CATDOLL: "Your Name." Director Makoto Shinkai: Chinese animation technology is already on par with Japan

An animation that has swept across Asia and is reminiscent of the master Hayao Miyazaki has finally come to China. On November 22, Makoto Shinkai held a press conference with "Your Name." at the Communication University of China and announced the opening of pre-sales for the film on major ticket purchasing platforms. As of November 20, the cumulative box office of the film has reached 18.98 billion yen, and it has set various records in countries and regions such as Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. "Your Name." made the name "Makoto Shinkai" appear on the big screen in mainland China for the first time. Of course, he already has countless fans among Japanese animation fans in China.

On the day of the press conference, when talking about the gap between Chinese and Japanese animated films, he said that he took some time to watch the trailers of "Big Fish and Begonia" and "The Monkey King: Hero is Back", "and did not feel that Japan's technology is so far ahead of China", "whether it is the software used or the technology, they are basically at the same level."

As soon as this statement was made, there were countless controversies. On the one hand, those who supported Chinese animation felt a sense of pride in their national animation after seeing the affirmation from the master Japanese animation director; on the other hand, the audience who were fans of Japanese animation and Disney animation argued to deny it.

So, is the level of Chinese animation really on the same level as Japan?

If the translation is accurate, Director Makoto Shinkai's original words refer to "software and technology". There is nothing wrong with this statement, and there is nothing worth arguing about, because software and technology have long been globalized, networked, and more importantly, capitalized. For the Chinese film industry, which is not "short of money" at all, it should have the technical level of the general film industry.

The era of "5-cent special effects" in domestic films seems to be coming to an end. For example, Framestore, the British special effects company for the currently popular "Doctor Strange", was acquired by China Cultural Investment Holdings for US$187 million. The company has joined the ranks of entertainment industry big names such as Jackie Chan, Feng Xiaogang, Zhang Guoli, Huang Xiaoming, Li Bingbing, Eric Tsang, and Stanley Tong.

"Technical level" is directly related to capital, and the ability to use technology and creative creation are the fundamental factors that determine the "level of work". Chinese capital is going global, and cross-platform cooperation among artistic talents from all over the world is very common, but the creation and development of a country's own national culture still depends mainly on itself. Therefore, there is nothing to be proud of, nor is there anything to blame or be frustrated about.

Chinese audiences who have watched "Big Fish and Begonia" and "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" and have some knowledge of Japanese animation will know that what Shinkai said is the humility of a Japanese. Moreover, compared with the average level of Japanese animation, the work with the best audience response and high production quality in the past decade still has many shortcomings.

When promoting "The Monkey King: Hero is Back", it was said that it took 8 years to plan and 3 years to produce. "Big Fish and Begonia" even said that the idea had been in place for 12 years. These were all labeled as "sentimental", but they also exposed the low level of industrialization of Chinese animation. Director Makoto Shinkai produces a work every two to three years, and the level is improving day by day. From "Her Cat" (1999), "Voices of a Distant Star" (2002), to the familiar "The Place Promised in Our Early Days" (2004), "5 Centimeters per Second" (2007), to "Children Who Chase Stars" (2011), "The Garden of Words" (2013) and "Your Name." (2016), this is not only a reflection of a director's creative ability, but also a symbol of the healthy development of the animation industry.

Animation is already the third largest industry in Japan, with an annual turnover of 230 trillion yen, accounting for 10% of GDP. Moreover, the Japanese animation industry is inseparable from animation, comics, and games, and they are basically advancing in parallel. After the comics serialized in famous comic weekly magazines become popular works, they will gradually enter various media forms such as TV animation, DVD (OVA), and film (theatrical version), and further develop huge derivative products such as dolls and games. However, our animation creation and industry are still in a workshop-style, free-range state, and there are still a lot of imitations and even plagiarism, not to mention the poor situation of shoddy work and hasty project establishment in exchange for national policy subsidies.

Works such as "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf", "Boonie Bears", "Balala the Fairies", and "Armor Hero" have Chinese characteristics and are also very popular with Chinese audiences, but these animation works are still somewhat inferior to Japanese anime. Whether it is "Naruto", "One Piece", or "Onmyoji", they are not only in the limelight, but some are even enduring. It is not difficult to understand that the "two-dimensional culture" led by Japanese anime is moving from non-mainstream to mainstream in China.

As the saying goes, "learn from the barbarians to defeat the barbarians", what Chinese animators need to do is to combine technology and emotion with a truly integrated artistic force. This is how Japanese football surpassed Chinese football 20 or 30 years ago.

Therefore, when "Your Name" is released, what Chinese animation needs to do is to learn how to create with heart, take every step carefully, and strive to catch up, instead of being complacent in the praise, or being confused and at a loss in the ocean of comments.