"I never have the thought of giving up even when my body and mind reach their limit", said Zhu Xiao, a Chinese animator following his dream in Japan, adding that he hopes the Chinese animation companies can produce great works which are more competitive than their Japanese counterparts.
Many of Japan's high-level animation companies are located in Tokyo's Mitaka city. Candy box, which is the first Chinese-run animation company, is one of them.
Zhu Xiao started the company in December 12, 2012, becoming the first Chinese to build an animation company in Japan, whose animation industry is considered to be one of the world's largest and most competitive markets.
During a recent interview with Xinhua at his newly furnished offices, Zhu shared his stories of how he managed to make his company stand out among the over 400 large and small animation companies competing with each other in Japan.
"When doing animations, for me, dream comes first and making money comes second.' Zhu said. "When I was a kid, I always wondered why all the animations I watched were from Japan and Chinese animations were so bad. Couldn't Chinese make animations of high qualities?"
So after graduation from high school, Zhu Xiao came to Japan to study the advanced knowledge and experiences, resolving to change China's animation industry one day.
As he stepped into the circle, he gradually realized that China still has a long way to go to catch up with Japan in this area and this would probably take a very long time.
Zhu worked diligently and got into a renowned Japanese animation company named Studio Pierrot after three years' professional and systematic study. Studio Pierrot is famous for several worldwide popular anime series, such as Naruto, Bleach and Great Teacher Onizuka. The company is also located in Mitaka city, just one block away from Zhu Xiao's company.
Zhu said watching animation is very relaxing but producing one is pretty difficult as one episode usually takes about three months' time of a team. Zhu recalled that once his team had to finish one episode in just one week. He and his two other teammates spent five days without sleep working on it. Finally, they completed the job before the deadline.
"That was shortly after I entered Pierrot and was the first time I assumed a major role as an assistant to the director. I was under great pressure as success of failure of many shots hinged on my decision. I embraced the challenge and cooperated very well with my colleagues. We felt very happy even after several sleepless nights," Zhu said, adding that although his work could be extremely demanding sometimes, he regard it as a sacred job as animations could have profound influences on people.
"Animation is not just 20 minutes' joy. It could influence people's values and philosophy of life as many people start to watch animations when they are very young. That's why Japanese animations tell stories of love, friendship and positive outlook on life."
Anime has risen to become one of Japan's most recognizable cultural icons since the first popular animated Japanese television series Astro Boy made by Osamu Tezuka in the 1960s. The Japanese anime enjoyed almost half a century's boom.
However, in recent years the industry is going an almost freefall due to fierce competitions from Western and neighboring countries. Many Japanese who have considered a career in the anime industry have given up because of low wages and the long, tedious hours required of its animators. As a result, the number of individuals working in the anime industry declines year by year.
As the market gets smaller, dozens of companies go bankruptcy every year. As a foreigner competing in the strongest field of the Japanese, especially when the industry of Japan is shrinking, one can imagine how hard it is for Zhu Xiao's company.
Zhu Xiao said during the start-up phase, his company encountered many problems, especially the market positioning which is the main reason for the failure of many animation companies. After careful deliberation, Zhu Xiao decided that reputation is the most important, so he puts quality rather than quantity at his top priority.
Currently, his company is getting more and more projects and contracts at longer production cycle and at higher prices. Many domestic companies came to his company for help or ask his company to serve as a bridge between Chinese and Japanese markets.
Up to now, Candy Box has participated in over 100 works and many of them are very well-known animations which enjoy world-wide reputation like Attack on Titan and Sword Art Online. Its latest animation Your Name is also a hit and is very well-received among the Japanese audiences.
As a matter of fact, Candy Box has participated in almost all the famous animations in recent years. Just like what Zhu Xiao said, the best reward is to give his company endless opportunities.
Zhu Xiao's next plan is to open branches in China after his company operates more steadily in Japan. He hopes the Chinese animators could learn from their Japanese counterparts through cooperation as the Japanese animation production has formed a set of standards and a common production process through 70 to 80 years' development.
"I'm one of the early generations who came to Japan to do animation. It's useless for China if I myself go back to China. But when you have a team, you may change something," said Zhu.
Zhu Xiao believes those who can change China's animation industry must love Chinese animations the most, but hate them the most at the same time. "Only those people can really make a difference of China's animation industry."
