Who runs this place, and why
ChineseAnimeTop exists because the existing English-language coverage of donghua is too shallow. Most sites stop at "have you seen this trailer?" Most reviewers haven't read the source novels. Most rankings are derived from MyAnimeList numbers without any cultural interpretation behind them.
I built this site to be the resource I wished existed when I started writing about donghua for Western audiences.
Who I am
I'm Aion Ren, a Chinese-native born and raised in Chengdu, Sichuan. I've spent over a decade following Chinese web novels — the source material behind the vast majority of contemporary donghua — and another five years tracking the animation adaptations as they emerge.
When Lord of Mysteries premiered as donghua in 2025, I had already finished the original 1,432-chapter web novel by Cuttlefish That Loves Diving. When you read on this site that the 22 Sequences map to the 22 Major Arcana, that's not paraphrased from a Reddit thread — it's because I read the source material in the original Mandarin and have spent years thinking about the cross-cultural mythology fusion underneath it.
I run a small portfolio of niche content sites under Aion Media. ChineseAnimeTop is the project I'm most excited about — because 2026 is shaping up to be the year donghua finally breaks through internationally, and the English-language ecosystem isn't ready for it yet.
What makes this site different
Three things, specifically:
1. Source-material literacy
I read the original Chinese web novels and manhua behind every donghua I cover. This sounds basic, but it's vanishingly rare among English-language reviewers. It means I can tell you what the animation adaptation cut, what it changed, and what cultural reference Western viewers are missing — because I read it in the source before I watched it on screen.
2. Cultural context, not surface coverage
Xianxia isn't fantasy. Cultivation isn't magic. The Tang Dynasty references in donghua aren't aesthetic flourishes — they're the load-bearing architecture of the plot. I write the cultural decoder rings that Western anime journalism doesn't have the background to write.
3. Honest rankings with reasoning
Every entry in our monthly Top 20 comes with a specific, defensible reason for its rank. Not "this is great" — but "this earns rank 4 because of X, despite weakness Y." Rankings without reasoning are decorative. We publish the methodology and update it.
How this site makes money (and what we don't do)
ChineseAnimeTop is independent. I don't receive editorial direction from any studio, publisher, or streaming platform. The site is supported by:
- Affiliate partnerships with legitimate streaming services (Crunchyroll, Funimation, etc.) — when I link to a streaming platform and you sign up, I may receive a small commission. Affiliate links are always disclosed.
- Display advertising via standard ad networks. Ads are kept unobtrusive.
What I don't do: I don't accept payment to promote specific donghua. I don't link to piracy sites. I don't write paid reviews disguised as editorial. If a studio or distributor sponsors content on this site, it will be labeled "Sponsored" at the top of the page — clearly, not in small print.
What you can expect
- Monthly Top 20 rankings on the 1st of every month, with composite scoring and explicit reasoning.
- In-depth reviews of major donghua, with source-novel comparison and cultural context.
- Cultural guides explaining genres (xianxia, wuxia, xuanhuan), philosophical concepts (cultivation, dao), and historical references.
- Donghua vs anime comparisons for anime fans exploring the medium for the first time.
- Streaming guides for finding donghua legally in your region.
Contact
I read every email. If you've spotted a factual error, want to suggest a donghua for review, or just want to discuss something I've written, reach out: renbeijin@gmail.com
For more formal inquiries, see our contact page.