The Daily Life of the Immortal King is a school life/ fantasy donghua (Chinese animation) produced by Bilibili. With the world’s spiritual energy still in a failing state after Wang Ling contorted the fabric of reality to bring Sun Rong back to life, you’d think things would slow down for the students of Faction 60. But that doesn’t seem likely. When the mundane moments of life collide with a mystery from a decade ago, our favorite magical students are liking to find themselves in over their heads in The Daily Life of the Immortal King Episode 18.
This week’s episode takes us to an unassuming swordliner(magical airplane shaped like a sword) as it cruises through the sky for its opening. The sequence focuses on two particular passengers as the liner suffers some turbulence. The rear of the plane soon explodes, sucking one of the two passengers out.
Jumping from there, The Daily Life of the Immortal King Episode 18 returns to the classroom of our protagonists just as they are introduced to a new classmate. After doing well in the recent evaluation, Lin Xiaoyu has moved up to the Elite Class. For some unknown reason, Ling can’t shake the feeling he’s seen this new student before.
After class, Xiaoyu has a run-in with Ling and company when their pursuit of a mysterious woman on campus sends them headlong into the path of their newest classmate. The mystery of the woman and what it adds to previously established elements of the show produce a fun and engaging tale.
The fun, light-hearted twists and turns this story follows are brilliant. Every new revelation made me smile. The way it builds on the elements of the story we know without changing or contradicting the past is the best kind of retroactive world-building.
Bringing additional energy to The Daily Life of the Immortal King Episode 18 is the wonderful character designs the show introduces here. The mysterious figure that the students follow blends the elements of her particular personality, with the show’s overall goofiness to manage to make her feel right for her backstory, while not out of place for the show’s setting.
Also, as a side note, I wanted to mention something. Before the show properly begins, viewers see a brief scene of Ling fighting a dragon. If this moment feels jarring, don’t worry, it’s just a commercial. Those whose only experience with donghua is from Netflix’s offerings won’t be used to the ads preceding shows that utilize the show’s characters and locales. Funimation’s presentation has these ads included.
When all is said and done, The Daily Life of the Immortal King Episode 18 provides a fun, unique mystery whose revelations play with the backstory of the series in a way that adds to its lore, while managing to not muddy the waters of the series’ continuity. I look forward to seeing what impact the episode’s final reveal has on the show as it moves forward.
The Daily Life of the Immortal King Episode 18 is streaming on Funimation.
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8.5/10
TL;DR
When all is said and done, The Daily Life of the Immortal King Episode 18 provides a fun, unique mystery whose revelations play with the backstory of the series in a way that adds to its lore, while managing to not muddy the waters of the series’ continuity. I look forward to seeing what impact the episode’s final reveal has on the show as it moves forward.