Why Japanese Novels and Internet Novels Are Outdated in China New Year's Edition of the Otaku Situation in China [Anime Situation of Chinese Otaku].

My name is Baiyuan Longhoam, and I am a writer who introduces various topics related to otaku in China.
Since this is the first article of the year 2020, I thought I would summarize the changes I noticed in China last year regarding the image of Japanese light novels and the recently increasing number of online novels in the Chinese otaku community.

It has been several decades since Japanese content began to become popular in China, and more than a decade has passed since otaku culture began to take shape in earnest. In terms of trends in popular works, the differences between Japan and China have shrunk considerably, but there are still some genres where the differences between the two countries are spreading.

In recent years, the most significant changes in evaluation and perception in the Chinese otaku community have been in light novels and net novels, genres that are roughly classified as "light novels" in China.

For a relatively long time, Japanese novels were considered important in China, as anime based on novels, such as "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya," were among the works that played a central role in the process of establishing the otaku segment in China, and many of the works that became major topics in China after that were novels.

However, in recent years, due to changes in the works that Chinese otaku are exposed to and comparisons with online novels that have been developing in China, there have been criticisms that Japanese Ranobes, online novels, and anime based on these works are "all outdated" and "too old-fashioned.
"They are all outdated.
The image of Japanese novels and anime based on these works has plummeted, as evidenced by such widespread criticism as "they are all outdated.

China is the leading country in the commercialization of online novels

As background to this story, let me first give a general explanation of "Chinese online novels," which are often compared to Japanese novels and online novels.

Chinese online novels are homegrown content by Chinese people for Chinese people, which emerged and grew at a time when the mainstream of entertainment was pirated copies from outside of the country. It is characterized by its large scale and wide readership, and has a very strong presence as popular content. In addition, because there are no so-called adult-oriented works or erotic contents in China, it has developed in response to various demands as a receptacle for vulgar contents, for better or for worse.

The driving force behind the development of online novels in China is a platform that charges by the number of characters, which directly translates into income based on popularity and number of views.
In recent years, not only simple word count-based platforms, but also monthly unlimited-reading tickets and other forms of billing have become more prominent. The Chinese online novel market is a market that is dominated by inexpensive, highly profitable novels.

Chinese online novels attracted readers as a place where a large amount of interesting content could be read for a low price, and survived and grew despite an environment full of pirated copies. For authors, it is also a place where they can receive fees from the huge number of users and dream of commercialization in other media, such as video and game productions.
It is also a place where people with no background or assets can rise to the top and dream of realizing the Chinese dream.

Because of the strong image of this kind of commercial place, from a Chinese perspective, it is said that many Japanese online novels do not lead to income until they are commercially published, and that the hobby and pastime aspects of Japanese online novels may seem a bit strange.

Intense competition with a direct link to income

As described above, Chinese online novels have become a place to earn money and to make a name for oneself, and the competition for works is very fierce. The key weapons in the competition for online novels in China are "new material, template elements" and"amount of writing.
Since the competition is directly related to income, all writers are actively seeking out and imitating "winning" techniques, and although originality remains somewhat questionable, all works are said to be greedily adding trendy developments and template elements, and trends are changing at a very fast pace. In addition, the amount of writing in China's online novels is very high.

Furthermore, it is said that in Chinese online novels, the appeal of the amount of text is very effective, and this is because one of the forms of billing is to specify a work for unlimited reading, and in doing so, it is possible to appeal the sense that "you can read a lot" as a bargain.
According to one theory, the pace of updating "profitable" online novels in China today is about 20,000 Chinese characters per day (about 40,000-60,000 characters in Japanese, or even more depending on the proper nouns).

As one would expect, it is difficult for an individual to keep up with this pace of competition, and it has become the norm for online novels in China to be written by multiple people.
They are now writing in teams, dividing the work between them, each taking charge of his or her own specialized part, and conducting publicity activities for readers.

Incidentally, regarding the style of online novelists in China, he said, "If you compare it to the current Japanese style, it would be more like the online novelist style,
If I were to compare it to the current Japanese style, it would be closer to YouTuber than to online novelist. The way of competing, the direct relationship with income, and the fact that the winner is not just one person on a billboard, but actually a division of labor are all part of it.
I've also been taught to see it this way. And according to a Chinese geek, when comparing the current Japanese ranobes and online novels with Chinese online novels, the pace of updating is not as brisk, and in terms of stories, "It's always the same story, different world metastasis, etc.
"It's always the same story, the same story, the same story of otherworldly metastasis and reincarnation.
This is also said to be a factor that tends to cause them to be considered "lagging behind.

In China's online novels, although otherworldly transition and reincarnation works are a popular genre known as "kangetsu," they are only one of the popular genres. The evaluation of Japanese works, which always seem to be about otherworldly transfers, has been declining rapidly.

However, while the fierce competition directly related to income has led to the creation of a variety of works, it is also said that only genres that are "commercially viable" have developed in China's online novels, and it has become difficult for genres other than those that can be mass-produced by using templates to earn characters and characters to survive. It is difficult for genres other than those that can be mass-produced with the use of templates to earn character counts to survive, and the presence of these genres in the entertainment field has been fading rapidly.
Such genres include, for example, medium and short works that cannot earn a high number of characters, and romantic comedies, a genre in which it is difficult to stretch out and obtain a stable reputation and apply templates for all audiences. Incidentally, it is said that among Japanese works, while otherworldly works are not highly rated, romantic comedy works are strangely highly rated in the Chinese otaku community.