The moment when Blizzard enacted a specially
harsh punishment on Hearthstone player Blitzchung
for saying “Free Hong Kong” on stream
has been eye-opening for many fans. As China’s
middle class grows, entertainment providers
have had to tackle this important question:
How do we protect our reliance on the Chinese
market without alienating our domestic fans?
This is also a question that the anime industry
has been asking itself, leading to the claim
made by fans and professionals that China
will become the largest market for anime.
Discussing this claim is difficult because
although we do have data, the methodologies
aren’t clear enough to be able to make direct
comparisons. To put it simply, numbers are
all over the place and it’s not clear enough
on how they all got to them.
But here’s the thing: At the highest estimates,
China has already overtaken the Japanese market
for anime, and at the lowest estimate, it’s
on the way. China has more than 10x the population
of Japan, so as long as there are fans in
China, it’s reasonable to expect that there
will be money. So with that said, across all
speculations from industry professionals and
researchers, every possibility points towards
this myth being confirmed.
But let’s talk about what exactly this means,
in regards to government intervention, local
Chinese productions, and the potential effect
on the medium as a whole.
[Intro]
In the special English edition of the Anime
Buscience Magazine, the authors used this
opportunity to talk about the increasing reliance
on foreign markets. One column was written
by Yuji Mori, president of the consulting
branch of advertising giant Dentsu, and opens
with the question of whether Japan will become
China’s “Anime Making Factory”.
At this point, overseas licensing is the essential
part of recuperating costs, with the 2018
AJA report showing that money coming in from
overseas was steadily on its way to overtaking
all domestic revenue. The anime industry is
now worth a massive amount of money and it
continues to grow, which according to the
report is largely due to the growth of the
anime market in China and deals with multinational
platforms like Netflix and Amazon. But with
money comes control, which is Yuji Mori’s
concern. He believes that the amount of shows
financed and owned by Chinese companies, but
produced at Japanese studios will increase
and could strain the already complicated relationship
between a lot of financiers and the animation
studios creating the shows.
Basically, Mori envisions more anime being
like Neo-Yokio. Where the entire show is developed
and owned overseas and then they get a Japanese
animation studio to make it, rather than being
more involved in the concept phase themselves.
It’s cynical, but there is some precedent
for it.
On a personal level, Chinese companies investing
in anime, isn’t an issue. Instead, it’s
that the production committee system already
drives a distance between themselves and small
animation studios. I believe that instead
of working to drive out Chinese investors,
animation studios should be lifted up and
be able to have more power and influence over
the shows they create by default. Right now,
a studio can create an incredibly successful
show and still go bankrupt, that’s not an
issue with China, that’s a local issue.
But even with this said, especially with the
Blitzchung incident, it’s hard to ignore
that with Chinese investors, can come a set
of complications. I do want to make it clear
here, that Chinese fans are never at fault
for loving anime. A lot of discussions regarding
China can devolve into racism really quickly
when they’re often just as annoyed as we
all are.
Right now, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism,
the National Radio and Television Administration,
and several other government bodies have the
ability to threaten local companies and restrict
the media they import. Even if Chinese companies
have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars
into a Japanese show, the government can stop
it from entering China in any way. And this
is just in regards to digital streaming. As
far as I’m aware, the government has not
granted a broadcast license for any modern
TV anime.
The reasons why anime could be prevented from
entering China are broad and inconsistent.
Generally, media can be banned for violence,
crime, sex, politics and LGBT rep. In 2015,
they published a list of anime including Attack
on Titan, High School of the Dead, and specifically
Sword Art Online Season 2 that would not be
able to be digitally broadcast. This is after
Chinese licensors had already paid to show
them.
So… here’s the issue. If Chinese companies
have an influence over the industry and companies
are relying on them investing in and licensing
Japanese anime, where is the incentive in
creating shows that these companies fear might
just get banned after they’ve paid for them.
All of this is naturally cynical, but it does
fit the trend in other media where elements
of script or production design might be changed
to appease the administration.
Of course, it’s worth mentioning that the
local Chinese animation industry is also growing,
with some productions like Big Fish and Begonia
and The King’s Avatar taking inspiration
from Japanese animation. Kemono Friends producer
Yoshitada Fukuhara predicted back in 2017
that the Chinese industry would overtake Japan
in both production and skill within a decade,
and so it may come to pass that compared to
investing in their own Chinese productions,
investing huge amounts in the Japanese anime
industry just might not be worth it.
China has also been offering some pretty decent
salaries and benefits for animation staff,
which has some in Japan concerned about the
Chinese industry being able to poach talent
from anime. Which, pardon my French, is fucking
ironic. We can be concerned about Chinese
government bodies and censorship, but the
concerns about Japan being an anime making
factory, or Chinese animation stealing animators
are based on the same problems that Japanese
animators have been talking about for years.
The only difference is now there’s competition.
Thanks for watching The Canipa Effect. Please
keep your myths coming by either messaging
@TheCanipaEffect on Twitter or messaging anonymously
on CuriousCat. I don’t respond to these
submissions, but I do read and consider every
single one of them.
This channel is supported by Patreon and I’d
like to give a special thank you to all of
these wonderful people. In particular, I’d
like to give an extra special thank you to
Austin Hardwicke, Chariotwheel, deadermeat,
Ellipsism, Frog-kun, Jacob Bosley, Jakob Gahde,
JRPictures, Mike Tamburelli, Noland Soga,
Ryan Rodriguez, ShiShi, Thatjuanartist and
my own mother.
