Despite its high anticipation as a top summer adaptation, Lord of Mysteries has already sparked controversy, particularly with Crunchyroll.
Before Lord of Mysteries was even released, critics were already dubbing it the next Solo Leveling. Now, after being available on Crunchyroll for a few days, the series has sparked controversy, largely due to Crunchyroll’s poor translation quality.
What is the Lord of Mysteries?
Before diving into the controversy surrounding Lord of Mysteries, it’s important to provide some context about the anime. Also known as Guimi Zhi Zhu: Xiaochou Pian (诡秘之主), Lord of Mysteries adapts a widely acclaimed Chinese novel that has captivated audiences both in China and around the world.
The novel dominated Qidian’s popularity rankings. It held the #1 spot for several consecutive months and attracted over ten million readers in 2023 alone. Its success and cultural significance are further underscored by its inclusion among the 144 novels preserved in the National Library of China. This is a huge honor that highlights its lasting cultural value and ensures its preservation for future generations.
At the Tencent Animation Conference in August 2023, they officially announced that Lord of Mysteries would be adapted into an anime. The reveal came with a trailer showcasing stunning visuals, which sparked excitement among fans. The series is set to premiere on June 28, 2025, with a special double-episode debut airing simultaneously on multiple domestic Asian platforms and internationally on Crunchyroll. With so much hype surrounding the anime, when did the controversy begin?
In a Victorian world of steam, dreadnoughts, and occult horrors, Zhou Mingrui awakens as Klein Moretti. He walks a razor’s edge between light and darkness, entangled with warring Churches. This is the legend of unlimited potential…and unspeakable danger.
Crunchyroll poor translations
Just one day after Lord of the Mysteries premiered on Crunchyroll, users took to X to harshly criticize the platform’s poor translation. They accused Crunchyroll of leaving out multiple important story elements, such as chants and character names, that appeared untranslated in Chinese on screen.
The mistranslation of the "Spectator Pathway" as "Sequence 9 Audience" particularly outraged fans. Crunchyroll completely omitted key details, such as the crucial luck enhancement during the show, which fueled even more frustration.
They also highlighted how Crunchyroll spread outright misinformation by adding details that never appeared in the show, such as claiming the character Melissa is at Backlund University, even though she neither fits the age nor is shown to be there at any point.
Others pointed out the poor promotion of the show by Crunchyroll. Some fans are even advising new viewers to watch the episodes from piracy websites, not to miss the real essence of the show.
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Fast pacing and production constraints
Fans have heavily criticized Tencent Studio, known for producing various Chinese adaptations, for rushing the storyline and altering the show’s pacing just to fit an iconic fight into episode three.
The director himself confirmed these claims during a live stream with the novel's author, revealing that production faced significant constraints. As a result, they had to break down and rearrange many key moments fans care about. They pushed them to later episodes to allow for better character development. He explained that the current fast pace is intentional. Later, the show will slow down and breathe in the episodes that follow. The first three episodes adapted an average of 75 chapters.
Use of Artificial Intelligence
The use of Artificial Intelligence has also been a topic of discussion in the Lord of the Mysteries fandom. Firstly, in some languages, such as French, Crunchyroll was accused of using AI to translate the French subtitles from the already poor English translation of the Lord of Mysteries. "It's already though to follow the beginning, so if the translation is this bad, it's not going to help at all," wrote a fan on X.
Qidian announced an exclusive side story for Lord of the Mysteries, featuring multiple diary entries from key characters, letters never sent, top-secret dossiers, mysterious items, and much more. Two days later, fans shared that Qidian had deleted all eight side stories due to backlash.
Lord of the Mysteries has a large female Dujoshi/Boy Love (BL) fan base who have read thousands of fanfictions about Klein and Leonard’s love story. When Qidian released the side stories, many of these female fans recognized a specific fanfiction allegedly used as input for the AI that generated the side stories. In fact, parts of the stories traced back to existing Lord of the Mysteries fanfictions. As a result, Qidian removed all the side stories from the Webnovel app. This information was not confirmed or denied by the responsible party.
Lord of the Mysteries: Where to watch?
No matter what you read online about the show, watch it and draw your conclusions. The lore of the Lord of the Mysteries is incredibly vast, and you can explore it in full through this comprehensive, spoiler-free thread on X. Maybe you'll find a great story behind so many opinions!
You can watch the Chinese anime on Crunchyroll. As of the time of writing, it holds an impressive 9.0/10 rating on IMDb, based on over 1,500 reviews. On MyAnimeList, it boasts an 8.76 score from more than 5,000 users.
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