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The "embarrassment" of domestic animation is vividly reflected in "The Three-Body Problem" and "Chinese Strange Tan"

Text | Ling Hu Boguang

Some time ago, this domestic animation "Chinese Qitan" officially ended, but we can obviously feel that this animation is broadcast to the back, there is no broadcast of the first two episodes of "Little Monster's Summer" and "Goose Goose Goose" brought by the popularity, especially the sixth episode of "Birds and Fish" Word of mouth also pulled, although the later "Commissary" and "Jade Rabbit" are not bad, but it is inevitable that there is a bit of a taste of high and low going.

The "embarrassment" of domestic animation is vividly reflected in "The Three-Body Problem" and "Chinese Strange Tan"

The Spring Festival stall that has just been released in 2023 is quite interesting in domestic pop culture in recent years.

In all fields of pop culture, except for the long-fading online novels, Chinese games that have not been released during the Spring Festival but are known to develop well, the worst is probably Chinese variety shows and Chinese music. Domestic movies, domestic dramas, and then domestic animations have ushered in a wave of outbreaks during the Spring Festival.

The "embarrassment" of domestic animation is vividly reflected in "The Three-Body Problem" and "Chinese Strange Tan"

Domestic dramas and domestic movies are not mentioned, the much-anticipated animated version of "Three-Body Problem" of domestic animation is known to have become an industry joke, although "China Qitan" turned the tide, but the high and low left. "Deep Sea" was originally an animated blockbuster with the same comprehensive breakthrough in technology and theme as "The Wandering Earth 2". But the plot obviously dragged its feet, resulting in a poor box office and limited influence.

The domestic animations broadcast during this period also include "Dali Temple Diary 2", "Under One Person 5", "Assassin Wu Liuqi 4", and the newly broadcast "Infinite World", but they are only normal broadcasts and have not been popular out of the circle, to say that the steady improvement in domestic animation seems to be only "Bear Haunted".

The "embarrassment" of domestic animation is vividly reflected in "The Three-Body Problem" and "Chinese Strange Tan"

In recent years, the rise and fall of domestic animation is like sit-ups, often giving anime fans expectations, criticism and discussion. So, what should we think about domestic animation? Is domestic animation rising or declining? When will domestic animation catch up with "Japanese manga"?

Is domestic animation rising or declining? Let's look at the 2023 Spring Festival file

The "embarrassment" of domestic animation is vividly reflected in "The Three-Body Problem" and "Chinese Strange Tan"

Domestic animation is undoubtedly rising compared to before, which was the period from 2000 to 2015, when China's planned economy transitioned to a market economy. There are occasionally some good works in the middle, but the industry is not large-scale, and excellent works are not widely born.

So before 2000, it was the peak of Chinese art animation animation, and a Shanghai American factory was YYDS.

The "embarrassment" of domestic animation is vividly reflected in "The Three-Body Problem" and "Chinese Strange Tan"

After 2015, the period of Chinese commercial animation brought about by the rapid development of online animation is much richer than in the previous decade.

But if you want to ask what level of domestic animation has been in recent years, my conclusion is that at this stage of the development of domestic animation, it is still in an embarrassing situation that cannot be up or down, and this domestic animation in the 2023 Spring Festival file is typical.

The "embarrassment" of domestic animation is vividly reflected in "The Three-Body Problem" and "Chinese Strange Tan"

This aesthetic pursuit of traditional Chinese animation art, from the perspective of works, there are "Chinese Qitan", "Dali Temple Diary 2", "Under One Person 5", etc., and there is also a short animation collection "Capsule Project" and so on. The two short story collections are the same as "Love Death" in the United States, since they are short stories, the level is high and low.

The "embarrassment" of domestic animation is vividly reflected in "The Three-Body Problem" and "Chinese Strange Tan"

For example, "Chinese Strange Tan" is the most praised, one is the old theme of the new "Summer of Little Monsters", the most in line with the previous Chinese art animation pursuit is "Goose, Goose Goose", these two alone compared with the previous art film era of excellent works, is undoubtedly not inferior.

The "embarrassment" of domestic animation is vividly reflected in "The Three-Body Problem" and "Chinese Strange Tan"

"Xiao Man", "Commissary", "Country Bus Took Away Wang Children and Immortals", "Jade Rabbit" I think they are close, but the overall level is obviously worse. There is a painting style, a theme, feelings, and expression; But either the artistry is poor, or the expression is not strong enough.

"Lin Lin" is to learn American 3D animation step by step, you can't say Dora crotch but mediocre. In the end, there is "Birds and Fish", the worst.

The "embarrassment" of domestic animation is vividly reflected in "The Three-Body Problem" and "Chinese Strange Tan"

And the short story of "Capsule Project" is the same, the best alone is not lost to "Love Death", but the overall level is still worse. The same is progress, some dragging dogs. "Dali Temple Diary 2" and "Under One Person 5" are breakthroughs in painting style and technology, and the story plot and character shaping cannot be said to be Dora crotch, but there is no comprehensive breakthrough, resulting in no fire out of the circle.

These are relatively speaking, for the origin of traditional Chinese animation art, or for animation art breakthrough works, the result is this, up and down.

The "embarrassment" of domestic animation is vividly reflected in "The Three-Body Problem" and "Chinese Strange Tan"

The Chinese commercial animation born in the new era, the episode of "Assassin Wu 674" has become only 10 minutes shorter than the first three seasons, and it is also like "Naruto" and other four major Japanese migrant comics, each supporting character began to engage in memory killing, and the latest sixth episode also collapsed in word of mouth.

The "embarrassment" of domestic animation is vividly reflected in "The Three-Body Problem" and "Chinese Strange Tan"

"Infinite World" is the originator of the infinite flow of Chinese web literature "Infinite Horror", the result is the same 3D painting style, this first season investment is obviously not high, although the modeling is still distinctive, but all aspects are really not good, obviously the originator of infinite flow, the result is a domestic large-scale IP industrial assembly line 3D serial animation.

In the end, it was expected before the broadcast, but it turned out to be the national joke of the art painting opening animation version of "The Three-Body Problem".

The "embarrassment" of domestic animation is vividly reflected in "The Three-Body Problem" and "Chinese Strange Tan"

Therefore, is this the case with domestic animation in 2023, you say that there is no breakthrough and progress, but the overall level, whether it is animation art or commercial animation, is in a situation where it is not up or down, you scold and pull your face, praise and praise, it is really a little embarrassing.

Compared with Japanese comics and American comics, what is lacking in domestic animation?

The "embarrassment" of domestic animation is vividly reflected in "The Three-Body Problem" and "Chinese Strange Tan"

The global popularity of Hollywood Disney, Japanese animation, Korean Wave, etc., does not completely rely on the connotation of cultural and artistic ideas, but relies on mature industrial assembly lines to produce flood-like goods that swept the world, crushed local literary and artistic workshops, and occupied its market.

Too many people can't tell the difference between art and goods, trash and popcorn. In fact, it is quite normal to produce garbage and bad films. Hollywood Japanese K-pop is still a bunch of garbage bad movies. The entertainment industry follows the law of 28, 80% of bad films are mediocre, and only 20% of excellent classics. Excellent works are based on the production and elimination of countless bad films.

The "embarrassment" of domestic animation is vividly reflected in "The Three-Body Problem" and "Chinese Strange Tan"

Some people advocate what kind of art, but the European film and television animation that engages in art has been beaten by the United States, Japan and South Korea.

What is the most lacking thing in domestic animation and American comics, compared with Japanese comics? Dubbing, art style, storyboarding, action design, including the script are not unimportant. I think that domestic animation currently lacks the most like "Genshin" for Chinese games, "The Wandering Earth" for Chinese movies, the kind of works and leaders that comprehensively build China's animation industry, and finally gradually establish its own mature animation industry chain system.

The "embarrassment" of domestic animation is vividly reflected in "The Three-Body Problem" and "Chinese Strange Tan"

What does that mean? For example, these years of daily manga are actually going downhill, and it is very obvious.

In 15 years, when Hideaki Anno shouted pills, there was a tendency for daily manga to decline, and then it would start to engage in "Renaissance", that is, to remake the classic of the 90s. I am more impressed by two, one is the 15-year-old "Arslan War", which is relatively successful; The other is "Little Chef" cooperated by China and Japan in 19 years, which is not as good as "Little Chinese Boss" in that year.

The "embarrassment" of domestic animation is vividly reflected in "The Three-Body Problem" and "Chinese Strange Tan"

The plot of many anime of Japanese manga has been described as toilet paper in recent years, and the literary level of the new generation of Japanese manga screenwriters, including the authors of light novels, always feels very poor, a large number of translations, and now the Chinese group of light novels are scolding.

But the Japanese animation industry will still develop, and it is developing well. This is not contradictory to the decline of Japan's comprehensive strength and the development of China's strength. As an industrial chain system, the entertainment industry is like a huge and complex ecosystem, with different ecological niche needs and specific analysis of specific problems.

The "embarrassment" of domestic animation is vividly reflected in "The Three-Body Problem" and "Chinese Strange Tan"

Animation is divided into three major areas, two-dimensional animation, three-dimensional animation, and stop motion animation. In addition to niche physical stop motion animation, mainstream commercial animation is three-dimensional computer animation and two-dimensional hand-drawn animation.

The strength of the United States in the 21st century focuses on three-dimensional computer animation, Disney, Pixar DreamWorks and other basic flocks to do three-dimensional animation; The American two-dimensional animation industry is also mostly producing simple cartoon animations, such as "SpongeBob SquarePants", "The Simpsons", "Rick and Morty, etc.".

The "embarrassment" of domestic animation is vividly reflected in "The Three-Body Problem" and "Chinese Strange Tan"

The production of complex and detailed two-dimensional animations, such as "Incarnation", DC animated films, etc., there are, but very few.

Japanese animation is the opposite, two-dimensional animation is the world's first-class, three-dimensional computer animation is delayed. The comparative niche of Japanese animation is that there are few competitors in the niche of two-dimensional hand-drawn animation - fine two-dimensional animation. American animation is engaged in three-dimensional computer animation, Korean Korean wave is engaged in live-action film and television, and Chinese two-dimensional animation cannot reach the level for the time being, and many Chinese animations are also learning from the United States to engage in three-dimensional computer animation.

The "embarrassment" of domestic animation is vividly reflected in "The Three-Body Problem" and "Chinese Strange Tan"

2D Animation - Fine 2D animation is an ecological niche that does not earn the most, but the competition is less stable. As long as the ecological niche demand of two-dimensional animation is there, the Japanese animation industry is.

Another advantage of Japanese animation is that it is not only Japanese animation, but a global division of labor and cooperation industrial chain system. Now there are many Japanese animations, the original works are not Japanese works, they may be American and European IP, Chinese works, Korean comic works, etc.; Production: The Japanese animation industry is responsible for the storyboard action of the original art, etc., and a large number of animation production is outsourced to other countries.

The "embarrassment" of domestic animation is vividly reflected in "The Three-Body Problem" and "Chinese Strange Tan"

At the same time, the Japanese animation industry, as the first commercial two-dimensional animation, is the top of the world's two-dimensional animation, and important IPs in other countries in the world can do it; Like the game "Cyberpunk 2077", the Chinese Mihayou game "Genshin", Eagle Horn "Ark of Tomorrow", Korean comic "Tower of God", etc. are all animated by the Japanese animation industry.

The "embarrassment" of domestic animation is vividly reflected in "The Three-Body Problem" and "Chinese Strange Tan"

Now in Japan, animation investment platforms are by no means unique. Among the Japanese anime international platforms, there are several platforms such as Disney Plus, Amazon, Sony CR, Netflix and so on.

So, what about the current Nichimanga declining compared to before? Its accumulation not only occupies high-end technology, but also has a full set of mature industrial chains, from the current point of view, there is no problem in holding up for another ten years or more. The biggest gap in domestic animation is that it is not even clear about its mature animation industry chain.

From "rise" to "decline", from sit-ups to rationality? What exactly is missing in domestic animation

The "embarrassment" of domestic animation is vividly reflected in "The Three-Body Problem" and "Chinese Strange Tan"

My writing has always been analyzed from the development of the cultural industry, and the development of China's animation industry has been divided into several stages of development, such as domestic commercial animation is the "Return of the Great Sage" in 2015 to start making money, and in 2019 "Nezha: The Devil Child Descends" commercial peak.

In the past three or four years, there has never really been a representative work that opens the next stage, and serial animation and animated films are the same.

The "embarrassment" of domestic animation is vividly reflected in "The Three-Body Problem" and "Chinese Strange Tan"

Before this Spring Festival file, I had predicted that "The Three-Body Problem" for domestic serial animation, and "Deep Sea" for domestic animated films, may be the next stage of work, but the result was not done.

Finally, we now look back at the 5 billion box office blockbuster animated film of "The Devil Child" is just an example, most of the animated film box office whether it is domestic animation, American animation or Japanese animation box office is difficult to exceed 1 billion (box office more than 1 billion animated films, 4 in the United States, 3 in China, none in Japan), and even more than 500 million box office is few ("Big Fish and Begonia" 570 million box office can be called a masterpiece, the market is not large.

The "embarrassment" of domestic animation is vividly reflected in "The Three-Body Problem" and "Chinese Strange Tan"

Why are so many animated movies still released? Because although the market is not large, the demand is in the consumer market and is stable. Like the big movie "Bear Haunted", the theme of chasing light fairies has gradually formed a brand assembly line every year, similar to Japan's "Detective Conan Theater Version" and "Doraemon Theater Version" and so on.

The level of domestic screenwriters is just like that, and the painting, storyboarding, soundtrack, etc. are not as good. The most important thing is that many of the daily comics have entered the industrial assembly line production mode, and domestic practitioners are still in the small workshop-style homework mode.

The "embarrassment" of domestic animation is vividly reflected in "The Three-Body Problem" and "Chinese Strange Tan"

This animated film wants to be fully upgraded at the box office, and the serial animation wants to expand its influence out of the circle. I think the most lacking at present seems to be the kind of works and leaders that build an all-round industrial system like "Genshin" for Chinese games, and "The Wandering Earth" for Chinese movies.

Only by comprehensively breaking through the construction of the industrial industry chain, and then tackling other levels one by one, otherwise in the next few years, it will still be like this year's Spring Festival file, scolding can not pull the face, praise can not be spoken.

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