Feng Ling Yu Xiu (Simplified Chinese: 风灵玉秀, Hanyu Pinyin: Fěng Líng Yù Xiù) is an original animated series hosted on the Chinese video sharing website Bilibili
. In 2016, Bilibili released a music video made by creator DDF as part of its New Year's greetings. Since then, four episodes of Feng Ling Yu Xiu, whose main characters are those depicted in the music video, have been released, one per year. The story follows two girls, Feng Ling'er and Bai Yuxiu, as they travel the land. Unfortunately for them, they end up frequently getting embroiled in the matters of the martial underworld, having to rely on their wits and Yuxiu's bizarre supernatural strength to stay safe. However, the Powers That Be seem to have no intention of letting them go, and unbeknownst to the them, they are being pursued by several actors of ambiguous intentions.
The series can be viewed in the west on Bilibili's YouTube account.
Feng Ling Yu Xiu contains examples of:
- Animation Bump: Episode 4 relative to episode 3.
- Art Shift: The series as a whole has a different art style from the original music video, and episode 2 in particular has a significantly different style from the rest of the series.
- Artifact of Power: The agarwood swallow.
- Artistic License – Martial Arts: Obviously, this being wuxia.
- In episode 3, Yuxiu makes use of Stepping Stones in the Sky, one of which Ling'er is holding onto.
- In episode 4, Yuxiu rotates her body into the air using the guy whose head she's pressing down as a fulcrum, does a Wall Run up her assailant's torso, does a headstand atop his head, then proceeds to Do a Barrel Roll when a knife is thrown at her and catch it in her mouth.
- Asshole Victim: Master Cui serves as this in the first episode. It's mentioned by a local that his boisterous behavior is less than becoming of the son of an official. This, along with the fact that he has no need of the money, seems to be the pretext used for stealing from him by Yuxiu, at least. And though he might not exactly fall under Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy, that combination of words does seem fitting when he catches them in the act.
- Butt-Monkey: Master Cui serves as this. Though he wasn't portrayed as especially incompetent in combat in the first episode, in subsequent ones, he lacks both Ling'er's cunning and Yuxiu's strength.
- Conspicuous CG: Given the contrast between it and the rest of the series, episode 2 qualifies as this.
- Epunymous Title: The two leads' names in Pinyin are Fěng Líng'ér and Bái Yùxiù. The series's name in Pinyin is Fěng Líng Yù Xiù. It should be noted that the characters are not the same.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: It is never indicated in the series during which dynasty or reign era the series takes place, but the setting is either Imperial China or something very similar to it.
- Genre Savvy: Yuxiu seems to think she's in some kind of wuxia story. Which she is.
- The Ghost: Though he's been mentioned plenty, Chen Feiyan has yet to make an onscreen appearance.
- The Idealist: Yuxiu seems taken with the idea of herself and her travel companions as heroes of lofty ideals.
- Info Dump:
- The old man and his classmate's student do a lot of this.
- The Azure Dragon Syndicate also do some of this, including some As You Know, among themselves.
- In episode 3, some random extras discuss the Azure Dragon Syndicate's whereabouts among themselves.
- Lady Looks Like a Dude: Feng Ling'er is mistaken for a boy in the first episode, much to her chagrin.
- Limited Wardrobe: The only characters shown in a change of clothes are the performers when they go to corral the protagonists into their trap. Everyone else keeps the same clothing. In particular:
- Feng Ling'er wears baggy dark blue/purple trousers, boots, a pinkish overcoat, and red bracers and a bandana.
- Within the story, Bai Yuxiu wears a light blue overcoat over a purple ruqun. However, she is portrayed wearing a fur coat and a white-light-blue zhiju in the opening, also sporting a different hairstyle in the latter case.
- Master Cui wears a predominantly blue-and-yellow zhiju.
- Lovable Rogue: Feng Ling'er.
- Mystical White Hair. Bai Yuxiu has it. Her strange power is of particular interest to the Azure Dragon Syndicate.
- No Full Name Given:
- Master Cui's given name has yet to be revealed in-universe. He's simply referred to as Cui Gongzi, 公子 (gōng zǐ) meaning son of a high-status or respected person.
- Feng Ling'er's surname has yet to be mentioned in-universe. She's simply called Ling'er by Bai Yuxiu and 小贼 (xiǎo zéi; "little thief") by everyone else.
- No one else's name is mentioned save for Chen Feiyan, who is never seen, and some of the performers sent after the protagonists.
- Prefers Going Barefoot/ Martial Artists Are Always Barefoot: Nan Sheng is a barefooter and a fighter.
- Princely Young Man: Master Cui is a downplayed example of the Spoiled Brat type.
- Puppy Love: Fairy strongly implied between Bai Yuxiu and Feng Ling'er in the original music video. Downplayed in the series proper, but still teased. The ambiguity of their age makes it difficult to gauge to what extent this trope applies.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Aside from having a warm and cool color scheme when it comes to character design respectively, where Feng Ling'er can be prickly and abrasive, Bai Yuxiu is well-mannered and cheery. However, Bai Yuxiu has been shown to dilly-dally in dangerous situations and revel in combat whereas Ling'er is more careful.
- Shaking Her Hair Loose: Happens to Bai Yuxiu when she undergoes a Power-Up.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Though Yuxiu's age isn't made clear, that she speaks casually of a brothel on the ship from episode 2 as a girl of upper-class upbringing in a presumably Confucian society is strange in itself.
- Wuxia: Traveling martial artists makes for a pretty clear-cut example of this.
