As the first season of My Hero Academia is coming to an end, the official Weibo of Huaying Animation and the official Weibo of Yueqi Video simultaneously released a message:
Yueqi Video v: Warmly celebrate the "My Hero Academia" online subscription exceeding 500,000!
Huaying Animation v: As of 10:00 this morning, the total subscription volume of Huaying Animation's work "My Hero Academia" has officially exceeded 500,000! Thank you for your continued support. In the coming days, Huaying will continue to work hard to produce more interesting animations to bring more joy and touch to everyone!
“Congratulations on sales exceeding 500,000!”
"Congratulations to Huaying! I look forward to seeing more great works like my Ying in the future!"
"I didn't think 500,000 sales was a big deal until I checked the online subscriptions of all the popular anime in history... Holy crap! This number is almost twice that of other popular anime works, right? The only one that is not twice as high is "is" by Huaying. Does this count as 'the only one who can beat me is me'?"
“6666666! I’m so impressed. If we use the subscription standards of our website to determine whether a movie is a hit, will we still have hit animations to watch in the future?”
…
Ordinary viewers will at most be surprised by this Weibo post and then move on. After all, they are watching an animation. No matter how high the sales are, at most the audience who like English subtitles will be happy, and the onlookers will just sigh "it's awesome" and then disperse.
But for people who are also in the animation industry, the impact is no less than an earthquake!
For a long time, many people only knew that the online subscription of "My Hero Academia" exploded, but they didn't know the specific amount. They only vaguely knew that this hot-blooded youth comic seemed to have surpassed the sales of "IS", the previous work of Huaying Animation. Now, when Huaying Animation and Yueqi Video announced the exact sales of "My Hero Academia" at the same time, most people who saw this Weibo post fell silent.
When the sales of "is" exploded, Huaying Animation was regarded by its peers in the industry as a small workshop that got lucky and made animations that happened to cater to the audience's needs.
When "My Hero Academia" came out, they couldn't sit still anymore!
500,000, what does this mean
You know, before the release of "is" by Huaying Animation, 200,000 subscriptions for online animation could be considered a big hit. "My Hero Academia" is even more terrifying, more than doubling the original basic data!
It might be a coincidence that the same animation company could produce a high-selling work, but two consecutive animation works broke the industry's sales record and even pushed the subscription record to a height that ordinary animations can hardly reach... Can this still be a coincidence
During the "IS" era, they could still criticize "the animation is superficial and vulgar", "only shameless production companies would choose to produce this kind of animation", "the cancer of the industry", etc. However, with the successive hits of "IS" and "My Hero Academia", even the most experienced producers can only choose to shut up.
The achievements of the two animations are already there, and the style itself is also commercial animation. If you criticize the Animation of Kaei for being otaku-friendly at this time, in the eyes of others, it would be like sour grapes.
While some people are still in shock over the sales of Huaying, others have already begun analyzing and studying the strengths of "My Hero Academia" and thinking about how to effectively follow suit and get a share of the pie from Huaying.
Countless meetings were held in animation production companies of all sizes on Blue Star, with only one theme: Why was My Hero Academia successful? What was its selling point? What direction should we try and work towards in future animation production
Qianli Animation, conference room.
"I think Huaying's approach is correct. It's not just about boys' comics. I think except for harem comics, which are really hard to have female fans, when we make other types of animation, we should learn to consider the female market. After all, women's purchasing power is not worse than that of male audiences."
"I agree."
"I think that by analogy, this concept is also valid in reverse - for example, if we want to make an animation with women as the main characters, we can also consider the views of male audiences appropriately while satisfying female audiences. The target group of animation should not be limited to a certain gender."
"There is also the character design. The success of My Hero Academia is inseparable from the character designs of several highly popular characters..."
"Yes, and..."
—
A month later, the first season of "My Hero Academia" came to a successful conclusion, and the keyword of its ending directly became a hot search on Weibo. At the same time, various review videos related to this animation and the animation behind it also popped up like bamboo shoots after a rain. It just so happened that the producer of these videos was himself a famous up-host of Yueqi Video. For a while, "My Hero Academia" almost dominated the charts on Yueqi Video.
Chuyang Zhaoxue: "The pace is fast, the overall style is very bright, the atmosphere is great, the sense of substitution is very strong, and each character has its own characteristics. The girls are also very cute!"
“There are no revealing female characters, nor are there any ridiculously plump female characters to attract attention. There is only down-to-earth hard work, the persistence in pursuing dreams, and heroes as dazzling as the sun. This is a true shonen manga!”
Ah Xun: "Some people say that the character design of My Hero Academia was designed to please the audience from the very beginning, so when talking about My Hero Academia, there are always people who criticize it as being otaku-friendly, saying that it deliberately pleases female fans. I think this statement is really strange, as if it is a shameful thing for an animation to cater too much to otakus and otaku girls, who are the main group. But if a commercial animation is not for the people who watch it to feel happy, entertained and enjoyable, then what is the meaning of this commercial animation?"
Shuyu: "Indeed, there is nothing commendable in My Hero Academia, but what I like is that it is not heavy, it does not deliberately talk about depth and connotation, and it does not have such deep hatred. It is just a story about a group of cute boys and girls pursuing their dreams through their own efforts - I think this is good enough."
…
At the same time, in a section of the anime forum with less traffic.
I have to say that from "The Little Prince" to "IS" to "My Hero Academia", the fan composition of Kaei Animation, or Makusuki, is actually quite diverse.
There are fans who fell in love with him because of his dubbing in "The Little Prince", there are otakus who like harem comics like "IS", there are animation fans who love him because they like "My Hero Academia", and of course, there are also fans who don't like "IS" and are indifferent to "My Hero Academia", but are obsessed with his delicate and implicit emotional painting and fantasy and aesthetic expression in "The Little Prince".
The fans gathered in this niche section are exactly the latter.
Topic: Have you seen Xingxing’s new work
Content: I watched it out of boredom and contributed a subscription. I think it is pretty good for entertainment.
Floor 1: It is said that online subscription seems to be very good, but I haven’t watched it and I don’t really like this type of animation.
Second floor: When I was browsing "Zhi Dao" today, I saw that the big brother Tianjiu went to complain about Xingxing's new work again. Does this mean that you will naturally become a hater after being a fan to the core
Floor 3: Maybe they are disappointed with someone they don’t like. When “The Little Prince” was first released, didn’t Tianjiu brag about it to everyone he met? He even said he was looking forward to his future works. They were also the ones who came up with the name “Xingxing”, saying it was like seeing the morning star in the future of animation.
Floor 4: There’s nothing we can do about it. The director also needs to eat.
5th floor: Yes... So I don't think it's necessary to criticize IS and I Yingba like Tianjiu did. I don't ask for much, I just hope that Xingxing will look back at us old fans qaq
6th floor: Actually, I think Tianjiu's complaints are not without reason. Just look at IS and My English. Their online subscriptions are booming, and that's not counting the sales of peripherals. If it were you, would you choose commercial animation that makes a lot of money quickly, or artistic animation that is difficult to recover the cost? On the other hand, even if you want to do it, can Xingxing make an animation as spiritual as "The Little Prince"
Floor 7: Woo woo woo woo, I really like the aura of Xingxing during his time in "The Little Prince". It's not my fan filter. Just like Tianjiu said in "Zhi Dao", that kind of subtle taste is really not something that other people can produce.
Floor 8: Oh, stop talking, I’m going to go watch The Little Prince for the first time.
—
Mu Suxing was completely unaware of the various comments and reviews on the Internet. He did not have the habit of visiting forums. Even his personal Weibo was basically managed by a dedicated person from Huaying Animation. He would only come here to take a look when he occasionally wanted to see the suggestions and ideas of the audience and fans. At this time, the various situations of the new animation had stabilized, so he naturally would no longer pay attention to the comments on the Internet.
The first season of "My Hero Academia" ended successfully. Makusuki originally planned to do the same as during the "IS" period and take a few weeks off before considering the next work, until he received a call from Professor Li.
Li Lianggong was a straightforward person, and he never liked those long-winded and nonsense greetings. When Mu Suxing just answered the phone, he heard Professor Li ask straight to the point:
"Our school has reached a cooperation with Yunsu Video. All students' graduation projects will be displayed in the relevant section of Yunsu Video. There are still three months left for production. How are you thinking about your graduation project?"
Muxiuxing: …
Seeing that the student on the other end of the phone didn't say a word, Li Lianggong immediately had a bad feeling: "... Don't tell me that you have forgotten all about this?"
When he mentioned it, Mu Suxing also remembered that a few months ago, Fang Lian and Wen Feihang had jokingly mentioned this to him, saying that they wanted to try to make a short animation independently and would not rely on him for their graduation project. He had also thought about what to do for his graduation project at that time, but it happened that Huaying Animation was so busy that he forgot about it.
This is really...
"I haven't started yet," Muxuxing confessed honestly. Before Professor Li got angry, he added, "But I already have a rough idea. I plan to make a 3-5 minute animated short film. Three months should be more than enough."
"You are really... What can I say to you?" Li Lianggong shook his head helplessly, but he was not angry. After all, there were many students who had not completed their graduation projects by this time, and the requirements for graduation projects were not high. With Mu Suxing's ability, a short film of several minutes was more than enough. "It's hard to explain over the phone. Why don't you go back to school tomorrow and we'll talk about graduation projects then."
The author has something to say: Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated me with nutrient solution~
Thanks to the little angels who cast [mines]: Chengxi, Xiaobei, vyiy, hello, addicted to sucking commissions, unable to extricate myself, Chuyang Zhaoxue, Xixia, Lord Zhou Yu, 28109200, Yantong, it’s a bun 1;
Thanks to the little angel who irrigated [nutrient solution]:
50 bottles of Lanlan Little Angel; 40 bottles of Xiangsi Xiangwang Buxiangchun, Gordon; 30 bottles of Anonymous, Mo; 25 bottles of Yushun; 20 bottles of Yinxuan, Shengshengmo; 16 bottles of Lianshang; 15 bottles of Qianchuanlan; Midnight Loves Fantasy, Si Wuxie, Chengxi, Tangtang who loves to eat candy, Qi Xiaoruan, SJ, Moshang Zhuhua, 24339028, Chihan Boy, Aqing, Hanchan19, Two Thousand, Kagome Meow, 10 bottles of Zhuzhuwan; 6 bottles of Left Brain Nine Years Old; Yes, I'm here again, Hehe, Yanyan, Time, Wujin Huaiyu 5 bottles; 2 bottles of Jonquil-Jiangjiangjiang, Fusheng; 1 bottle of An, Qingli, Chara, Tianya Jiulu, What's the Trouble with the Name, Chenqi;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!