Chinese Otaku Anime Situation] October New Anime Trends in China, Female-oriented works are performing well in October.

My name is Baiyuan Kagoyamo, and I am here to introduce you to all things related to the otaku situation in China.
This time, I would like to introduce the trends of new Japanese anime released in October on Chinese video sites.

First of all, October's new anime is notable for its female-oriented content.

Until July, "Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu" seemed to be dominating the topics in the Chinese otaku community, but in terms of new anime for October, perhaps due to the lack of works that would attract the attention of the highly fluid male otaku demographic, the popularity of female-oriented works with relatively stable support is noticeable.

The first new work that is currently earning relatively high PV on various video sites is "Watashi ga motete doushunda" (I'm popular, I'm a fat guy, I' m an otaku, and I' m a girl). The storyline is a "fat and geeky main character loses weight, becomes a beautiful girl, and becomes popular," which is a "common story" in China as well.
The reason why she lost weight was because she was so shocked when her favorite character in her favorite anime died that she didn't eat for a week and stayed in her room and cried constantly.
The story is also said to be a work that combines a standard storyline with unexpected elements, such as the frequent use of otaku-related material and BL-like fantasies in the work.

The changes in the main character and his surroundings depicted in the anime and the subsequent development involving otaku and BL material are interesting and have become a topic of conversation not only among women but also among men, making it one of the new anime releases in October that attracted a lot of attention after it began airing.

As for sequels, the fifth season of "Natsume's Book of Friends" seems to be doing well.
In China, there is a deep-rooted popularity of Japanese yokai and Japanese-style legendary works, and popular Japanese yokai-related works appear regularly in Chinese otaku circles, and "Natsume's Book of Friends" is one of the works that laid the foundation for this trend. In addition, "Natsume's Book of Friends" is a rare work among Japanese anime works that have become popular in China in recent years, and it is said to be a work that has fans of all ages and still maintains popularity today.

In seasons when there are no works with a high reputation in the Chinese otaku community or works with an active original fan base, sequel works tend to gain stable popularity, but "Natsume's Book of Friends" has a reputation as a work that can easily gain stable popularity and earn PV over the long term.

In China, it is difficult to obtain and experience events, goods, and information related to the work like in Japan, so a large part of the popularity of the work comes from the anime.
Therefore, it is not uncommon for sequels to be less popular than the original works, even if they have maintained popularity in Japan and have been popular in China in the past. It is said that "Natsume's Book of Friends" has maintained a steady popularity over a long period of time because it has a wide generation of fans and the story structure makes it easy to join in the middle of the story, making it easy for fans who have stopped following it or whose memories of the work have become vague over time to return.

Another popular series that has been gaining attention due to the popularity of the original work with a somewhat unusual route is "Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru.
Although there is no official route, "Kisenkakure" has become very popular in Greater China, and was one of the reasons for the formation of the "military-style moe anthropomorphism" genre in China, and because of this trend, DMM platform games are attracting considerable attention in China as "current Japanese games. Some games have formed fan communities and are thriving, and "Sword Dance," in particular, has gained its own fan base, especially among women.

With this background, the anime adaptation of "Sword Dance" attracted a lot of attention, but at the same time, there were concerns that the DMM-affiliated game would be like the anime of "Ship This," which was out of sync with what fans were looking for. However, once the game started, it turned out to be a good comedy with good character portrayal.
However, once the anime started, it was found to have a comedic daily life part with good character portrayal and a moderately serious battle part, showing many characters and incorporating a moderate amount of material from the original game, so the fans were relieved. It seems that the anime has been well received by the fans.