5 things we learned from Honkai Star Rail's 'A Flash' animated short

Honkai: Star Rail has only been out for a few weeks but developer HoYoverse has already dropped some awesome content for players to enjoy outside of the game.

HoYoverse released an animated short titled 'A Flash' on Wednesday (9 May), which focused on the upcoming 5-star character Jing Yuan.

While the short told us a lot about Jing Yuan as a character, there are many other things to unpack from it concerning upcoming characters and other future content for Honkai: Star Rail.

Here are the five biggest things we learned from 'A Flash':

Jing Yuan's past

Jing Yuan is one of the most prominent figures in the Astral Express crew's adventures on the Xianzhou Luofu.

While the general of the Xianzhou Luofu Cloud Knights presents himself as calm and soft-spoken, he still strikes a cunning and enigmatic figure.

And since Jing Yuan won't be up on the Character Event Warp until 17 May, we can hardly wait until we get to learn more about him.

With the release of 'A Flash', we got a glimpse of Jing Yuan's past before he became one of the Xianzhou Alliance's seven Arbiter-Generals.

In the short, we see him training under Jingliu, swordmaster of the Luofu, in the martial ways of the Cloud Knights.

One of the lessons Jingliu taught Jing Yuan was that a Cloud Knight must hold firm, never let slip their weapon, nor slacken their form.

When Jing Yuan later confronted the mara-stricken Jingliu, the lessons his master taught him would prove invaluable in their battle.

Later on, we also see Jing Yuan pass these same lessons on to his own lieutenant, Yanqing.

The power of the Mara

During the Astral Express crew's adventures in the Xianzhou Luofu, one of the principal enemies they encountered were the 'Mara-Struck Soldiers'.

In the Myriad Celestia Trailer: History of the Xianzhou: Seven Arbiter-Generals, it was revealed that the Mara came from Yaoshi, the Aeon of Abundance.

As Yaoshi blessed the people of the Xianzhou Alliance with long life, it also cursed them with the Mara, an affliction that causes their bodies to grow and mutate until they fall into madness and lose their humanity.

In 'A Flash', we see Jing Yuan have two pivotal encounters with the Mara-Struck: the first came during his younger years, when an apparent comrade of his succumbed to the sickness before getting cut down by Jingliu. His master then told him to not hesitate if she too became stricken.

And, of course, the second came when Jingliu herself became Mara-Struck as she foresaw.

The fallen swordmaster slashed her way out of Starskiff Haven and cut down all the Cloud Knights that tried to subdue her before her fateful encounter with Jing Yuan.

While Jingliu was already shown to be a formidable warrior, the Mara also seems to have empowered her further.

During her battle with Jing Yuan, Jingliu's eyes glowed a sinister red and she exuded a sinister aura as an entire army of frozen Cloud Knights lay strewn around her.

The Mara-Struck in the game are already beefy, but its affliction seems to exponentially increase the strength of already powerful individuals.

After all, it took Jing Yuan — who at that point seems to already be an Arbiter-General — using all of his might to defeat the Mara-Struck Jingliu.

Is Jingliu gone for good?

After Jing Yuan used the power of the Lightning Lord to defeat his fallen master, we saw a brief second of humanity in Jingliu as she smiled before disappearing in the light.

Does that mean she is gone for good?

We never saw the aftermath of their battle, so we can't confirm if Jing Yuan did end his master's life. With that said, we'd wager that we haven't seen the last of Jingliu.

In the game, Mara-Struck Soldiers have the ability to revive themselves after being taken down. Who's to say that a Mara-Struck Jingliu doesn't have that same ability?

She's someone at Jing Yuan's power level, not just some run-of-the-mill Mara-Struck Soldier.

We think that Jingliu would be revived after her battle with Jing Yuan, whether it's through the power of Yaoshi or someone else is anyone's guess, and that she'll resurface somewhere down the line.

And, if nothing else, Jingliu's design is simply too good to just be in an animated short and not in the game itself.

We'll be in the Xianzhou Luofu for a while

If you've played Genshin Impact, then you know how much HoYoverse loves to bring players back to Liyue, whether it's through events like Lantern Rite or important storylines like in the Chasm.

Since the Xianzhou Alliance is Honkai: Star Rail's equivalent of Genshin Impact's Liyue, with both being factions with a history and culture heavily inspired by China, we expect HoYoverse to give the former the same treatment as the latter.

If you're already finished with the game's main storyline for version 1.0, then you know that the Astral Express crew's time in the Xianzhou Luofu isn't quite done yet.

Jing Yuan's release in the version's second half should further expand the story there. There's also Luocha and Dan Heng's past with the Luofu.

And, of course, our hopium-induced fantasy of Jingliu's in-game debut.

Honkai: Star Rail will be getting lots of animated shorts like Honkai Impact 3rd

Much like its predecessor, Honkai Impact 3rd, it seems that Honkai: Star Rail will also be treating players to animated shorts that explore the stories of its colourful cast of characters.

'A Flash' should be the first of many, and already it has been giving us 'Final Lesson' vibes.

Honkai Impact 3rd usually releases animated shorts to accompany major game updates or climactic points in the story, so we can expect something similar for Honkai: Star Rail.

Honestly, we can't wait for Honkai: Star Rail's equivalent of 'Thus Spoke Apocalypse' or 'Because of You'. HoYoverse has already given us a nice appetizer with 'A Flash', but we're already hungry for more.

Also, when is that Genshin Impact anime coming out HoYoverse?!

If you're still just starting with Honkai: Star Rail or want to try the game out for yourself, we've got you covered!

You can check our beginner's guide, guide to building the starter characters, guide to its gacha system, and guide to building Seele, the game's first banner character.

Yan Ku is a full-time dog parent, part-time (gacha) gamer, and part-time writer.

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