Spiritpact

Yang Jinghua is the heir of an old family of exorcists, but since his parents died he has lived in poverty, telling fortunes in the street and doing odd jobs. One night, in a junkyard, he runs into Duanmu Xi, a mysterious exorcist fighting an evil spirit.

Shortly afterwards, Yang Jinghua is hit by a car and becomes a ghost. Duanmu Xi then offers him a pact: bind their souls to fight evil spirits together. So begins a partnership full of arguments, gags and family secrets.

The series adapts Pingzi's manhua, published on Tencent Animation. Directed by Li Haoling and animated by Haoliners, it has two seasons, in 2016 and 2018, and was also broadcast in Japan with a Japanese dub.

Spiritpact is set in present-day China, where great families of exorcists secretly fight spirits and demons. The living can make pacts with spirits to join forces, and the world of the dead, Huangquan, is never far away.

Exorcists wield talismans, spells and spiritual weapons. A pact lets an exorcist bind their soul to a spirit's: the spirit lends its strength and the two partners fight together.

Spiritpact was broadcast on Japanese television in 2017 with a Japanese dub, which was still rare for a donghua. Its close-knit duo won it a loyal audience, especially among bromance fans, even if the first season's animation was considered uneven.