YMMV / Thunderbolt Fantasy

• And You Thought It Would Fail: Even with Urobuchi onboard, there were plenty of people in the West deriding Thunderbolt Fantasy simply for being a puppet show made in the modern era. It became popular enough in Japan and Taiwan to warrant a second season announcement after its finale and the overseas release was met with favorable acclaim from people impressed by its fight scenes and its writing. Part of this is because of Small Reference Pools. Older fans have compared Thunderbolt Fantasy with other Western examples of puppetry like Thunderbirds and The Dark Crystal. However, there haven't been many recent Western examples of puppet series that Thunderbolt Fantasy could be compared to. This, along with Thunderbolt Fantasy being confused by some for a stop motion production, meant the most common series it was compared to before its release... was Robot Chicken. The Wuxia themes are also lost on Western fans with no knowledge of the genre.
• Awesome Music:
  • This particular theme "thunderBOLTfantasy" is one of main heroic tunes. It's a very epic and hopeful sounding theme. Then it becomes the opening song for Season 2 entitled "His/Story" which is sung by T.M.Revolution and is so awesome that the bard character Lang Wu Yao (voiced by T.M.Revolution himself) successfully defeated a dragon by actually singing it in-show!
  • When you hear show-no-feel come on, you know that Shang Bu Huan is about to do something absolutely badass.
  • Ken's fighting theme is quite awesome in its own way. Unlike the other heroes, he has a more joyful/playful sounding theme, especially considering that out of all of the other heroes, he's probably the most childlike (not in a bad way) of the group.
  • Da Fei's theme, for having a serene and elegant theme that goes with her innocent nature, as well as becoming intense halfway through to show that a woman like her won't back down.
  • The entire soundtrack, written by Hiroyuki Sawano (who composed for shows like Kill la Kill, Blue Exorcist, Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn and Attack on Titan) is this.
  • "Roll the Dice", Season 2's ending theme, is another awesome collaboration between Hiroyuki Sawano and T.M. Revolution.
• Captain Obvious Reveal: Really? The man with the Art Name of Thief of the Wind Dust is a Phantom Thief? Who would have thought?
• Cargo Ship: Lou Zhen Jie/Seven Blasphemous Deaths. It obvious he has a strong affections toward her and he will kill anyone who looks at Seven Blasphemous Deaths.
• Complete Monster:
  • Season 1 manga: Mie Tian Hai, romanized in Japanese as Betsu Ten Gai ("Skeleton Who Scorns the Heavens"), is the leader of the Onyx Demons and an arrogant warrior who believes none can stand against him. When hunting down the Sacred Weapon guarded by the Tan clan, Betsutengai slaughters the guardians, including young Tan Hi's elder brother, and sets about slaughtering the population of villages that get in his way, personally killing a child just to get a village Headman to talk. When he is humiliated in battle by the thief Rin Setsua, Betsutengai opts to kill himself to destroy the sacred sword in a Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum, knowing this act will unleash a powerful demon god that will annihilate the entire world.
  • Seasons 2 & 3: Zhao Jun Lin was a powerful demon who infiltrated the court of one of the mightiest emperors in the land. Twisting him to evil, she had horrific atrocities enacted upon the populace for her amusement, commenting wine tasted sweeter amidst the screams of the dying as animals tore them apart. After innumerable atrocities, she was sealed inside a sword, her consciousness persisting as she became known as Seven Blasphemous Deaths, her first victim being her slayer whom she forced to kill his family. Whenever unsealed, Seven Blasphemous Deaths causes her wielder to murder those around them, while bidding others to slay the wielder so she might be taken by the strongest. With a legacy of horrific murder most can only dream of, Zhao Jun Lin attempts to revive and finish the War of Fading Dusk in her true body to satisfy her dreams of carnage.
• Dancing Bear: Considering that puppet series (let alone an action series with puppets) are very rare outside of Taiwan and often associated with children's demographics, many viewers were intrigued to see that this type of series was the project that Gen Urobuchi was working on.
• Epileptic Trees: Because the Anglicization of Ken's name in Chinese is "Juan", an elaborate, at least partially tongue-in-cheek, fan theory sprang up claiming he is a Spanish adventurer.
• Fan Nickname: Nicknames for characters has been passing between the Japanese and Chinese demographic vigorously, with the nicknames for the first four characters hitting canon between fans.
  • Lin Xue Ya: "Kyubey-ya," and "Zero Blood Pressure" ^note Coined by Chinese fans, for his name in mandarin shares similar pronunciations. Also fitting for his level-headed personality.
    • "Vape Duck"^note  This nickname is more Western, after learning that his name contains the characters for "snow" and "crow" (which sounds rather like "duck" in Mandarin), and combines this with his smoking habits.
    • There's also "Vape Wizard" ^note Given by people who had trouble keeping his names straight, and needed an obvious description.
    • "G8 Ya" ^note Pronounced as "Gee-Bai-Ya." G8 is basically a slang pun coined by Chinese fans due to Lin Xue Ya's tendency for being a "dick".
  • Shang Bu Huan: "Brothel Inn" ^note Coined by Japanese fans, due to the Japanese misheard his name as "Syoufu (prostitute)" "Kan (facility)."
  • Xuan Gui Zong: "Happy/Energetic Party." ^note Coined by Japanese fans, for their obvious pun on the term "Genki." And the staffs for this project are liking it."
  • Mie Tian Hai: "Daily Hype" ^note Coined by Chinese fans, for his name in mandarin shares similar pronunciations. This nickname also coincidentally corresponds to the Japanese "Genki Syu" nickname above, setting The Onyx Demons' fan nickname meme closer to Ascended Fanon status.
  • Sha Wu Sheng: "Mr. Visual Kei" ^note For his flamboyant appearance, and his ability to play musical instruments
  • And in Season 2...
    • Lang Wu Yao: "Bard" ^note he is a Musical Assassin, "T.M.Revolution" ^note being visually designed after Takanori Nishikawa AND voiced by him in Japanese, "Guitar Hero" ^note his weapon of choice is a pipa and he is one of the good guys
    • Xie Yingluo: "Scorpion" ^note her Animal Motif, "Poison" ^note her preferred method of murder, "Cruelty" ^note her art name is "Princess of Cruelty"
    • Xiao Kuang Juan: "Fox" ^note his art name is "Hunting Fox", "Glasses" ^note he is the first and so far only character in the show to wear glasses
• Fan-Preferred Couple:
  • Juan Can Yun/Dan Fei got a large following, due to Juan's kindness towards Dan Fei, followed by hesitating to abandon her after she gets imprisoned by Mie Tian Hai, and later choosing to turn against Shou Yun Xiao and Xing Hai to rescue her. Episode 13 has them becoming an Official Couple.
  • Shang Bu Huan/Lin Xue Ya are the most popular pairing of the show since they are seen together in other media, Pixiv, and even made a few cameos together in the Pili series prior to the airing of Thunderbolt Fantasy.
  • Lin Xue Ya/Sha Wu Sheng is another popular pairing. This ends up off the table after Sha Wu Sheng was killed by Mie Tian Hai.
  • Shang Bu Huan/Lang Wu Yao becomes another popular pairing in season 2.
• Gateway Series: Deliberately created as a gateway series for Pili and the Taiwanese glove puppetry genre as a whole to enter the Japanese market with better acceptance. Also, thanks to Crunchyroll simulcasting this series, this is the first taste many viewers outside of Asia have had of the Taiwanese brand of action puppetry.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • The fact that Shang Bu Huan channels his ki through weak weapons like sticks to make them extremely powerful makes this video of Young Link finishing off Ganon with a stick (done via glitch) funnier.
  • Xing Hai eventually kills Shou Yun Xiao to release an Eldritch Abomination. In Fate/Zero, another series by Gen Urobuchi, main character Kiritsugu (voiced by Shou Yun Xiao's actor) kills Irisviel von Einzbern (voiced by Xing Hai's actor) to stop an Eldritch Abomination from being released.
• Ho Yay: Has its own page.
• Magnificent Bastard: Lin Xue Ya is the beautiful, playful young man who involves himself in Dan Fei's quest to keep a magic sword holding back a demon god out of the hands of the wicked Mie Tian Hai. Lin Xue Ya manipulates fighters into joining the quest, including the vicious Screaming Phoenix Killer by promising him a match at the end. Lin Xue Ya then proceeds to double cross the team for Mie Tian Hai's Xuan Gui Zong, then betrays the Xuan Gui Zong again after luring out potential traitors in Da Fei's group. Finally facing Mie Tian Hai, Lin Xue Ya proceeds to utterly humiliate him in combat, revealing his greatest pleasure is to humiliate and humble the proud and haughty.
• No Yay: In chapter 28, when Juan Can Yun finds out Diao Ming was the one who tortured Da Fei, he asks him if he wants the same treatment as hers. He taunts him that he's curious what his skin feels like and he will save a "special" spot for him. Diao Ming's expression is very disturbing when he says that.
• Signature Scene:
  • Can Xiong beheading himself in the very first episode is this to a lot of fans, thanks to its sheer amount of shock value. Showing someone the scene while providing as little context to it as possible is often used as a pretty reliable method to hook new viewers.
  • Lang Wu Yao defeating the mighty dragon known as Death King by singing the show's opening theme "His/Story" in season 2 is quickly shaping up to be this as well, because it was just that awesome.
• Unintentional Uncanny Valley:
  • The puppet's expressions can be kind of unsettling. They can open their eyes and mouths, but due to the technical limitations, most of their emoting is done through body language.
  • While the unique close-ups on Syou Kyou Ken's teeth whenever he does a Cheshire Cat Grin are likely meant to be unsettling due to his sinister nature, the fact that he's the only character shown with visible teeth and the plastic look of the teeth themselves still falls into this trope.
• The Woobie:
  • Dan Fei. Her brother gets brutally slaughtered in the first episode, believes she puts up a good fight against Mie Tian Hai, only to later realize it was an illusion to trick her into fighting Shang Bu Huan instead, and then gets abandoned by everyone she trusts, which causes her to break down into tears. Poor girl can't catch a break.
  • The manga made it worse by having her be tortured by Diao Ming, which includes having the Xuan Gui Zong's emblem carved onto her back and being shown her brother's severed head right in front of her, causing her to shut down and attack Juan Can Yun in rage when he tries to break her free. Poor girl really can't catch a break.
  • Season 3 continues the abuse by having her husband Juan Can Yun murdered by Lin Xue Ya (brainwashed under Seven Blasephemous Deaths' influences), and she departs for the Void Junction to avenge him, unaware that its a trap set by Xing Hai. Damnnit Urobuchi! Why do you insist on tormenting innocent young girls so!? Subverted when it turns out Juan Can Yun wasn't murdered after all.