Thunderbolt Fantasy: The Sword of Life and Death
Original title: Thunderbolt Fantasy: Shā Wú Shēng Pīan
Trailer
Synopsis
A theatrical entry in the glove-puppetry saga, split into two stories set on either side of the show's first season. In the first, the assassin Shā Wú Shēng — the self-styled "Eradicator of Life" — serves as bodyguard to the thief Lǐn Xuě Yā, until a sword tournament exposes the fault line that will turn them into bitter enemies. In the second, the wandering swordsman Shāng Bù Huàn runs into an impostor spinning wild tales of his own adventures, just as the surviving remnants of the Xuán Guǐ Zōng clan close in for revenge.
Context & Trivia
The film's puppets are traditional Taiwanese budaixi (glove) puppets, roughly a meter tall, with carved wooden heads and hands, cloth bodies and flowing robes designed to hide the performer's arm. They were built and brought to life by craftsmen and puppeteers from Pili International Multimedia, the Huang family's Taiwan-based studio that produces the entire Thunderbolt Fantasy franchise; the studio's senior puppeteers, including Chen-Ching Ting and Yi-Tsun Hsiao, have performed the series' characters at overseas conventions. Character designs originated with Nitroplus artists Chūō Higashiguchi, Niθ, Shinov Mimori and Satoru Minamoto, with Good Smile Company acting as modeling consultant, before Pili's craftsmen translated the artwork into physical puppets, blending budaixi conventions with anime-style features such as unusually large, expressive eyes. According to crew members, this installment pushed Pili's practical gore effects further than any previous entry, to the point that some staff joked about being eyed suspiciously in public after days spent drenched in fake blood.
Voices
Junichi Suwabe, Kosuke Toriumi, Nobuyuki Hiyama
Puppet design
Chūō Higashiguchi, Niθ, Shinov Mimori, Satoru Minamoto
Puppet companies
Pili International Multimedia
Puppet building
Pili Puppet Show
Created by
Gen Urobuchi
Direction
Gen Urobuchi
Writing
Gen Urobuchi
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