{"id":1052078,"date":"2026-01-18T14:19:44","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T14:19:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=486661"},"modified":"2026-01-18T14:19:44","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T14:19:44","slug":"the-legend-of-hei-is-the-perfect-animated-companion-for-flow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-legend-of-hei-is-the-perfect-animated-companion-for-flow\/","title":{"rendered":"The Legend of Hei is the perfect animated companion for Flow"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As the opening scenes of Gints Zilbalodis\u2019 gorgeous, wordless Latvian animated movie Flow<\/em><\/a> started unfolding on the screen, I had a moment of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu. The image of a little black cat with huge wide eyes, frantically navigating a verdant green forest during a shocking disaster \u2014 I\u2019d seen it before. The panicked animals, the sense of a nightmare closing in on them all, the contrast between the cat\u2019s cartoony style and its believable feline reactions to danger \u2014 they all seemed so familiar. Eventually, I realized why: I was recalling the opening scenes of China\u2019s absorbing 2019 animated fantasy The Legend of Hei<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Legend of Hei<\/em> starts in a simple place, with Hei the black cat peacefully (and adorably) at rest in his forest home, communing with the little nature spirits that live there. Once things start going wrong, though, events escalate quickly \u2014\u00a0so quickly that it\u2019s easy to get left behind if you don\u2019t already know about the world he lives in.<\/p>\n

The voyage of discovery will be an enjoyable experience for viewers who prefer to see movies completely unspoiled \u2014 if that\u2019s you, I\u2019d suggest not reading any further (or watching the trailer below) until you\u2019ve watched the movie, because it\u2019s impossible to discuss even the basic setup without touching on things the movie doesn\u2019t initially reveal. Just know that what initially looks like a cutesy animal story turns into an epic adventure, packed with over-the-top badass supernatural battles and a sense of melancholy about the state of the environment that meshes well with Flow<\/em>\u2019s gentle elegiac tone.<\/p>\n

And while those opening scenes may look visually simple, The Legend of Hei<\/em> mirrors Flow <\/em>in putting a visually streamlined, cartoony character in the middle of much richer backdrops, contrasting his stripped-down look with the vastness and richness of the world around him.<\/p>\n

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The Legend of Hei<\/em> has a complicated backstory as a movie. Hei first showed up in a 2011 animated Chinese web series called The Legend of Luo Xiaohei<\/em>, which expanded into comics in 2015, and eventually became a mobile game called Luo Xiaohei Wars: The Demon Spirit Book<\/em><\/a>. Different sites have transliterated the movie\u2019s title differently or confused it with the series, which makes online searching a little clumsy and confusing \u2014\u00a0for instance, Prime Video streamed it for a while under the title The Legend of Luoxiaohei<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But the movie itself stands alone reasonably well without a background in the story\u2019s other forms. It\u2019s a prequel to the web series, so viewers aren\u2019t expected to know Hei\u2019s history or background. But a grounding in the world of the film can be helpful, because the little black cat from that opening forest scene is a lot more than he appears to be. (Spoilers about that ahead, though it\u2019s also right there in this trailer.)<\/p>\n

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