Introduction

Today, for people in the house world who have been immersed in the ACG sea for a long time, light novels are no longer an unfamiliar term. As a very typical subcultural commercial product, light novels have been inextricably linked with ACGN, especially animation, since its birth. In recent years, an endless stream of animations adapted from the original light novels has not only continuously refreshed the readers' three views, but also clearly demonstrated to the public the inevitable trend of light novels becoming an important new force in the animation industry. However, the commercial market choice is always cruel and will not be differentiated because of the different forms of products, so, what factors determine the success or failure of a light novel after it is adapted into animation? That's what this article wants to explore. (Because this article will discuss ACG culture and light novel culture in parallel, for convenience, the author will combine the two, ACG + Novel, and call it "ACGN".) ）

The past and present of "light novels".

For those who are familiar with the current ecology of the ACGN world, the specific definition of the concept of "light novel" must not need to be repeated. As a rather unique literary form and information carrier, the word "light" has pointed out its great difference from traditional literature. The term has multiple meanings, the most important of which is undoubtedly to indicate the importance of the "easy reading" nature of works in the genre. Since birth, light fiction works have been closely related to comics, and almost indispensable color, black and white illustrations make this text carrier have a strong anime flavor.

In recent years, the output of light novels has developed exponentially, and one of the important reasons is the low threshold for their creation. Regardless of anime and games that require the use of multiple teams, even manga, there is a basic drawing ability requirement for the author. To put it in layman's terms, not everyone can draw, but basically as long as you have a certain amount of education, there is no problem with a few words. One of the great advantages of light novel writing is that it does not require the author to have any special "skill points", just make it clear. In addition, from the beginning, it was defined as a text form work closely related to ACGN - it is no wonder that some people call light novels "first-out anime scripts".

The low threshold for creation leads to the fact that the production of light novels does not need to be as thoughtful as anime works, and the low cost of production also makes the market's expectations not too high, and one of the benefits of this is that the publishers dare to make various attempts in this field - it is good to succeed, and it is harmless to fail. This invisibly provides a very rich soil resource for anime adaptation. As mentioned above, light novels have been closely tied to anime since their birth, which also makes it less difficult to adapt animation than other types of works, because it is originally a very anime feel to tell stories and create characters. The abundant number and relatively wide range of genres, coupled with the not-so-high royalties and many other factors, have contributed to the current tide of light novel adaptation animation.

The increasing number of adaptations is bound to lead to uneven quality of works, which is almost inevitable in today's highly commercial animation market – so what factors make an adaptation a success or failure? The author thinks that there are basically no more than three factors, that is: time, place, and people, and let's talk about them separately.

Time of day - the rheology of the general environment of the ACGN community

As a kind of popular subculture, ACGN culture is not static from the beginning, but one thing is fixed, that is, it must faithfully serve the popular. At the same time, ACGN culture is itself a creator of popularity, and from the perspective of ACGN producers, it is generally a process of "output—being accepted (by the market)—continuing to produce selectively and massively according to market response".

One of the advantages of light novels is that they have a low threshold and low cost to create, and it is easier to try out different genres, so it is a great test of vision for producers to grasp the current and even future fashion trends when looking for original novels that can be adapted into animation. Taking the popular trend in recent years as an example, it is worth mentioning the "sister control trend", "waste cute trend", "online game trend", etc., these major genres are not lacking in successful examples of light novel adaptation animation, and most of the cases are the first light novel itself to accumulate a certain amount of word-of-mouth, bringing out the prelude to this popular trend, and then the animation production zuò Fang Hui Zhi Jin, through guò adaptation animation and other aspects of publicity baked the trend to white heat. In addition to the waste of cuteness because it relies more on the sense of picture, most of the original works of successful animation adaptations are comics (such as "Lucky Star", "K-ON" and the like), the trend of sister control and online games can basically be said to be light novels that play a leading role.

The leader of the "Sister Control" trend and the most successful adaptation example is undoubtedly "How can my sister be so cute!" ,This novel from the denki library is by no means the first work to push the sister control to the table.,The content may not be so earth-shattering.,But it caught up with the good era at the end of the first decade of the 21st century (at that time,The element of sister control has been quite common in the animation industry.,But there hasn't been a work that integrates and amplifies this element.,And commercialized as the first selling point of the work),With many other factors,The novel of "My Sister" became an instant hit., After the animation, the influence has penetrated into all aspects of the ACGN world, and the effect on the sales of the novel is even greater. In the case of an animated adaptation, there are two criteria for its success: 1. How well the DVD and peripheral products of the animation are sold, and 2. Whether there is a boost in the sales of the original book. On both counts, My Sister was undoubtedly a huge success (just look at the beautiful BD sales – over 18,000!). ）。 With the development of the trend,A series of sister control adaptations are also emerging,But there are few of them successful,Take "One of them is a sister" and "My daily life with my dear brother" as an example,The same is the theme of sister control,The same is the YY component,But after animation,DVD sales have not exceeded 3000,Given that the DVD sales of Japanese animation works have 5000 (this is also the basic condition for the second phase of the animation club),It's really far from success。 After all, it was already 2012 when these two animation works were broadcast, and at that time, the sister control trend had a tendency to decline, in short, it did not catch up with the "time of day".

In terms of the "online game" trend, the most successful example of adaptation is undoubtedly "Sword Art Online". In recent years, as online games have become more and more popular, ACGN works on this theme are also common, from "Acceleration World", which is also written by Kawahara Li, to "Sword Art Online", and then to the recent "Recorded Horizon", it can be said that although the light novels with the theme of online games may not be successful, but at present, most of the light novels of this theme have been adapted into animations. The launch of the second season of Sword Art Online in July 2014 will continue the craze, but it's almost certain that the trend won't stay hot forever. What's trending in 2015? The jury is still out of the question. For people in the animation industry, how to judge the direction of "Tianshi" and twist the most potential adaptable works from the vast soil of light novels is the next important homework that needs to be painstakingly considered.

Geographical Advantage - The Theory of Origin in the ACGN Circle

Geographical advantages are generally used to describe the various benefits that an individual's location and environment can bring to them, and can be understood as the "provenance" of a work in the ACGN world. Because the creation threshold of light novels is low, its ecological form is different from the long-established comic industry, there are fewer "everyone", and the appeal of the author himself is limited, so, for a light novel adapted into animation, what is the most noteworthy "origin" element? There are two main ones: 1. The publisher of the original light novel, and 2. The production company that adapts the animation.

☆ Out - The publisher can often decide whether a novel is "famous" or not

In the current Japanese light novel industry, there is no doubt that the Kadokawa family is dominant. Dengeki Bunko, Fujimi Shobo, Sneaker Bunko, Enterbrain, MF Bunko J, these big Kadokawa light novel brands have already occupied most of the industry, and the masterpieces adapted into animation in recent years have basically come from these libraries. The birth of light novels has had many traces of cooperation from the very beginning, and many times it is created by the editor-editor and the author through continuous consultation and communication. Because of this, a good editorial team and a strong behind-the-scenes operations organization are all the more important. From the multi-platform advertising warm-up before the release of the novel, to the extensive distribution of goods in bookstores after the release, to the cross-platform cooperation of MEDIAMIX, it is difficult to make the above without the support of abundant strength.

In this regard,Several publishers under the Kadokawa system can be divided into three, six, nine, etc.,The king of kings is undoubtedly ASCIIMEDIAWORKS's Dengeki Library,In recent years, most of the popular animation adaptations of light novels have been created by Dengeki Library,In addition to the above-mentioned "My Sister" and "Sword Art Online", "Dragon and Tiger", "Sakuraso's Pet Girl" and "Headless Horseman's Persona" are also well-known brands, MF Bunko J, a subsidiary of MediaFactory, which has entered the Kadokawa Group's less seniority, has been fighting against this king of kings in the light novel industry for a long time with a tendency different from Dengeki Bunko, and has also created heavyweight brands such as "I Have Few Friends", "Karakuri Girls Don't Get Hurt", and "No Game, No Life".

☆ The strength of the company that adapts the animation is also the lifeline of success

Since the final form of the adaptation is animation, the level of production of the animation is undoubtedly the most important factor affecting the success of the animation. The original novel only provides a script and a preliminary warm-up, and how the animation will be presented in the end depends on the means of the animation production company. Of course, powerful publishers are often able to "hook up" with equally powerful animation companies, so as to achieve the effect of strong alliances, but there are also examples of obscure ordinary works by large companies by chance (such as "Middle Two Diseases Also Have to Fall in Love" by Kyoto Animation a while ago).

From the perspective of the current industry, the most successful adaptation of animation is undoubtedly the Kyoto Animation mentioned above. In 2006, "The Melancholy of Spring in the Cool Palace" became an instant hit, allowing the concept of light novels to enter the field of vision of the majority of otaku in a real sense. Earlier this year, Kyoto Animation announced the upcoming light novel adaptation anime "Savior of Gancheng Brilliant Paradise" to be broadcast in October this year, this work written by Shoji Hogashi (author of "Full Metal Mania") has been shrouded in the aura of a masterpiece since the early publicity, and will Kyoto Animation be able to continue the myth of its anime adaptation? Let's wait and see.

In addition to Kyoto Animation, there are several animation companies in the industry that are keen on adapting light novels, such as J.C. STAFF and A-1Pictures, but compared to the repeated success of JD Animation's adaptations, the results of other companies are somewhat mixed. In any case, J.C. and A-1 companies can basically ensure that the adapted animation will not collapse to the point of collapse, and looking at the animation of "The Correct Use of Dogs and Scissors" produced by GONZO, which has repeatedly faced the crisis of bankruptcy, every reader must be able to more deeply understand what "Honkai" is.

Based on the above two points, "geographical advantage" is really a relatively complex Rausch. But if a work is a well-known company and is lucky enough to be photographed by a large-scale animation company, then it is almost certain that it is close to success.

People and - characters, the soul of light novels

The success of character creation determines the success or failure of a light novel - it should be said that this is not a new topic, but when it comes to the topic of adapting animation, then it is necessary to put it further on the table.

In fact, it is not difficult to see from the fact that the covers of most light novels are only composed of one or two characters, and the vividness of the characters is the most important factor affecting the reader's perception of a work. Traditional literature is good at using words to describe characters and situations, which makes use of the abstract nature of words, so that readers can develop further associations on the basis of the author's description after reading the text, and construct a concrete character image that only belongs to themselves in the mind. But in light novels, this is greatly diminished, and the abundance of illustrations restricts the reader's self-play, so that they are imprinted into their minds from the beginning of the reading. This is actually related to the readership of light novels, relatively speaking, the average age of the readership of light novels is low (mainly in the range of 12~20 years old), and the too boring text list for them is far less easy to remember than an easy-to-recognize picture.

And when the light novel is adapted into animation, the importance of the character image becomes more clear. Adapting animation is to turn the original text into a moving sound image, then, if the characters in the original work already have a fixed and perfect image setting, on the one hand, it can save a lot of design work; On the other hand, there is no need to face the complaints of fans of the original book that "the animated character design does not match the original book" - after all, the characters of the original work have already been drawn like that!

A lot of times, a light novel writer doesn't even need to be able to conceive a clever story, he doesn't need to have a good writing, as long as he knows how to create one or two characters with selling points (readers like), then the novel has a chance of success. What's more, even if the author is a mess in the description of the characters, if he is lucky enough to meet an illustrator with a great style of painting - then the work itself still has hope of success.

The reason why "people" is emphasized is nothing more than because in many cases, an adapted animation is supported independently by several charming characters, and when the characters are accepted by readers, the story itself will be bought, and at the same time, related peripheral products can be sold, thereby further promoting the sales of the original work - this is the case with the existing industrial chain. Looking back on the successful adaptations in recent years, you can almost immediately recall the vivid characters in the work, such as mentioning Kirito and Asuna in "Sword Art Online", "How can my sister be so cute!" Takasaka Kirino in ", they all further strengthened the sense of existence through guò animation, and at the same time became the spokesperson of the animation work itself, and the appearance of these images is indispensable for all kinds of promotional information.

For example, the failure of the adaptation of a recent work of Long Aotian, which was not so successful in animation (yes, "Devil's Inferior"), on the one hand, needs to be attributed to the perfunctory attitude of the animation producer, and on the other hand, the over-flattening of the character creation also makes the characters appear "cold and noble", which is difficult to arouse the reader's real liking.

epilogue

The adaptation is not yet over, and you still need to work hard

After an almost blowout of light novel adaptation animation boom in the past year or two, this trend has subsided recently. In the new anime in July 2014, there are no eye-catching light novel adaptations except for the second season of "Sword Art Online". But this doesn't mean that the trend of adaptation has come to an abrupt end.,The above-mentioned "Savior of Gancheng Brilliant Paradise", the second season of the new "Recorded Horizon" in October this year, the second season of "Coffin Ji Jiaika", plus the "Inconspicuous Heroine Cultivation Method" that has announced the animation plan, "The second season of the Headless Horseman's Persona", etc., it is foreseeable that for a long time in the future, the animation adapted from the original light novel will still be a force to be reckoned with in the new animation.

As this form of adaptation matures, the industry will surely have a deeper understanding of the many factors that determine the success or failure of the adaptation. But what is certain is that there are only a handful of truly successful works. So, in the coming days, how many adaptations can grasp the elements of success and stand out from the many cannon fodder? This task of observation and reflection is left to the majority of the people to complete slowly.