CATDOLL: Japanese media complains about the "secret" of the popularity of the new January animation in China

A work that became popular with senior otakus

In this quarter, several new works are being discussed in the hardcore otaku circles in China. Among them, the one that has received relatively wide attention and sparked a lot of discussion is "How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend".

In the Chinese otaku community, light novel-based animations (especially some works that are well-known in the Chinese otaku community) often get the support of the original light novel readers first. They will introduce the content of the works before the animation is released. Therefore, compared with other original-type animations and original animations, they show a relatively stable popularity. However, "Raising a Boring Girlfriend" is an exception. In addition to the original readers who like it very much, other groups have also expressed their support for the work.

In the Chinese otaku community, the computer game White Album 2 created by the original author of The Raising of Boring Girlfriend, Fumiaki Maruto, has received very high praise. Therefore, before the release of the animation of this work, some hardcore otaku who are not fans of the original work have already started to pay attention to this animation. In addition, the plot is very powerful after the work is broadcast, which makes many viewers feel addicted. In addition, the plot revolves around the content produced by Japanese doujinshi (especially doujinshi games), which also allows Chinese otaku to feel "the freshest information about Japanese otaku things."

Even in China, otaku-related activities have been launched in major cities recently, so making doujinshi is nothing new. However, doujin games cannot provide clear information to everyone like doujinshi. Although they can access Japanese works, they don’t know how Japan treats doujin games, and there is very little information about production. Therefore, it is naturally a pleasure for Chinese otaku to learn some otaku knowledge about making doujin games through "How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend".

In addition, the various animations and GALGAMEs that appear in the work contain a lot of otaku NETAs, and these NETAs are very familiar to today's senior otaku in China, so it is also helpful for them to pay attention to this work. Some Chinese otaku communities also describe "How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend" as a work that "has topics to talk about" and "NETAs available."

The difficulty of releasing animations and sequels in China

There are also many sequels in the new winter series. Generally speaking, in terms of the click-through rate of Chinese video websites, the second and third seasons are easily overshadowed by new works, and it is difficult to have the explosive popularity of the first season. However, this year's "Tokyo Ghoul √A", "Kuroko's Basketball", and "ALDNOAH.ZERO" still attracted everyone's attention and have very good popularity. This is a relatively rare result on Chinese video websites.

Because of the Spring Festival holiday in China, many students and young people have returned home, and it is difficult to communicate with their peers. Therefore, as for the new winter series, the phenomenon of people actively discovering and chasing new animations like last year and the year before has decreased. People generally chase some works that they have already decided to watch and "have always chased this movie." This year's Spring Festival is later than in previous years, so not only the new winter series, but also some animation activities are covered by the atmosphere of the Spring Festival, and the entire circle has fallen into a relatively dull state.

Perhaps because of this background, the popularity of sequels in winter new anime is particularly bright, but it does not mean that sequels will definitely be popular. For example, before the broadcast of Durarara!! × 2: Sakurai, the Chinese otaku community considered it a hegemonic new anime, but in reality it fell into a dilemma of low popularity.

Durarara! is a very popular work in China. Both the original light novel and the first season of the animation aired in 2010 have cultivated a large number of loyal fans, and even caused a great impact on the entire Chinese otaku community. Just from this background, the sequel of this work is undoubtedly the most anticipated winter new show in the Chinese otaku community. However, after the broadcast, the click rate did not increase... The current situation is quite embarrassing. Of course, Durarara! is not the worst. There have been many sequels of previous works that were ignored and eventually forgotten by everyone.

As for the sequels that have become popular among winter animations, on the one hand, the work itself must be interesting, and on the other hand, some people have pointed out: "We have to take into account the unique atmosphere of the Spring Festival, and the time cannot be too long since the first season. The fans' impression of the work and the enthusiasm and topicality of the communication about the work should remain at a certain level, so that it can continue to be popular."

This view is affirmed by the author. In the past, those sequels that were highly anticipated but did not gain popularity were often too long after the previous animation, so that when the sequel was broadcast, the original fans had been attracted by other works. In other words, they are already "past works" for the Chinese otaku community.

The amount of information and works coming from Japan through the Internet has increased rapidly compared to before. However, even so, the otaku environment (using books to promote, various events, radio programs, and other things close to daily life) other than animation releases is still very different from Japan.

In China, if a work wants to become popular, it often has to be promoted through animation. It can only be said that if there is no animation released, it is difficult for Chinese otaku to have the opportunity to come into contact with a work. Although it is said that in this era, as long as they are willing to spend time and experience, Chinese people can follow works at a similar pace as Japanese people, but this is only for senior otaku after all. Shallow otaku basically watch animations on the Internet and discuss topics related to these works.

Because of this environment, when there is no animation release in China, the enthusiasm of those shallow otakus for the works will quickly cool down, and this speed is by no means comparable to that of Japan. And currently, most of the viewers who use Chinese video websites to watch works are still shallow otakus. Therefore, even if some sequels of animation works are very popular, because of the "long time interval", the click rate on Chinese video websites is not optimistic... This phenomenon is by no means rare in the Chinese otaku community.

As the scale of animation releases expands, the way a work is disseminated in China and the way it becomes popular have also changed greatly. And when we discuss the popularity of a work in the Chinese otaku community, we should be aware of what kind of group this popularity is aimed at, and whether this popularity can be linked to the publishing business of the video website and the popularity of the website... Isn't this something we should be aware of?