The Paper's reporter Xia Yining
One of the things I've been doing in my spare time lately is searching for the real-time box office of the animated movie "The Lion Boy." Remember that the film just landed in theaters, and it was estimated that "how to say that it will sell for five hundred million!" "I didn't want to be released for a week, only to break through 100 million under the impetus of the Christmas + weekend schedule, and the war of words around it has not stopped." This is already one of the highest-rated Chinese films of the year.
Stills from "The Lion Boy"
It is not difficult to imagine that the domestic animation market in 2021 is also relatively "cool", and there are only a few works that have both heat and reputation, and more are silently coming and walking lightly, and even the Douban opening score is not mixed. Remembering the recent B station hit "King Ranking", Zhou Shen sent a weibo Amway, and several small love beans that went to supernova also painted "Boji" on the advertising wall, which is out of the circle and enviable.
Talking about several head projects that have high hopes for this year's national comics, "Three-Body" continues to "gollum" as expected, and the 20-minute special episode of "Blessings from Heavenly Officials" can only be regarded as scratching the itch of the boots for the audience; the highly anticipated big IP such as "Defective Products" and "Dinghai Floating Life" have been turned over one after another; classic old fans such as "Magic Road Ancestor", "Wu Liuqi", "Under One Person", "Fighting To Break the Sky" and so on have launched sequels, with stable performance; fortunately, there are also "Time Agent", "Family Thoughts", "Happy Sheep and gray wolf basket out of victory" Several original stories have won a good reputation, adding confidence in the creative ability of Chinese animators.
Traffic password failure, the intention to be able to "really incense"
About the past few years, the hits of "The Ancestor of the Demon Dao", "Blessings from Heavenly Officials" and "Tianbao Fu Demon Record" have allowed capital to see how considerable the traffic of delayed reforms is and how popular the derivatives are. In 2021, there are a number of big IP animations to meet the audience, including many popular IPs of head authors, but "leeks" are no longer so easy to harvest.
Poster of "Dinghai Floating Life"
First of all, let's talk about the same adaptation of the non-TianyeXiang novel, the same about the exorcist to fight monsters and upgrade, guard cangsheng's "Dinghai Floating Life Record". Its arrival once made people think that they could replicate the success of last year's "Tianbao Voldemort". But it turns out that this kind of story with a grand worldview and strong plot flow, just with good character modeling, can only trick the audience in, but it can't be retained. The main creator of Dinghai, on the one hand, did not eat the original work thoroughly, and took some high-energy plots through the flowing account, on the other hand, the overall plot is very loose, the editing is chaotic, not to mention that passers-by and the audience see the clouds in the fog, and even the original fans are crazy to spit "According to the original filming will not be!" "It seems that only the appearance of the character can really be marked with two stars, even if the producer announces the suspension of rectification in the middle, it is powerless to save the reputation of the collapse."
Coincidentally, in the production lineup of another animation this year, "Mirror Twin Cities", the familiar name of "Foch Film" appeared. Yes, it's the same door as the animators of "Dinghai Floating Life"! Instantly, I pinched a handful of sweat.
This work is adapted from the novel of the same name by the famous Cangyue, the original "Mirror" series has a total of 6 books, "Mirror · Twin Cities" is one of the most amazing and brilliant ones, and the grandeur is no less than the power game. Foch was also much more cautious this time, about holding the psychology of testing the waters, and first only did 4 episodes of "Wind Start", a total of 60 minutes of volume. The cloud barren style with a sense of western fantasy can be seen to burn money, and the plot does not expose too many shortcomings, after all, only the worldview and character relationship are laid out at present. Coupled with some childhood filters, most viewers gave a rating of around 3.5 stars.
Poster of "Defective Products: Banishment to the Stars"
Even more tragic than "Dinghai Floating Life" is "Defective Products and Banishment to the Starry Sky". Not to mention the wild talk of Gundam, the expectation of "Defective Product" is also a mecha science fiction animation that can leave its name in the national manga calendar, but... We won't be short of money like this, shall we? Speaking of the scene of the opening ceremony of Xinghai College, the students in the original hall, the production team only drew 4 main supporting roles, and the degree of simplification is not "billion points". Some of the famous lines in the original work, the animation also lazily omits the atmosphere of the plot before and after, and casually tells them, and the shocking effect is greatly reduced. Come to think of it, the energy of the production team should be spent on every frame of the two male protagonists' appearances, and they dare not have too many expectations for the high-energy and ignition of the mecha battle in the original.
In addition, an audience group of 9 has become a delayed work for women, in the shaping of female characters, it is either a net red face or a fat buttocks, full of uncomfortable male gaze, it is no wonder that in the B station where the scoring has always been more relaxed, "Defective Products" has only received a poor 5.9 points, which is really sorry for this good story that has won the Chinese Science Fiction Galaxy Award.
Poster of "Two No Doubts"
If production budget is tight, you may wish to learn to learn the animation "Two No Doubts" - with the Q version that occupies half of the country and the pixel game style that appears as soon as the battle scene is reached, to cover up the technical deficiencies. This is also a bubble noodle fan that brought a lot of surprises this year, adapted from the comic of the same name, the plot is very simple routine - the original two disgusted Emperor Wenzhi and the military general empress exchanged bodies due to accidents, in the process of playing each other, the two solved the misunderstanding, learned to love and trust.
All along, the body swap in film and television dramas has tested the actor's acting skills, and the dubbing of Zhang Jie and Xu Jiaqi has perfectly pinched the personality transformation of the empress, adding a lot of color to the work. Although the palace fight part does not stand up to scrutiny, it has qualified as a small sweet drama under the meal.
Poster of "Mountain River Sword Heart"
In stark contrast to the high-value but poor plot of "Dinghai Floating Life" and "Defective Products", it is "Mountain River Sword Heart" that dissuaded many fans because of modeling before the start of broadcasting, but won word-of-mouth with careful adaptation and production. "Mountain River Sword Heart" is adapted from the online article "Qianqiu", but the creator very flatteringly dilutes the historical background and strengthens the martial arts atmosphere, the emotional line is more subtle, and many viewers said that there is no pressure to watch with their families.
The dubbing lineup invited the original team of radio dramas, the original music was also well-made, and the theme song was sung by ancient singers and talented love beans, covering multiple circles. Feeling the intentions of the creator, the audience's attitude has also changed from the initial "persuasion" to "flawed and unconcealed", and then to "the second season is faster". As for the modeling that was disliked at the beginning and was not exquisite enough, I felt that it was very distinctive after watching more, and it would not make people face blind!
Poster of "Fire Pouring Sorrow"
Another animation that makes the audience "true incense" is "Fire Pouring Sorrow". Many fans of the original were initially dissatisfied with this painting style that failed to show the beauty of the protagonist, but soon "punched the face". Compared with the original novel, the animated version made drastic changes, and the first three episodes finished the copy of the Mirror Flower Water Moon Butterfly, and used a whole season to tell the past of the Thousand Spirits Formation and Alozin. The overall rhythm is clear and bright, the laughter and abuse are both, and the image of each character is cute and full.
At the same time, the animation OP is good, the BGM is with a sense, and several transition designs can also be seen to have spent a lot of thought. In particular, Jiang Guangtao's cold beauty voice and Lingyuan brother's suitability are full of points, and the dead people do not pay for their lives. After chasing the first season, I want to add chicken legs to the writers and directors! Later, the choreographer turned out to be the same person, oh my God, please lock up with the second season! In the face of this intention, the character image is indeed the most worthless shortcoming.
"The Ancestor of the Magic Road" ended successfully, and "Under One Man" entered Biyou Village
Compared with the new animation with high and low ratings, the performance of many old fans such as "Magic Road Ancestor", "Wu Liuqi", "Fox Demon Little Red Lady", "Tianbao Fu Demon Record", "Yuan Long" and so on is quite stable.
Among them, "The Legend of mortal Xiu Xian" was successfully upgraded to Nian Fan, and not long ago, "Wind Rises Luoyang" copied its drama Storm, which made more audiences pay attention to the difficulty of behind-the-scenes production of domestic animation.
The "Qin Shi Mingyue" series, which "vows to be longer than the audience", launched a remake version of the "Hundred Steps Flying Sword of the New Qin Shi Mingyue" (that is, the first part of the series), on the basis of ensuring the originality of the plot, adjusted and improved the modeling of many characters.
The Yunyou Squad of the Spirit Doctor TaoYao is growing day by day, and in the second season of "Hundred Demon Spectrum", it has gained a lot of tears from the audience. However, this work is a season a year, and at present, 2 seasons have only subdued 10 monsters, is it not more than ten years to complete the "Hundred Demon Spectrum"? No wonder fans have said that in order to finish the game, they must go to bed early and get up early and strengthen their bodies.
Poster of "The Magic Ancestor"
In October this year, the animation "Magic Ancestor" ended with all three seasons and more than 4.3 billion views on the whole network. Presumably, the audience has also found that in recent years, most of the animations that take the plot flow and multi-action scenes are made in a more time-saving and labor-saving three-dimensional production, but "The Magic Ancestor" is one of the rare two-dimensional animations, which lasted 4 years but polished the volume of 35 episodes, and the plot of each episode is very full, and there is no water poured into it for the sake of traffic.
In addition to the unique aesthetics of the national style, the story of the characters who are heavy on love and righteousness and the story of the intestines also adds a lot to the animation, and the final chapter of the third season is from the Yicheng chapter, Jinlingtai to the Yiling Blood Pool and the Guanyin Temple. Although a lot of sugar between the protagonists can not be presented for some reasons, but Wei Wuxian jumping trees, forgetting envy a song far and other famous scenes have been restored as much as possible, the old fans will understand it when they see it, and the 3-year wait is very worthwhile.
Focus on the "Under One Man" that has changed the production company again, if you are holding the idea of revealing the life of Bao'er's sister, I am afraid that you will be disappointed. Because the whole season revolves around the "deceitful saint child" Chen Duo, which is the copy of Biyou Village that was canonized by fans in the original comic.
Poster of "One Man Under 4"
Under Chen Duo's innocent and pure appearance, there is a tragic fate that cannot be resisted, and how funny the first half of the fourth season is, and how sadistic the second half is. Fortunately, in this season, Popular characters such as Wang Ye and Zhuge Qing have come to brush their faces in turn, and the newly appeared "temporary workers" make some jokes from time to time to neutralize the heartache brought by Chen Duo.
It is worth mentioning that "One Man Under 4" has also produced more than twenty pieces of music with different styles and high quality. First of all, the most "Hades" ending song "Biyou Welcomes You", the first time I saw a group of flower dolls dancing with a Big Dong song, the audience was "sent away" on the spot; the concept song "Night Flower" sung by singer Ardor, tragic and fragile feeling is very ear-catching; Wang Ye's "One Word Nine Ding Wang Daochang", combined with Beijing Piano Book, Single String and Tianjin Allegro, let people listen to it and do several bowls of bean juice; Chen Duo's role song "Growth" created in the form of mountain song duets, the tragic sense of dislocation and the sense of fate are intertwined. Tear-jerking.
It is no wonder that "Under One Man" now has more labels of "music fan", and I especially hope that the national comic can "roll" up in this direction.
"Reflections" and "Agent of Time" light up the confidence of originality
If the production ceiling of the national comic in 2020 is "Spirit Cage", then the title of 2021 is "Reflections".
"Reflections" tells the story of the gods and immortals who were exiled to the island of The Otherworldly Immortals, and a mortal maiden who were exiled here after punishment, and transformed into a growth in the process of breaking free from the shackles of fate. Although there is no popularity basis of the original IP, with the strongest modeling of the character appearance of the 90% national comic and the fine to the hair, "Thoughts" quickly won the hearts of the audience. The small freckles on the heroine's face, the fine fluff on the edges of the hair ornaments, the beautiful smoke when boating on the sea, the ubiquitous light and shadow under the sun... All revealed that director Zhao Yuqing had an obsessive-compulsive disorder of excellence, and the smell of the renminbi burning.
Poster of "Reflections"
Of course, aside from the pleasing picture, the weakness of the plot of "Reflections" is also more obvious. The main creator first laid out a lot of foreshadowing in one brain, about the protagonist's life, the past of the two families, and the real purpose of the island's foreign guests... After 15 episodes were broadcast, almost none of them were solved; Tu Li and Jing Xuan's emotional advance was extremely slow, and it was not until the last few episodes that there was a major breakthrough - yes, they met! So the audience couldn't help but snort Jingxuan and Fengmian first...
This may be the unique style of female directors that is different from male frequency works, with long streams of thin water and eloquence. Director Zhao Yuqing also mentioned in an interview that the plot of the original first season was twice as good as it is now, but due to the limitation of funds and time, it was launched first in its current appearance. At least, we have already felt the strength and sincerity of the creators from the first season, so we may as well give some understanding and tolerance, and look forward to the arrival of the second season.
Another work known as the "light of national comics" is the new work "Agent of Time" by Li Haoling, director of "Blessing of Heavenly Officials".
Poster of Time Agent
"Agent of Time" tells a suspenseful urban fantasy story: two men with special abilities run a small shop called "Time Light Photo Studio", where they use their ability to enter photos and go back in time, accept customer commissions and fulfill various wishes. Obviously, the dream of painting has explored a set of experiences in the Korean painting style + double male protagonist configuration. The "light time" duo, which cooperates seamlessly at work and fights with each other on a daily basis, has quickly become the rising trend of this year's second dimension.
At the same time, each episode of "Agent of Time" has an independent story that closely follows the social hot spots, and there must be a knife at the end, with sensational music, knowing that it is a routine or will shed tears without controversy. The characters who appear in the play seem to be me, and they are like you who passed by me. Even if you know the truth, can you really change everything? Even if the time is reversed, can the regrets left behind be really compensated? With this kind of thinking, "Agent of Time" cloaked in a fantasy shell has a little more realistic flavor.
By the way, if there are children who come to the house during the New Year, they may wish to recommend them to watch "Victory in the Basket of Pleasant Goat and Gray Wolf".
Before the broadcast of this work, no one would have thought that Happy Goat, which is inseparable from the "low child" and "family fun" label IP in the public's mind, would actually run to tell basketball stories, and do both professional and bloody, brush screen tiger poker forum, and be affirmed by sports fans.
All along, the development of sports animation in China has been very sluggish, but it is gratifying that there are still a group of animators with dreams who are cultivating this theme, in addition to "Happy Sheep and the Basket of the Gray Wolf", next year you can also see the more campus realistic "Left Hand Basket". In the red-hot Spring Festival file, the animated movie "Pleasant Goat and the Basket of the Gray Wolf out of the Future" is also ready to go. According to reports, the movie version will tell the story of the Sheep Wolf United Guardians team participating in the city cup for the first time in basketball's top event.
What are you waiting for, before you walk into the movie theater, make up the prequel animation!
Editor-in-Charge: Zhang Zhe
Proofreader: Zhang Liangliang