The situation in China, which may actually be a Dragon Ball void, and the new Chinese anime releases for April, which is unfortunate for old-school otaku.

Although better than in January, is it still difficult to distribute the sequels to the highly anticipated works? China's New Anime in April

In the past few years, China has been tightening regulations on the entertainment field, making it more difficult to distribute video works, and the situation in which a large number of new Japanese anime works were distributed with almost no time lag between their airing in Japan, as was the case a decade ago, is now a distant memory.

Despite this situation, new anime titles in April are relatively better than in recent seasons, with new titles such as "Monster No. 8" and"Hibike! Euphonium 3," and"Dungeon Rice," which has continued from the previous season, are also continuing to do well.

The most popular of these are "Bless This Wonderful World! and "Date A Live" and "Wolf and Spice, " all of which have been very popular in China in the past and are still being talked about in China today, there was no information on the distribution of sequels or remakes as of late April when this article was written. The "Date A Live" series, in particular, has been a big hit with Chinese otaku .

In particular, "Date A Live" had been a popular anime in China as a reason for producing a sequel, and this was emphasized in the fourth season of the anime. However, it seems that the fifth season of "Date A Live V" has not been distributed to mainland China. Furthermore, there are many fans who are disappointed by the negative information that is circulating on the Chinese Internet, including the withdrawal or dissolution of Chinese companies and divisions involved in the production of the anime.

On the other hand, in contrast to new anime productions, there are many hopeful news such as "How Are You Living" which started screening in mainland China on April 3.

As of April 20, " How Do You Live?" has grossed over 700 million yuan (approximately 15 billion yen) in mainland China, surpassing the 660 million yuan (approximately 14.2 billion yen) of "THE FIRST SLAM DUNK" and the 580 million yuan (approximately 14.2 billion yen) of "Your Name. The box-office revenue of Japanese films in mainland China has surpassed that of "THE FIRST SLAM DUNK" at 660 million yuan (approx. 14.2 billion yen) and "Kimi no na wa" at 580 million yuan (approx. 12.5 billion yen).

Regarding the momentum of "How Do You Live?" in the Chinese market, some say that the start of screenings coinciding with the three-day Qing Ming Festival holiday from April 4 to 6, which was a three-day weekend, was good for something, and from other Chinese geeks,

As for the strong performance of "How Do You Live?" in the Chinese movie market, I think it is due to the fact that Hayao Miyazaki's films were originally the "no-fail" choice in China, and also because the advertising in China, unlike Japan, had information about the content and the posters were designed to Chinese tastes. Also, there is a belief in China that this film will be Hayao Miyazaki's last film. I am sure that many people in China felt that they had to see this film.

There are still mixed opinions about the content of the film, with some saying that it is the most difficult of all Hayao Miyazaki's works to date to understand. However, considering the fame of Hayao Miyazaki, it is not surprising that this film is ranked high at the box office in China. Even revival screenings of his previous works have been ranked in the box office.

There were also stories such as the following.

China may actually be a Dragon Ball vacuum zone

Among Japanese films that have become very popular in China, "Dragon Ball" is probably the most well-known. The recent news of Akira Toriyama's death made headlines in China as well, and many people were shocked.

However, the popularity of "Dragon Ball" in China seems to differ from that of Japan and other countries and regions.

According to Chinese otaku, "Dragon Ball" has become a "work of memory" for the older generation in China, and many creators have been influenced by it.

However, for the younger generation, which includes the current generation of Chinese otaku, "Dragon Ball is a famous work with well-known value and related stories, but they don't have any particular attachment to it. It was pointed out that compared to Japan and other countries and regions, China ' s attachment to "Dragon Ball" is relatively weak, and that it may be a kind of void in the midst of its global popularity.

The reasons for this unique situation in China can be attributed to the timing of the popularity of the series and the media in which the series was popularized.

In the early 1990s, when "Dragon Ball" was very popular, China was in the heyday of pirated manga, and "Dragon Ball" was one of the best-selling pirated manga in China.

I was studying in China at that time, and I realized the great popularity of "Dragon Ball" at that time in various places. My Chinese classmates often talked to me, a Japanese student, about Japan-related topics related to "Dragon Ball." In addition, there were pirated copies of completely unrelated works with the author name "Akira Toriyama," as if they were trying to take advantage of the popularity of "Dragon Ball" and Mr. Akira Toriyama, as well as pirated copies of works similar to "Dragon Ball" that were sold under Chinese titles. The fact that pirated copies of originally illegal works had become even more illegal, such as being sold under Chinese titles similar to "Dragon Ball," is strangely memorable.

However, it seems that the anime version of "Dragon Ball" was almost never aired on Chinese TV at that time, and this is the reason why the work has not spread beyond a certain generation in China, where there is a strong difference in the feelings and popularity of the work between a certain generation and others.

From a Chinese geek who knew the situation back then

I think that in the past, there were very few opportunities for Chinese children to watch the "Dragon Ball" anime. Occasionally, the movie version was shown on Chinese TV, and in some areas, it was possible to see it aired on Hong Kong TV stations, but it was not something that would become a common memory for anime fans.

As for anime, there was also the pirate route, but pirated discs were more expensive than pirated cartoons and difficult to buy with a child's allowance. Pirated cartoons were also not cheap for children at the time, and the pirate dealers' sales methods were expensive and terrible. Comparing "Dragon Ball," which was never broadcast on Chinese TV, with "Saint Seiya" and "Slam Dunk," which were broadcast in China and became very popular, there is a clear difference in terms of the size of the fan base, fan enthusiasm, and popularity in the modern era.

and so on.

In addition, the fact that there are not many anime and games produced after the end of the original "Dragon Ball" series in China is also a factor that cannot be ignored.

I was told by a Chinese geek in the past about this area.

In China, it was difficult to maintain a fan base because there were no related works such as games, which had been the fuel to maintain the enthusiasm of fans in Japan and other countries. Compared to Japan and other countries, "Dragon Ball" was treated as a work of the past. It is a bit strange that "Dragon Ball" is still a major Japanese IP that is generating a lot of profit around the world.

I have also heard such stories.

Another possible reason is that the new developments of "Dragon Ball" in recent years are not to the liking of Chinese fans.

One Chinese otaku told us that

This is not limited to Dragon Ball, but there are many Chinese fans who value the development of the original story and the consistency of the setting of the work. Therefore, there are many Chinese Dragon Ball fans who cannot accept the new settings and further inflation that have been introduced in recent years, and there are many fans who have mixed feelings about the "current Dragon Ball".

There were also some who said that they were not sure about the current Dragon Ball.

The above-mentioned situation of Dragon Ball fans in China seems to have affected the box-office revenue of the new movie version, and although there are stories that the new Dragon Ball movie screened in China in recent years has been "highly rated by those who have seen it," it has not done so well at the box-office.

Some geeks in China have commented on this issue.

In recent years, Japanese animation films in the Chinese movie market have been roughly defined as failures if they grossed less than 10 million yuan (approx. 200 million yen), not failures if they were aimed at geeks at 30 million yuan (approx. 600 million yen), hits from around 50 million yuan (approx. 1 billion yen), and big hits if they exceeded 100 million yuan (approx. 2.1 billion yen). Even "Dragon Ball Super Broly," which is highly acclaimed in China, grossed approximately 30 million yuan (approximately 670 million yen) at the box office.

Since the Dragon Ball fan base in China is aging and there are no new fans to add, and many people cannot keep up with the new developments, I consider "Dragon Ball Super Broly" to have done quite well, grossing over 30 million yuan at the box office. However, compared to the box office of Japanese animated films of the same period, the numbers are not as good, and the two other films that entered China both grossed in the 10 million yuan range, so it cannot be simply said that Dragon Ball is popular in the current Chinese domestic market.

The above is the background of the situation.

With the above background, although "Dragon Ball" has a very good name recognition and image in China, it may be a work that needs to be handled with careful consideration regarding its commercial development and appeal to the younger generation.

Hundred Yuan Basket Sheep

I went to school in China for more than a decade from the 1990s and encountered Chinese people who "liked Japanese anime, manga, and otaku culture. Since then, I have been running a blog that provides information on Japanese otaku content and otaku culture, which has spread in China before I knew it.