The Silver Guardian

Lore & Background

The story follows Suigin Riku, a high school student and intense gamer who attends the prestigious Shinryou Private Academy despite his poverty. While working a pool cleaning job, he attempts to save a drowning cat but cannot swim himself, and is rescued by a girl named Rei Riku, who is later revealed to be the daughter of the developer of his favorite online RPG, Dungeon Century. After the game shuts down, Suigin discovers that Rei and a friend he met in the game are the same person. He then receives a new game called Grave Buster, and when Rei is kidnapped, he is pulled inside the game to save her, uncovering his past along the way.

Reader's Guide

The Silver Guardian represents a cross-cultural collaboration in the anime industry, with a Chinese manhua adapted into an anime by a Japanese studio. Its high viewership—over 418 million views by March 2016—demonstrates the popularity of Chinese webcomics in the digital era. The series also illustrates the trend of game-based narratives in anime, blending virtual reality and real-world stakes. Its licensing by Funimation for English distribution further expanded its reach. The production involved Haoliners Animation League's Japanese branch Emon for the first season and Haoliners themselves with Blade for the second, highlighting the growing role of Chinese studios in anime production.

Did You Know?

• The manhua was published in 237 chapters.
• The anime first season premiered on Tokyo MX on 1 April 2017.
• The second season was produced by Haoliners and animated by Blade, premiering in January 2018.
• As of March 2016, the comic had been viewed over 418 million times.