Another day, another donghua adaptation that doesn’t cleanly adapt its source material.
That said, while it is in the donghua animation style I dislike, these sci-fi visuals are pretty badass!
Alternative Titles:
- Tunshi Xingkong
- 吞噬星空
Year Anime Premiered: 2020
Animation Studio: Sparkly Key Animation Studio
Number of Seasons: 4 + 2 movies
Source Material Country of Origin: China
Source Material Available: Novel, Manhua
Is It Officially Licensed Past Where The Anime Ends?: Novel: No, Manhua: No
Is It Fan Translated Past Where The Anime Ends?: Novel: Yes, Manhua: Yes
Entry Last Updated: May 27th, 2026
Where To Start The Swallowed Star Light Novel After The Anime?
TL;DR – Read the novel from the beginning. This is not an anime adaptation where you have an easy time jumping into the source material.
If you finished the Swallowed Star anime and wish to continue the anime in the novels, you can start at:
- If you finished through Episode 52 – This adapts Chapter 191 of the novel
- If you finished through Episode 212 – This adapts Chapter 1014 of the novel
A note: Usually, I like to break these things down by seasons, but the issue with that is that the Swallowed Star anime is not adapting the novel story in the same order. So, some moments from Season 2 actually happened in during early periods of what Season 1 was adapting or how, technically, the events at the end of Season 1 where he fights the nine-headed hydra and the events at the end of Season 2 where he leaves Planet Almen to go back to Earth are actually just a few novel chapters apart.
Why those extremely specific episode numbers? 52 episodes are available on Crunchyroll and easily found. Episode 212 is as far as I could find with subtitles I could read. I added the latter just to give you an idea of how far into the novels the anime is.
Is The Swallowed Star Light Novel Over?
The Swallowed Star novel is complete. It ended with Volume 29, Chapter 1486.
You can also enjoy the ongoing sequel, Swallowed Star 2: Land of Origin. (I found two versions of this, but it was just the same story, translated slightly differently)
Where To Start The Swallowed Star Manhua After The Anime?
If you finished the Swallowed Star anime and wish to continue the anime in the manhua, you can start at:
- If you finished through Episode 52 – This adapts Chapter 255.
I only found about 10-15 chapters past that, though. The manhua is rather new.
Is The Swallowed Star Manhua Over?
The Swallowed Star manhua is ongoing. It originally started in 2014, but was canceled, and has since been rebooted in 2020.
What to Expect From The Swallowed Star Source Material Compared to The Anime?
While there are Chinese anime that are worse adaptations of the source material, this series still isn’t a great one.
To save us all some time, how about a nice bulleted list as to the major anime changes, eh?
- The main character is colder and more ruthless in the novel
- Some characters have vastly different personalities and sometimes genders in the novel, as well as wildly different appearances in the manhua.
- Entire arcs are cut from anime and manhua, while others are abandoned by the novels, but continued in the anime
- The plot arcs are sometimes re-arranged.
- A number of smaller details and events are changed.
All that said, there seems to be a general consensus that the anime does greatly improve the story, pacing, and visuals, since the novels are, even by web novel standards, not all that descriptive.
