A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality Returns, Bilibili's Chinese Animation Enters a Stalemate Period

Author / Huiye

Edited by <The Reliable Editorial Desk>

At 11 a.m. on June 13, over 780,000 netizens paused their lunch breaks and gathered on Bilibili, all waiting for Han Li's return in A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality.

The premiere episode peaked at over 780,000 concurrent online viewers, and the members-only episode peaked at over 460,000. This spectacle was no accident. As far back as August 2025, on Han Li's Core Formation day, more than 440,000 fellow cultivators were online at the same time to witness it together. With this summer's return of the Mortal's Journey annual series, the #凡人修仙传# hashtag has surpassed 800 million cumulative views across the internet, landed 60+ trending topics, and topped the Weibo ACG chart, the Bilibili trending chart, and many more.

Fan enthusiasm was off the charts. Within six hours of the premiere, over 40,000 fans flooded Bilibili with the bullet comment "We welcome Heavenly Venerate Han," and the merchandise crowdfunding launched on Bilibili's membership store on premiere day broke 5 million yuan in just 24 hours, alongside officially announced co-branding collaborations with multiple brands. It not only set multiple new records for Bilibili's domestic animation (Guochuang) category, but also became another phenomenon-level event in the field of Chinese animation.

From its summer 2020 premiere to this summer's return, over six years the Mortal's Journey anime has advanced step by steady step, not only joining the first tier of Chinese animation but also winning the recognition of numerous cross-industry brands and a broad consumer base on the commercial front. From content to commerce, from niche gem to mainstream hit, the Mortal's Journey anime has largely changed the mainstream market's preconceptions about Chinese animation. Chinese animation today is no longer a niche hobby enjoyed within a closed circle, nor a controversial liability in a capital winter, but a mature, rising industry that can stand tall and stride confidently into the "tape era."

The Mortal's Journey anime drawing 780,000 fans the moment it premiered was long foreshadowed. Since the official announcement on April 4 that it would air on June 13, new PVs and materials kept dropping over two months, and discussion among fans about the new season never stopped.

Multiple anime creators on the platform gave frame-by-frame analyses of the PVs — new characters, new settings, new scenes, faction map breakdowns, and even ensemble details. Fans each had their own focus, but every topic sparked lively discussion. Some fans scrutinized female lead Nangong Wan's new character model, comparing side profiles and front views to see what had been improved over the old model; some zeroed in on the massive set pieces of the Mulan War, hoping it would break new ground while staying faithful to the source novel; others woke up with that classic catchphrase in mind — "Hurry up with the update, you scoundrel" — rewatching the first 176 episodes while counting down and clamoring for more.

Fan-made content about Mortal's Journey spread widely across social media platforms. In the month before the premiere, rallying posts even emerged as fans called on friends to log on and watch together at 11 a.m. sharp — both to cheer on the production team and to make a run at a new record for concurrent Chinese animation viewers.

The hype had long since begun, and the new season is genuinely hard to resist. According to reports, this annual season will depict the key arc from the original novel, the "Mulan War" — a grand battle finally unfolding in the anime. The two great factions of the Tiannan cultivation world and the Mulan people clash head-on, with dozens of Nascent Soul powerhouses assembling and thousands of cultivators and mages going to war. As for how Han Li will display his divine might in this war of survival for entire ethnic groups, fans of every faction are waiting with bated breath. Beyond the main Mulan War storyline, the new season will also see Han Li return to the Moon Treasury Sect for a reunion with Nangong Wan and the long-awaited grand wedding arc. With nonstop highlights and iconic scenes one after another, the Mortal's Journey annual season's return has already locked in a hot seat in this summer's Chinese animation lineup.

The spectacle of the anime's updates drawing a massive response is thanks to Mortal's Journey's six years of steady accumulation. Through long-term operation of a high-quality anime, as of June 14, 2026, the Mortal's Journey anime has surpassed 16.99 million followers on Bilibili, with over 6.58 billion total views; 417,000 viewers have rated it 9.7, and it holds a Douban score of 9.6, making it the highest-rated animated series of 2025 on Douban. During its 2025 run, the anime landed 347 trending topics across the internet, with short-video hashtag views of 29.18 billion and Weibo hashtag reads reaching 1.5 billion.

As one of the anime widely recognized by audiences as a pinnacle of dramatic writing, Mortal's Journey has struck an emotional chord with today's young people through its core spirit of "an ordinary man who is anything but," contributing many viral memes that carried Chinese animation into the mainstream. The phrase "a mind at ease" is not only spammed in the bullet comments of every episode, it has entered daily life as a popular internet expression of encouragement and blessing. "Li Feiyu kills and burns; Han Li is revered by tens of thousands" may seem like a playful jab at Han Li's cautious nature, but it actually speaks to countless people's yearning for the century-spanning friendship of the Han and Li families. And the ending theme lyric "escaping the mortal world" has become another signature ending-credits bullet comment meme on Bilibili, following "loneliness" and "Gaia." As one viewer joked on social media: "The meme density in Mortal's Journey is so high I hate that I wasn't born with a meme spirit root."

The unprecedented fanfare of the new season's return notwithstanding, A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality was hardly idle during its 161-day hiatus.

Since the start of 2026, events around the Mortal's Journey anime have been nonstop — truly off-air but never off the grind — and fans have shown up in full force. On May 27, the Mortal's Journey x Copper Master co-branded merchandise went on sale across all channels, with sales surpassing 22 million yuan within 3 hours and exceeding 50 million yuan by June 3, setting a new sales record for Chinese animation IP collaborations. In April, the Mortal's Journey x Snickers gift box launched, wishing college entrance exam students a "smooth ascension through exams — sure to make the list"; a collaboration with Chow Sang Sang on golden lucky beads blessed fans with "fate's opportunities in the palm of your hand." On February 14, Han Li became the cross-dimensional ambassador for Wuliangye's Yijian Qingxin (Love at First Sight) line. This attempt to link a traditional consumer brand with an animated character sparked widespread discussion among netizens, and the Valentine's Day launch date, romantically echoing the brand's "love at first sight" philosophy, lent the crossover a unique sense of ceremony.

Over the past six months, the A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality audiovisual concert launched a 20-city national tour, already completing performances in Nanjing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Foshan, Beijing, and more, meeting thousands of fans offline. At the concert, the ever-cautious Han Li "shields the fans behind him"; when the closing song "Mortal" plays and the screen's camera pans across every member of the audience, one can't help but marvel at the long, winding road the Mortal's Journey anime has traveled. "Every show sells out," "absolutely worth the ticket," "the ensemble moments moved me to tears"... The production team prepared with all their heart, and fans left sincere reviews on social media — the best testament to the long companionship and mutual devotion between the work and its fans.

Moreover, since 2025, commercialization of the Mortal's Journey anime IP has continued to expand. Starting with merchandise crowdfunding that broke 40.25 million yuan during its run — shattering the crowdfunding record for Chinese animation merchandise — Mortal's Journey has advanced triumphantly, earning crossover recognition from numerous brands. Yili, as Han Li's "Core Formation buddy," launched a Mortal's Journey co-branded gift box; Lenovo ThinkBook released a Mortal's Journey co-branded laptop; and Wuhan Joy City, Shanghai Happy Valley, the Zigong Lantern Festival, the Guangzhou New Year Lantern Festival, and more all played host to Heavenly Venerate Han.

The confidence behind A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality's high-density commercial collaborations stems from approval across all age groups of consumers. Middle-aged consumers who loved the novel in their youth pay for nostalgia; Gen Z, the core audience of Chinese animation, spend for emotional value; and endorsement from official media outlets such as Guofang Shibao TV, Xinhuanet, and Xinhua's Kuankan has further raised mainstream consumers' awareness and acceptance of Chinese animation and ACG-trend consumption.

These cases are both a validation of the anime's quality and a full display of the IP's commercial value. Top-tier animation works monetize the value of the IP itself, achieving a long-tail conversion from work to commerce, then feeding commercial returns back into the work to form a sustainable virtuous cycle — undoubtedly a breakthrough for the animation industry as a whole. Mortal's Journey's successful exploration is itself a "seal of approval" for the Chinese animation industry, and it gives more high-quality animated works the confidence and momentum for long-term development.

As Bilibili's first annual series, Mortal's Journey has witnessed the growth of the Chinese animation industry over six years, weathered the industry's pioneering phase, and grown in this best of eras into an outstanding case combining content quality and commercial value. The long-term trust built between the work and the platform over the years has helped Bilibili's Guochuang — and the Chinese animation industry at large — begin entering the "tape era." Much like Han Li in the story, once sufficiently powerful, one has both the ability and the confidence to push the boundaries of Chinese animation IPs in content creation and commercial development.

Along the way, Bilibili, as co-producer, has provided animation studios with creative freedom, a high-quality community interaction atmosphere, and commercial support. Bilibili's OGV licensed content, UGC community ecosystem, and commercial development support one another, forming a complete content development loop. On Bilibili, the rich bullet-comment culture and vibrant comment sections are themselves an essential part of watching the Mortal's Journey anime. The production team and official accounts are active in the Bilibili community, sharing behind-the-scenes stories and interacting with fans in real time, which in turn drives spread beyond the platform.

Fan creations by quality creators are the fertile soil for a work's deepening and extension. Creators like Liweitan mY and Baima Houzi have each published Mortal's Journey analysis videos with over a million views, becoming regular waypoints for veteran fans beyond the episodes themselves. Meme-filled edit compilations by all kinds of creators are dazzling to behold. According to statistics, during the anime's 2025 update period, over 50,000 new related videos were uploaded on Bilibili, with 3,500+ videos exceeding 100,000 views and 370+ trending videos.

In addition, the Mortal's Journey IP frequently appears at Bilibili's premium events. The Void Heaven Hall themed booth at BW2025, the 2025 Guochuang Yu-Zhou Roaming Season check-in campaign, the 2025 Bilibili New Year's Eve Gala, and the "Fuxing Party" on Shanghai's Fuxing Island all created surprise check-in spots for fans and built channels for more Bilibili users to encounter and get to know the anime.

As distributor, Bilibili has continuously expanded the anime's distribution channels. Currently, fans in over 200 countries and regions worldwide can watch the official Mortal's Journey anime via the "Ani-Mi Asia YouTube Channel" and the "Ani-Mi動漫迷動畫頻道." As of 2026, the anime's cumulative overseas views have surpassed 80 million, with subtitles covering more than 15 languages. In 2026, the anime rolled out onto the in-flight entertainment systems of international airlines such as Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific, achieving a full-scenario "in the air + on the ground" viewing experience.

The anime's unique strength in multi-channel distribution has also won it broad recognition from international media: in 2025, the anime won "Best 3D Animated Programme" at the 30th Asian Television Awards. Bilibili's all-around support has helped Mortal's Journey carve out a growth path from niche gem to mainstream hit.

And it's not just Mortal's Journey — more and more distinctive animated works have found their own place in Bilibili's Guochuang lineup. The uniquely styled, healing 2D gems The Legend of Luo Xiaohei and Fei Ren Zai; hot-IP adaptations like Heaven Official's Blessing and Bai Yao Pu; convention-breaking experimental originals like Link Click and To Be Hero X; works giving traditional culture a fresh reading like Yao-Chinese Folktales and Fog Hill of Five Elements; and high-octane, heart-wrenching action dramas like Ling Cage and Rakshasa Street. Many of these works have gone through growth periods of five or even more than ten years, weathering the ups and downs of the entire Chinese animation industry, developing their own distinctive identities, and attracting fan communities of all different profiles.

As a platform, Bilibili has given these works ample creative patience, stepping in with commercial support at the right moments. This strategy has proven the replicability of Bilibili Guochuang's success stories and the viability of long-term development. The lineup from the 2025 Bilibili Guochuang release event also shows that high-quality works like The First Frost and Sword and Fairy 4 are poised to carry the torch, becoming new sustainable cases in the Bilibili Guochuang content matrix.

Looking back on Bilibili Guochuang's nine-year journey, it echoes the plainest truth at the heart of Mortal's Journey's story: even starting from ordinary, as long as you rely on hard work, seize opportunities, and keep growing, you can become strong in life. Every animated work has something extraordinary about it; through the platform of Bilibili Guochuang they are discovered, seen, and loved, and in turn the works and the platform complement and fulfill each other. This path may well be the most viable and most promising direction for Chinese animation on its way to the "tape era."