Chinese animation

[Danime]

So I was thinking.

China's the upcoming super-power (if not already), with a massive work-force (probably the most powerful in the world), and they're actively censoring Japanese animation from being shown on their TV's, so I thought - they must be making their own animation.

So I finally Wikipedia'd it, and found that actually their industry is tiny (and that American and Japanese animation dominates 90% of the animation industry). But it is on its way up, and because of that I just had a look down the list, and about four animations have been made in 2007, the only one that had a decent bit of information and a link was this one, it's called: "Sparking Red Star", and actually has a website that's translated into English, and furthermore - the animation looks fluid, and very intricate. Really amazing stuff - of course at the expense of the near slave labour conditions I would expect the animators would be working in, of course that produces some high quality animation, if not fluid at least.

So anyway, I haven't heard of it, maybe it's been mainstream and I just missed it, but either way I think it's worth a look, and it has a trailer (which is how I know about the animation).

http://www.sparklingredstarmovie.com/

[TheLaughingMan]

Nice finding, that's very interesting. And it does look pretty good!
I would certainly be up for some Chinese Animation happening, and some of it making it's way over here...

[coyotemalito]

Interesting topic.

In Mexico, will be broadcasted a cartoon featuring the Olympic mascots the Fuwa. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuwa) , in the same way it was broadcasted the cartoon of Coby, the mascot for the Olympics at Barcelona in 1992.

I'm not sure if it will be shown somewhere else, but I could find this link. (http://yeinjee.com/asianpop/olympic-cartoon-a-hit-in-china/) in English.

[strawberryshortcake]

Absolutely fantastic.

Not only is the animation technically sound, gorgeously fluid, it's better than 99% of all anime. It incorporates perspective visuals and high cell count. The animation is world class.

Low budget still frames, recycled images religiously employed in Anime is definitely lacking in this Chinese release, an absolute plus. Chinese animation is light years ahead of Anime simply based on trailer viewing.

It's definitely a gem I will add to my collection. I just need to know the official release date.

[nakimushi]

Absolutely fantastic.

Not only is the animation technically sound, gorgeously fluid, it's better than 99% of all anime. It incorporates perspective visuals and high cell count. The animation is world class.

Low budget still frames, recycled images religiously employed in Anime is definitely lacking in this Chinese release, an absolute plus. Chinese animation is light years ahead of Anime simply based on trailer viewing.

It's definitely a gem I will add to my collection. I just need to know the official release date.




Hmm, well it is a movie, so comparing it to anime TV shows, is sort of an apples to oranges comparison. That said, from the trailer, it does seem to compare favorably with some anime features, but isn't quite at a Ghibli level.

But a movie about the glorious Red Army saving the people from injustice? :roll: I can't say that I'm in a hurry to watch that no matter how well it may be animated.

[DocWatson]

See the appropriate chapters in John A. Lent's (editor) Animation in Asia and the Pacific (http://books.google.com/books?id=TNJulkqR774C&dq=%22animation+in+asia+and+the+pacific%22&pg=PP1&ots=nnNwx9TVCx&sig=J1ken1PKnCRXMn7dRscM931homU&hl=en&prev=http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Animation+in+Asia+and+the+Pacific%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title&cad=one-book-with-thumbnail#PPP1,M1) (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001; ISBN 0253340357).

[Mint Chocolate]

But a movie about the glorious Red Army saving the people from injustice? :roll: I can't say that I'm in a hurry to watch that no matter how well it may be animated.
Yeah that's the conflicting thing isn't it.

All this talk about Chinese animation reminds me of a few classic Chinese animated movies, in particular there was a very well-known one made in the 60's which depicts a part of the story from the classic novel Journey to the West. The animation is top notch and beautiful. The name of the movie in Chinese is 大闹天宫. You can see some pictures on this site (http://www.js.xinhuanet.com/zhuanlan/2005-05/19/content_4256139.htm) (5 pages, sorry can't find an English site for this). Brings back fond memories for me.

[LenMiyata]

Grumble Grumble Grumble
So I was thinking.

China's the upcoming super-power (if not already), with a massive work-force (probably the most powerful in the world), and they're actively censoring Japanese animation from being shown on their TV's, so I thought - they must be making their own animation.
But in the long run, prospects are not good for a domestic China Animation industry. It's true that there is an experienced pool of Animation artist, (due to the Japanese outsourcing of in-between work for the last 2 decades), but with the large degree of bootleg/pirated DVD sales in China, unless the feature is government sponsored and funded, there is little chance of making any money. (In fact piracy is so bad, that a China Public Broadcasting network was caught showing a Chinese animation series without permission (or royalty payments) from the company that produced it. The China Software Industry also has the same issue, which is why we haven't seen a China competitor to Microsoft appear...

[DocWatson]

All this talk about Chinese animation reminds me of a few classic Chinese animated movies, in particular there was a very well-known one made in the 60's which depicts a part of the story from the classic novel Journey to the West. The animation is top notch and beautiful. The name of the movie in Chinese is 大闹天宫. You can see some pictures on this site (http://www.js.xinhuanet.com/zhuanlan/2005-05/19/content_4256139.htm) (5 pages, sorry can't find an English site for this). Brings back fond memories for me.
I forwarded your link, and received this in reply:

Havoc in Heaven

- Eng. Release?: N/A
- Release date: 1961
- Chinese title: Danao Tiangong
- Alternate titles: Uproar in Heaven; Big Trouble in the Heavenly Temple
- Format: Movie
- Director/s: Wan Laiming
- Production company: Shanghai
- Duration: 100 mins?

The Monkey King watches his subjects practising with their weapons, and is so excited that he grabs one for himself. However, no blade seems good enough for him. Hearing that the Dragon King (see Nezha Conquers the Dragon King, qv.) has many excellent weapons, he bullies his way into his underwater palace. The Dragon King shows him the fabled Gold-Banded Cudgel, and jokes that Monkey is welcome to take it if he can carry it. Much to the Dragon King's annoyance, Monkey discovers that the Cudgel obeys orders. He shrinks it to a portable size, and makes off with it, causing the wily King to complain to the Jade Emperor that Monkey has stolen it. It is decided that Monkey should be offered a sinecure position in Heaven to keep him out of trouble – ministers select Master of the Heavenly Stables as suitably small-fry. Initially affronted at such a lowly post, Monkey soon begins to enjoy his new job, though it causes chaos in the stables. Proclaiming himself to be the Great Sage Equal of Heaven, Monkey returns to Earth to sulk, where he is pursued by the heavenly warriors Lijing and Nezha. He defeats them, and is offered another minor post, this time in charge of the Peach Orchard. Insulted that he is not invited to a banquet of immortals, he causes the attendees to fall asleep, drinks the wine himself and drunkenly eats the forbidden peaches of immortality. He flees home once more, and is pursued by the three-eyed Erlang and his dog (see Lotus Lantern, qv.). They defeat him and the gods decide to burn him in a furnace, but he is now immortal and untouchable. He returns to his Fruit and Flower Mountain, where he hopes to live in peace.

Originally released in two parts (1961 and 1964) Wan Laiming's cel animation retelling of three early chapters of Journey to the West was to become the signature cartoon of the Shanghai Animation Studios. Making strong use of Beijing Opera motifs, particularly in music and movement, the brightly-coloured film also received Party approval – at the time, it was regarded as a metaphor for the "havoc" caused in bourgeois China by the young, dynamic Chairman Mao. Shown to acclaim at the Locarno in 1965, its lead character's distinctive theatrical-simian features have made him the logo-animal for the studio, and inevitably led to his appearance in several other Chinese cartoons, from the semi-sequel Monkey Conquers the Demon, to less accomplished cameos in Lotus Lantern and Dingding vs the Monkey King.
Excerpted from Jonathan Clements' notes to the organizers of the Udine Film Festival, for whom he was the curator of the 2002 Chinese Animation Season; used by permission.

The festival catalogue, including details of all the Chinese cartoons shown, was a special issue of the Italian Nickelodeon magazine. My introduction to Chinese animation from the brochure is here (http://www.muramasaindustries.com/punditry/animation/chineseanimation/chineseanimation.html).

[Legion]

Hmm, well it is a movie, so comparing it anime TV shows, is sort of an apples to oranges comparison.
True that. Perhaps ANN's 'Buried Garbage' entry for 'Chinamation' should be linked to provide some counter-balance. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/buried-treasure/2007-10-25. It's got video and everything.

[Natsume_Maya]

China's the upcoming super-power (if not already), with a massive work-force (probably the most powerful in the world), and they're actively censoring Japanese animation from being shown on their TV's, so I thought - they must be making their own animation.

Though when I was in China, they didn't seem to have problems using anime BGM in their TV programs (presumably without permission?). I came across quite a number of programs playing anime music - for example, there was a Hong Kong movie which used the soundtrack from Akira with the Mandarin dub.

http://www.sparklingredstarmovie.com/

I can't view that website. I have the latest version of Flash involved. Does anyone have a suggestion why I can't view it?

[nakimushi]

http://www.sparklingredstarmovie.com/

I can't view that website. I have the latest version of Flash involved. Does anyone have a suggestion why I can't view it?



Hmm, not sure why. It works for me both in Safari and Firefox. Interestingly enough, they have Version 8 in their "Download Flash" link, which isn't the newest.

It does have a really annoying "resize your browser" feature, but I'm not sure if that is causing your problem.

Anyway, there is an html only version here. (http://www.sparklingredstarmovie.com/en/frontpage.html)

[Glamrgrl104]

Looks pretty interesting, but I think it would be better if it was english dubbed or a live action film.

[mrsparklenoodle]

I've seen a beautiful chinese watercolor animation of a boy who makes a pipe from a tree and plays a song, it was lovely, I don't know much about feature and serial television animation from china though.

[Natsume_Maya]

Hmm, not sure why. It works for me both in Safari and Firefox. Interestingly enough, they have Version 8 in their "Download Flash" link, which isn't the newest.

It does have a really annoying "resize your browser" feature, but I'm not sure if that is causing your problem.

Anyway, there is an html only version here. (http://www.sparklingredstarmovie.com/en/frontpage.html)

Thanks for that, I can view the html version site. Yeah, I'm using Windows XP and IE7 and I couldn't view the flash version (though I did get the browser resize).

Looks pretty interesting, but I think it would be better if it was english dubbed or a live action film.

It seems to be based on an old (1970s) live action movie (in turn based on a novel) :)

[Natsume_Maya]

I watched this movie. The DVD has Chinese language soundtrack and Chinese subtitles. No English subtitles. But the plot doesn't seem too complex. I could get the general gist of the movie. Plus I read the summary on Wikipedia :)

It's a remake of an apparently well known live action movie. This anime is made by the Peoples Liberation Army film studio and seems to be a propaganda film (like the original live action movie) in that the PLA and the common people are the good guys (though the hero of the story is the son of a PLA soldier), while the bad guys hoard all the rice harvest and terrorise the people. A fair bit of toilet humour, with jokes about shit, piss and farting. Given that the main character is a young boy, I think this movie is aimed at kids.

Animation wise the quality is fine, though I thought a few action scenes weren't rendered well. Background art in particular is very good. There's use of CG which is generally unobstrusive and pretty seamless (eg CG is used for the river's water), though on a few occasions it is a bit obvious and jarring. Direction wasn't bad, I thought. Voice acting wasn't great, nor was the lip synching - then again, the lip synching in Japanese anime isn't great either.

BGM is often heard in the background. Nothing particularly stood out, but it was harmless.

DVD comes with a long trailer, and no other extras.