"Firstly, you only get 12 hours. Secondly, follow my lead and change nothing. Thirdly...
...past or future... just let them be."
...past or future... just let them be."
— Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi
Shi Guang Dai Li Ren (时光代理人) also known as "Time Agents" and then renamed to Link Click, is an original animated series under Haoliners Animation League and Studio LAN produced by Bilibili. It's also being streamed by Funimation and Crunchyroll.
Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang run a photo studio called "Time Photo Studio" where they are able to enter the world of the photos their clients provide for them and complete their requests in those twelve hours.
The first season aired between April 30th and July 9th, 2021. A season 2 was announced shortly after the airing of the 11th episode of the first season, and premiered on July 14th and was completed on September 22nd, 2023.
The series provides examples of:
- All Men Are Perverts: When Cheng Xiaoshi inhabits Emma's body, he stares at his new form for a few seconds before he attempts to touch his chest. Lu Guang immediately calls him out and tells him to stay focused.
- Cliffhanger: This show is fond of giving these at the end of each episode. In the season 1 finale where the true serial killer is revealed and they kill three people simultaneously from Emma in the past, Liu Min and Lu Guang in the present.
- Dub Name Change: Subverted. The characters actual names remains the same in the Japanese dub i.e. Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang and they are refered to as such in formal conversations. They are however also given nicknames (or "codenames" according to the intro) based on the Japanese readings of their names: "Toki" for Cheng Xiaoshi and and "Hikaru" for Lu Guang, presumably to make it easier for Japanese audiences.
- Older Than They Look: Surprisingly, Lu Guang is actually a bit younger than Cheng Xiaoshi, but it's hard to tell given how different the both act for their age.
- Implied in the promotional art for the show, where Lu Guang's age is always blurred out. The reason for this is shown in the Season 2 finale when it's revealed that Lu Guang is from an alternate timeline where Cheng Xiaoshi has died, and has been implied to have traveled to several others and reliving the moments before Cheng Xiaoshi's death. This would mean he is mentally more older than he physically is.
- One Character, Multiple Lives: Cheng Xiaoshi possess the people in the photos and acts out their lives while trying not to change too much that would affect the timeline.
- Race Against the Clock: Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi's cases are usually limited to twelve hours with each "dive" and have to uncover what it is their client wants within that time limit and also fulfill their clients request.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Lu Guang is the blue oni, Xiaoshi is the red oni.
- Seers: Lu Guang can see 12 hours of what had occurred in the photos and uses that to help guide Cheng Xiaoshi in order to not change anything in the past. It's likely he saw Emma's death occurring which was why he was so adamant Cheng Xiaoshi not do anything crazy, nor wonder about Emma's future and doesn't tell him about the news reporting Emma's "suicide".
- Shout-Out: In episode 5.5, the main cast are playing a mobile fighting game that vaguely resembles The King of Fighters. In the game world perspective, they are even wearing outfits referencing Kyo Kusanagi, Mai Shiranui, and Terry Bogard.
- Theme Naming: The 时(time) in Xiaoshi's name and 光(light) in Lu Guang's name combine to make up 时光， another word for time or era. It doubles as a reference to the title.
- Time Travel: Cheng Xiaoshi can travel through time in the photos, usually going back twelve hours from when the photo was taken. He can even go back years depending on what their clients have provided them, but can only stay in for twelve hours in each photo and then the photo is useless.
- Wham Line: After Lu Guang gets stabbed by a possessed Qiao Ling, the true serial killer smiles at Cheng Xiaoshi who had just come back from his failed dive to attempt to save Emma."And now the game has been reset."
- Wham Shot: The end of the first episode provides one where, after asking and making sure that Cheng Xiaoshi really didn't do anything crazy as Emma Lu Guang looks at a news report showing Emma's profile with her eyes blocked out saying her body was found in a river in what appears to have been a suicide. He calmly closes his phone after Cheng Xiaoshi calls him over to meet their next client.
- Wonder Twin Powers: Although Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi aren't related to each other, their abilities only work when the two work together. Also, the only way they can truly activate it is by clapping their hands together.
- Season 2 introduces Li Tianxi and Li Tianchen (Red Eyes) whose powers work in a similar manner to that of Cheng Xiaoshi's and Lu Guang's, albeit Li Tianchen can possess people through photographs in the present, rather than the past, and Li Tianxi feels the client's emotions and memories, but can't possess the client directly.
- Word Power: When Cheng Xiaoshi utters "Gear Up. Dive!" before beginning their work. Although he has proven that he doesn't always need to say it.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Lu Guang constantly tells this to Cheng Xiaoshi when they dive, saying that no matter what he cannot change the past, especially someone's death. This comes true as Cheng Xiaoshi attempts to stop Emma from committing suicide, only to fail as the true serial killer possesses her and forces her to jump to her death.
- Lu Guang defies this in the Season 2 finale, when it's revealed that he's from an alternate timeline that traveled to this one in a last-ditch attempt to prevent Cheng Xiaoshi from dying. The reason Lu Guang always tells Cheng Xiaoshi this is because he's afraid that further changes to the timeline might inadvertently cause his death.
