Nowadays, donghua are as much a part of the anime world as their Japanese counterparts. In recent years, titles like Heaven Official’s Blessing, The Daily Life of the Immortal King and The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation have garnered an impressive following, rising through anime rankings and dethroning much longer-running and more famous series. Suffice it to say that Link Click, one of the most successful donghua of the last few years, has over 270 thousand members on MAL -- almost as many as Gintama’ Overdrive, currently ranked #11.
That said, many donghua are overlooked by the public -- sometimes because they are not available on the most popular anime streaming services such as Crunchyroll and Funimation, and other times simply because they slip under the radar. God Troubles Me, Bilibili’s 2019 slice-of-life/fantasy comedy, was certainly overlooked despite its great humor, original world-building and unconventional protagonist making it a must-watch for audiences in need of fresh content.
Su Moting Starts Living With a God And a Monster to Maintain the World's Order
Su Moting, a young woman still living with her parents, is forced to face the music when her parents decide to kick her out of the house in order to go traveling and enjoy their lives. With the order to leave, their parents also confess that she is half-immortal and half-monster. Now thrown into a world where gods inhabit objects and monsters turn into animals, Su Moting ends up sharing an apartment with cat-monster Dikui and immortal-cellphone Tianji, whom she has to help learn about human life so that order and peace in the world can be maintained.
While seemingly preposterous in its premise, God Troubles Me offers an original take on the otherwise rather stagnant genre of slice-of-life comedy. The fantasy spin, for instance, is more than just a choice dictated by the popularity of donghua whose protagonists are deities or demons -- in fact, the idea that immortals need to embody objects in order to help humanity is remarkably new. Immortals turn into people’s phones, air conditioners and headphones, while monsters observe and torment them in the form of cats, dogs and even cockroaches.
Unlike many anime, Su Moting isn’t a teenager who dreams of being a hero or getting together with her high school crush; instead, she is a 20-something who has been working for a few years and whose enthusiasm and dreams have been crushed by reality. Rather than targeting teenagers, God Troubles Me seems to want to extend its lessons to an older audience -- a group of people who are starting to grow up and face the struggles of adulthood. The show will certainly strike a chord with those who have just started to pay bills, do reports, look for a house or find a pension scheme. Far from being a role model, Su Moting refuses to own up to her responsibilities, determined to let life devour her.
God Troubles Me's Comedy Comes From Its Fresh Perspective on Daily Life
Much of the comedy of this series is derived from its fresh take on day-to-day occurrences. In one of the first episodes, Su Moting’s air conditioner breaks and is quickly repaired, finally being revealed as an immortal with a penchant for flattering people. Su Moting, Tianji and Dikui end up fighting about the temperature to keep in the house, without realizing that without the air conditioner, they’d be useless. The show doesn’t hold back on its critique of contemporary society’s dependence on technology -- phones, computers and hair straighteners come to life to demonstrate the absurdity of modernity.
Humor is also found in the pace of the scenes and the relatability of the events. Su Moting, angry at Tianji for one thing or the other, decides to leave him at home -- without thinking that she is effectively deciding to leave her phone behind. After a few minutes, she is at the door, begging Tianji to go with her, possibly unable to find her way to work without Google Maps. Just as funny, her adoration for cats allows Dikui to manipulate her easily, making it virtually impossible for her to do anything but obey him.
God Troubles Me’s inventiveness isn’t limited to the show itself. Even the recap sections at the beginning of the episode are exploited for humor and tone. Each recap is handled by a different character, who explains the story in their own way, sometimes completely distorting reality to make themselves look better. The ending theme, finally, is perhaps one of the most delightful ever created -- a cutout of Su Moting travels across a real city and along her day, going to work and for drinks, finally ending up at her window back home, looking out onto the street. It's a charming sequence that seems to pay homage to every person whose daily life, as boring as it may look, is still worth telling.
God Troubles Me Is Really About Friendship and Growing Up
The last episode of the first season is enlightening in how heartwarming it is. Asked to choose between keeping Dikui and Tianji in her life and going back to a peaceful life, Su Moting decides to keep her unconventional roommates. Watching God Troubles Me feels almost like sitting through reruns of Friends -- Su Moting, Tianji and Dikui are always going through the most ridiculous misadventures and the silliest fights, but in the end, they’re just learning to be real friends. For Su Moting, living with the immortal and the monster means renouncing her idle life to finally make real connections and enjoy her youth. Growing up isn’t only about a job and an apartment, but also about choosing one's family.
While it might not be as exciting as Link Click or look as beautiful as Heaven Official’s Blessings, God Troubles Me is a wholesome watch for those days when life’s problems suddenly look insurmountable. With its 10 minutes of silliness, fun and heart per episode, God Troubles Me can remind viewers that there is beauty even in the smallest of their everyday actions, and that happiness can be achieved as simply as through a genuine moment of empathy and love.