(I collected the resources, and the friends can click here "Zina" to see it ~~)
I don't know if you have found that as long as there are Chinese girls in Japanese anime works, there is a good chance that they are either tied with bun heads, or wearing qipao, or wearing both bun heads and qipao.
For example, Li Berry Bell in "Magic Card Girl Sakura":
The Blue Cat in Black Deacon:
Kagura in Gintama:
Miyoko Hojo in Spirit Eater:
So, when did this stereotype of Chinese girls in the Japanese ACG community become popular and become uncontrollable?
According to the available information, some people have speculated that the setting of the Chinese girl "qipao + bun head" has become a trend, probably starting from the character Chunli in the game "Street Fighter", which is popular all over the world.
Since Chunli, the formula of "cheongsam + bun head = Chinese girl" has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the Japanese, and other Chinese female characters look like Chunli's 2.0, 3.0... edition.
However, in the process of making up for the old fan, I accidentally saw a rather interesting animation, and the heroine's dress made people think of Chunli for a second;
If you combine the size of the nose, it is like the spring beauty that Jackie Chan once cosed...
This is an anime released in 1992 with a long title called Spirit of Wonder チャイナさんの憂鬱, which translates Chinese as——
The Spirit of Fantasy: Zina's Melancholy
"Zina" in the title is the name of the heroine, which is actually the Japanese-English transliteration of China into Chinese, and the choice of "Shiba" and "Na" at the same time fits the female identity of the character.
After investigation, it was found that the original comic was in 1987, which was exactly the same year as the first launch of "Street Fighter", so it can be regarded as a pioneering work in the wave of "qipao + bun head".
The original author of the manga was The Japanese manga artist Kenji Tsuruta, who is known as a "widow writer".
His work is not much, there are very few online profiles, and many people have not even heard of his name.
In fact, Tsuruta's manga is very personal.
First of all, his works are known for their SF orientation and have been sought after by many SF enthusiasts.
SF, short for SCIENCE FICTION. SF animations often set a future time and space background, telling a story based on reality on the one hand, and transcending reality on the other hand.
In "The Melancholy of Zina", the sci-fi sense of Tsuruta's work is mainly embodied in a steampunk style.
Secondly, as a manga artist, Tsuruta's drawing skills are very good.
He can not only control the grand scenes, complex compositions, but also portray the delicate inner activities of the characters, which is pleasing to the eye.
Although it is difficult to be vividly reflected in the excellent painting skills of Tsuruta after the animation of the work, the taste of the last century presented by the animation production as a whole is complementary to the theme of the work.
Spirit of Whimsy is an ova animated series – the earliest to be published was 1992's The Melancholy of Zina;
In 2001, he produced four more episodes of OVA sequels, the first and second parts of "Junior Science Club", and two short stories, "Miniature Zina" and "Zina's Planet".
Kenji Tsuruta's stories are often short, but they can surprise people with their unique ideas.
It is said that "Spirit of Fantasy: The Melancholy of Zina" has also been praised by "Evangelion" director Hideaki Anno.
And when you look at it, you will know that it is not a waste of time.
So, what kind of story does "Zina's Melancholy" tell?
In simple terms, it tells us the story of "the British guy talks to the Chinese girl in Japanese throughout the whole process, and finally uses black technology to destroy public property, and then successfully soaks the girl".
At the beginning of the animation, there is an uncle sitting on an armchair smoking a cigarette and resembling Lu Xun.
His identity here is the equivalent of a storyteller, and the phrase "Do you know what kind of person Linzina is?" naturally transitions to the following story.
The story takes place in an obscure little town in England.
Zina, a Chinese sister, opened a Chinese restaurant here, and the name of the shop is "Tianhui".
The whole restaurant gives a hong Kong feel of the last century, which is also a fixed impression of China in Japan at that time.
There are many tenants living on the second floor of the restaurant.
On weekdays, Zina is a gentle and elegant girl.
However, once you want to collect the rent, you can switch to the mode of "charter wife" in "Kung Fu" in one second.
Her boyfriend, Jim, is a scientist who is always with Dr. Blankridge, one of Zina's guests, doing all sorts of whimsical research.
These studies include the ability to easily travel to the moon.
After a long period of hard work, Blankrich and Jim finally built machines that could "travel" to the moon, but no one around believed they had been to the moon.
In order to prove this to the world, the two immediately began to take action.
One night, as usual, Zina sat by the window and looked at the night sky, only to see something vaguely written on the moon.
Zina rubbed her eyes.
She saw that on the moon was written a sentence like this:
“Happy Birthday to China”
That's exactly what her boyfriend Jim wrote for her.
Then, Zina is told that the ring Jim had given her the day before was actually made of stones from the moon.
It's just that Zina was drunk and accidentally broke the ring.
In addition to letting Zina receive different birthday wishes, Blankrich and Jim originally wanted to make a big news and prove to the world that they have mastered the core technology of "Heaven".
To their surprise, none of the people on Earth, except Zina, seemed to have seen the enigmatic words that appeared on the moon.
What's going on here?
Night falls again, and this time Jim decides to tell Zina the secret of them and the moon, and takes Zina to a secret base in the wilderness.
It turned out that their so-called "having been to the moon" did not really reach the moon, or that they did not actually reach the real moon, but a 3D printed version of the moon.
Blankridge built a "space-reflecting telescope" that projects images of the moon onto Earth and creates an identical dual space.
To explain this, the elder Blankridge used the telescope to reflect Zina, thus creating an image that looked the same as Zina, but was as tall as Ultraman.
The NB of this machine is not just capable of 3D printing.
All operations on the printed product are faithfully reflected in the original thing.
This is a bit like the setting of "the robot is shot, and the manipulator will feel pain" in many aircraft combat-themed animation works.
So as long as you write on the printed moon, the same handwriting will appear on the real moon.
At this moment, Zina remembered the stone ring that Jim had given her and had been broken by herself.
Zina felt guilty, but Jim told her it didn't matter, because he had already decided to give her another ring, and said:
"It's just that the ring you want to make this time can't be worn on your finger."
If the above, writing on the moon and sending the ring of the moon stone, are still within the acceptance range of normal people, then the next commotion operation, I can only understand the romance that belongs to the science and engineering man.
They want to make the world's largest and most beautiful ring by breaking the entire moon.
emmmmmmmmm, don't say anything, just ask you if you are afraid or not, right?
Eventually, with the help of Zina's strange powers, the Moon was successfully shattered through the intermediary of its replicas, and countless fragments became rings surrounding the earth.
And the name of this ring is called "Zina Ring".
The story of Zina's Melancholy ends like this.
In the same series of works, the "Space Reflection Telescope" appears more than once, and in "Zina's Planet", the three of them use it to travel to Mars, and also found a stone on Mars with Li Bai's "Will Enter the Wine".
Blankrich and Jim looked at the words and thought it was the menu of heavenly returns.
Compared with today's SF-oriented anime, the old SF works always give people a rustic and rugged feeling.
Many of them do not have complex worldviews and elaborate settings, but are driven by an almost primitive force to unfold their imagination.
"Zina's Melancholy" in a limited period of time, on the one hand, it has clearly presented an absurd brain hole into a dynamic picture, and on the other hand, it has also achieved a vivid and vivid character portrayal:
Zina's sentimentality, Jim's unwavering zeal, the old scientist's lust for money...
Obviously, it is a science fiction story, but it is decorated with fireworks.
In addition, the "Zina Ring" made of the moon given to the Chinese girl by the British boy in the story is also very romantic and creative.
This is nearly 20 years earlier than Yun Tianming's giving Cheng Xin a star in "The Three-Body Problem".
Why do people say, "Our journey is the sea of stars"?
Maybe it doesn't have to conquer the galaxy, but also because it can be a weapon for confessing girls! (Foggy)
PS: In order to facilitate the small partners, I have collected resources, everyone click here "Zina" can see ~ ~~