 On one breezy weekend in February, employees at the animation studio Emon were busy setting up new workstations in their Kichijoji office at the edge of Tokyo. The five-story building houses the entire anime production operation at the Japan branch of Shanghai-based animation company Haoliners.Since Haoliners was established in 2013 by Li Haolin, a rising animator who had not yet turned 30 at the time, it has become one of China's leading domestic animation studios. It is backed by some of the leading players in the streaming content market, such as Internet giant Tencent and China's largest online video platform iQiyi. While China has traditionally been a destination of outsourced work for the Japanese anime industry, that trend is starting to shift in the opposite direction. "There is demand from the Chinese side," says Widad Noureddine, Emon's general manager of international media operations. "Tencent has a big catalog of webcomics which are very popular, and they would love to see these works adapted into animation." Talent has mushroomed in the Chinese animation industry in recent years, and producers now believe they are ready to take the charge in animation production. Emon, Japan's first animation studio by a Chinese production company, was established in response to this market shift. "If you want anime, you have to produce it in Japan," so goes the mantra, according to Widad. The Nikkei Asian Review reports the Chinese animation market is projected to reach 150 billion yuan (US$21.7 billion) this year, a figure three times its size in 2010 and also larger than the Japanese market. According to 2015 data from the Association of Japanese Animations, Chinese buyers account for more than half of the year-over-year increase in industry revenue generated from overseas anime license sales. An executive with a Beijing affiliate of Dentsu, Japan's largest advertising agency and a major anime investor, explains in a recent report by The Wall Street Journal that the crackdown on piracy has shifted the landscape of China's anime market in a positive direction. Government enforcement of copyright laws has resulted in producers and licensors seeing increased animation sales. Reduction in piracy has made anime licenses more attractive to local buyers such as streaming sites Youku Tudou, Tencent Video, and Bilibili. The industry also benefits from the fact that streamed animation is not subject to the same quotas and content reviews put in place for foreign live-action films and television shows. At the same time, however, industry insiders warn this boom could end if Chinese media regulators decide to change their stance. License costs are also on the rise with increasing competition among video streaming sites. For example, The Wall Street Journal estimates that one episode of Gintama sells for approximately US$100,000. This is why Tencent and other media publishers are beginning to invest as joint stakeholders in Japanese productions in order to avoid bidding wars. At the same time, Tencent can also develop its own webcomic properties with Japanese talent not only for the enjoyment of Chinese audiences, but also for others. With the establishment of a Tokyo office, Haoliners has been able to produce some of its titles entirely in Japan. Other works, such as Hitori no Shita: The Outcast, are mainly planned and animated in Japan but through collaboration with studios in China and South Korea. "Right now, the only 100 percent Chinese product is To Be Hero, which is created by Li Haolin," Widad reveals. As Chinese companies increase investment in anime productions, they still face obstacles in these new ventures due to negative perceptions of Chinese-made works. "The most challenging thing is dealing with the image that Chinese people only copy," Widad admits. "It's true that the origin of the works is not Japanese, but they are animated by Japanese people, in the Japanese way, at a Japanese studio." Given the anime industry's current challenges, such as the shortage of animators, Widad believes Chinese co-productions can help revitalize support for creators. "Japanese people keep doing the same stories every time. The characters may be different, but they are still the same pattern of stories. I think that's where the Chinese market can do something different." Animation Productions Supported by Haoliners
Original reporting by arsonal for MyAnimeList. A complete transcript of the interview with Widad Noureddine, Emon's general manager of international media operations, will be available at the end of May. |
mta_pnFeb 17, 2022 6:14 PM
| so basically china saves anime? niceu "one episode of gintama sells for 100,000" dammmnn itll be interesting to see the influence chinese production has on the industry... nice post! |
イカロス --I K A R O S D E S U-- "Hai master" <3cruise   Becoming the bell of my heart dont click here, baka -->> https://soundcloud.com/franciscan-guitar |
| Would be nice to see em sponsor S&W 3 or some cool shit |
| I just hope we somehow get a 1/2 Prince and Legend of Sun Knight animation someday... |
| hmmm...maybe it's china's way of coping/ copying Japnese animation ...hmmm |
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| Interesting to see that stuff like Twin Spirit Detective and The King's Avatar aren't by HaoLiners. Also, I'm not a fan of any of the anime supported listed above. |
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PaulNamida said: I just hope we somehow get a 1/2 Prince and Legend of Sun Knight animation someday... I also want to see those 2 animated |
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| good for china and all but i really want korea to do this.....not gonna happen anytime soon though :( |
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| This was an interesting post. "Japanese people keep doing the same stories every time. The characters may be different, but they are still the same pattern of stories. I think that's where the Chinese market can do something different." Bloodivores confirmed master race. |
✧ |
^^^ So very animu, much save Basically it could jumpstart the market as long as the Chinese gov doesn't troll everyone, which you think would be out of line with their new OBOR policy. So...saved? Really interesting article, would love to see more like this on MAL. (The WSJ article is also worth the read) |
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| an exclusive news content from MAL? awesome! keep it coming >License costs are also on the rise with increasing competition among video streaming sites. For example, The Wall Street Journal estimates that one episode of Gintama sells for approximately US$100,000. this is not far fetch from the numbers here Let's take account of what we already know: First, we know that license fees have been absolutely out of control for the last few years. Bidding wars between Funimation and Crunchyroll, as well as occasional violent disruption from Amazon, Hulu and Netflix have pushed the fees for some shows well over the US$200,000 per episode mark -- $2.6 Million for a 13-episode show. Sales, while healthy, have not gone up anywhere near that much, and this was clearly not sustainable for anime publishers. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/answerman/2016-09-09/.106251 so its good to know that the anime industry can reach break-even profit just from selling streaming licenses because we know 1 episode of anime cost around 100,000 - 300,000 USA dollars (That said, a single anime episode costs about US$100,000-300,000 per episode, according to various producers we've talked to. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2012-03-05) |
| More butchered and low quality anime from China in the future eh? Great. |
"At some point, I stopped hoping." |
| It might have been a poorly produced show but I appreciated their original work To be Hero. If I have to watch chinese animation in order to get original content, then I'm okay with it (I guess). Thanks for the upcoming interview report. |
| even the most generic harem is still better than any shitty chinese cartoon |
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tragedydesu said: even the most generic harem is still better than any shitty chinese cartoon Clearly never watch King's Avatar. |
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KaiserNazrin said: tragedydesu said: even the most generic harem is still better than any shitty chinese cartoon Clearly never watch King's Avatar. i really hate chinese voice acting so not sure if i should give it a try or not |
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| the chinese cartoon can be come real soon enough.. |
 "If taking responsibility for a mistake that cannot be undone means death, it's not that hard to die. At least, not as hard as to live on." |
Given the anime industry's current challenges, such as the shortage of animators, Widad believes Chinese co-productions can help revitalize support for creators. "Japanese people keep doing the same stories every time. The characters may be different, but they are still the same pattern of stories. I think that's where the Chinese market can do something different." But then when China starts creating more anime, it would be "Chinese people keep doing the same stories every time. The characters may be different, but they are still the same pattern of stories." |
tragedydesu said: even the most generic harem is still better than any shitty chinese cartoon Wait... But you still have generic harem... :/ |
Yaoi-Senpai said: Chinese Communists are trying to infiltrate the Japanese anime market and make anime Communist againCan someone explain this in 1 sentence pls? I'm not a fan of reading a novel. |
 Nico- said: Conversations with people pinging/quoting me to argue about some old post I wrote years ago will not be entertained@Comic_Sans oh no y arnt ppl dieing i need more ppl dieing rly gud plot avansement jus liek tokyo ghoul if erbudy dies amirite |
Ikaros_42oh said: so basically china saves anime? niceu "one episode of gintama sells for 100,000" dammmnn itll be interesting to see the influence chinese production has on the industry... nice post! Now if Japanese studio would start creating a better environment for it's animators the industry will truly be saved. |
Jagd84 said: Ikaros_42oh said: so basically china saves anime? niceu "one episode of gintama sells for 100,000" dammmnn itll be interesting to see the influence chinese production has on the industry... nice post! Now if Japanese studio would start creating a better environment for it's animators the industry will truly be saved. Combine that with better copyright law enforcement and better overseas distribution and better anime and it will be truly TRULY saved. |
| One of those chinese higher up or directors also said that unlike the japanese they do anime production like a machine output so that's why all these chinese anime are so bland and lack detail and tones, they don't put any heart in it they just want to pump out a product. |
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ichii_1 said: One of those chinese higher up or directors also said that unlike the japanese they do anime production like a machine output so that's why all these chinese anime are so bland and lack detail and tones, they don't put any heart in it they just want to pump out a product. Damn Chinese knock off anime and knock off cars and knock off watches and knock off life Are anime sweatshops the future? |
イカロス --I K A R O S D E S U-- "Hai master" <3cruise Becoming the bell of my heart dont click here, baka -->> https://soundcloud.com/franciscan-guitar |
Comic_Sans said: This. Don't fall for their lies!Yaoi-Senpai said: Chinese Communists are trying to infiltrate the Japanese anime market and make anime Communist againCan someone explain this in 1 sentence pls? I'm not a fan of reading a novel. |
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xRayzen1 said: Honestly, the most chinese Manhuas are the same: Tales of Demons and Gods, Doupo Cangqiong, Douluo Dalu, Panlong etc But then you have some special ones i really wish to see as anime: Feng Shen Ji, Blood and Steel, City of Darkness, Shiguizue, Bowling King, Tiger x Crane and Rakshasa Street. So the chinese have a source of good manhuas but the most of them have a similiar setting. If they make a success then maybe there will be more people willing to make manhuas and this means we can get many more different animes. If you read some of those I mentioned you will see the approaching is totally different. They have a different focus as the japanese mangas. The characters have often different motives. EDIT: I hope for korean manhuas! Tower of God, Dice, Black Haze , Noblesse, Blind Faith Descent, Ares, The Breaker....All are amazing. Tower of God must get an anime. Honestly, its totally amazing I think there was an anime entry for Noblesse. Infact I watched it some time ago |
Better than nothing I suppose :p |
| ANIME IS JAPANESE ONLY CHINEZES PLS GO |
 I don't watch as much anime as before... |
| This should be what all articles are instead of the disgusting click bait shit 100% of it is now. It has no place on the news section, though. |
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| So pretty soon we'll have even an animation war between China and Japan. Truly that will be the end of times. |
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| only Chinese anime I loved was To Be Hero it had so much charm and provided constant entertainment even with the short run-time it had of 10 minutes. The other productions of Haoliners I can't exactly say the same most have been almost bad to intolerable. Bloodivores is the only 20 minute TV series I have scored a one and I'm scared to try out the others by the studio in fears that they will be of same quality looking at their mean scores. I'll definitely check out the upcoming Centaru no Nayami though, I hope it won't disappoint. |
| I definitely think Chinese animation has tons of potential if they continue with the work they've been doing so far, I look forward to seeing what they dish out and how it affects the anime industry. |
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| I don't know if I want that, I feel the chinese might be a bit too uniform in thinking to create a myriad of quality stories and characters. |
| China being one step closer to conquering the world, perfecting the craft of japanese animus. |
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| Please China, just do more Jackie Chan movie and stay the hell away from animation. Your "anime" sucks |
 (っ◔◡◔)っ 𝓘 𝔀𝓲𝓼𝓱 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓪 𝔀𝓸𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻𝓯𝓾𝓵 𝓭𝓪𝔂 ♥ |
| I'm afraid if they're trying to convince people Chinese animation is worth watching with Bloodivores they're going about it wrong. |
| "No, son, you may not have your body pillow at the dinner table!" |
| Chinese animation has huge potential |
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