The umbrella is just an umbrella until it isn't, that moment when you realize this show builds its entire world on objects and gestures that mean something, where a wandering swordsman's small act of theft becomes the hinge of everything. Dan Fei's jump off that cliff isn't desperation; it's the beginning of a story about survival that doesn't look like the sword-and-sorcery narratives you've memorized. This is what happens when a puppet show decides to break your heart with the same precision it uses to choreograph violence.

A wandering swordsman reaches a ruined temple and takes the umbrella that shields a Buddha statue from the rain. A man resting nearby tells him the price: he must be compassionate to the next traveler he meets. That traveler is Dan Fei, a sacred guardian whose brother has fallen to Miè Tian Hai, and whose minions, the Xuan Gui Zong, still chase her for the Tian Xing Jiàn sword. Bound by his promise and caught by enemy sorcery, the swordsman is drawn into her fight. Gen Urobuchi of Nitroplus wrote this wuxia fantasy, and Pili International Media filmed it with glove puppets, blending action, drama and the fantastic.