Why "Suzume no Doutei" and "Slam Dunk" took the top spot at the box office in China, in that order, and Why China's new anime releases in April are not attracting much attention.

My name is Baiyuan Longhoam, and I am here to introduce you to all things related to the otaku situation in China.

This time, I would like to introduce trends related to new Japanese anime released in April on Chinese video sites and how "THE FIRST SLAM DUNK," which has become very popular in China, is received in China.

Although there are new works that began distribution late, new anime in April have not attracted much attention.

In contrast to the popularity and box-office records of Japanese theatrical anime in mainland China, the situation for new Japanese anime distributed on Chinese video sites seems to be as difficult as ever.

According to what we hear from otaku people in China, many of the most anticipated and talked-about new anime titles in April were not distributed in China, or their distribution dates were unknown, and the number of topics related to new anime in the Chinese otaku community seems to be decreasing,

Some lamented, "It is unlikely that we will see a rise in 2-D through new anime or newcomers in the near future.

It is unlikely that newcomers will be coming into the industry in the foreseeable future.

Some of the new anime that started in April are being distributed smoothly with little time lag between Japan and the U.S. "Skip and Loafer" is highly rated by those who have seen it, but it has not attracted attention as a new anime and has not become a major topic. Also, "Tondemo Shiru de Isekai Houkai Houmeshi (Wandering in Another World with Tremendous Skills)" started distribution as a new anime after a delay of practically one season, and it seems to be gaining solid popularity.

In addition, the distribution of "MASHLE" started late and the number of views is increasing steadily, and "Demon Slayer" finally started in June. In addition, "Demon Slayer" has been receiving a lot of complaints about deleted and modified scenes.

One Chinese geek commented on this situation.

Before, Chinese otaku used to get excited when discussing which new works to follow before the start of a new season. The lack of discussion about new anime recently makes me realize that the pre-start discussions had a big impact.

There was also some talk about the future of the industry.

In addition, China's position in international affairs has become more difficult in recent years, and the G7 summit held in Japan has caused some to worry that the atmosphere between China and Japan may become tense again, and that this may affect the treatment of Japanese content in China, The distribution of new Japanese animation in China continues to cause some headaches.

Why "Suzume no Domekimono" and "Slam Dunk" took the top spot at the box office in China, in that order.

For some time now, a series of new and old Japanese anime films have been screened in China. Among them, "Suzume no Dokkimari" and"THE FIRST SLAM DUNK" have become so popular that they have rewritten the box-office ranking of Japanese movies in China, and they have become a hot topic of conversation among Chinese otaku circles.

In addition, these two films are being compared in the Chinese otaku community due to their popularity and name recognition, and especially the box-office figures are attracting interest. and "Why did it do that?

As of the beginning of June when this article was written, the box-office collections of each film in mainland China were approximately 800 million yuan (approximately 15.7 billion yen) for "Suzume no Domekimari" and 650 million yuan (approximately 12.7 billion yen) for "THE FIRST SLAM DUNK". According to Chinese geeks, some of these figures are understandable, while others are surprising.

I have already summarized the background of the great popularity of "Suzume no Dokkimari" in China in my previous article, so this time I will write mainly about "Slam Dunk".

In China, "THE FIRST SLAM DUNK" became a big hit as the screening date of April 20 approached. Just before the screening, on Chinese online SNS and otaku forums

"Will THE FIRST SLAM DUNK further break the record just broken by THE FIRST SLAM DUNK?"

"Willthe box office in the Chinese marketexceed1billion yuan?

There were also some very upbeat stories such as "Will it break the record just broken by Suzume no Dokkeshiki?

However, although the reservation numbers and the box office growth in the first week were very good, the growth after that was slower than previously expected, and after that, it seems that the numbers settled down to ......, which is not as high as "The Sparrow's Lockdown".

As for the box office of "Suzume no Dokkimari" and "THE FIRST SLAM DUNK", it seems that "Suzume no Dokkimari" is basically higher than "THE FIRST SLAM DUNK" not only in China but also in the US and Korea at this point, but some Chinese otaku have commented

However, some Chinese otaku have expressed their surprise that the box-office performance of "Slam Dunk" was not as good as that of "Suzume no Dokimari" in the Chinese market, or rather, that "Suzume no Dokimari" was stronger in percentage terms than "Slam Dunk" in Korea or Japan, since "Slam Dunk" has been a very popular IP in China in the past.

However, this is partly due to the fact that there was too much hype right before the screening, andaroundMarch, there were many who were worried that Slam Dunk would fail at the box office. However, the strength of the last minute publicity and the strong ticket sales may have led some people to dream about it. ......

There was also a story that the film was a success.

As for other background on the film's box office, he said.

According to data from movie websites, Slam Dunk's audience is mainlycomposed of people over30years old, which is in contrast to the younger generation that is the main audience for Suzume no Dokkomori. In addition to this, another interesting difference is that "Slam Dunk" was strong in large cities and weak in regional cities, while "Suzume no Dokkimari" shows its strength in regional cities as well. I suspect that this directly led to differences in audience size outside of the core support group and in attendance growth after the first week."

He also pointed out that "the film has been very well received in the Chinese market.

In addition to this, there is also talk that the current polarization of film evaluations among Chinese Slam Dunk fans may be the reason why there were not many "fans who went to see the movie repeatedly.

In this regard, an old Chinese Slam Dunk fan commented

However, there are many who are dissatisfied with the story added in the movie version and the different treatment of the regular characters. Many Chinese Slam Dunk fans became fans through the dubbed version of the anime that aired on Chinese TV in the past, so some are bothered by the differences from the past anime version.

It seems that Slam Dunk has other difficulties in China apart from the evaluation of the movie.

But apart from that

To be honest, I was worried that the popularity of Slam Dunk in China was already a thing of the past and that the movie would be a flop. Since Slam Dunk was a very popular work before the development of the Internet, it is difficult to accurately grasp its popularity as a social phenomenon in China at that time on the Internet, and I am not sure how popular Slam Dunk is today. Some Chinese fans are disappointed when they compare the box office figures of "Suzume no Dokkimari" and Slam Dunk the Movie, but I was relieved to see the box office figures of Slam Dunk the Movie set a record for a Japanese film."

However, I was relieved to see the record-breaking box office for a Japanese movie," said a fan of the movie.

In fact, the screening schedule for "THE FIRST SLAM DUNK" in mainland China has not been announced, and perhaps due to the recent tightening of restrictions on entertainment content in China, many Chinese otaku were concerned about whether the film could be screened in China. Even after the screening schedule was announced, there was an air of skepticism for a while as to whether the film would be popular in China.

As the screening date approached, the film received a level of publicity and excitement on the Internet rarely seen in recent years for an animated film, and economic forecasts began to fly. For those who have been following the process, the current box-office figures and how they are being handled may be a bit complicated.

(Text by Baigen Kagoyamu)