Based on the famous novel by Yuan Ye, better known as Cuttlefish That Loves Diving, Lord of Mysteries released its donghua (Chinese animated series) on June 28th, 2025. The stellar animation, soundtrack, and the unique worldbuilding quickly drew fans in, and the story has a long way to go. The novel already has a global fan base, thanks to its unique storyline, so fans have high expectations from the animated series. While it’s true that the Japanese anime industry garners most of the global audience, Chinese animation is also gaining more attention in recent years. Critically acclaimed mystery series like Link Click and fantasy like Heaven’s Official Blessing have already seen a rise in donghua popularity.
Additionally, the most surprising donghua of the Super Cubewhich was released this year, immediately went viral and broke all records thanks to the stellar visuals and fluid fight choreography. Surpassing the hype of Super Cube, Lord of Mysteries has claimed its spot as one of the best 2025 animated series, but the adaptation is far from perfect. The first season is scheduled for 13 episodes. While anime-only fans may not be able to tell a difference, light novel readers can figure out the issue at a glance, and it’s quite concerning.
Lord of Mysteries Will Keep Its Fast Pacing Until Episode 4
The original novel was published in over 1400 chapters within 18 volumes, which were released between 2020 and 2023. While the pacing of the first episode was still somewhat reasonable, the real issue began in Episode 2, which adapted a total of 30 chapters. The third episode, which will be released on July 5th, 2025, will also cover almost the same number of chapters as the second episode.
According to a fan account on X, a B.C May Pictures higher-up confirmed having production restraints, so they have no choice but to end Episode 3 with a certain fight against the Clown. The account shares, “As is clear from the comments made by the Boss and the studio staff, no one is satisfied with the pacing in the first three episodes of LOTM. However, they were forced into this due to a contract that required them to adapt the clown fight within those first three episodes.”
The account further continues, “This was mainly because of Tencent and its specific contractual terms, as many fans in China have pointed out. Tencent showed no concern for proper pacing. Their only priority was to showcase the clown fight by episode 3. That’s why the director stated that the pacing will slow down, and the Boss specifically praised episode 4 and beyond as being much better than the first three episodes. So if you didn’t like the pacing, please be patient. It gets better.”
The story is quite long, and going by the novel’s pace will take forever for the story to continue. As we can see in the first two episodes, the budget of the animation is nothing to sneeze at. Hence, by specifically highlighting the major events in the first three episodes, the studio plans to build up the hype before returning to a more stable pacing.
H/T: @LOTM_WORLD on X
