “Void Junction” that allows teleportation between any of these reflective crystals

These newcomers are members of the Order of the Divine Swarm, who were previously hunting Shang and his sword index all through season two

“The Order of the Divine Swarm has long wished to control the land. But risking the entire mortal realm for it would be idiocy.” Jun Po is shrewd and prudent, never so enamored with power that he forgets the danger of that power. I appreciate how since season one, Urobuchi has taken care to provide his heroes with appropriately cunning adversaries, such that Shang and Lin Xue’s victories over them feel earned rather than inevitable. Akio Otsuka’s imposing voice further amplifies Jun Po’s sense of wisdom and authority

Like Lin Xue, Xing Hai appreciates the value of a good melodramatic gesture

Rather than hoping for open war with the mortal realm, Xing Hai is now mostly hoping that the Sword Index ends up in the hands of some government official, thereby facilitating eventually diplomatic negotiations between the mortal government and the demon realm. Strong shades of Urobuchi’s general distrust of centralized authority here – one man like Shang Bu Huan can maintain a moral duty, but once those swords got into the hands of the government, it’d be inevitable that the demons would make some offer that seemed reasonable to the bureaucratic machine

“The idea of an arsenal of weapons in the hands of someone with no desire to use them for personal gain… it makes me sick.” There’s an interesting tension in this aspect of Urobuchi’s philosophy: while he scorns any system that would force people to make sacrifices unwillingly for the greater good, his greatest champions are nonetheless the people who actually do take that burden upon themselves, out of kindness rather than obligation

Jun Po rightly points out that Xing Hai’s words seem to imply she sees his own master Ming Huang as easy to manipulate, at least in comparison to Shang

Yi Piaomiao offers an unsatisfying response to this: “if Ming Huang desires this alliance, then doubting him is treasonous.” Yi’s clearly not much of a thinker, if he’s resorting to such a clumsy semantic argument to dismiss a reasonable concern

Oh shit, he was actually playing the buffoon intentionally! After Xing Hai reveals that Shang is already within the Void Junction, Yi briefly takes Jun Po aside, noting that at least one of them should always be ready to report on demonic betrayal to Ming Huan. I’m sorry I misjudged you, Yi

I love the elaborate set for this crystal vine forest. Like with Bewitching Melody of the West, it feels like the scale of these constructions has been raised for the new season

Xing Hai sets out to greet her guests, reserving some well-earned venom for the Enigmatic Gale in particular

“How lucky to have found a location even more suitable than Night Devil Forest.” Honestly lady, you can barely walk ten steps in this world without stumbling over a place called the Witch Hell Grotto or Murder Kill Valley or something

I forgot that “Sword-Plundering Nemesis” was one of Shang’s other titles. He’s accumulated some great ones!

Yi still seems dangerously arrogant; assessing his enemies, he states that “I’ll handle Shang, the rest of you deal with the musician,” underestimating both Shang and his lesser-known companions

“There is no need to obey ideology in pursuit of power!” God I love Urobuchi villains

And Done

The battle for the fate of the world has begun! It really speaks to the fresh urgency of this season’s drama that the Seven Blasphemous Deaths was basically forgotten by the end, in the face of this new threat presented by our combined human and demonic enemies. But plot aside, this episode was also stuffed with plenty of the playful, alternately witty and wise dialogue that makes Thunderbolt Fantasy such a fun show to engage with, to say nothing of the beautiful new locales and furious fight scenes. Smart but never self-consciously so, and with an unerring focus on providing a persistently exciting, inventive adventure, Thunderbolt Fantasy feels as confident as ever. It’s good to be back with this charming sword-swinging crew.

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