Text | Praying Mantis Observation
Author | Qingyue
Who hasn't read a comic while sleeping and forgetting to eat and drink?
At that time, when I came across an interesting comic, I was really struggling day and night, hungry and thirsty. In the classroom during the day, the teacher is talking on the top, and we are browsing quickly below; when we return to the dormitory at night, we lie under the bed, shining a small flashlight, and forgetting to eat and sleep.
As we grew up at that time, the scale of pan-two-dimensional users in China began to grow rapidly, reaching an astonishing 460 million in 2021, and Generation Z, as an important part of pan-two-dimensional users, has an annual disposable income of up to 13 trillion yuan, which also means that the potential consumption scale of Guoman is vast. According to the data from CIC, the two-dimensional content industry is expected to reach nearly 120 billion yuan in scale by 2026.
The market prospect is broad, and countless excellent works have become excellent annotations for the rise of Guoman. However, there are still some problems in the industry, which are hindering the progress of the industry.
(Source: Black Cat Complaint)
For example, some comic platforms have opened up advertisements and member payments, but they have been criticized. Not only are there advertisements on the opening screen, on the homepage, and even next to the comics, which seriously affect the user experience, and, taking Kuaikan as an example, there are 3,613 complaints on the black cat complaint platform, most of which are Regarding the automatic renewal of platform members. The hidden dangers of development have not been eliminated. When the slogan of the rise of Guoman is heard again in 2023, we may have to think about it, and then?
Going to sea is not the “talisman” of Guoman
We are not unfamiliar with the matter of comics going overseas, because in the past, we were the "exported" party.
"Crayon Shinchan", "Doraemon", "Detective Conan", "Naruto", "One Piece", etc., whoever hears these names does not say "Ye Qinghui".
The income brought by these classic comics is also very considerable. Taking "One Piece" as an example, its author Eiichiro Oda was exposed by a Japanese variety show seven years ago. The annual manuscript fee is about 48 million yen, and the royalties are about 1.4 billion yen. , the income from film and television/animation adaptation rights is about 16 million yen, the income from character peripherals is about 1.5 billion yen, and the total overseas income is 200 million yen. This is just one of the many Japanese manga out of the circle.
However, in recent years, under the impetus of Kuaikan, Bilibili Comics, Tencent Animation and other companies, Guoman has gradually begun to change from "exported" to "active output".
Just look at the exploration of Guoman in 2018, and now it has covered nearly 200 countries and regions, and many works have sold more than 10 million yuan. "Super Cube" is on the top 1 list of new works on the Japanese piccoma platform; "A Generation of Soul Queen" Ranked No. 1 in the paid version of the English-language tapas platform; in January 2018, Tencent also launched a comic app "WeComics" in Southeast Asia in a low-key manner. At that time, the App Annie list showed that "WeComics" had soared 300 places in the Philippine book category grades.
Objectively speaking, these data can only show that, at least in overseas markets, Guoman is no longer in the state of "no such person", but if it wants to become a long-term business, Guoman's way out of the sea is long and difficult.
Because the content of Japanese and Korean comics matured much earlier than that of Guoman, and the content of some Chinese comics is still deeply influenced by it. To get rid of the problem of homogenization, Guoman still needs more and stronger original content. For support, such as Gufeng, Xianxia, Dartman and other topics with Chinese characteristics.
Furthermore, the cultures and preferences of different countries and regions are not the same, and it is difficult to adjust to everyone. This is also a major challenge for Guoman to go overseas. In addition, from the perspective of external competition, the competitive pressure in overseas markets is not less than domestic.
For example, Piccoma is recognized by the industry as the number one platform for global comics. According to media reports, in the first half of 2022, Piccoma’s transaction volume in Japan exceeded 2.24 billion yuan, and it has maintained a growth trend for 25 consecutive quarters since its establishment. Compared with this real "giant", the three giants of domestic comics obviously still have a long way to go.
There will also be "explosion anxiety" in comics and dramas
Going to sea was not smooth, but the popularity of manga dramas brought some hope to Guoman.
When it comes to comic dramas, the Japanese and Korean markets have to be mentioned. The most influential Korean comic drama in the early days was "Tea Mother", which caused extensive discussions when it was broadcast; in 2004, the phenomenon-level hit drama "Full House" Let comic dramas enter the public's field of vision; the popular TV series "Cheese in the Trap" and "Strong Woman Do Bong Soon" in recent years are also adapted from the popular comics of the same name; "Lonely Walking on the Moon" is also adapted from the comic of the same name by Korean cartoonist Zhao Shi.
In Japan, "Tokyo Love Story" aired in 1991 is undoubtedly one of the beginning works of Japanese manga dramas to mature. By 2020, manga dramas will account for about one-third of the TV drama market, and there are still trend beyond. It can be seen that the path of changing comic dramas has been verified and accepted by the market, and there are many successful cases in China.
For example, early popular dramas such as "The Wanderings of Sanmao", "Meteor Garden", "Mischievous Kiss", and "Pink Girl" were adapted from comic works. In 2020, the localized manga drama "Soul of Chess" was even exported to Japan in reverse, further showing the improvement of the level of domestic manga dramas. "Fox Fairy Little Matchmaker" and "Nanyanzhai Transcript" are also calling for the replacement of comics and dramas.
And take "Lonely on the Moon" as an example. In 2022, when the entire film industry has been hit hard by the epidemic, it will rank second on the box office list with a good score of 3.1 billion yuan.
After all, these comics already have a large fan base, which can feed back the manga dramas. At the same time, it is estimated that the pan-two-dimensional users will reach 500 million in 2023, which means that the film and television manga dramas have a huge two-dimensional group base and audience base , In addition, domestic film and television comics have a superior content foundation. In the first half of 2022, among the newly launched comics on Kuaikan, there are 43 new comics with a collection of more than 100,000; Tencent animation has a collection of 100,000 There are a total of 53 new manga titles above.
For Guoman, in 2023, or even for a long time in the future, changing comics will be a broad road.
But it must be admitted that although there are gems such as "Lonely Walking on the Moon" and "Soul of Chess", the number of hits in domestic comics is far less than that in the Japanese and Korean markets. After all, there are 10,000 Hamlets in the hearts of 10,000 people . But it is difficult for comics to meet the expectations of every fan.
Fans naturally hope to restore the original work as much as possible, but some large-scale plots in comics are not suitable for shooting; some special effects and scenes in comics are difficult to reproduce one-to-one with current technical means; Some costumes in comics are not suitable for real actors, but if the scale of the adaptation is not grasped, they will be accused of "magic reform", which will lead to the collapse of word of mouth and further affect the ratings. Cases are not uncommon.
Fans can carry "dramas" and also rewrite "dramas". Therefore, in 2023, the top priority for manga adaptations is to balance the relationship between adaptations and classics.
Yuan Universe, proposed a new "problem-solving idea" for Guoman?
When Roblox goes public in 2021, the metaverse will sweep the world.
However, in fact, the birth of the word metaverse can be traced back to the 1992 science fiction novel "Avalanche". The virtual world is a digital living space with a new social system.
After the development of mixed reality, blockchain, augmented reality and other technologies, Metaverse has gradually moved from concept to stage, and the market size has grown rapidly. Market research firm Research and Markets has shared a new report titled "Global Metaverse Market," which reports that the Metaverse market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 40% during the forecast period (2022-2030), and by 2030 Market revenue will reach $700 billion.
Attracted by this piece of cake, major companies at home and abroad have joined in it . Metaverse is not only regarded as the extension and development of the digital economy in the virtual world, but also as a new opportunity and a new outlet for future development, which has begun to affect thousands of industries. The comics industry is no exception.
On the one hand, for users, Metaverse can bring a more immersive and novel viewing experience.
On November 4, 2022, the first domestic VR interactive animation "Talking Spirit VLOG" was launched on PICO Video. Reversed story.
Such plots are actually quite common in comics, but with the help of VR headsets, the characters, scenes, and props in the original comics have been processed in 3D, and with enhanced sound effects, the sense of immersion has been increased exponentially.
It can be said that in the context of the metaverse in the future, visual innovations brought about by 3D and sound effects, interactive innovations brought about by handles and panoramic perspectives, and innovations in narrative methods will give the comics industry more imagination.
On the other hand, for creators, metaverse tools may make comic creation easier.
It has to be mentioned that the “Real Man Turned into Comics” became popular on the short video platform some time ago. Users only need to upload photos, and then tap the screen, and the system can automatically generate anime-style pictures in a few seconds. On December 28 last year, Shandong People's Publishing House took a fancy to the AI picture book "Super Alien Team" created by a 4-year-old girl with Baijiahao AI paintings.
As the momentum of AIGC technology being applied to images has been pushed up again and again, of course controversy is inevitable. For example, on the world-renowned artist website Artstation, many artists requested to delete all AI-generated paintings on the site to call for originality and resist plagiarism. It must also be admitted that if the above-mentioned problems can be solved and the mature AIGC technology is applied to comic creation, creators will also save a lot of time and invest more in the creation of core content, which may bring more high-quality comic works.
All in all, the domestic market has great potential, foreign markets need to be tapped urgently, and the Guoman industry is maturing. Whether it is going overseas, changing comics or metaverse, it is an opportunity and a challenge for Guoman. How much bonus to eat, may give some answers in 2023.
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