时光代理人 – Season 3 Episode 1 Review

The following analysis draws quotes, lyrics, themes, characters and evidence from 时光代理人 Season 3 Episode 1.

时光代理人 is owned by Li Haoling, and produced by LAN studio and CMC media with the help of Haoliners Animation League. The donghua airs on Bilibili with the assistance of BeDream Studios.

DISCLAIMER – a lot of the subjects discussed in this analysis are graphic and dark, and happen to a young child. This is a trigger warning for those who don’t want to read said themes in detail.

I also want to ask for your understanding that Crunchyroll doesn’t allow screenshots to be taken due to copyright, therefore I can only use images I’ve seen elsewhere and barely any at all. This was written before the episode was uploaded to YouTube. Sorry for the inconvenience!

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Before I begin on what I’m intending to do with this small analysis, I’d like to look at the dates given at the start of the episode and use them to share my opinion, or a few opinions, on Lu Guang’s age. The date that appears to mark the events at the end of S2 and S3 is 2022. The date then rolls 15 years backwards, to 2007, where we begin to experience Lu Guang’s childhood. We have never known Lu Guang’s age, but the siblings treat him to be younger and even address him as a teenager in Yingdu Arc, which is set in 2019. Just to quickly put this into perspective, if Lu Guang were 20 at the time of 2021 (Season 1) then he would be 18 in Yingdu Arc, and 6 in 2007. If he were 19 at the time of 2021, (as this could explain why they call him a child) he would be 17 in Yingdu, and 5 in 2007. It really depends on your interpretation, he could even be the same age as Cheng Xiaoshi, 21 in 2021, 19 in 2019, 7 in 2007.

For this analysis, I want to try and focus solely on Lu Guang and how he develops through the episode. To my understanding, the point of this episode was to show you what he experienced in a familial manner, but also what he experienced with Cheng Xiaoshi. I’ll point out how parts of the episode shift and change to illustrate the difference between the two parts of his childhood.

At the beginning of the episode, we are shown Lu Guang in the city, following a man in a suit. Even before it’s explained, the man looks wealthy, and Lu Guang looks inexperienced – as he runs out onto the road with no regards for traffic. He does this because he was afraid of loosing sight of the man, which already indicates whatever he is doing holds importance to him. He takes a camera out and photographs the man before returning to his home. All of these scenes are either shot at night or with dark and dire colors. It’s important, and I’ll point out when this begins to change – as it illustrates a change in Lu Guang too. When he returns, a man named Lu Dashan is waiting for Lu Guang, who lays out all the photos. This man is Lu Guang’s foster father. He takes the film strip, photos and camera from Lu Guang, along with food, yet he denies Lu Guang the privilege to eat. Here we learn that Lu Guang’s powers have already developed, and he has been using them to obtain illegal information under the forceful control of Lu Dashan. Back in Yingdu Arc Episode 5, Lu Guang mentions to Cheng Xiaoshi that his father discovered his powers when he was 7 years old, and taught him about them. His words might be slightly misleading, but I think the age is probably correct, and if so, it would mean Lu Guang is 21 in the present day, the same age as Cheng Xiaoshi. Lu Dashan exposes Lu Guang to nasty themes through the photographs he makes him take, things like drug abuse and forced (presumably) sex, which child Lu Guang was struggling to handle well. It also seems like his power exhausts him, like we saw previously in some scenarios where he was unwell – (for example, Yingdu Arc Episode 4). I want to point out that Lu Guang being more exhausted in these scenes has nothing to do with his age, as later in the episode he is perfectly fine and maybe even enjoys it. Looking into the photographs isn’t what exhausts him, rather it’s what he sees and who he’s with. After all, Lu Dashan sits amused watching him, and eating the food Lu Guang was denied.

On the 1st of August 2007, there’s a pivotal change in the feel of the episode. For the first time, it’s lightly lit, and seems to be set in early twilight hours, late evening at around 5:30PM. The sky is blue, fading into yellow, which often symbolizes the shift between the light and the dark, just like how Lu Guang is now changing between two parts of his life. This is a fleeting time of day, which makes it more eventful it’s when he first meets Cheng Xiaoshi. Another thing I want to address is that the two times in this episode where Lu Guang accidentally stumbles upon Cheng Xiaoshi, he is photographing for his own happiness – simply because he enjoys it. He’s not under any pressure from Lu Dashan, and the most important moments to him happen because he decided to do something he was truly passionate about. When he first meets Cheng Xiaoshi, it doesn’t quite go smoothly, and they end up fighting. This is because Xiaoshi was stacking rocks on the side of the rails, something Lu Guang found to be a safety hazard, but Cheng Xiaoshi wanted to know what would happen. Their curiosity and kindness clash at first, and they insult each other and push each other down. Interestingly, Cheng Xiaoshi has drawn a watch on his hand marking 5:30PM, the time when the train arrives, so he knows when to return. His father also wore a watch on his left hand, so it’s a cute idea that maybe he was mimicking this. I would point out Lu Guang’s watch in the future too, but he wears it on his right instead. While Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang are caught up in their fight, they don’t notice that the train is approaching until almost the last second. I want to share the shot where they jump out the way, because there’s some interesting composition.

Their poses are an exact mirror of each other, which annoys me a bit, but I think it’s intentional to draw your attention to the train. I’m not the first one to notice the number stands out a lot, so I had a look at what it might mean. It’s far fetched, but there is a bit of a Chinese slang joke about that number combination. 1 in Chinese is yī, 5 is wǔ, 9 is jiǔ, 8 is bā. In certain dialects, or more known in internet slang – people change the pronunciation and use the combination to mimic Yào wǒ jiǔ bàn or Ài wǒ jiǔ ba which translate to “want me to accompany you forever” or “love me for a long time.” Usually used as a joke to mean, love me forever/I love you forever. Whether it’s true or not is up for debate, but I saw it online also, and my Chinese friend @Sui_2461 (on Reddit) can confirm.

After Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang recover from the shock, Xiaoshi tells Lu Guang to never come near him again, and Lu Guang returns home. He stands outside in the dark for a moment and takes a breath to prepare himself. Whether he knows what’s going to happen or not I’m unsure, but I think it’s sad that he has to come home anticipating the possibility of being abused. The room is dark, and Lu Dashan sits, covered in bruises. He glares at Lu Guang, and tells him to get over there and kneel. He doesn’t even acknowledge the fact Lu Guang is also bruised, simply thinking of himself. The request to kneel is something I’ve seen people talking about, and I don’t know how to interpret it. When I first watched, I assumed that it was a demonstration of submission to somebody who demanded power, and seeing the child kneel was simply satisfying for Lu Dashan, which is disgusting enough. The other thing it could be is, of course, sexual harassment – which would explain why Lu Guang defies even despite his fear and risks a beating, if the father was asking him to do something more than just simply kneeling. Lu Guang stays still, and Lu Dashan lashes out and kicks him against the wall. He keeps kicking him more violently each time, punching also, screaming that Lu Guang nearly got him taken out – and he had disobeyed, insisting he is trying to get him killed. Lu Guang tries to protect himself yet ends up bleeding anyway. Dashan grabs Lu Guang by the collar and throws him in a small, dark room, saying that three days without food will be enough to teach him a lesson. Lu Guang curls up protectively, only a small slimmer of light reaching him from the slits in the door.

The next day, we return to the train tracks, where a singular white flower is growing. Not certain, but I would say it’s a stylized version of a daisy. Apart from being Cheng Xiaoshi’s retrospective flower, they also symbolize innocence, purity and new beginnings. Lu Guang sits and watches the flower, he has a black eye, swollen lip and multiple bruises along his arms. It’s the same time of day, marking the train tracks as a pivotal shift away from the usual dark atmosphere of the rest of the episode. Lu Guang sees Cheng Xiaoshi again, this time placing a sign at the side of the tracks. He runs over to stop him, but falls over weakly due to being starved. Cheng Xiaoshi notices and, being kind at heart himself, sits Lu Guang down to give him food. The sign that Cheng Xiaoshi made reads don’t put things near the tracks (thank you to my friend for the translation), showing that even with no expectation to see Lu Guang again, Xiaoshi realized he was wrong and took it to heart. This is the first thing that calms the rift between them, and becomes a symbolism of when they first became friends.

Absolutely nobody will thank me for this, because warning, it’s sad. But I want to mention that Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi’s relationship throughout this episode is impactful because it’s very human. Most of the things that occur are not due to any time traveling interference, and all the feelings that arise came from a history far before anything that happened later. What happens with Xiaoshi is important because it’s natural, and I’ve seen theories go around that he forgot about all of this because of the butterfly effect, or a memory wipe, or something. But rather, what if he simply forgot because… he just did? This is my opinion, but this analysis is formed around the assumption that it’s what happened. They only knew each other for a month, and this was important to Lu Guang because Cheng Xiaoshi saved his life. (This gives you are the reason I live, but you don’t remember me a literal meaning too.) But when Xiaoshi gives Lu Guang the noodles here, he tells Lu Guang not to thank him but to thank his sister, who bought it, and he simply “doesn’t want some starving ghost haunting him forever.” It’s a blunt, throwaway comment, sure. But it shows that he didn’t understand how much this act of generosity impacted Lu Guang. To him, he was simply helping somebody out and oh well. There’s an element in that line that suggests he’s trying to either pass it off as selfish, or is being selfish. He could be flustered and is trying to hide he cares. Or he could simply be doing this because it’s right and nothing else. At the timestamp 8:23, Cheng Xiaoshi hands Lu Guang the noodles, and his face lights up ever so slightly for a moment. It’s mirrored by the music that begins exactly at this moment, (Dream by Yuma Yamaguchi from the Season 2 OST) I think this moment, that’s illustrated by the music, is the first one where Lu Guang realizes what it’s like to be cared for, thought about. Something changes in his face ever so slightly. Cheng Xiaoshi gives Lu Guang the film strip in the noodles, and they have an exchange about light, which is something I talked about in my analysis of the Season 3 OP’s imagery. Xiaoshi then apologizes for hurting him so badly. This is when Lu Guang admits for the first time that it was his foster father who did it. Here he says something interesting, he says that Lu Dashan has told him that he bought him, and now Lu Guang has to earn enough so he can repay. This means Lu Guang was being sold illegally before he was in Lu Dashan’s custody. (Or, there is another interpretation I mention later). Lu Guang’s grip on the wrappers tightens as he discusses this, which is him expressing the pain he feels at the subject in a roundabout way. Lu Guang says he doesn’t know where his real parents are, and if he was really trafficked at such a young age, I’m beginning to wonder if his mother died in childbirth? Lu Guang then explains to Xiaoshi about his powers, who gets very excited as he recognizes the same thing happening to him. Cheng Xiaoshi asks to meet Lu Guang in the same place at the same time the next day.

We switch back to the dark side, where Lu Dashan is getting Lu Guang to look into another photo. I want to pause to point out every scene with Lu Dashan and Lu Guang is accompanied by Laspe by Yuma Yamaguchi, from the Yingdu Arc OST. This song previously played in the first episode of Yingdu, right after the basketball scene, and at the end during the scene with Vivian. I may look into this song in another analysis one day, I just thought I’d mention it. This time Lu Dashan has forced Lu Guang to watch what we can assume is sex, (they talk about two people returning to a room together) and though he looks exhausted from the constant work, he doesn’t look as troubled by this as he was with the illegal drug use. This makes me think it’s quite common for Lu Guang to be put through an experience where he watches this, more likely rape or sexual harassment, as Lu Dashan’s goal is to find wealthy criminals and extort them. Dashan threatens that if Lu Guang messes up again, he’ll be starved for a week. When Lu Guang returns the photo to a drawer, he sees a folder, which reads certificate of adoption notarization. This is a legal document in China issued by the government to state the adoption is official. The reason Lu Guang reacts negatively to it could be because it’s a reminder he is stuck in this situation, he’s not just being held in captivity – this man is now his “father.” He’ll even be stuck with his surname for the rest of his life.

Back at the train tracks, Cheng Xiaoshi has brought photos for Lu Guang to look at. One of them is of the clock tower in Yingdu, surprisingly, the one we still don’t know the significance of. For the first time during this scene, Laspe is playing. Just a small instrumental like it has been this entire episode, but the song is moving from being associated with the darker side of Lu Guang’s life to the lighter side. Lu Guang is returning, he’s teaching Cheng Xiaoshi, and the bruises are fading. The more time he spends with Xiaoshi, the more he’s healing. Cheng Xiaoshi shows Lu Guang a photo of Qiao Ling’s father – the first we’ve seen! – and they remake the promise to meet again.

The numbers roll up and we hit the 28th of August 2007, where Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi seem to be getting along better than ever. The lyrics of Laspe finally come in, and the song starts playing properly as we’re hit with a montage of the two. Lu Guang is still eating a large amount, and quickly, and is stumbling – so we can infer he’s still being starved. Yet there’s no more bruises, and he’s smiling, even looking a little more confident. Each time he falls, though, Cheng Xiaoshi is there for him. The sky changes from that same blue-yellow twilight, to night, to day, and back again, and they appear at the same time everyday. Never later. Never earlier. It shows how both are keeping their promise, and it sets it up to hurt later.

The next time we see them, Cheng Xiaoshi is trying to activate his powers, and we hear something new. Lu Guang openly laughing!Xiaoshi tries some random combination that ends in a clap, and disappears into the photo. When he returns, both him and Lu Guang stare for a moment before getting all excited, Cheng Xiaoshi picks him up and spins him around.

I had to include the image, really, it’s too cute. They both fall over, laughing, and a nostalgic soundtrack begins to play, Peaceful by Tenmon from the Season 1 OST. I really, really love how they reused the soundtrack, I’m not sure if it’s just for this episode, but I think it was so comforting to hear music I recognized and loved. A very nice touch. When discussing, Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi realize that this means Xiaoshi can change the past. Both of them immediately think, this way, they can prevent Lu Guang being adopted by Lu Dashan, and keep him with his parents. We know like second nature what’s wrong with this, but Cheng Xiaoshi instructs Lu Guang to find a photo of himself and meet him there the next day. This is where things get interesting, so I’ll be back to this plot point in a moment.

The next few scenes are shot in purple lighting, which is very different from the previous two lighting choices. It carries a tense feel of danger, and I feel they chose purple to represent dusk, as these events occur round about that time.

When Lu Guang opens his adoption file, there’s a photo of him and some obscured writing. However! I can work out a few parts of it that aren’t obscured. It states his gender is male, his birthday is the 24th of October, and the application date is the 1st of September. The left photo, the lines: 出生日 (date of birth) and 入学日 (enrollment/application date) correspond with the right photo, which reads 年10月24日 and 年9月1日 respectively. The years are still obscured, meaning they don’t want us to know his age still. The way enrollment usually works in China is, on that date, Lu Dashan would be required to submit the adoption application. It then gets reviewed and notarized, and the legal adoption is sometime later, either late September or October. Does Lu Guang really need another traumatizing thing in September? But there are actually complications with the adoption process, so I thought I’d look into it a bit. Lu Guang states earlier that he was bought by Lu Dashan, which is illegal. If the money for adoption was exchanged outside of a notary office or Civil Affairs Bureau, the child wouldn’t get a hukou, which is a registration that acknowledges somebody as a citizen of China and the people who committed said crime would be charged. There’s maybe two options then for how this could’ve worked. A) Lu Guang obtained a hukou, was adopted and went to school per the adoption certificate to make it look legal, even though it originally wasn’t. B) Lu Dashan intended his words as Lu Guang costed money to adopt and take care of, so now he owes him work. Lu Dashan is trafficking Lu Guang either way, but this would make it more obvious.

Lu Guang is caught taking the photo by Lu Dashan, who demands to know what he’s stealing. Lu Guang does possibly the worst thing, and walks right past him with a straight face. He’s trying to hold it together clearly, this newfound confidence likely has come from the determination to get back to Xiaoshi and prevent this from ever happening. Dashan looks laughably offended and confused for a second, before he grabs Lu Guang by the collar and throws him to the ground. When Lu Guang still hides, he raises his arm to beat him, but the police storm in at the perfect moment and arrest him. Almost too perfect, wouldn’t you say? There’s a few theories going around about this scene, one of which I’ll share – but might only make sense in a moment. There’s suspicion that it was Cheng Xiaoshi who called the police, and although it could’ve been his younger self, it could’ve also been interference from the future. Because the scene was interrupted, there’s no way of knowing how bad this could’ve been, and there’s a good chance Lu Guang was supposed to die this day.

Lu Guang takes his opportunity and runs while he can, and I actually think this scene impressed me the most so far – because the new song that’s playing is absolutely ethereal. The lighting and the music along with this pivotal moment are really well delivered, I just get chills every time, especially knowing what happens next. Lu Guang runs all the way to the train tracks, which has changed for the first time, and is now cast in night. The symbolism of night and day in this episode has been really interesting to watch, with every scene with Lu Dashan being at night, and every one with Cheng Xiaoshi being at sunset. But now, the dark has seeped into a memory that was really precious, representing how at this moment, darkness is all that surrounds. It switches to day again to show the period of time Lu Guang waits by the tracks for Xiaoshi, but always falls back to night, which plays for longer. The scenes where Lu Guang met Cheng Xiaoshi were always at the same time, like it was endlessly captured at that moment, the sky never changed and the sun never faded. But now in the same place, the night always returns. A few of them have passed now, but for some reason, Cheng Xiaoshi doesn’t come back. However. In one of the scenes, Lu Guang senses something, and looks back behind him. A few users online managed to edit this scene, and it revealed something incredible.

Cheng Xiaoshi is there. Just not the one Lu Guang expected. This is Cheng Xiaoshi from 2022, who somehow came back, likely out of guilt for not keeping his promise that day – or days – whatever the reason may be for him never turning up. I can’t wait for this to be addressed in later episodes, we’ll probably see this from Cheng Xiaoshi’s POV, diving back to watch Lu Guang sitting for days alone but unable to approach him. This is why it’s possible Cheng Xiaoshi was the one to intervene with Lu Dashan’s abuse at the last moment. Whether Lu Guang saw the figure or not is unknown, but he lowers his head and a shadow falls over his face, as if he’s decided to finally give up. Either later into the same night, or another night, Lu Guang is finally found by a pair of police officers. As he’s taken away, it shows a shot of the sign Cheng Xiaoshi built all those days ago. It is pouring with rain as Lu Guang leaves, a technique called Pathetic Fallacy, where human feelings are given to nature to mirror somebody’s emotional state. The use of the sky in this episode could also be regarded as Pathetic Fallacy. The rain represents Lu Guang’s misery, abandonment and loneliness as Cheng Xiaoshi never returned for him, never kept their promise. The police report Lu Guang was found simply holding an old photograph, and that was all. He wasn’t just waiting for Cheng Xiaoshi to see him again, he was also waiting because Xiaoshi had made a promise to save him. Lu Guang just didn’t want to be abandoned or hurt again.

The police officers take Lu Guang to a “children’s welfare home”, also known as juvenile prison, for being an “accomplice” to his father. There’s another shot of the sign during this, it looks like spring, nice and sunny – but the writing is beginning to fade. The next shot, it’s covered in snow, and snapped in half, the writing completely gone. It’s then revealed through gossip from the others in juvenile that Lu Dashan was killed in prison, and his son has been a liar since birth, and now he’s “a piece of trash no one wants.” I think this is where Lu Guang learns to keep to himself, if he shows any reaction to these accusations about being a criminal, he could accidentally prove them right. He needs to protect himself. Lu Guang walks through the crowd with his familiar poker face, seemingly unbothered by the remarks, until the scene shifts to purple lighting again – representing danger, like before – and we start to see how much it’s getting to him. His face darkens, his eyes shake and budge, utterly traumatized and abandoned.

He was jailed for something he was forced to do, he became known as the son of a criminal who abused and starved him, and now the only person that ever cared for him, that he cared for, has left too.

Just like this, the date shifts to 2019. The time of Yingdu Arc. Lu Guang, now an adult, returns to the old signpost, which is now completely deteriorated. But he returned 12 years later. Reminisce by Yuma Yamaguchi from the Season 2 OST is playing.

Lu Guang stands on a basketball court as the very first version, the real version, of the well known and loved scene plays out. He idly looks over to the basketball players, and zooms in on one particular one. As he does, you’ll notice the time is 5:30PM. The moment in early twilight, where the sky is blue and yellow. It’s here, the very same time, 12 years later, where he sees Cheng Xiaoshi again. Lu Guang pulls the camera down, and his eyes go huge and start shaking. I like this detail, because it’s more reminiscent of the way he looked as a child, huge eyes. He sniffs and then starts crying, likely out of pure disbelief that Xiaoshi is right there. He never cried at all when he was abused, or when he was in juvenile, but the moment he sees Cheng Xiaoshi again – that’s it for him. What I love about it is that Lu Guang adored Cheng Xiaoshi from such a young age, and was still clinging on so long afterwards, and it had nothing to do with his time traveling. It was a purely natural progression. Cheng Xiaoshi’s promise replays in his head, either because it really is the same time, or because Lu Guang is heartbroken that he was abandoned. Lu Guang tries to sneak a photo of Cheng Xiaoshi, who turns back to look at him, and Lu Guang turns away, accidentally clicking a photo we all know too well – his sunset photograph. A pure accident. What must he think, then, when he holds it in the future? Does he think of this every time? When Lu Guang grabs Cheng Xiaoshi’s wrist and tells him he’s been waiting for him, hearing the response, his face reminds me of how he looked in juvenile when the kids would talk about his father.

Cheng Xiaoshi asks if they know each other.

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Though a lot of this was me just sharing my thoughts, I hope you enjoyed nonetheless! I decided to word this more like a review than an analysis, so I hope it meets everybody’s standards.

What an incredible first episode. I think there’s something so humane about their relationship back in 2007, and how it progresses before the Yingdu Arc even begins, and Season 1 after that. Lu Guang was always devoted to Cheng Xiaoshi from the very beginning, but Cheng Xiaoshi doesn’t remember the kid from way back then – because the truth is, he was a friend who was there for a month… then he wasn’t. They had something truly special, but time really does move on, and it’s a heartbreaking representation of how some people can be frozen in one moment, their feelings forever tied to one person at one time, and how another can forget completely.

Even so, their relationship still stands strong in the years after that. Even in present Season 3, Lu Guang is still haunted by memories of his childhood, of Lu Dashan, of Cheng Xiaoshi’s promise – but none of it affects what they have now, which is much more complicated. Cheng Xiaoshi in the shadows watching Lu Guang wait for his past self – what an incredible detail. I really can’t wait to uncover the mystery of what that might mean.

I’ll aim to post my thoughts on Episode 2 as soon as possible! Until then, everybody enjoy!