Donghua for Beginners: 12 Series to Start With
Twelve entry points into Chinese animation, matched to what you already like: thrillers, action sagas, comedies, danmei, and more. No homework required.
Updated 2026-07-02
You do not need to know what a dantian is to start watching donghua. The right first series depends on what you already like, so this list is organized by taste. Every pick has an official English release; check each entry's page for current platforms.
If you want the one that converts everyone
Link Click (时光代理人). Two men dive into photographs to relive the moment they were taken; one sees the future, one becomes the past, and they must never change recorded history. Stylish, devastating, and paced like prestige TV. If you watch a single donghua, watch this.
If you like action choreography
Fog Hill of Five Elements (雾山五行). A short series with some of the most jaw-dropping hand-drawn action animation made anywhere, in a folk-art palette of vermilion and ink. There are only a handful of episodes; you will wish there were fifty.
Rakshasa Street (镇魂街) is the longer-haul alternative: guardian spirits, street-level battles, and a shonen heart.
If you like comedies
Scissor Seven (刺客伍六七). A broke barber moonlights as a bottom-ranked assassin. Deadpan, surprisingly tender, and on Netflix worldwide with a strong dub.
White Cat Legend (大理寺日志) gives you Tang dynasty bureaucracy run by a giant white cat, and it is exactly as delightful as that sounds.
If you came from danmei novels (or are danmei-curious)
Mo Dao Zu Shi (魔道祖师). The resurrected "founder of demonic cultivation" untangles the conspiracy that killed him, alongside the one man who never doubted him. Gorgeous production and the gateway drug for a whole fandom.
Heaven Official's Blessing (天官赐福). A god who ascended three times meets a ghost king who has waited eight hundred years. Softer pacing, stunning art direction.
If you want the big cultivation saga experience
Battle Through the Heavens (斗破苍穹). The definitive face-slapping epic: a fallen genius rebuilds himself with the help of a spirit in a ring. "Three years, then look up to me" is the genre's most famous promise.
A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality (凡人修仙传) is the connoisseur pick: a pragmatic nobody schemes his way up the cultivation ladder with zero plot armor energy. The most novel-faithful and the best 3DCG craft in the category.
If you like sci-fi
Ling Cage: Incarnation (灵笼). Post-apocalyptic survivors live in a lighthouse above a monster-covered earth, under rules that are their own kind of monstrous. Mature, grim, and ambitious.
If you like superheroes and gaming
To Be Hero X (凸变英雄X). Heroes are powered by public trust scores in a genre-hopping anthology with wild visual swings; it made a global splash in 2025.
The King's Avatar (全职高手). A legendary esports pro gets forced into retirement and grinds back from an internet cafe. The competence fantasy is immaculate.
And one film night
Start with Ne Zha, then White Snake, then The Legend of Hei. Three completely different answers to what a Chinese animated feature can be; all three have sequels waiting if they land.
How to watch (the short version)
Netflix and Crunchyroll carry the crossover hits; Tencent's WeTV app and official YouTube channels carry the cultivation sagas; bilibili's Bstation covers much of the rest. Full breakdown: Where to Watch Donghua.
