The Legend of Luo Xiaohei — The Legend of Hei 1 and 2
At a glance2 films
The franchise has two feature films: The Legend of Hei (罗小黑战记), released in China on 7 September 2019, and The Legend of Hei 2 (罗小黑战记2), released on 18 July 2025. Both are directed by MTJJ and the Hanmu Chunhua (寒木春华) studio, who created Luo Xiaohei in 2011 as a 2D web series.
Production and behind the scenes
The first film follows Luo Xiaohei, a little black cat spirit, as he flees after humans destroy his forest. Taken in by Fengxi's group, he is then forcibly led away by Wuxian, the most powerful of the human masters. The second film takes place while Xiaohei lives peacefully with Wuxian: an attack on a branch of the Hall breaks the peace between spirits and humans, and he sets out to investigate with his fellow disciple Luye (鹿野). Both films are hand-drawn in 2D, in a round, expressive style.
How it differs from the donghua
The films extend the web series but can be watched without knowing it. The first is a standalone story centred on the bond between Xiaohei and Wuxian and on the territorial conflict between humans and spirits. The shorter, lighter web series episodes mostly show the daily life of Xiaohei and his friends. The Lanxi Zhen manhua, for its part, tells the past of the older characters.
Reception and success
The first film took around 315 million yuan in China, an excellent result for independent 2D animation. In Japan it was first released subtitled, then in a dubbed version titled Ro Shaohei Senki: Boku ga Erabu Mirai, with Kana Hanazawa, Mamoru Miyano and Takahiro Sakurai, released on 7 November 2020 by Aniplex and Team Joy. The two films made Luo Xiaohei one of the most recognisable figures of Chinese 2D animation.
Trivia
- In the Japanese version, Kana Hanazawa voices Xiaohei, Mamoru Miyano voices Wuxian and Takahiro Sakurai voices Fengxi.
- The Japanese dub entered the Japanese box office top 10 on its opening weekend.
- Luo Xiaohei was born in 2011 as an animated web series created by MTJJ.
- Both films are made in traditional 2D, unlike most of today's 3D donghua.
My take
The Legend of Hei is one of my favourite Chinese animated films. Its fights are among the most inventive I have seen in 2D, and the relationship between Xiaohei and Wuxian is touching without being saccharine. The second film successfully expands the world, even if its plot is a little denser. I recommend them to everyone, even people who never watch donghua.
Who is it for?Fans of 2D animation, Ghibli and nature stories, and the whole family.
— Spidermas, for Donghua Fan