New Generation: China embraces rise of ACG subculture

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04:09

China is embracing a rise of the subculture called ACG, which is short for anime, comic and games. The change underlines a great demographic shift as China’s millennials grow into independent consumers.

We talked to Li Zhenyi, an ACG culture fanatic who has made a career out of what used to be a hobby.

As a famous amateur animator in bilibili.com, a popular ACG fan community in China, he has nearly 300 thousand followers who are fans of his animation “My Three-body”. As a fan of Three-body Problem, a Nebular Award winning sci-fic novel , Li has moved this story to the screen in the past four years.

Animation of “The Three-body Problem” in Minecraft style. /Photo by CGTN

The famous novel depicts the future destiny of human beings in the universe against alien civilizations. But the Minecraft style that Li adopted in his animation makes this epic and dark story, take on a more child-like appearance.

Minecraft is a popular sandbox video game that allows players to alter the landscape and build up any structures out of blocks. Li also admitted that the style is not very viewer-friendly for many who are not familiar with ACG style.

“A fan told me that her mother once saw that she was watching our animation, and her mother pointed at the cube-shaped character and asked, 'What is that?' she answered that this is a man, and her mother was shocked, and said, 'Is that a man?!'” said Li.

But this is the best platform for self-taught amateur animators like Li.

Animation of “The Three-body Problem” in Minecraft style. /Photo by CGTN

“Not many people watched at the beginning. I remember the first episode had just 1,200 views, and second with 3,000. But since the third episode was recommended by bilibili, it became really popular. Many people found me and wished to do the project with me,” Li said.

Although the ACG style is not accepted by all, no one can deny that this is a lucrative business. This March, the ACG community Bilibili made headlines across the country with a nearly 500 million dollar IPO, along with the fact that there is 300 million ACG fans in China who spend some 75 billion dollars per year, turning the used-to-be subculture into a new mainstream.

But no matter how different the ACG aesthetic is from the mainstream culture, works full of passion and hard-work are always attractive.

“Every reader has his own interpretation about this novel. So the biggest challenge is how to write the screenplay that best matches the imagination of most people,” said Feng Xiaoyang, screenplay of My Three-body, who writes in his spare time while being a full-time medical school student.

Li Zhenyi and his team member discuss a script. /Photo by CGTN

He and Li work together to help move the story to the screen.

"For example, this radar base in the novel was a military facility in the era of a cultural revolution when the architectural style back then was heavily influenced by the Soviet Union. Then we found similar architects at that time and made our own model accordingly,” said Li.

Last year, Li’s team received funding from Youzu Picture who currently own the copyright of the novel. Three-year amateurs turn into pros.

With the cash-flow, they have hired professionals who present them with better quality work, but remain with the Minecraft style, which may prevent them from getting a wider range of audiences. But it wouldn’t bother them at all.

"You don't have to find your fans, your fans will find you if you did something really good," said Feng.