One of iQIYI’s most anticipated Chinese anime this 2022 is The Mirage House in the Clouds or also known as Yun Zhong Ju San Zi (云中居三子), the sequel to the 2019’s award-winning short film Spirit of the Drowning Girls which was based off an 11th-century poem by DongPo Su.
Spirit of the Drowning Girls Plot
The story is based on the letter of a famous Chinese scholar whose plot tells about a young kungfu master who falls into the trap of an evil spirit that enslaves dead girls drowned by their parents.
Source: LGBTANIMES+
However, the upcoming sequel is an original story that revolves around the adventure of three teenagers set in a fantasy world of Ancient China and has a different feel than the majority of Chinese anime out there. In any essence, it resembles those animated works from the Golden Era of Chinese Animation from the 1950s and 1960s while having that modern effects and quality through the traditional Chinese art form that can be seen from selected donghua such as Fog Hill of Five Elements, The Founder of Diabolism, A Will Eternal; while the mood of the story is quite similar to Big Fish and Begonia. The donghua is also known by a title such as Three Sons of the Cloud.
The Mirage House in The Clouds Synopsis
The series tells the fantastic story of three teenagers with different personalities – Xiao Liang, Chong Ming, and Jiang Cheng – who travel and grow up in the man’s world, fight with various characters with their wits and courage, and experience love and hatred in the struggle with life and fate.
Source: Escape Velocity Animation
The Mirage House in the Clouds is currently in production and had been listed as part of iQIYI’s Chinese anime lineup for 2022, although it is originally scheduled for release in 2021. It is animated by Escape Velocity Animation which also worked on sci-fi donghua called Tacit Blue (Chenmo Zhi Lan).
The adventure and fantasy donghua is scheduled to have 26 episodes with 10 minutes in length each for its first season. The series is also expected to release a movie this year.
Promotional Images for The Mirage House in the Clouds
