CATDOLL: How the Yangyan model took root in China's "fifth generation"

Today's world is a new era of information explosion. So, in what form should IP be developed?

Some people say that each company should do what it is best at, and for the rest, they should look for the top three in the corresponding industry to collaborate with. Some people say that we should focus on the first level, which does not require much thinking, is the fastest and most direct, such as comics, animations, and records, and then derive the second level such as games, live-action stage plays, toys, etc. after spreading them.

Japan's "Kagero Project" is another example. It represents the "fifth generation" of Japanese comics. Starting from vocaloid music, ghost animal spoofs, secondary creations, etc., it gained high attention and then made novels, comics, and animations to create an IP with a larger fan base. Now "Kagero Project" has 100,000 followers on Baidu Tieba, which is at the upper level of similar Japanese IPs in terms of scale.

The Rise of Project Kagerou

The origin of "Kagerou Project" is the song "Artificial Enemies" published by Japanese otaku Jin on the Japanese bullet screen video website Niconico in February 2011. After the response, he created a series of songs. Because Jin is good at integrating stories into lyrics and melodies, he successfully created a story of otaku counterattack and superpowers fighting. Then he was spotted by Japanese commercial companies, and then there were light novels, comics, animations, etc. On March 30 this year, the official announced that the sales of light novels exceeded 7.8 million copies.

The lyrics, novels, and animations of "Project Kagerou" are simple and effective. The main characters are a group of lonely boys and girls with superpowers related to their eyes. Some of them can be invisible, some can forcefully attract attention, some can heal, and some can petrify opponents... Some of them are like game settings. The male protagonist Shintaro Kisaragi has to leave his home because of a keyboard and mouse failure. He had been staying at home for two years before that, met a superpower group, encountered an incident, solved the incident, and finally walked out of loneliness.

This story has many shortcomings, but the fantasy elements of escaping reality and the inspirational plot are enough to impress many young people, while leaving ample space for secondary creation. Coupled with the fashionable, beautiful, and narcissistic characters created in the Japanese comic style, "Kagero Project" stands out among a large number of Vocaloid music, and also led the wave of Vocaloid light novelization, comics, animation, and stage play. For example, "Senbonzakura" has a novel and "Mikagura Gakuen" will have an animation.

The Gains and Losses of the Fifth Generation

The fifth generation of Japanese comics, represented by works such as "Kagerou Project", refers to the rapid decline in sharing costs after the development of the Internet, which has brought about user UGC behaviors such as singing, game live streaming, secondary creation, and ghost animal spoofs. The new generation of otaku who grew up in this period has strong networking and light characteristics.

"Project Kagerou" has grown and developed due to secondary creations. The painter Shidu was inspired by the music and created secondary works. He was noticed by Jin and then joined as the main painter of "Project Kagerou". The official has also been encouraging this behavior to disseminate and promote the original IP.

The development of the Internet and IT technology has lowered the threshold for secondary creation. Fans can easily use smartphones and software such as Vocaloid to cover and create songs, and then spread them on audio and video platforms such as iTunes and Niconico, publish fan art on Pixiv, and initiate discussions on the Internet.

The development of the Internet has also increased young people’s demand for a sense of participation. More and more people are participating in secondary creation, blurring the boundaries between “audience” and “creators”.

Project Kagerou was also held back by the double blow of its own lack of originality and the negative impact of secondary creations. The fan base was too young and had low purchasing power, and the authors of secondary creations competed with the official for profits (fans also had to pay for fan fiction). As a result, Project Kagerou's light novel sold well, but it was stopped by the poorly produced animation and the dismal sales of BD & DVD.

In comparison, works such as "Kantai Collection" are in a much better situation due to the strong support of the official authorities.

Although the influence of the fifth generation in China is far less than that in Japan, and even Yamaha, one of the driving forces behind the project, has stopped operating the Vocaloid China project because of its poor profitability, there are also some creations initiated by the "folk" in China that have the potential to become masterpieces of the fifth generation, and industry professionals can pay a little attention to them.

ilem's "Mr. Yin and Yang", "Zombie Dance", "Monster Rampage" and "Ordinary Disco" all have very high playback volume on Bilibili. The music style is catchy, the lyrics have strong storytelling and the PV videos are interesting.

A single video of "Power to Rule the World" has been played millions of times. The video was created by a team of seven people and is beautifully produced. Its material was recently stolen by a Three Kingdoms game.

Some secondary creations around these works, such as Sanwu's cover songs, have also reached hundreds of thousands of views. From them, we seem to see a business logic and potential that can surpass "Kagero Project", but this may require some Chinese localization, replacing the secondary creations, covers, 2CH cooking wars, and Twitter discussions on Japan's P station with secondary creations on A station and B station, fan art on Banciyuan, and discussions on Sina Weibo and Baidu Tieba...