The Netflix Supernatural Fantasy Series That Makes Fun Of The Entire Genre

God Troubles Me is a donghua, a Chinese animated series, that follows a 20-something-year-old woman named Su Moting. She’s rather ordinary, working in an office and living paycheck-to-paycheck while also being fed up with corporate life. However, underneath that normal life, there’s a little bit of magic.

She’s the child of an immortal being and a monster. Her parents are tired of her living at home, so they kick her out and begin their own adventure.

You might think that now it’s time for Su Moting to get her own story, but she’s adamantly against it. Though she meets a monster and god, she forces them to help take care of the apartment and avoids confrontation with other magical creatures as much as possible unless they benefit her.

God Troubles Me is considered a slice-of-life and fantasy comedy. The series is comedic simply because it’s so relatable. With scenes like Su Moting turning into a zombie whenever she enters the office and everyone fighting about the temperature to set the thermostat at, almost anyone who watches this series will feel a sense of connection.

The series also discusses society’s dependence on technology. The gods in the series are all versions of modern technology, including an air conditioner, a phone, and a hair straightener, and are valued more for their technological forms than their godly ability.

Meanwhile, the monsters are animals. They are sometimes cute and cuddly, like a cat. Other times, though, they are disgusting and gross creatures like cockroaches and mosquitoes. They use their abilities to stop the gods from helping humans and cause problems however they can.

Another interesting part of God Troubles Me is the ending theme. Though the series is animated, the ending involves the team sitting behind the camera. They take a paper cutout of Su Moting and show the cutout traveling across the real-life city, in an office, getting drinks, and even sitting in an apartment. This ending is a cute way to remember the characters while also paying respect to the team behind the animation.

L2Studio is the studio behind God Troubles Me and is also responsible for other Chinese series, including Spirits in Chinese Brushes and Rakshasa Street. They’re a small team that hasn’t done much work yet, but if God Troubles Me is anything to go by, they might be a more familiar name soon enough. Though it’s Chinese, and not Japanese, this series is listed on My Anime List, where it has a 7.40 as an average score.

God Troubles Me is available to stream on Netflix, for those interested in this quirky animated series. There are currently three seasons available, with most episodes being about 12 to 15 minutes long. At this time, there are no dubs, nor a plan for a dub in English, so those watching the series will have to settle for subtitles and Chinese audio.