Biao Ren

Biao Ren or Hyoujin: Blades of the Guardians (镖人) also known as Blades of the Guardians, is a Chinese manhua that was written and illustrated by Xianzhe Xu. It was first serialized in the new comics app in July 2015. The manhua quickly attracted a large number of readers and was well received. Since its first publication, Biao Ren has been serialized on online platforms including Tencent Comics. As of March 2022, Beijing United Publishing Company has released eleven bound volumes.

Since its serialization in 2015, Biao Ren had over two billion readings on 50 mainland Chinese online platforms.

Tencent Penguin Pictures and Colored Pencil Animation Group co-produced an animated (donghua) television adaptation that exclusively premiered on Tencent Video from June to August 2023. A second season is in development and is expected to air in 2024.

In December 2023, Blades of the Guardians donghua series won three awards (Most Reputation Animation of the Year, Best Art Direction for Animation and Best Serial Animation Award (Gold Award)) at the 20th ''China Animation Golden Dragon Award.

A film adaptation and a television drama are both in development.

Plot
Hired fighters called Escorts protect a targets, criminals for whom the government has issued an arrest warrant. On the eve of civil unrest in the last years of the Sui dynasty, a government of fear and terror is gaining power in China, and feelings of hatred and enmity are emerging among some people. A skilled swordsman named Dao Ma travels throughout ancient China with his three-year-old son Qi Xiao and lives with the power of his sword. One day Dao Ma accepts a mission for which he is guided to the city of Changan. He plans to pay off his debt to a therapist named Mo, and when he travels in the western desert, he accepts a simple mission that turns into a critical, dangerous issue.

Production


Xianzhe Xu wanted to tell a story of the late Sui dynasty by combining martial arts with western elements. Xianzhe Xu had no art training so he began to practice and hone his drawing skills for four years, and researched the weapons, historical items and history of Sui and Tang dynasties. The art style of manhua Biao Ren is similar to that of the mangas Vagabond, Blade of the Immortal and Beyond the Heavens. The author paid attention to details to present a story that is about emotions and destruction in a dark, historical era of ancient China.

Manhua
The Biao Ren manhua was serialized on the new comics app on July 1, 2015. The work quickly attracted a large number of readers and was well received. The electronic version is now serialized on online platform Tencent Comics. On April 1, 2018, Beijing United Publishing Company published the first volume of Biao Ren. As of March 1, 2022, eleven volumes have been released. Later, the series was published on Japanese reading platform Mecha Comic. As of August 8, 2019, Shōnen Gahōsha released three volumes Japanese Edition. In Germany, the manga is licensed by Chinabooks.

Donghua
In August 2020, an animated donghua television series adaptation was announced by Tencent Penguin Pictures. Blades of the Guardians donghua series was animated in Japan, and was produced by the Colored Pencil Animation Group (Chinese corporation Chongqing Colored Pencil Animation Design Co., Ltd.; Colored Pencil Animation Japan Co., Ltd.). It ran for 15 episodes. The series exclusively aired from June 1, to August 17, 2023, on Tencent Video. A second season is in development and is expected to air in 2024.

Adaptations
In July 2023, it was announced that a film adaptation of the Biao Ren manhua and a television drama is in development, and in December 2023, it was revealed that Yuen Woo-ping will direct the live-action film, and filming is set to officially begin in 2024.

Reception
Since the launch of the manhua, it has performed well in the book market. Many readers have called its exquisite paintings and grand Chinese historical background "the light of Guoman", and was very popular in Japan; it has appeared three times on NHK, Japan's CCTV, and was praised as "a world-class masterpiece of Chinese comics". The series has been praised by many of Japan's top manga artists. Rumiko Takahashi, Tooru Fujisawa and the former editor-in-chief of Crayon Shin-chan visited China to help promote it.

"Biao Ren" bound volume one sold over 100,000 copies within a month of its launch. By 2021, sales of the first ten volumes exceeded one million copies. The series received overwhelmingly positive reviews for its high-quality production and storyline, and amassed a notable Internet fandom both in China and overseas. The series holds a rating of 9.9 out of 10 on Tencent Video, making it as one of the most-acclaimed manhua series in the world. Since its first publication in 2015, the manhua Biao Ren had been viewed on 30 online platforms over a billion times by September 2018, and over two billion times on more than 50 domestic online platforms by June 2023.

On Douban, Biao Ren rated 8.4 out of 10, making it one of the best-received donghua series in China in 2023.