A quiet game of Chinese chess between two elderly men suddenly transforms into an explosive manga-style showdown, a twist that has made a series of short videos featuring senior citizens as anime heroes go viral on Chinese social media.
These are the work of 31-year-old content creator Xie Tianxiang, known online as “Crazy Laopi.” Posted to Douyin on January 12, the two-minute chess brawl garnered 646,000 likes and 16,000 comments. Xie’s works feature comedic battle scenes featuring characters from manga, anime, games and popular fiction.
Since mid-October 2025, Xie has posted a series of videos starring real performers in their 70s. The clips typically begin with scenes involving senior citizens, such as dating, dancing, playing chess or poker. These setups quickly evolve into comic battles, as the elderly actors transform into iconic characters from popular manga and video games.
For example, the two men playing chess morph into manga characters: one plays Uchiha Madara, the main character from the classic series Naruto, while the other transforms into a swordsman from Rurouni Kenshin. They then square off in a dramatic fight scene, complete with impressive special effects worthy of the animations they pay homage to.
The videos became a viral hit. On Douyin alone, the six-video series has accumulated over 280 million views.
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