Thunderbolt Fantasy
Thunderbolt Fantasy is a Japanese-Taiwanese glove puppetry television series created and written by Gen Urobuchi and produced as a collaboration between Japanese companies Nitroplus and Good Smile Company and Taiwanese puppet production company Pili International Multimedia. The series began airing in Japan starting July 8, 2016 and is being simulcast by Bahamut and iQiyi Taiwan in Taiwan, bilibili in Mainland China, and Crunchyroll in the United States. It has two official languages: the Taiwanese Min-Nan version aired in Taiwan, and the Japanese version aired outside Taiwan. A manga adaptation illustrated by Yui Sakuma began serialization in Kodansha's Weekly Morning magazine on July 21, 2016. A second adaption, told from the perspective of Dān Fěi, and illustrated by Kairi Shimotsuki, began serialization in Akita Shoten's Champion Cross online magazine on September 27, 2016. A side novel that focuses on the pasts of Lǐn Xuě Yā, Xíng Hài, and Shā Wú Shēng was released on April 7, 2017. A second season aired in 2018 under the title of Thunderbolt Fantasy: Sword Seekers. A third season is currently in development. It was set to premiere in 2020 but has been delayed to next year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Plot
Set in an Eastern fantasy setting, Dān Fěi and her brother, guardians of a sword known as the Tiān Xíng Jiàn, are pursued by the evil Xuán Guǐ Zōng clan, who seek to obtain the sword for their master, Miè Tiān Hái. While her brother is defeated, Fěi, who possesses the sword's crossguard, escapes and finds herself in the care of the wandering swordsman, Shāng Bù Huàn, and a mysterious man named Lǐn Xuě Yā, who become her protectors from the pursuing Xuán Guǐ Zōng clan.Characters
※ Character names are presented in the format of Chinese Personal Name / Chinese Art name. Chinese personal names and their Japanese romanizations are presented with the character's surname appearing first, followed by their given name.Main characters
;Shāng Bù Huàn Rèn Wú Fēng;Lǐn Xuě Yā Lüè Fēng Qiè Chén
Season 1
Allies
;Dān Fěi;Dān Héng
;Shòu Yún Xiāo Ruì Yǎn Chuān Yáng
;Juǎn Cán Yún Hán Hè
;Xíng Hài Qì Xiāo
;Shā Wú Shēng Míng Fèng Jué Shā
;Lián Qí
Antagonists
;Miè Tiān Hái Sēn Luó Kū Gǔ;Cán Xiōng
;Liè Mèi
;Diāo Mìng
Season 2
Allies
;Làng Wū Yáo / Xián Gē Duàn XiéAntagonists
;Xiào Kuáng Juàn / Zhuī Mìng Líng Hú;Xiē Yīng Luò / Shí Xīn Dú Jī
;Huò Shì Míng Huáng
;Lóu Zhèn Jiè Dì Kōng
;Qī Shā Tiān Líng
;Mò Wáng
Bewitching Melody of The West
Mù Tiān MìngZhòu Xún Yīn
Cháo Fēng
Tiān Gōng Guǐ Jiàng
Others
;Narration;Tiě Dí Xiān
;Luán Niángzi
;Bó Yáng Hóu
Development
In 2014, Urobuchi came across Pili's exhibition booth within a Taiwanese comic convention while he was invited as the convention's special guest. He was greatly impacted by their execution of the art form, prompting him to take home a full set of Pili's puppet show series to share with his associates within the Japanese ACG industry, and was eager to either plan an original story, or license a couple of series with Pili to dub into Japanese. The news of Urobuchi's interest in Taiwanese puppetry quickly made its way to Pili, which had a decent percentage of staff members who were, according to Nitroplus representative, Digitarou, "anime savvy, Urobuchi fans." Therefore, Pili International were also actively searching for ways to contact Urobuchi. Both parties contacted each other within a day's time frame asking if they wanted to create something fun together; after various discussions from both parties, they decided to create an original story that is, first and foremost, "a straight-forward narrative" easy for first-time puppetry viewers and the anime demographic to process and appreciate. Hence the birth of the Thunderbolt Fantasy Project.Media
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was composed by Hiroyuki Sawano and released on August 24, 2016. The music was composed by Hiroyuki Sawano and the lyrics were written by Benjamin & mpiTelevision series
Thunderbolt Fantasy was first announced on February 5, 2016. The series was created and written by Nitroplus' Gen Urobuchi, who used a full year to develop the script closely with Pili. The voices were originally performed in Min-Nan Chinese based on the translated Japanese script for the puppetry performance and broadcast in Taiwan. The episodes were then dubbed into Mandarin Chinese and Japanese for their respective regions' broadcast, with the Japanese version licensed to simulcast outside of Asia by Crunchyroll starting July 8, 2016. The opening theme is "Raimei" performed by T.M.Revolution. A sequel was announced at the end of the first season's final episode.For the second season, the opening theme and the ending theme are "His/Story" and "Roll The Dice", respectively, both performed by Takanori Nishikawa.
Season 1 (2016)
Season 2 (2018)
The second season premiered in October 2018.| No. in season | No. in series | Title | Original air date |
Season 1 Home video release
Japanese
The Japanese version released both DVD and Blu-Ray editions incorporating Traditional Chinese and Japanese subtitles, audio commentaries featuring the Japanese voice casts and Gen Urobuchi, along with an extra soundtrack disc from Hiroyuki Sawano.| Volume | Release Date | Episodes | Features |
| Volume 1 | September 7, 2019 | 1–3 |
|
| Volume 2 | October 5, 2016 | 4–6 | |
| Volume 3 | November 2, 2016 | 7–9 | |
| Volume 4 | December 7, 2016 | 10–13 |
Taiwanese
Manga
''Thunderbolt Fantasy''
Two manga adaptations have been released in Japan, the first one under the same title as the television series, written by Urobuchi and illustrated by Yui Sakuma, which began serialization in Kodansha's Weekly Morning magazine on July 21, 2016.''Thunderbolt Fantasy: Otome Genyūki''
The second manga is a webmanga titled Thunderbolt Fantasy: Otome Genyūki written by the Thunderbolt Fantasy Project. It is illustrated by Kairi Shimotsuki, creator of Brave 10 and Madness, and presents Dān Fěi's perspective of her journey. Otome Genyūki began serialization under Akita Shoten's Champion Cross web magazine on September 27, 2016. The final chapter was released on February 28, 2017.Novel
The Thunderbolt Fantasy main website announced on December 28, 2016 that a side novel of the show was currently in progress.On January 20, 2017, the Nitroplus website revealed the name of the novel to be Thunderbolt Fantasy Gaiden and that it would mainly focus on Lǐn Xuě Yā, Xíng Hài, and Shā Wú Shēng's pasts. It is written by Erika Mitsunori and Shotaro Teshirogi and illustrated by Shinov Mimori and Minamoto Satoshi, and supervised by Gen Urobuchi. The release date was April 7, 2017.
Theatrical films
On March 25, 2017 at AnimeJapan 2017, it was announced that there would be an upcoming special project called Thunderbolt Fantasy: The Sword of Life and Death. The special has two parts, akin to an omnibus format. Adapted from the "Setsumushō-hen" story from the side novel Thunderbolt Fantasy: Tōriken Kōki Gaiden, part one is a prequel about Shā Wú Shēng's past. Meanwhile, part two adapts a new story penned by Urobuchi starring Shāng Bù Huàn. This story takes place between season 1 and season 2. While Nitroplus did not indicate what format the special would take form at the time, the release date for the special was originally set as November 2017. However, Thunderbolt Fantasy Project later revealed the special would be aired as a theatrical motion picture film on December 2, 2017 in eight Japanese cinemas, and December 8, 2017 in Taiwan. The film was released on a physical disc on April 4, 2018.The second movie, Thunderbolt Fantasy: Seiyū Genka, known in English as Thunderbolt Fantasy – Bewitching Melody of the West was released on October 25, 2019 in both Japan and Taiwan and on December 24 on Crunchyroll. The film is an origin story of the Làng Wū Yáo character from childhood to first joining the travels of Shāng Bù Huàn and takes place entirely before the first season. It also introduces the new character of Mù Tiān Mìng a female musician, sword fighter and companion of Shāng Bù Huàn. The film ends with a brief epilogue by Lǐn Xuě Yā teasing that the fate of Mù Tiān Mìng and why she was not with Shāng Bù Huàn when he arrived in Dōng Li would be explained in season 3.