If you've
ever had a look at Chinese animation, you've almost certainly stumbled upon a
3D hero cultivating spiritual energy to become immortal while dishing out
flying kicks. Although the donghua industry has grown by leaps and bounds,
users in China themselves are beginning to feel a glut of the same formula
repeated ad nauseam. A recent discussion on the Xiaohongshu platform ignited
the debate about the huge narrative gaps that local animation houses continue
to completely ignore.
The
conversation laid bare a collective annoyance with the near-stranglehold of the
Xuanhuan and Xianxia genres, traditional Chinese fantasy focused
on the cultivation of powers and martial arts. Most participants agreed that
any proposal outside that mold is ridiculously lacking. Among the strongest
complaints was the overwhelming lack of productions designed for female
audiences. While the character designs aren't bad, users pointed out that women
rarely have the lead role or deep development, crying out for predominantly
female casts where young women grow up realistically, double heroin stories, or
series focused on yuri relationships.
Fans also
put together a list of genres that are conspicuous by their absence in the
market. From everyday stories of everyday life, sports stories full of passion
and team competitions, to mature police mysteries, pure science fiction and the
popular subgenre of girl bands. The lack of traditional 2D animation aimed at
adult audiences, school stories that reflect real Chinese youth and classic
shonen-style adventures in fantastic two-dimensional worlds were other gaps
that the community urgently asks to fill.
The term donghua
refers to all animation works produced in China, a market that over the
past decade has seen massive growth driven by giant streaming platforms such as
Tencent Video, Bilibili, and iQIYI. Unlike Japanese anime, which stands out for
its enormous diversity of themes and the predominantly use of 2D drawing, the
Chinese industry has focused the vast majority of its budgets on 3D CGI
productions adapted from successful fantasy and immortal web novels, a highly
lucrative business model but one that is now beginning to show signs of wear
and tear among viewers.
