A Chinese magical girl anime I watched ten years ago — is it seriously still airing today?

This article is reprinted with permission from “Qingbaoji”

Are there still any good bishoujo anime in China?

Every Sunday, when Pretty Cure airs, this question keeps lingering in my mind.

Honestly, after going through the ultimate baptism of Japanese-style bishoujo anime, I feel like I had forgotten what a domestic magical girl show is even supposed to look like.

But just when I thought that those of us devoted bishoujo fans could only watch Japanese IPs to quench our thirst, my self from ten years ago slapped me hard across the face.

Domestic animation still has its devoted keepers, and the magical girl lineage has never been broken.

In 2013, it all began with a fifth grader walking into a doll shop. From that moment on, Fairy Dream Yeloli — an epic work spanning the history of domestic magical girl animation — officially came into view for households across the country.

I had meant to simply see what this anime, which grew up alongside an entire generation, has become today.

But when I opened the comments, I found that what people discussed most was not the plot — it was the characters.

Some marvel at how Wang Mo has grown all the way into a true Yeloli warrior who can stand on her own; some analyze the stance behind Yin Chen; some speculate about the story ahead based on Fairy Qi's black and white forms; and some dig the spin-offs back out — Yeloli: Jinliuxin, Yeloli: Yuelingshi, and more — all just to understand one character a little better.

At that moment, it suddenly hit me: for a work that has lasted thirteen years, what truly settles in was never any single stretch of plot, but a group of characters who never stop growing.

If I had to sum up how Yeloli has changed in recent years in a single sentence, I would say: it has begun to pour more of its energy into “characters.”

In the past, characters in many anime existed merely to push the plot along. Once a story wrapped up, their mission was complete.

Today's Yeloli, however, wants every character to have a complete growth arc of their own.

This kind of growth is not about simply piling on more lore; it is about continually answering the same question: why did this character become who they are today? That is why the spin-offs have taken on a new mission.

Yeloli: Jinliuxin does not go on expanding the worldview; instead, it hands the camera over to Luo Li. She is no longer just that gentle, kindhearted princess, but an independent character with royal duty, inner struggle, and resolute choices. When viewers return to the main series, every act of protection and every choice of hers now carries a fuller emotional origin.

Yeloli: Yuelingshi works the same way. It does not stop at a single adventure; it gives characters like Xin Ling and Huang Shi richer dimensions of growth, making their emotions, convictions, and choices feel more complete.

With the main series driving the story and the spin-offs deepening the characters, the two together form a complete system of character growth.

This is also why more and more viewers today are willing to rewatch Yeloli again and again and keep talking about it.

Because what truly draws them in is no longer just who wins a battle, but what each character has been through, and why they make the choices they do.

For an IP that has already reached its eleventh season, a change like this matters more than adding a new character or staging a great battle.

Because a plot can come to an end, while characters can keep growing.

To be honest, when I clicked into Yeloli again, what caught my eye first was still the visuals.

Fairy Qi's dual forms, Yin Chen's entrance radiating an oppressive presence, more refined light and shadow... Compared with the Yeloli in my memory, the production quality has clearly leveled up.

But as I kept watching, I found that what the production team had truly upgraded was not just the picture quality.

It was that the camera has come to understand, better and better, how to portray its characters.

More and more, I find myself agreeing with one saying:

Truly great technology doesn't make the audience remember a VFX sequence — it makes them remember a character.

When the camera begins to attend to a character's emotions, when micro-expressions, light and shadow, and action design all unfold around the characters, technology is no longer just a production capability — it becomes part of character building. The subtle shifts in a character's gaze, the emotional tension inside battle shots, the way the lens frames a character's highlight moments... all of these upgrades ultimately serve one and the same goal — making the characters more alive.

For an anime, one season of buzz is not hard to come by.

What is truly hard is when a work reaches its eleventh season and the buzz still holds, with fan enthusiasm still running high.

So why are viewers still willing to keep discussing, to keep looking forward? The answer Yeloli offers may well be the characters themselves.

For thirteen years, Yeloli has stubbornly stuck to one thing — letting its characters keep growing, and letting those characters keep growing alongside their audience. When characters have distinct personalities, complete growth arcs, and constantly expanding story space, they are no longer mere roles in a plot; they become emotional bonds that viewers are willing to follow over the long term and keep resonating with. And that bond has gradually been transformed into an IP's most precious value.

Since the Season 11 trailer aired, character-centered discussion has remained highly active. Across Weibo, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and Lofter, character edit videos, plot breakdowns, discussions of character relationships, and fan works keep flowing without pause; whenever a character birthday comes around, an iconic scene drops, or a major story beat goes live, it sparks spontaneous fan sharing and waves of fan-made content.

None of this buzz was bought with a single marketing push; it is a content vitality built up over years around the characters.

Once characters truly stand on their own, viewers are willing to create, to share, and to recommend on their own initiative — and the IP gains the power to keep growing. And that vitality means Yeloli's value long ago stopped being confined to the anime itself.

In recent years, Yeloli has kept expanding its IP ecosystem, launching co-branded collaborations with multiple brands, and — through themed exhibitions, immersive events, cultural and creative licensing, and other formats — carrying the characters' influence from content out into more consumer scenarios. Viewers form emotional bonds because of the characters; brands see the value of partnership because of the characters. Characters who keep growing are steadily widening Yeloli's commercial boundaries, giving this IP an even longer runway for development.

And all of this, in the end, stems from the simplest thing of all — companionship.

The children who first opened Yeloli may by now have gone off to college or entered the workforce, started falling in love, even built families of their own.

To new viewers, what they see is a story that keeps renewing itself.

To longtime viewers, what they see are the friends who grew up alongside them.

A mature IP's most precious asset is not just its worldview, nor just its view counts, but the characters who can grow together with their audience.

When characters keep growing, the audience grows along with them; when audience and characters grow together, an IP gains a vitality that can cross time — and with it, endless possibilities to keep creating content value, brand value, and commercial value.

The story goes on. And the IP will keep creating new value.

And the story of Yeloli Season 11 Part 2 will meet everyone who loves it, right on schedule, at four in the afternoon every Thursday throughout the summer.