My Animation Era

“…To sum up, “Mobile Suit Gundam” is undoubtedly an anime worth savoring.”

“This work takes the earth and the universe as the stage, breaking our previous understanding of robot animation, and introducing innovative elements such as “weapons” and “war” to robot or mecha animations. "

“So you can see in the animation that before operating the Gundam, you need to read the manual, and this manual..."

 The screen pauses and then zooms in.

Liu Zida said: "I believe everyone has noticed that they really made an instruction manual. After enlarging it, every part of the Gundam body, including performance parameters, is described in detail..."

“In animation, there are many similar details, which also leads to a very high reading and viewing threshold for animation.”

“Honestly, when I first saw Gundam, I felt my mind was confused, and I felt like knowledge was passing through my brain.”

“This is also what I personally think is not good in animation. That is the setting or background. It throws out too much and too densely in one go, without leaving enough time for the audience to digest and accept...”

Snapped!

 Reaching out and pressing the pause button to stop the video playback, Gu Miao turned to Guo Hongwei and Hou Bin and asked: "Do you agree with his statement?"

 “That’s quite pertinent.”

Hou Bin said thoughtfully: "Actually, we have also discovered this problem, that is, the information density of a single episode of Gundam is too high."

 An episode of animation only lasts for ten or twenty minutes. There are too many things thrown in such a short period of time, and it is difficult for the audience to accept and understand it.

 This is like an online novel.

If a novel does not start with the so-called "Three Golden Chapters", but starts with thousands of words of detailed story setting and worldview structure, then readers may not be able to accept it.

 “I understand what you mean…”

Guo Hongwei nodded and said: "It's too dry. You could put some water in it, but in the end, you couldn't squeeze out any moisture, so it looks a little dry."

 “Yes, that’s what it means.”

Hou Bin understood the metaphor immediately and nodded repeatedly: "That's what I want to say."

 Gundam is too "dry"!

The word "gan" does not mean dry, but crisp. As Liu Zida said in the video, the audience was not given enough time to accept and understand.

 Take the first episode as an example.

It could obviously be done for three or four episodes, but it was finished in one episode, and at the end of the first episode, Amuro even defeated two Zakus.

 Fuck!

 What rocket speed?

 According to common sense, the first episode should reveal the identity of the protagonist, show the story background of the war between the Federation and the Principality of Zeon, and then slowly introduce the mysterious research work that the protagonist’s father is doing.

 The second episode is the home court of the protagonist’s father, and the answer is revealed to the audience. It turns out that the Federation is developing mobile suits for war.

At the same time, the Zeon Army sent Zaku to investigate and learned of the existence of Gundam, and the conflict was about to break out.

In the third episode, the protagonist Amuro turns the tide, breaks the impossibility of launching the Gundam, and finally defeats the incoming Zaku...

Hou Bin spread his hands and said helplessly: "We finished three episodes of animation in one episode. This is the result of not adding enough water, or not leaving enough space for the audience to understand."

 What Liu Zida said is indeed correct.

 The problem of "Mobile Suit Gundam" is indeed quite prominent. It's so densely packed with information that it's difficult to fully understand the situation in just one viewing because everything happens so fast.

 “It should be filled with some water.”

Gu Miao sighed and said: "There is no doubt that this kind of viewing experience is terrible, and it is also the reason why the first two episodes of Mobile Suit Gundam were not played well."

 The pace is too fast!

If the pace of the first few episodes had been slowed down a little to give everyone enough time to accept and understand, the number of views would not have been so miserable.

But then again…

Although "Mobile Suit Gundam" was released on Wanbao Video, the viewing threshold was too high and there was no large-scale publicity, resulting in low playback of the first two episodes.

But the reputation of this animation is really amazing. Most of the viewers who have watched it find it very novel and interesting, and have given positive reviews.

 So a magical scene occurred.

Most of the viewers who kept watching and finished the first two episodes thought it was cool and interesting, and the overall animation score was as high as 9.9!

 And those viewers who were dissuaded by the beginning and failed to continue watching found it incredible. How could it have such a high rating?

 What they are thinking is: Huh? Is it really that beautiful?

 But I couldn’t even watch the first episode and quit after watching it halfway through! How come so many people think it looks good?

"Not urgent!"

 The number of views for the first two episodes was not high, mainly because the publicity was not very strong, and the threshold for understanding was a bit high, so Guo Hongwei didn't care much.

He believes that as long as "Mobile Suit Gundam" is updated with a few more episodes and the content volume increases, the number of views will definitely increase slowly.

 Do you understand how to use your strength in the later stage?

 In his eyes, "Mobile Suit Gundam" is the kind of late-stage animation. It doesn't matter if you stumble a little in the front, just wait and see the dark horse counterattack later.

 “I even feel that…”

After reading the various data performance of the premiere of the Gundam animation, Hou Bin said: ""Mobile Suit Gundam" may have been unknown during the broadcast, but it suddenly became popular after it was completed!"

 “This possibility cannot be ruled out.”

 Gu Miao nodded and said: "The influence of Gundam has obviously not been truly demonstrated yet. There are more target audiences who don't know or don't have time to watch this animation in detail."

 It won’t be popular until it’s finished, it’s definitely possible.

 Liu Zida’s video was very well done. He deserves praise and criticism, and he did point out the problems with “Mobile Suit Gundam”.

 But similarly, he also made this video to praise Gundam, and he did it in a different way, making fans think he had drunk too much.

 “Time will prove who is right and who is wrong.”

Facing the doubts in the comment area, Liu Zida left this sentence in the news, which received a like from Gu Miao.

 …

Despite ardent fans like Liu Zida who spared no effort to praise Amway, the premiere performance of "Mobile Suit Gundam" was still poor.

 At Wanbao Video, the average number of views for a single episode is less than 4 million times.

On the TV platform, the first broadcast failed to do well, and the results were even worse than those on the online platform. The average ratings of the first two episodes were less than 1%!

 There are quite a few good reviews.

 But again, good reviews alone are useless. Most of the audiences who watch animations on TV platforms are primary school students and kindergarten children.

 Children under the age of 12 generally do not like the work "Mobile Suit Gundam".

 You might be able to get good results by showing them "Fruit Strike", but showing them "Mobile Suit Gundam" would be a pure disaster.

Time will prove everything!

Facing the possibility of a dismal failure, Wanbao Animation seemed very calm and had no idea of ​​​​saving it. Everyone eats and drinks when they need to, attend events when they need to, and shoot new animations when they need to, without being affected at all.

　　It’s just that the TV station’s mentality has collapsed.

Handulu Cartoon, which won the first broadcast rights of "Mobile Suit Gundam", is as anxious as an ant on a hot pot. It is doing all kinds of publicity and spending resources to try to save Gundam's miserable ratings.

 And when they discovered that Wanbao, as the initiator and producer of the animation, did not move at all, they were very angry.

 “Oh, don’t be impatient!”

Facing the question from Red Crane Cartoon, Gu Miao, who is currently working on "Three Thousand Questions of Naughty Blue Cat", said cheerfully: "I know you are in a hurry, but don't be in a hurry. I have already thought of a solution."

 “Please give me some advice, sir!”

Hunter Cartoon was overjoyed and quickly asked what solution could be used to get "Mobile Suit Gundam" out of trouble?

 The solution given by Gu Miao surprised them.

 Replay? !

 That’s right! Gu Miao asked them to play it several times during the day or late at night.

"no…"

Flamingo Cartoon said awkwardly: "No one watched the first broadcast, and the ratings were less than 1%. How can it be replayed?"

“Then how can you be sure that no one will watch the replay? Is it possible that the replay will be watched by no less people than the first broadcast?”

Gu Miao’s suggestion put Red Crane Cartoon in a difficult position.

An animation with a first-run viewership rating of less than 1% is now being rerun during the day and late at night, occupying more time slots, which is outrageous to anyone who hears it.

 But they chose to believe Gu Miao.

no way!

Gu Sanshui is a real **** in the animation industry. Since he says this trick will work, then just do what he says.

If it is really useless, it will be too late to go to him to settle the accounts at that time.

　Since then, the Red Crane Cartoon has opened up a new way of broadcasting.

 At 17:00 every night, two episodes of "Mobile Suit Gundam" will be updated on time. Then the next day during the day and late at night, the schedule was released to replay these two episodes.

 There was no effect in the first two days.

Just when Honghe Cartoon couldn't hold it in anymore and wanted to settle the score with Gu Miao, something strange happened. Someone watched the replay of "Mobile Suit Gundam".

Especially the rebroadcast at 10 o'clock late at night, the ratings actually caught up with the premiere, and just two days later, it surpassed the 17 o'clock time slot.

 “Ah? Why is this?”

Honghe Cartoon is puzzled. I don’t understand why the first broadcast at 17:00 pm did not perform very well, but the ratings of the rerun at 10:00 pm slowly increased?

 Is it a scheduling issue?

 “No, the audience is different.”

Gu Miao explained: "The group of people who watch animation at 17:00 in the afternoon are not at all the same age group as the group of people who are still watching TV at 10:00 in the evening."

 Similarly, not during the day either.

ˆRebroadcasts and premieres at different time periods target completely different audience groups. Although Red Crane Cartoon is a children's channel, most of the viewers watching this channel are children.

  But is it possible that even if they are all children, these children will be divided into different audience groups?

“Teenage viewers over 12 years old are beginning to support the ratings of “Mobile Suit Gundam”.”

 Gu Miao glanced at the data fed back by the flaming crane cartoon, shook her head and said: "It's still a little slow, Wanbao Video has already started."

TV platforms are slow to respond and unable to take targeted measures.

 On the other hand, online platforms, thanks to the use of big data and intelligent recommendations, not only responded quickly, but also made targeted arrangements.

 What arrangements?

Wanbao Video has a dedicated user group profile. Through background analysis, it was found that "Mobile Suit Gundam" is more suitable for teenagers over the age of 12 to watch, and big data immediately carried out "accurate push".

simply put.

 User A’s viewing records include animations such as "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf", "Bear Bears", and "Crayon Shin-chan".

 User B’s viewing records include animations such as "Digimon", "Detective Conan", and "Yu-Gi-Oh!".

So in the big data model, user B will frequently receive the "Mobile Suit Gundam" animation recommended to him by the APP.

Although user A will also receive recommendations, the number will not be so frequent because the background determines that he will not be interested in Gundam.

 Big data is so scary!

 Under the precise recommendation mechanism, more and more target audiences have discovered the work "Mobile Suit Gundam" and have become keenly interested in it.

 Then, the playback volume started to increase!

　From the original single episode’s viewing volume of less than 4 million, it quickly increased to 8.5 million, more than doubling.

 This is not the point!

 The point is that of the original 4 million views, about half were contributed by children under the age of 12.

 But now, of the 8.5 million views, only 12% are children under the age of 12, and the rest are all young viewers aged 12-18, and young viewers aged 18-28.

 Proportions are now clear at a glance.

 Young audiences over 18 years old are generally more receptive to "Mobile Suit Gundam". As long as they can keep watching, they will definitely become interested.

 As for young viewers aged 12-18, as long as they can watch it, there is a "high possibility" that they will become interested.

 “The curtain of the era has opened!”

Looking at the Gundam comment section, someone was already discussing the assembled model of Gundam, and the corners of Gu Miao's mouth rose slightly.

 This should be the oldest Jiao Lao, right?

　　In this special period when "Mobile Suit Gundam" has just launched and Gundam is in its barbaric development stage, if nothing else happens, this group of viewers should be the original "glue guys".

 No Gundam, no Jiao Lao!

 The birth of Gundam is definitely a major event in the field of assembled models.

 Perhaps no one has imagined what kind of behemoth a small Gunpla will develop into in the future...

 Including the oldest fans of Gundam in the comment area, they couldn’t even imagine it.

They were just discussing that if the realistic weapon-style body design of the Gundam was made into a simulation model, they would buy one for their collection.

 However, this discussion is currently only a small-scale discussion.

No one could have imagined that Wanbao would move so quickly. When "Mobile Suit Gundam" came to prominence and initially cultivated a group of fans, it actually launched derivative peripherals.

 The Gundam series of assembled models have begun to attract the attention of "model toy" enthusiasts on a small scale.

There are also people like Liu Zida who have never bought related assembled models before. This is the first time for newcomers...

  No matter what.

 Gundam fans are slowly moving closer to the "Jiao Guy" in Gu Miao's impression with a very high conversion rate.

 Although the number of conversions is not large, this is a good sign!

 A single spark can start a prairie fire. There are only a few Jiaoguo now, but who knows how many there will be in the future?