Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Preface as the original protagonists Liko and Roy embark on a new journey, "Bao Ke Meng: horizon" leads the animation to a new and original way of thinking. Xiao Zhi's final departure also led to the end of "Bao Ke Dream: the Journey" amid cheers and disputes.

Over the past few years, audiences have witnessed Xiaozhi's victory from Arora to the pinnacle of the Pokemon world, the controversial hero Xiao Hao, and the decline of less than 10% of the top 10 ratings of the animation.

This also makes people wonder, as once created a great success of the world's top game adaptation works, 26 years of "Bao Ke Meng" animation has experienced in the end? How did you get to where you are today step by step?

▲ began to broadcast unprinted animation in 1997. Although Pokemon animation is now a world-famous IP, the initial situation is not clear. When Tian Jiji made the original "capsule Monster" game in 1990 (basically the prototype framework of the current Pokemon game, but also includes buying and selling Pokemon and other subsequent abandoned settings), he experienced the sudden departure of team members. The lack of funds and the request for development support were rejected by Nintendo and Namengong, all sorts of difficulties.

Game Freak turned to making games as a non-professional company, and it was not until Miyamoto's intervention and help that Bao Kemeng was released in 1996. (later, the animated SMI is based on Tanjiji, and its arch rival's name is Hsiao Mao's homage to Miyamoto.) even so, there was a lot of controversy after the game was released.

▲ Tian Jie Zhi's original case of "capsule Monster" in 1990 is the prototype of "Pok Ke Meng" game. if you look at it in hindsight, the first generation of "Bao Ke Meng" (including the local "Bao Ke Meng: red / Green", overseas "Bao Ke Meng: red / Blue" and the expansion "Bao Ke Meng: Pikachu") is the generation with the highest cumulative sales. But at the beginning of the listing, it is impossible to see such a clear track.

When Game Freak first launched the original "Bao Ke Meng" game, Fami, a famous Japanese game magazine, scored 29 points.

Sales of games with a full score of 40 in ▲ 's "Fami pass" rating system were also a far cry from tens of millions later in 1996. Within a period of time after the release of the game, officials have launched funny cartoon Pippi ("Joy Festival"), exchange cards and other products, but as of 1997, the popularity and influence of the first generation of "Bao Ke Meng" is still not on a par with that of today.

▲ "Sweet Fairy" animation at the beginning of the "Bao Ke Meng" animation, that is, what lovers call "unprinted animation", did not expect to make the same "full-length novel" as it is now. At first, the animation is going to be serialized for about a year and a half, ending before the advent of the millennium. Animation is the previous "Sweet Fairy" director Yoshihiko Yoshihiko and screenwriter Yoshihiro Shoudo collaborated again.

Muto Gangzhi himself, screenwriter of ▲ Shouto, initially envisioned the ending, which is what the audience called the "fantasy ending"-the animation will focus on Pokemon's own subjective consciousness and the discussion of the relationship between Pokemon and human beings, and will end with the Pokemon uprising and final reconciliation.

The third part of the theatrical version derived from the animation was supposed to be the fossil of the resurrected Tyrannosaurus Rex, but it was not really completed. However, even so, there are some traces left in the early Muji animation. There are stories and settings that are more serious or even not sunlit in Muji's early animation.

Later, Teng Gangzhi himself wrote the novel version of "Bao Ke Meng: The Animation", which became an important material for animation lovers to explore the original animation. However, this so-called ending did not come until Mr. Shouto's death in 2010.

The reason is very simple-animation is so popular that it has achieved better business performance and publicity than anyone expected, and has become an important pillar of Pokemon IP. Driven by business demand, it will not be over soon.

The unexpected hot plan could not catch up with the change, and the popularity after the launch of the animation far exceeded the expectations of all parties concerned. In 1999, the animation of "Bao Ke Meng" swept the whole world and even appeared on the cover of American time magazine.

At the beginning of the broadcast of Bao Ke Meng in ▲ time magazine, the average audience rating was more than 14%. The theme song "Target is Master Bao Ke Meng" sung by Xiao Zhisheng you Matsumoto has sold more than 1 million yuan, and is still at the top of the list of excellent songs.

The peripheral and licensing income brought by animation even exceeded the game itself. In 1999, peripheral sales once exceeded 340 billion yen, accounting for more than 1/6 of the total retail revenue of Japanese animation, and became an important part of Bao Ke Meng IP.

The grandeur of ▲ Pokemon abroad as for characters such as Xiao Zhi, Xiao Mao, Musashi, Kojiro and Meow, they have also become familiar characters in the eyes of the public, and even the pop culture symbols of an era.

The popularity of ▲ 's Bao Ke Meng animation to the world has also greatly promoted games and other forms of Bao Ke Meng products, and even animated music has achieved an unprecedented "five consecutive championships" at the JASRAC International Award of the Japanese Music copyright Association.

With the great success in business, the main series of animation of "Bao Ke Meng" began to adjust its train of thought and develop towards a long-term update. "Bao Ke Meng" animation experienced the first "adjustment". And then move towards a relatively "stable" path of development.

▲ Pokemon Music won five consecutive championships in the JASRAC International Award of the Japanese Music copyright Association. First of all, the previously set end and ending are all cancelled, and the animation is developing in the direction of long-term update. Since then, "Bao Ke Meng" animation has almost lost the concept of "main line". Although it is still an excellent commercial animation work, the plot has gradually turned to "everyday" and began to be fully synchronized with the game in Super Generation animation.

Since then, a new model has been formed-the protagonists Xiao Zhi and Pikachu will go to the next area in sync with the game, and then start a new journey and collect new Pokemon.

Super Dream and Sakagi in the ▲ theater version are second, and the original film-animation mode is also gradually "separated". Early theatrical versions and animations completely "shared" world views, such as the counterattack of Super Dream, and a large part of the clues actually appeared in TV animations. Xiaomao encountered the "unknown treasure dream" (Super Dream) when he challenged the evergreen dojo, Musashi, Kojiro and Meow reported the explosion to Sakagi (Super Dream Escape), and the film (theatrical version) was closely linked with animation. become a complete story.

From the fifth theatrical version, the film entered a new mode, with independent stages (viewpoints), relatively independent stories, gradually separated from TV animation, but still kept in touch with the animation, such as "the Warrior of the waveguide" Xiaozhi retained the memories in the animation, and the items purchased by Xiaoguang in the theater version still appeared in the animation and so on.

When it comes to the 20th Anniversary Theatre Edition, it's decided that it's you! After that, the film completely moved towards the "parallel world". The small wisdom in the theater version is no longer the wisdom of the animation at the same time, and most of the characters in the film are original characters.

In addition to the Pokemon words in the ▲ Super wish animation, the TV animation itself is also doing the tendency of "de-reality cosmopolitanization". Early animation and animation, completely based on the real world, there are a large number of real-world settings. For example, Dream is set in Guiana in South America, where real-world countries and scenes such as the Champs Elysees, Hollywood and Italy appear in the animation.

In later generations, these concepts of the real world were repeatedly watered down until they disappeared. Five generations later, animation specially launched the "Bao Ke Meng text" to replace the text in the real world. The Pok Meng world in the animation has gradually become a utopian world divorced from reality.

The deep binding between the theater version of ▲ "Bao Ke Meng" and the game on the one hand, the TV animation theme of "Bao Ke Meng" is developing towards the road of full age, on the other hand, the animation itself begins to participate in the commercial activities of Bao Ke Meng deeply. TV animation itself has become an important publicity and new entrance to Pokemon, and the film, as a derivative of TV animation, is deeply bound to the legend of Pokemon in the game, which has made great contributions to the promotion of Pokemon.

The image of Hsiao Zhi, the protagonist of ▲ 's "Pokemon" animation, has changed over the past 20 years, and while the commercial territory of Pokemon continues to expand, TV animation has also attracted the discussion of some old players-TV animation, which has been going all-age for many years, obviously can not meet the needs of these players. Hsiao Zhi, who is always 10 years old, has become a symbol of the new stage of animation, but he has also been ridiculed by "amnesia / washing level every time he goes to a new area" to this day.

The GS Ball Story Line, which never ends in ▲ 's unprinted animation, was later adapted into the fourth theatrical version, while some of the foreshadowing in the early animation and the "pit" dug by the writer were deliberately "forgotten" in the process. Legends such as the opening of the Muji animation about the King of the Phoenix and the core GS Ball of the Orange Islands (which later became an independent theater version) are no longer mentioned in TV animation. At the same time, abandoning the original case also led to a relatively stable daily mode of animation synchronized with the game for a period of time, which lasted until the later "Bao Ke Meng: X / Y".

After the success and normalization of the zigzag Bao Ke Meng animation "Bao Ke Meng" animation, it is not plain sailing.

The "multilateral Beast incident" in 1997 (the well-known 3D dragon incident) is not only a major setback for Pokemon animation, but also a major setback for the animation / game industry. The frequent use of red and blue flashes in the animation caused photosensitive epilepsy, which eventually led to 685 hospitalizations, leaving the work with a heavy burden of public opinion.

In 2011, the Plasma Troupe was originally scheduled for the debut of 23 episodes of "Pok Ke Meng Super wish", but there was also a scene of city destruction due to the "3.11 earthquake". After weighing, the animation team postponed the episode indefinitely and disrupted the order of the entire animation, which eventually led to the postponement of the main story of the "Super wish" animation.

In addition to these setbacks, perhaps what the authorities are most concerned about is the "competitive threat" that may affect performance.

It doesn't matter whether the sixth generation game "Bao Ke Meng: X / Y" is the first "midlife crisis" of ▲, but the corresponding "Bao Ke Meng" animation is one of the few cases threatened by the competition.

Previously, the track works, such as "Digital Baby", are quite different in popularity, ratings and influence, and failed to form a substantial threat. And "Bao Ke Meng: X / Y" encountered the booming "monster watch", which achieved a breakthrough of 10 million in game sales on the handheld platform in the past two years, and the animation ratings even surpassed "Bao Ke Meng" at one point. And Earthbind Meow became the ambassador of the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Although "Bao Ke Meng: X / Y" has made the best efforts in art, in addition to three-dimensional modeling, it also makes the background of the battle dynamic, and even intentionally or unintentionally gives some emotional cues to the hero and heroine. all of these failed to completely solve the problem of competitive threat, let alone let the work get rid of controversy at the end.

▲ 's controversial Carlos League final "Bao Ke Meng: X / Y" ends with the same "routine" as the previous generation-Xiao Zhi unfortunately missed the championship, and the heroine Salina left Xiao Zhi like the previous protagonist, making the early preparations for "winning the championship" and "role matching" almost completely null and void.

As a result, one stone caused a thousand waves and caused outrage among viewers around the world. Tens of thousands of abusive comments were suddenly added to the official Youtube channel, and writers were even abused in dozens of languages on Twitter.

▲ language is different, but anger is the same. Japanese Wikipedia of Fujita Shinzo ("Bao Ke Meng: XY" animation final screenwriter) has been revised by the audience to "die at home after Xiaozhi won the runner-up", and even set off a craze of "burning treasure around the dream" on the Internet. Although most of them are exaggerated, it is a fact that the global audience is angry.

The Japanese Wikipedia of Fujita Nobuzo, the screenwriter of the ▲ final, was edited by angry viewers as "Bao Ke Meng: X / Y", a farce before the end of Xiaozhi's death on the day that he won the runner-up. This farce not only left the animation reputation in the awkward situation of "opening high and walking low", but also marked the transition from the relatively stable animation mode after the unprinted article to the last song.

After the sudden change of ▲ painting style, the animation of "Bao Ke Meng: sun & Moon" has once again embarked on the road of "adjustment", and the animation of "Sun & Moon" corresponding to seven generations of games has taken the first step. In the picture, the impact is extremely strong, using a completely different style, and the plot also adopts a more relaxed and lively style, and the end also gives Xiao Zhi a championship that he has not won in more than 20 years. This is in sharp contrast to the trend that the previous generation "Bao Ke Meng: X / Y" seems to be about to develop towards "teenage". But this change may not be too big compared with the follow-up "Bao Ke Meng: journey".

In Baoke Dream: the Journey, we see the spectacle of "two protagonists" again. Xiao Hao in "Baoke Dream: the Journey" was ridiculed by the audience as "one ball Superman" because of his crazy behavior (including the legendary Bao Ke Dream).

▲ was first caught by passers-by and then subdued by Xiao Hao with a ball. The collapse of Shuijun's "dream setting" also caused a huge discussion that the important reason for the emergence of Xiao Hao lies in the influence of "Bao Ke Meng Go". Both Xiao Hao's name (Japanese "Hao" is homonym with Go) and his model of "heavy clothing and light cultivation" all come from "Bao Ke Meng Go".

▲ "Pokemon Go" is still one of the most popular mobile games in the world. Animation, as an important part of Pokemon IP, is bound to comply with the overall business needs of IP. Since its launch in 2016, Go has been the global leader in mobile game revenue. It has not only created huge commercial value around the world, but also become a channel for many new players to enter Pokemon. Animation has to tilt towards Pokemon Go and the new players behind it while maintaining its intelligence.

This has caused some "Bao Ke Meng" animation audience discomfort, whether in domestic or foreign forums, there are a large number of voices of aversion to Xiaohao, and even more than 80% of Japanese online votes are dissatisfied with the role of Xiaohao.

▲ Xiaohao was not popular with Japanese audiences until the end of "Pokemon: the Journey", and the debate over Xiaohao continued. Now, because the animation will have a greater degree of change, the audience has to refocus on Xiao Zhi, because he will bid farewell to the stage of animation as never before.

The transformation of "strong man with broken wrist" and after so many changes in recent years, at the end of "Bao Ke Meng: journey", we have witnessed history once again.

Under the eyes of his former partners, Xiao Zhi won the Pokemon World Championship with the highest gold content. It is officially announced that "Bao Ke Meng: the Journey" is also the last song of Xiao Zhi and Pikachu as the protagonists.

Once again, we have seen a major change that has not taken place in more than 20 years, and we have witnessed Xiao Zhi go to the pinnacle of the Pokemon world trainer, and then watch him leave and usher in the new protagonist in the animation.

Xiaozhi, who won the ▲ Pokemon World Championships, whether this is a wise decision or not, the current situation facing Pokemon animation is not optimistic. Compared with the high performance of games / cards in sesame blossom, animation doesn't seem to be developing smoothly in recent years.

Although the final return of "Bao Ke Meng: the Journey" once rushes into the top ratings, the overall audience rating is not ideal. The previous "Bao Ke Meng: sun & Moon" has 57.3% of the episodes in the top 10. When it comes to "Bao Ke Meng: the Journey" animation, only 6.6% of the episodes made it into the top 10 of the ratings list (in part because of the conflict with the schedule of the Japanese national animation "Cherry Ball").

At present, the most "new" theatrical version is "Coco," and the box office is still not ideal. It grossed only 200 million yuan at the box office in the first weekend of that year, setting a new low in recent years. This is in sharp contrast to the famous Detective Conan, which was once the same "Dongbao Royal three". The 25th Anniversary Theatre version has become a "vote rerun".

The theatrical version of "Bao Ke Meng", "Coco", which is not ideal at the box office of ▲.

At this time, the action of replacing the iconic character Xiaozhi in the animation seems to be a double-edged sword. Pokemon has a wide audience, and it is time to coordinate new and old players / audiences. It is not necessarily a bad thing for Xiao Zhi to leave the stage, but it brings great uncertainty. After the companionship of the animation theme in the past 20 years has disappeared, whether the audience can see the growth that they have not seen before is the main focus.

Before "Game King", the predecessor of ▲ "changing protagonist", animations such as "Digital Baby" and "Game King" have taken the lead in trying to change the animation mode of the protagonist, but with different results. Because of the unstable popularity of animation, "Digital Baby" can only occasionally rely on memories of a certain age to re-enter the field of vision. "Game King" relies on the adaptation of card games to support, but the quality of subsequent animation works is uneven, even controversial. The challenges that Pokemon may face are more similar to those of the latter.

Fu an Da Gui, one of the main animation supervisors of ▲ 's "Bao Ke Dream Journey", is outside the animation. The animation team of "Bao Ke Dream" series has also experienced a wave of "replacement of the new and the old". The previous animation supervisor, Kunihiko Takayama, did not actually play a leading role in "Bao Ke Dream: the Journey". In most cases, Fu an Da Gui was responsible for it. This time, the new film "Bao Ke Meng: the Horizon" Fu an Da Gui turned to be the "creative director".

At the same time, the film director is replaced by Tetsuri Yashima, who serves as the "action director" in his new film "Bao Ke Meng: horizon". If you use an analogy, it's like Game Freak changing foreign Pokemon designers, causing many players to complain that they can't adapt to the new Pokemon, and the changes in the external team of animation will bring greater uncertainty and challenges, especially for the old audience.

▲ 's new animation "Bao Ke Meng: horizon" in recent years, Pok Ke Meng's games have entered an era of small steps and fast running, from 3D to home computer platform to the current open world of "Bao Ke Meng: Zhu / Purple", coupled with the replacement of traditional material mode with DLC, it has indeed taken a lot of steps (and caused a lot of controversy). The "annualization" of the game shortens the alternation of generations from the previous four years to three years, and we will no longer see a long story like the Pearl and Diamond animation, but may have to adapt more to the pace of animation after seven generations.

The animation of the two original protagonists Liko and Roy in ▲ 's "Bao Ke Dream: the Horizon" has experienced glory and is now facing challenges. A few days ago, the "Bao Ke Meng: horizon" animation has been broadcast, the animation neither continues the old protagonist of the animation, nor uses the prototype of the game characters, but directly uses the original characters of the animation-the hero Roy and the heroine Like.

Although the animation is directly docking nine generations of "Bao Ke Meng: Zhu / Purple", with the Padia region as the stage, but the scope of the original is relatively large, a large number of early characters are original animation, such as Fred, Orio and the Discovery team.

Judging from the current situation of "Pokemon: the Horizon", the animation of "Pokemon" may really begin to build a model that did not exist in the first 26 years, and the animation is experiencing unprecedented independent creation with the game as the basic framework. But what is the specific response, how far can this model go, whether it can reach new highs, and whether there will be protagonists like "longevity" like Xiao Zhi? We'll just have to wait and see.

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: UCGmedia (ID:UCG_Media), author: crazy A soldier

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