J.C.Staff, who was jokingly called "Festival Gymnastics Society" by domestic animation audiences, did not have a good second half of 2018. The "Backstreet Girl" broadcast in July has been criticized by many viewers for its slideshow drawing method, the production quality of the "Magical Forbidden Books Catalog III" that fans are eagerly awaiting, and the new "Dating Battle 3" in January shows a desperate dilemma on the main visual map, becoming a new meme in the online community.
The "Festival Exercise Society", which has produced countless adaptations and has quality assurance, suddenly has a reputation that has slipped all the way, from "festival exercise" to "no festival exercise". What has happened to the "Festival" over the years?
<h4>It is called "Japanese Creativity"</h4>
In 1986, Tomoyuki Miyata, who was still in the dragon's son's studio, decided to set up his own portal when his wings were full. He founded J.C.Staff, meaning "Japan Creative Staff," and the company's name is a direct reflection of Miyata's ambitions. Like most fledgling animation studios, J.C.Staff initially focused on outsourcing OEM, with OEMs as the main business. It wasn't until 1994 that J.C.Staff had its first TV anime, Heavily Armored Girls.
This work has a more famous name in China, "Beautiful Girl Combat Team", and has also been broadcast on domestic television. When I was young and ignorant, I thought it would have something to do with Sailor Moon, and I was very interested, but I was trapped in shame and did not dare to pay more attention. Then when I learned that this anime had little to do with Sailor Moon, I put aside my shame and boldly stood in front of the TV. But the end result was... It's even more exciting than Sailor Moon.
"Pretty Girl Battle Team" tells the story of beautiful girls wrestling in the context of science fiction. The plot is not much to repeat, but the lineup of the work now seems very luxurious, supervised by Akiyuki the new house that is now hot, and the person is "master" Honda Yu. This animation, which doesn't seem to have much discipline, began the TV journey of the festival gymnastics club.
Then, in 1997, J.C.Staff created the legendary "Girl Revolution". This anime work supervised by Kunihiko Kihara, along with Evangelion and Mobile Suit Fumiko, is known as the "Three Great Works of the Otaku" in the 1990s. "Girl Revolution" has strong personal characteristics of Kunihiko Kihara, such as a strong and vivid color matching, a large number of black shadows and silhouettes, exaggerated human object movements, and the use of roses, witches and other imagery to promote the narrative.
The works caused a massive sensation in Japan and overseas, with endless analyses and numerous articles. This work not only made Kunihiko Hara popular, but also made J.C.Staff a hit, the company began to get on the right track, and the adaptation of the animation received soft hands.
However, the success of this original animation in word of mouth did not make J.C.Staff eat commercial sweetness, and the sales of 5074 copies of the work were not "excellent" in that year. Although the company has Creative, J.C.Staff has not put much effort into the original, so that in the past 20 years, J.C.Staff's most famous original animation is still this "Girl Revolution".
The following year, "His and Her Affair", which was produced with Gainax, also allowed J.C.Staff to accumulate quite a good reputation. At this point, J.C.Staff began to rank among the giants of Japanese animation under the name of "Japanese Creativity".
<h4>Adaptation almighty</h4>
In the following years, J.C.Staff has been focusing on the adaptation of comics and novels in the field of TV animation, allowing the company to accumulate a lot of adaptation experience. With the help of the popularity of the original work, many works have sold very good discs, such as "Blue Out of Blue" initial sales of 12,000 copies, "Read or Die" TV edition volume sales of 11,000 copies. At this stage, J.C.Staff pioneered many animation adaptations.
At that time, due to the bankruptcy of the "OVA era", many established animation companies were struggling to operate and seek transformation, but there were many hesitations in the selection of themes. The theme is bigger, in case of commercial failure will undoubtedly make the company's operation worse, and the small theme has not yet had too obvious direction.
The emergence of Az Manga King, overseen by Hiroshi Nishikori, led to the trend of adaptation of funny manga, especially four-panel manga. This type of animation has obvious characteristics, the theme is suitable for all ages, and the production is not difficult, so it is a good choice for both new companies and established companies.
Studio DEEN's "Bicho Charcoal", Shaft's "Sunny Sketch", Artland's "Funny Manga Day", Production I.G.'s "Kui!! "Tenden High School" and Kyoto's "Lucky Star" are the products of this trend. The commercial success of "Az Comic King" is also an opportunity for many companies to move closer to it, and the initial sales of 25,000 copies have created the highest TV initial sales of J.C.Staff (it is also related to the number of volumes, and the 26-episode "Az Comic King" DVD is three volumes). This figure was not broken until the release of the disc BOX of "A Scientific Super Electromagnetic Cannon" and "Dragon and Tiger".
Not only was the comic strip funny, J.C.Staff also got the right to adapt the work "Tsukihime" owned by the fandom-famous Type-Moon at the time. (Moon Chefs, I know how you feel, you put down the knife first, let's talk) Although the work "True Moon Tan Yue Ji" has been protested by fans of the original work, the high sales of the work have allowed Type-Moon to see the commercial potential of its works to be animated. The rest of the story, everyone knows.
During that period, light novels began to gradually develop and became a rare force in the field of Japanese ACG. "All Metal Frenzy" and "Chino Journey" were animated after the millennium, and the business-keen Jie cao Society also found a business opportunity, and then completed its first light novel adaptation in 2005, namely "Shana of the Burning Eyes". The work achieved good and quite good sales, the initial sales of 10,000 allowed J.C.Staff to see the excellent gold absorption ability of the fat sheep of the light novel, and the electric shock library also came out of the shadow of the commercial failure of the "Chino Journey" animation due to the excellent sales of "The Burning Shana". The two hit it off, and the "light reform madness" is about to be born.
<b>Next:Light reform of large households</b>
<h4>Light reform of large households</h4>
Although J.C.Staff's keen sense of business makes it inevitable to be full of "copper smell", as a prolific company, its work is still quite rich. On the one hand, there are "selling meat" works such as "One Ride when a Thousand" show their "old-school" style (although only the first issue has been done), on the other hand, they can also produce works such as "Honey and Clover", "Symphonic Lover's Dream", "Women's Rakugo", which shows that J.C.Staff's ability to control a variety of themes is still very strong. The commercial success of these literary and artistic works is also quite impressive, and the initial sales of "Symphonic Lover's Dream" and "Honey and Clover" are both around 10,000.
But the works it is known for are still adaptations of light novels.
Since the commercial success of "Scorching Eyes", J.C.Staff has worked closely with the Electric Shock Library and even its parent company, Kadokawa Group. In October 2008, he directly "double-opened" "Dragon and Tiger" and "Magical Forbidden Books Catalog", and in October 2009, he produced the "Magical Banned Books Catalog" and produced the "Magical Banned Books Catalog" of the sequel "A Scientific Super Electromagnetic Cannon". "Super Electromagnetic Cannon" is even more noisy, not only on the basis of the original work to strengthen the portrayal of Misaka Mikoto, to become one of the most popular characters in the Japanese light novel and animation industry, but also surpassed "Magic Forbidden" in disc sales, becoming the first total sales work in the history of J.C.Staff.
Subsequently, the works in the shock library such as "Notes of the Gods", "Sakura-so's Pet Girl", and "Heavy Weapon" were all animated by J.C.Staff, and a considerable number of works in the light novel library such as MF Library J and GA Library were also adapted by J.C.Staff. It is worth mentioning that the four works in which the characters who are called "Nail Palace Four Meng" by domestic netizens, J.C.Staff have all been animated, except for the comic "Whirlwind Butler" (J.C.Staff adapted from "Whirlwind Butler!! ", i.e., the second season), the other three originals are all light novels.
However, due to the weakness of light novel adaptation animation in recent years, J.C.Staff has also stepped on the brakes on the road of light reform. But it is undeniable that the completion of those light animations in that year was also quite good, and the threshold for appreciation was not very high, and it also accumulated a lot of popularity for J.C.Staff itself. Of course, J.C.Staff's sea tactics also make the quality of the work uneven, but which animation company has not yet lost its hand?
Looking at the works adapted by J..C.Staff, whether it is a light change or a comic adaptation, the quality of the finished film is not bad, if you use one word to describe it is "stable". This stable adaptor can be said to be an insurance, it gives many financial owners the impression of the work adapted by it, even if it will not be super-god, but it will definitely guarantee the basic quality of the animation, and even a little higher than the average.
J.C.Staff himself also enjoys the positioning of adaptation, it rarely does original, and even if it does, it is either a multimedia project like WIXOSS or a co-production with a small animation company like Detective Opera, and it rarely takes the risk alone. If we look forward to the "pure" originality of the Festival, we have to count 2013's "Waiting in the Middle of Summer". And this work is also a mystery of the Festival Gymnastics Society itself. It is reasonable to say that this work has a good reputation, the sales are OK, and the company can eat the original sweetness. But there has never been a work like Waiting in the Middle of Summer. My personal guess is that it may be that the original cycle is too long and the cost performance is too low.
If this article had been written before June, it might have stopped abruptly by this point. J.C.Staff is an excellent production of mass-produced animation production company, even if the quality of "multi-open" works is very stable, maintaining an average level or above; like the sea of film tactics, almost every audience who likes animation will have seen J.C.Staff's works; there is no "original heart", on this point can not be harsh, each company has its own way of life, original heart to other companies is good. At the same time, in recent years, the company's strategy has shrunk, rarely entering the production committee, not participating in the share, and directly taking a production cost.
It is a bit excessive to say that "do not think of making progress" and "no pursuit", and there is nothing wrong with people living a plain and uneventful life of adaptation.
Tragically, however, its level began to be shocking in the second half of 2018, and it could not maintain the "above average" evaluation.
<b>Next: The "discipline" of getting by and getting by</b>
<h4>The "receiver" who gave up treatment</h4>
The first thing that exploded into the problem was "Backstreet Girls." Before this work was broadcast, many people, including me, would expect it to be like "Prison Academy", a work that not only maintains excellent performances, but also highlights the laughter of the work. But the end result is that it may inherit the laughter of the original work very well, and the work that is all still frames is difficult to make people laugh.
First of all, I have to admire Kajitani Mitsuharu, who is probably the most difficult original artist in all of Japan, and it may be unprecedented to hold up the entire animation by one person. Maybe it's a matter of budget, and J.C.Staff is not on the production board, so the quality of the finished film is constrained by relatively low production costs. In the end, the entire animation was originally painted by one person, which was jokingly called "PPT" by the audience, but fortunately, the fun of the work was not bad, which made many viewers enjoy it.
J..C.Staff, who "opened up" in July, did not show its due level in other works. "High Score Girl" is fully 3D (originally this animation does not eat the original painting), and the production level of "Planets and Together" and "Killing Angel" is difficult to call good. I don't question the interest of these four works, but I also think that the scripts of "High Score Girl" and "Planets and Together" are very solid, but these four works are not above the so-called average, or even the average.
Then came October, and the series fans had long complained about the "Magical Banned Books Catalog III" began broadcasting. The first two seasons of "Forbidden Magic" are on average a volume of original adaptation of four-word animation, it is reasonable to say that the three episodes of "Forbidden" have only a lot more adaptations than the previous two seasons, but on average, the progress of one volume and three episodes is like catching a train.
The animation deals with the "Forbidden Magic" novel with many characters, complex character relationships, and a large number of set nouns, which is obviously not enough, which will make fans who have not seen the original work look like they are in the clouds, and fans who have seen the original work are even more chilled by the attitude of the animation adaptation. The anticipated Shadow Organization War and the "First vs Second" battle are even more confusing, and the sincerity of the production is doubtful.
It's been five years since the theatrical animation Catalogue of Magical Forbidden Books: The Miracle of Endymion was released. However, five years later, the third season of "Forbidden" finally presented a state of getting by, not maintaining the production of J.C.Staff above the same level as ever, the picture collapses everywhere, and the battle storyboard is like a family.
Compared with "Sword Art Online alicitizon" and "Young Pig Head Boy Won't Dream of Bunny Girl Sister", which are also adapted from the electric shock library works and broadcast at the same time, "Forbidden 3" is not on the same level at all. The only consolation is that the third season of "A Science's Super Electromagnetic Cannon" and "A Certain Science's Side Pass" have been animated under the impetus of "Forbidden 3", but with the current state of J.C.Staff, how much will fans expect?
The third season of "Dating Wars" is about to be broadcast this month, and its trailer is hidden until December 27, which is obviously not a regular state of animation. And in terms of the quality presented by PV, it is difficult to expect the finished product. The main visual image and copyright drawing of the animation have become the memes of crazy dissemination in the online community.
At this point, J.C.Staff is in such a state, and the audience must be worried about the second season of "One Punch Man" in April this year. In addition, the theatrical version of "Blessings for a Better World" was transferred from Studio DEEN to J.C.Staff. I admire J.C.Staff's ability to operate commercially, but under the continuous blows of this year, how much confidence will the final quality of the work give the audience?
Judging from the performance in the second half of 2018, the gymnastics club has given up treatment and lost the gymnastics.
<h4>Get by and live the "discipline"</h4>
Perhaps, the core problem is still in the money. In general, in the interview articles of the current season's animation, the creator rarely mentions negative news, and the essence still hopes to promote the work. So we can't actually understand what happened to J.C.Staff in the last six months. But from the development of J.C.Staff over the years, we can still see some problems.
J.C.Staff, as a major adaptation manufacturer, has excellent commercial operation ability and production level. But it may be because there are too many employees (J.C.Staff is in the top ten of Japanese animation companies) and the company's operating costs are high, so J.C.Staff is increasingly leaving the production committee and receiving only commissioned production fees to reduce the impact of market volatility.
At the same time, when J.C.Staff commissioned the original animation artist to produce the piece, the unit price was already famous in the industry. The operation model that can save money makes it a very cost-effective company in front of the gold lord, especially in the heart of the gold lord who uses the animation as the original advertising film positioning. This is also the reason why J.C.Staff can frequently open more in a quarter.
If it is not on the production committee, it will not participate in the sharing, and the company will no longer pay attention to the sales of the works, adhering to the moderate style of doing things. I think this is the Achilles heel of J.C.Staff, and this business philosophy has finally eaten itself up today.
This is also why the second season of "One Punch Man" announced that the producers became J.C.Staff, and fans were crying. The first season of "One Punch Man" is indeed a time and a fate, a group of animators who play high in "Space Dandy" borrowed the momentum to make another shot, creating a "fairy tale" with a small cost but a strong energy. The beauty of fairy tales lies in their romance and perverse. It is romantic in those original painters with brushes and complexes to create a beautiful world, a wonderful fight, to meet all the audience's imagination of a bloody battle animation.
But J.C.Staff has never had that temperature. Maybe there was still a time in "Girl Revolution", but with the gradual development and expansion of the company, the temperature gradually cooled, and the festival club became a cold adaptation machine, mechanized and procedurally completed the tasks assigned by the gold lord. What's even more chilling is that it is now doing so perfunctorily. That fairytale "One Punch Man" is likely to lose the romance that was fully embedded in the first season.
Maybe in 10 years, Gun Sister will still be "This light novel is really powerful!" The most popular female characters; Kamakura and Ma are still tirelessly tapping on the keyboard, throwing out proper nouns that are difficult for readers to remember; Andaka Shoga Tanaka still adheres to the somewhat malicious code of conduct of "Blue Hair is a Bad Dog" like "Waiting in the Middle of Summer".
But when it comes to J.C.Staff, people always say —
"Oh, they did XXXX!"