From White Box To Supervision

In 2017, the producer of the topic "Beast Girl Zoo", Fukuhara Keikuang, promoted his new book "Become an Animation Producer!" In the process of animation "The Structure of Production (Commercial", he was interviewed by Japanese media. In the exclusive interview, he talked about his views on the current Chinese animation and how Japanese animation should deal with the currently developing Chinese animation industry.

In recent years, the domestic animation industry research often examines the foreign animation industry from a domestic perspective. This interview material allows us to see how the Japanese side views the status quo of our industry. The academic party will translate the excerpts as follows, think in a different position, maybe jump out and see, you can see some different things.

Fukuhara Keiko

Born in 1980 in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.

Chairman and producer of ヤオヨロズ (Eight Million) Co., Ltd.

Graduated from the Faculty of Education, Waseda University.

As Kawashima Ai's manager, he has some experience in the music industry.

After that, ヤオヨロズ (Eight Million) was established. As a producer with various experiences, he has participated in a large number of animation works.

Try to explore an educational method that can effectively apply your practical experience in the development of animation and music derivatives, which is universal in the world, and a new-age producer (producer).

Threat from huge animation market China

Q: There are many events that are often called the animation crisis, and there are also perceptions of China as a threat. A few days ago, there were also reports in the media that "the technology of Japanese animators has been outsourced due to outsourcing". (What do you think?)

Fukuhara: I have also seen the (animation creation) scene in China, and the production capacity has indeed surpassed Japan. However, I think there is still something they don't understand in terms of technology. On the other hand, it should also be noted that the Chinese side placed orders with Japanese animation studios.

ジャストプロ (the parent company of ヤオヨロズ, including animation planning companies, artist brokerage companies, and seiyuu offices) is also entrusted by the Chinese side and is making new plans. In terms of cycle, studio order, budget, etc., it is developing towards good goals. Until a few years ago, Chinese telecommunications companies often poured money into Japanese studios in a bubble-like fashion, but instead messed up quality and delivery time. Of course, there are also cultural differences that occur from time to time, but since that stage, there has been significant progress now.

Tencent, China's largest telecommunications company, is committed to resource integration for the production of domestic animations in China. The total show time of Chinese animations has surpassed that of Japan.

However, (characteristic of the Chinese market) there are almost only works aimed at children. It is only in recent years that high-end adult-oriented animations have begun to devote their efforts to producing works such as "Full-time Master".

Although they learned from Japan and created a lot of high-end works, I don't think they can mass-produce them like Japan. This also has a lot to do with their national character.

Our survey showed that even China can basically watch Japanese animations in real time. In fact, whether it is China or Japan, the "interesting preferences of animation" have not changed much.

So what has changed dramatically is the age composition. Japan is the middle market of the 20s (20-29 years old) and 30s (30-39 years old), while China is the 20s (20-29 years old) and 10th generation (10-19 years old) ) in the majority, so it is natural that China will focus on creating works for young people. It is very easy to set up a project in China, however they may be looking for a work with depth.

Due to such market differences, I think it is difficult to conclude that there is a crisis in Japanese animation due to the outflow of technology. Japanese animation that we think is interesting, sooner or later the world will find it interesting too. Because of such a fashion trend, I don't think we need to force ourselves to create works that adapt to the world.

Animation is different from live-action, in which it is difficult to realize the difference of culture and ethnicity. Therefore, people who do not include the world that the Japanese think of in their work can create interesting works with diversity.

Reasons why Japanese animation studios are not acquired by Chinese companies

Q: Is there a sense of crisis in the animation industry that Japanese animation studios are being acquired by Chinese companies? I have always heard that Chinese animation creators are paid better. (What do you think about this?)

Fukuhara: No, I don't think that's the case.

China has a certain state subsidy according to the creation time of the production company, so the energy of "let's do it first anyway" is very powerful, and the high production capacity of Chinese animation may also be due to this reason.

However, in terms of quality, there are still certain deviations between companies at present. I think the same is true for industrial products. When only the factory manager was Japanese and all the employees were Chinese, it was very difficult to hear that the culture was conveyed. Therefore, it is very difficult for a Japanese director to go to China and make full use of his production capacity to mass-produce high-quality works.

On the other hand, China has launched a large number of Japanese-style animations targeting countries other than Japan. However, in any case, rather than inciting a sense of crisis of "lose to China", I think it is a matter of thinking about how to deliver Japanese animations to the vast world market. This idea is better.

It is necessary for talents in the animation industry to "re-learn"

Q: Like animators, the “production process” with the producer as the ascendant path is often criticized for its poor treatment. Although Mr. Fukuhara is not from the animation industry, he has experienced small-scale production, from production to sound production, and is a well-experienced producer.

Fukuhara: I think the path from production to producer is the orthodox way. However, UU reading www.uukanshu. com does have many paths to producers, such as packaging manufacturers and the like. There are not a few people who work for companies that carry out secondary business activities and then move to producers.

I myself studied last year as a part-time graduate student in graduate school at Digital Hollywood University. This spring, I am pursuing a doctoral program at Keio University. I want to build educational institutions that nurture filmmakers—that's one of my goals. However, if there are practical difficulties in studying in a down-to-earth manner within four years, I began to consider whether it is realistic to set up a guild. …After graduating from a foreign university and working in a company, there are not many people who re-enter graduate school to study. However, in the Japanese animation industry, support for employees to return to school and adjustment of working hours are not simple things. ·

Even so, Mr. Fukuhara is still trying to explore the reform of the education system in the animation industry.

Although Mr. Fukuhara's interview is a family statement, it does not prevent us from opening up a new way of looking at the problem-for the Japanese animation industry, what changes have taken place in the Chinese animation industry in recent years? Is the original intention of the re-education of practitioners in the animation industry different from our current graduate education? Does the technology that he mentioned in Chinese animation not yet clear include scientific and reasonable job composition and process management?

At the same time, Fukuhara believes that for the Japanese industry, the injection of foreign capital will help the Japanese animation industry regain its dominance. Of course, this was not discussed in the interview, and interested readers can find out more from Mr. Fukuhara's new book.

Text / Dragon Six

Pay attention to the WeChat public account "Animation Academic Party", the super luxurious benefits are waiting for you~

Copy the link directly to the official website of the animation academic party to find daily animation information: