Chinese Otaku Anime Situation] China's Crackdown on Japanese Anime and Its Impact on New Anime in April

My name is Hundred Yuan Kagoyamo, and I am introducing all things related to the otaku situation in China.

This time, I would like to introduce the Japanese anime productions that were regulated on Chinese video sites at the end of March, and the new anime that started to be distributed in April.

The crackdown on anime that occurred just before the start of distribution of new anime in April

Due to the crackdown that took place at the end of March, a large number of Japanese anime works are no longer available on Chinese video websites. This has had a significant impact on the regular distribution of Japanese anime on Chinese video sites. The works criticized by name in the crackdown were "Terror of Reverberation," "Blood-C," and "HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD," of which "Terror of Reverberation" was a legally distributed work. (As for the other two works, it is unknown.)

In addition, among the other works that can no longer be viewed, "Shinkage no Kyojin," "Parasite," "Tokyo Ghouls √A," "Sword Art Online," and other officially distributed works that had become very popular in China were included, and information about the distribution of new anime in April on Chinese video sites where the crackdown was carried out The timing of the distribution of these works coincided with the release of information on the distribution of April's new anime on Chinese video sites, causing chaos in the Chinese video site industry and the otaku community.

Impact on April's New Anime

Although the reasons for the crackdown were given, the guidelines and the scope of the crackdown were not clear, which is not unusual in China. The fact that the reference to "terrorism" was made first is considered to be an unprecedented new trend in anime regulation. In addition, the Chinese side had little information on how to judge the new regulations, and had to make decisions on the content and level of expression to be considered on a trial basis.

Some of the works that had already been announced or announced for distribution were not distributed in the end, and some of the works that were distributed were modified due to self-imposed restrictions. However, there are also some works that were unexpectedly positively affected by the regulations. ...... The following is a list of works that seem to have been positively affected by the regulations, as well as the measures taken to deal with the regulations.

Bloodline

The most obvious example of the impact of the current regulations is "Bloodline". The original manga of "Bloodline" is not widely known in China, and the fans of "TRIGUN," a work by the same author, are no longer the mainstream generation of Chinese otaku today. The only thing that was discussed was the production company, BONES. However, after the enforcement action was taken, the title of the game, in addition to the content, was considered problematic, and the title was changed to the Chinese title "Gensoukai Sensen (Gensai Front)" for distribution. This deceptive or rather forced title change became a topic of conversation and attracted more attention than had been imagined beforehand. In addition, the image of "I don't know when it will be regulated or for how long it will be available for viewing! If we don't consider the risks associated with regulations, it seems to have gotten off to a very good start. In the current situation where new animations are being released one after another, the initial response is inevitably sluggish for works that are not well-known before the start of distribution, and even if the reputation grows afterwards, there are not many cases where the number of accesses does not grow as much as it could have. However, "Bloodline" attracted a lot of attention immediately after the start of distribution due to the regulatory movement. The content of "Bloodline" was also perceived by Chinese otaku as a work that suited their tastes because of the high quality of the battle scenes and the ensemble drama that Chinese viewers liked, and it has been steadily gaining popularity since then. It is currently regarded as one of the dark horses of new anime releases in April in the Chinese otaku community.


Shokugeki no Soma

One of the characteristics of "Shokugeki no Soma" is that it mixes flamboyant reactions to cooking with sexy elements, but the video distribution on Chinese video sites may have been considered a problem because of the reactions mixed with sex appeal. I heard that the screen is sometimes blacked out. However, when the restricted version was actually distributed on the site, it was found that "the erotic and silly reactions to the food in the work have been restricted! This point became a hot topic from the first episode. After that, the topic of "what was regulated" became a frequent topic of conversation in Chinese otaku circles. Although "Shokugeki no Soma" received good reviews, some thought that it might not grow much at the initial launch because the popularity of other recent anime with gourmet elements did not gain much momentum on Chinese video sites and the influence of manga in the current Chinese otaku community is smaller than that in Japan. There was also a view that the website ...... would not grow much at the initial launch. However, with the addition of topics related to self-regulation, the site attracted more attention than expected from the start. The popularity of "Shokugeki no Soma" has been increasing due to the fact that the reactions to meals are in the direction of ero-baka, which makes it easy to get into and talk about from a story point of view. At this point, it is probably one of the top-ranking works among the new anime releases for April in terms of topicality and attention to stories.

What are the effects of the measures?
In closing, I would like to ask how much effect can be expected from the "self-regulation" and "title change" measures being taken by Chinese video websites in response to the recent crackdown and regulatory moves.

First of all, regarding self-imposed restrictions, the latest crackdown was not procedural, but went into the content of the animations. If you become a target of the regulation, it is a little difficult to make excuses. The title change is not expected to have much effect either. In fact, "Reverberation of Terror," which was the target of name-calling and criticism in the recent crackdown, was distributed in China last year under the Chinese title "Tokyo Reverberation," perhaps to avoid having the word "terror" in the title. After all, in China, there is nothing that can be done once you are noticed, regardless of whether or not countermeasures are taken. Perhaps because of this background, there has been little movement among people in the otaku industry and fans in China to protect their otaku hobby or to establish rules to prevent social criticism and government control. However, once the geek industry is actually subject to control and regulation, it is impossible not to do something about it, and it is necessary to appeal to the government that they are aware of the control.

(Text by Hyakumen Kagoyamu)