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as the world's largest exporter of animation, japan has always enjoyed the reputation of "the world's animation kingdom", and has successively launched many classic animation characters such as astro boy, flower fairy, naruto, ultraman, saint warrior, doraemon, detective conan, hello kitty, etc. with the continuous advancement of globalization, japanese animation has swept the global market with a strong attitude, continuously spreading japanese culture and demonstrating japan's national influence.

according to yunhe data, the "detective conan" series has been monitored and launched on the platform for more than five years, and it still ranks first on the animation hit list. it is also rotated on the iqiyi, youku, tencent video and bilibili platforms, and its popularity is on the rise. as of the time of publication on august 29, the latest theatrical version of the conan series, "detective conan: the million dollar pentagonal star", has a box office of over 225 million yuan in mainland china, and hayao miyazaki's latest feature film "how do you want to live?" has a box office of over 791 million yuan in mainland china. considering the overall relatively bleak box office of mainland movies, such results are truly dazzling.

japanese animation has gone through a century of trials and tribulations and has now flourished. whether in terms of cultural influence or economic value, it can be regarded as a business card of japan's national image. in contrast, what can chinese animation, which started later, learn from it?

one

retracing the historical evolution of japanese animation

to study the booming japanese anime, we must first trace its historical evolution, learn from its historical experience, summarize its historical methods, learn from its strengths and overcome its weaknesses, and use them for chinese animation.

according to the division in "introduction to japanese animation art" written by professor chen qijia (shanghai jiaotong university press, march 2006), the development history of japanese animation can basically be divided into six periods, namely the embryonic period (1917~1945), the exploration period (1945~1962), the comprehensive revitalization period (1963~1978), the golden period (1978~1989), the glory at the end of the century (1990-2000), and the confusion of the new century (after 2001).

the embryonic period (1917~1945) - japanese animation was initially influenced by western animation, especially american animation, especially the 1909 american animation "the deformed pacifier". the introduction of western animation aroused the fighting spirit of the japanese people with lofty ideals. they were determined to create animation belonging to their own country and nation, and for this purpose, they created a new term "manga film". due to the influence of the war environment, japanese animation during this period had obvious militarism. for example, mitsuyo raio's "momotaro: the god of the sea" was a political propaganda animation film commissioned by the japanese navy ministry.

exploration period (1945~1962) - after world war ii, japan's national strength was greatly weakened, the economy was depressed, and everything was in ruins. the society was generally in a state of confusion. at this time, the 19-year-old genius comic boy osamu tezuka emerged with "new treasure island". he introduced the audio-visual language of film and television into comic creation, and innovated the expression of japanese comics. at the same time, disney's high-cost movies dominated the global market. osamu tezuka entered the market with a new low-cost, plot-heavy animation form, which aroused heated discussions and pursuits among readers, and quickly spread in the market, laying a solid foundation for the development of japan's animation industry.

comprehensive revitalization period (1963~1978) - during this period, tezuka osamu's works still occupied half of japanese animation, such as "jungle emperor" and "the book of banda". not only did he introduce robots into animation creation, but he also used his works to criticize current problems and reach realism. in addition, new animation talents continued to appear, such as nagai go, who advocated the violent aesthetics of animation, and ishimori shotaro, the father of "kamen rider". the advent of matsumoto leiji's "galaxy express 999" marked the maturity of japanese animation art.

golden age (1978~1989) - japanese animation ushered in a blowout development. fujiko fujio, the creator of doraemon, who influenced several generations, rumiko takahashi, the mother of the famous manga inuyasha set in the japanese warring states period, akira toriyama, the father of classic works dragon ball and arale, masami kurumada, the father of saint seiya, and haruhiko mikimoto, the character designer of macross and mobile suit gundam 0080, appeared one after another. japanese animation was full of creativity and had a huge response. at the same time, the japanese animation master hayao miyazaki was born. in the history of japanese animation, hayao miyazaki raised animation to the height of humanistic thought for the first time, strongly advocated the artistry and thought of animation, and created a series of popular and world-renowned animation masterpieces such as nausicaa of the valley of the wind, castle in the sky, my neighbor totoro, and kiki's delivery service.

the glory at the end of the century (1990-2000) - at the end of the century, the "otaku" culture and child pornography in japanese anime were rampant, and eventually the "miyazaki tsutomu" incident involving child sexual crimes broke out. since then, the japanese animation industry has been criticized by many parties in public opinion, but works such as "city hunter", "chibi maruko-chan", "crayon shin-chan", "sailor moon", "slam dunk", and "neon genesis evangelion" are still strong. more themes such as detective reasoning, magic, history, passionate youth, sports, and education have begun to appear, constantly enriching and expanding the categories of japanese animation.

confusion in the new century (2001-present)-at the beginning of the new century, hayao miyazaki presented his feature film "spirited away", which won the golden bear award at the 52nd berlin international film festival and the best animated feature award at the 75th academy awards, pushing japanese animated films to the world's top art halls. with the continuous improvement of the soft power of japanese animation culture, capital began to target the animation market. for example, international game and entertainment giants such as sony and nintendo joined the animation production and creation. the debate about "capital kidnapping art" was like a sword of damocles hanging over the japanese animation industry. at the same time, the stagnation of subject matter innovation and the vulgarity of creative orientation also put japanese animation into crisis. of course, during this period, some newcomers also appeared, such as makoto shinkai who created "5 centimeters per second" and satoshi kon who created "tokyo godfathers", injecting new possibilities into the japanese animation industry.

overall, japanese anime has gone through a hundred years of development and has encountered several crises in the meantime, but there is still a steady stream of new creators coming on the scene, constantly pioneering and innovating, bringing fresh energy to the japanese animation industry and pushing the industry forward courageously.

two

comparative analysis of the development characteristics of chinese and japanese animation

by comparing and analyzing the development characteristics of chinese and japanese animation, the author found that the development characteristics of the animation industry in the two countries have the following differences:

differences in ip image creation——the animation industries of both china and japan advocate the creation of ip images and cultural consumer products that continue to gain appeal and traffic. japanese animation pays more attention to individual ip images, such as doraemon, detective conan, and the clever ikkyu, creating vivid, individual, and professional cartoon protagonists, and focusing on developing a series of character relationships and worldview settings, thereby extending a complete set of animation universes. chinese animation, on the other hand, relies more on traditional mythological stories, starting with the overall story temperament, and then creating individual characters within the framework setting. in the end, it also extends the animation universe based on the overall story setting, such as "nezha: the devil child comes to the world" and "jiang ziya" adapted from "the investiture of the gods", "the monkey king: hero is back" leveraging the classic journey to the west ip, and "white snake: origin" adapted from the folk legend "the legend of the white snake".

differences in production format——japanese animation focuses more on the development of individuals or individual studios, such as hayao miyazaki and studio ghibli, makoto shinkai and falcom games. the creative subject or director has a greater voice, so their series of works can maintain a consistent personal style, thus forming a brand effect, opening up segmented vertical markets, and increasing the stickiness and loyalty of the audience. chinese animation is mainly based on the collective development and creation of large companies. except for the zheng father and son represented by zheng yuanjie and zheng yaqi, who have high popularity and independent creative space, other directors are more inclined to rely on large companies for creation, such as color house under enlight media, which launched works such as "big fish and begonia" and "big guardian", original power, the initial original company of the "pleasant goat" series, fantawild cartoon under huaqiang fantawild, which launched the "boonie bears" series, and light chaser animation, which launched works such as the "white snake" series, the "new god list: yang jian" series, and "30,000 miles of chang'an". when personal style is weakened, the recognition of the work will also be relatively reduced.

differences in subject matter selection——japanese animation looks at the world. it started with national stories in the warring states period and developed into narratives with a global vision. its protagonists and story lines are highly universal, with low cultural communication barriers and costs, and are easy for audiences in other countries to accept. this is the case with the superstars of japanese animation, such as "detective conan", "dragon ball", "one piece", "slam dunk", "naruto", and "crayon shin-chan". in comparison, from "the deer of nine colors", "the book of heaven", and "calabash brothers" to the recent hits "journey to the west: hero is back", "big fish and begonia", and "chang'an 30,000 miles", chinese animation pays more attention to national creation, drawing on the myths and historical legends of the nation and promoting the culture of the nation. such a national creative idea is certainly worth promoting, but it is obvious that if the subject matter is limited to the history of the nation and the core of the national spiritual culture cannot be extracted, then chinese animation works can only be superficial in telling traditional stories, and cannot deeply promote the spirit of chinese traditional culture, nor can they expand the diversity and richness of chinese animation.

differences in the public opinion environment - the strong development momentum of japanese animation is inseparable from the loose public opinion and regulatory environment. in japan, the public pays great attention to the development of the animation market. for the purpose of spiritual and cultural consumption, they are also more tolerant of the content of animation. therefore, japanese animation can have endless new themes and unique techniques. in contrast, the public opinion environment faced by chinese animation is more sensitive and cautious. due to the instigation of traditional dregs of thought, some people believe that "certain animations spread violent information to children" and "corrupt children". they believe that all content that is not suitable for children to watch cannot appear in animation, which is actually a death sentence for the chinese animation industry: it can only be infantilized forever. this kind of wrong social public opinion makes the audience walk on thin ice, and often self-castrates, resulting in the works being trapped in the comfort zone and serious homogeneity.

three

the inspiration that japanese animation brings to chinese animation

based on the above analysis, the inspirations that japanese animation gives to chinese animation are roughly as follows:

increase original innovation efforts and continuously expand the richness of themes——chinese animation should gradually break away from the creation of national themes, refine the spiritual and cultural core of the chinese nation, and transplant it to more universal story forms and character creation, so as to create more animation ips with global influence and representing chinese values. once upon a time, the chinese market also gave birth to completely original animation masterpieces, such as the "kuiba" trilogy, "wind whisperer" and "mr. miao". in addition, if it mainly relies on traditional myths, the audience has already been familiar with them, and the expectations are limited, and they are more for feelings. however, the development of the cultural industry must improve market choices and cannot rely solely on feelings to pave the way. based on this, it is imperative to strengthen original innovation.

extend the industrial chain and increase the added value of animation products——chinese animation can continue to learn from japanese animation to extend the industrial chain, such as doraemon and flash chain stores co-branded to create theme exhibition halls; such as "the god of cooking" and gu ming co-branded to launch "pao lu da" customized milk tea; such as studio ghibli and british brand steamcream co-branded to launch "kiki's delivery service" and other themed customized steam creams. in addition to strengthening the cross-border co-branding of the second dimension, more theme games, amusement kingdoms, etc. can be developed to expand the consumer market. in this regard, chinese animation has begun to make attempts, such as "douluo dalu" co-branded with master kong, "battle through the heavens" co-branded with pizza hut, etc., but most of them are fast-moving consumer goods, and there are few heavy asset industries.

accelerate the establishment of talent training mechanism and continuously incubate new animation talents——looking at the history of japanese animation development, newcomers emerge in endlessly, repeatedly bringing hope to japanese animation in crisis. the main body of creation is people, and doing a good job of people is the focus of the development of the animation industry. at present, there are relatively few venture capital meetings, investment funds, and salon activities for animation films in china. animation newcomers are weak and need to be discovered and supported by the industry in order to continue to take the lead and produce new products. although directors such as jiaozi, tian xiaopeng, bu sifan, and wang chuan have recently emerged in the chinese animation industry, the number of newcomers in japanese animation is still dwarfed, and there is also a lack of animation masters such as tezuka mushio and hayao miyazaki.

create a more relaxed public opinion and regulatory environment, and give animation creation more freedom——once upon a time, the national ip pleasant goat was reported by the audience, and the scene in which big bad wolf cooked a sheep was imitated and learned by children, causing personal injury to the children. so far, pleasant goat has been attacked by public opinion, and the producers had to quickly change to a more gentle approach. in boonie bears, there was also a catchphrase in which bald qiang called big bear and little bear "stinky bears". as a result, it was reported by parents and had a bad influence on the children. after that, bald qiang changed his appearance and chased big bear and little bear fiercely, and he actually called "little bear". this gentleness is far from the story setting and is shocking. when creation blindly gives way and accommodates public opinion, the integrity of the creation itself is ruthlessly damaged, and its artistic quality naturally cannot be guaranteed.

be wary of capital coercion and give creators more creative space——at the beginning of the new century, japanese game giants such as sony and nintendo entered the animation industry, and the strength of capital also brought considerable negative impact to japanese animation. as time goes by, pleasant goat ip cannot beat boonie bears. the reason is that when pleasant goat ip was popular, it was the starting stage of the chinese animation market, and the creators sold the copyright for temporary economic benefits. after experiencing multiple resale and acquisitions, pleasant goat ip was coerced by multiple capitals, and the creators gradually lost their voice, resulting in a break in creation. therefore, how authors can make good use of capital, how capital can treat creation well, and how both parties can find the right balance of cooperation have become issues that the chinese animation industry needs to be vigilant and resolved in the new era.

overall, japan, also a country in east asia, has already explored some valuable experience in the animation industry. we can learn from others' experience and chinese animators can use this experience as a mirror for reference and embark on a new path for the development of the animation industry with chinese characteristics and global influence.