My Animation Era

"...To sum up, "Mobile Suit Gundam" is undoubtedly an animation 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" into 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 eloquently: "I believe everyone has noticed that they really made an instruction manual. After enlarging it, every component 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 like my brain was confused, and I felt like knowledge was passing through my brain."

"This is also what I personally think is a bad aspect of animation. That is the setting or background. It throws out too much and is too dense at once, 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 fair."

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 animation episode 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 begin with the so-called "Three Golden Chapters" but instead contains thousands of words of detailed story background 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"!

This dry 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 have been 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.

Damn it!

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 protagonist's father's home field, revealing the answer 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...

Spreading his hands, Hou Bin 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.

This 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 very low views of the first two episodes.

But the reputation of this animation is indeed amazing. The vast majority of viewers who have watched it find it very novel and interesting, and have given positive reviews.

Then a magical scene occurred.

Most viewers who persisted and watched 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 at 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 playback volume of 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 feels that as long as "Mobile Suit Gundam" is updated with a few more episodes and the content volume increases, the number of views will gradually increase.

Do you understand how to use your strength later?

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 think..."

After reading the various data performance of the Gundam animation premiere, 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: "Gundam's influence has obviously not been fully demonstrated yet. There are many 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, which is definitely possible.

Liu Zida's video was very well done. He deserved 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 different ways, making fans think he had drunk too much.

"Time will tell who is right and who is wrong."

Faced with doubts in the comment area, Liu Zida left such a sentence in the news, which received a like from Gu Miao.

…

Despite having ardent fans like Liu Zida who spared no effort in touting Amway, "Mobile Suit Gundam" still had a poor premiere performance.

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

On the TV platform, the premiere also 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 are useless. Most of the viewers who watch animations on TV platforms are primary school students and kindergarten children.

And these children under 12 years old 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!

Faced with the possibility of a sad and failed ending, Wanbao Animation seemed very calm and had no idea of ​​​​saving it.

Everyone should eat and drink when they should, attend the activities when they should, and shoot new animations when they should, without being affected at all.

However, the mentality of the TV station has collapsed.

Red Crane 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 instigator and producer of the animation, did not move at all, they were very angry.

"Oh, don't worry!"

Faced with the question from the flamingo cartoon, Gu Miao, who was working on "Three Thousand Questions about the Naughty Blue Cat", said cheerfully: "I know you are in a hurry, but don't worry, I have already thought of a solution."

"Please sir, give me some advice!"

Red Crane Cartoon was overjoyed and quickly asked what solution could be used to get "Mobile Suit Gundam" out of its predicament?

As a result, 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……"

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

"Then how can you be sure that no one will watch the replay? Is there a possibility that the replay will be watched by as many people as the first broadcast?"

Gu Miao's suggestion put Honghe Cartoon in a difficult position.

An anime that had a first-run 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 true god in the animation industry. Since he says this trick will work, then do as he says.

If it is really useless, it will be too late to go to him to settle the accounts by then.

Ever since, 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.

The first two days had no effect.

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 in the 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?"

Red Crane Cartoon is puzzled. I don’t understand why the first broadcast at 17:00 in the afternoon did not perform very well, but the ratings of the rebroadcast at 10:00 in the evening 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 the same age group at all as the group of people who are still watching TV at 10 o'clock in the evening."

Likewise, not during the day.

Reruns and premieres in 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 audiences over 12 years old are beginning to support the ratings of "Mobile Suit Gundam"."

Gu Miao took a look at the data fed back by the Red Crane Cartoon, shook her head and said, "It's better to be a little slower, 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 respond quickly, but also make targeted arrangements.

What arrangement?

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!"

Then 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 developed a strong interest in it.

Then, the playback volume started to increase!

From the original less than 4 million views per episode, it quickly increased to 8.5 million per episode, more than doubling.

This is not the point!

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

But of the current 8.5 million views, children under 12 years old only account for 12%, and the rest are all young viewers aged 12-18, and young viewers aged 18-28.

The proportions are now clear.

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 begun!"

After looking at the Gundam comment section, where someone was already discussing the assembled model of Gundam, Gu Miao raised the corners of her mouth slightly.

This should be the oldest Jiao Lao, right?

In this special period when "Mobile Suit Gundam" has just started airing 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 glue!

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

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

Even the oldest fans of Gundam in the comment section couldn’t imagine it.

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

But 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 began to attract the attention of "model toy" enthusiasts on a small scale.

There are also newcomers like Liu Zida who have never bought related assembled models before and this is their first time...

Anyway.

Fans of Gundam 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 high, it 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?