"Neon Genesis Evangelion" ("EVA") should be the most topical work among Japanese animation works in the mid-to-late 90s. The film's strong stream-of-consciousness technique and the use of a large number of religious and philosophical imagery have set off a huge reverberation and impact in Japanese society to the extent of what is called a "social phenomenon", and has become a milestone in the history of Japanese animation, and is recognized as one of the greatest animations in Japanese history.

This anime work is written and directed by Hideaki Anno, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto serves as the character designer, and Emi Ogata, Megumi Hayashihara, Yuko Miyamura, Kotono Mitsuishi and others serve as the main voices. This lineup will be gorgeous in the eyes of later generations.

Historically, the reason why "EVA" was made into a TV animation was more because of the average performance of GAINAX, and if you want to directly produce a theatrical version, you may not be able to get investment. So, in the end, I chose to lower the standard and make TV animations.

The production team of "EVA" also lacked the idea of controlling costs, so much so that with a medium-sized budget of 6.25 million yen per episode, a total of 26 episodes of TV anime, the first few episodes have already burned most of the cost. As a result, there is no money to do the follow-up part, so I can only save and insist on completing the work. Many people complained about the stream of consciousness and flexible painting in the later episodes, more because the money ran out.

However, the TV version of "EVA" later gained enough popularity, and the disc was also a big hit, and Company X remastered "EVA" and remade it into a theatrical version. The theatrical version is also divided into the old version and the new version, the old version is equivalent to a TV animation remake, and the new version is beyond the plot scope of TV animation, pushing the story plot to a further future, and the production is more sophisticated than TV animation and the old theater version. However, the new theatrical version is gradually becoming a lifetime, and it is already difficult to see the ending. Every time the theatrical version keeps issuing new trailers, it is year after year, but there is no follow-up.

On the one hand, it is a team that was originally recognized by the audience, and many people have become famous. In another 20 years, it will be difficult to get together the original team. In addition, it's the copyright around "EVA" that is too profitable, resulting in the team of this company gnawing on the old and living a good life, who would want those social animals of other animation companies to work all day long to produce some animation works that barely make a living?

"I don't think there's a need to rush the plot structure of EVA. Lin Qi saw the translated original script and setting, "At least more than 6 theatrical animations can be produced, and the progress of launching one in two years can be produced for at least more than 10 years." The budget for the first part, the 1 billion yen you proposed, I think it's a bit conservative, 2 billion or even 3 billion is no problem, and the work should be polished as much as possible to perfectly present the scenes that were conceived. ”

For a moment, Hideaki Anno's mind couldn't help but heat up, and he said, "Boss, do you think this work may be a big hit?"

"It's just a possibility. Lin Qi said, "Over the years, animation has only been watched by children. That kind of low-age-oriented animation,Although there will still be a market.,Even for a long time, the market size is still very large.。 However, the youth-oriented animation that is in line with the general plot and level of Hollywood blockbusters will become more and more popular, and the ratings and box office will rise. What's more important is that young people have purchasing power, youth to animation, if it becomes popular, not only will there be ratings, box office, etc., but there will be more benefits in the future, such as, DVD high-definition collector's edition, figures, game adaptations or other peripherals, so, "EVA" This kind of work, you don't need to consider young audiences, it's not for them to see. What's more, it makes the young audience feel very powerful!"

Later generations, including Disney, which was originally young, also began to devote more resources to attacking the young market. Including the acquisition of Marvel and the adaptation of Marvel's comics into one blockbuster after another. This shows one thing, that is, the trend of the cultural industry in the future is more aimed at the youth market.

The commercial influence of "EVA" is not as good as Hollywood's adaptation of "Spider-Man" and "Iron Man". But it's not because EVA itself doesn't have enough influence and fan base, it's just that the Asian film and television industry is not as big as the Hollywood film industry.

"With the budget so high, could the production plan be more 3D?" Okada suggested.

Although he is not the supervisor of "EVA", the president of GAINAX is still Dousio Okada.

"Don't!" Lin Qi said flatly.

"Why?" Hideaki Anno couldn't help but be surprised, "Isn't Kung Fu Panda also a 3D work? Some of the group's games have mature 3D engine technology, and with the support of these technologies, plus the support of high-performance mainframe computers, it is also certain to be able to produce 3D." ”

"The current technology of 3D can not better express the special effects and characters, if you want to make 3D natural and vivid, the difficulty and cost are not simple, even if the current cost is increased by five times or ten times, it may not be able to succeed. "Kung Fu Panda" can succeed, more because it is an animal, with expressions or something, and it doesn't need to be as detailed as humans. But if the live-action version of 3D can't be of higher quality, then it's easy to disappoint people with just stiff expressions and movements. Not to mention now, even in another ten years, live-action 3D animation is destined to be successful only a very few, and most of them will hit the streets!" Lin Qi said indifferently.

From a technical point of view, 3D animation is clearly more advanced and represents the future of the animation industry.

Although 2D animation is relatively backward in technology, even if it is created by a computer, it is drawn by people one by one. The principle of technology is a relatively old tradition and belongs to a labor-intensive industry.

But even thirty years later, 3D animation is still not as natural and vivid as 2D animation. Whether it's facial expressions or other details, there are too many technical challenges to overcome for 3D animation. If nothing else, take the supercomputer used to render 3D animation, which is currently the world's top computing performance, and the graphics card is even more luxurious. A barely enough computer costs no less than $300 million. Moreover, after such a computer produces an animation, it has been greatly depreciated. The next anime needs to upgrade to a better platform and reinvest a bigger budget.

Therefore, Lin Qi does not plan to let the Japanese subsidiary burn money for 3D animation.

Do top-level 3D animation, burn money to accumulate technology, and it's okay to have Felix in China. This kind of money-burning animation, one every two or three years, costs an average of $100 million a year, and gradually cultivates high-end teams and accumulates technology. To really invest and popularize on a large scale, we need to wait until the technology becomes cheaper and easier to popularize.

2D animation only needs large-scale recruitment, relying on qualified screenwriters, painters, dubbing, music and other related talents, both to make works. To put it simply, it is a craft that relies on the accumulation of experience of practitioners.

3D animation is more complex than 2D animation, because it involves more software and hardware technology, and it is not enough to rely on the experience of animators, but also to cooperate with a large number of computer technicians to continuously solve problems. Therefore, the future barrier of 3D animation is deeper, not only requires experience, but also the accumulation of technology!