Source: @Tencent Animation World Style Feature

Although we speak the "Han" language, and the place where Chinese around the world gather is called "Tang" Street, when it comes to the most popular period of history in the hearts of Chinese, the Three Kingdoms are the first to deserve.

When it comes to the Three Kingdoms, Liu Guanzhang's "Taoyuan Righteousness" is well known to women and children, and Su Dongpo's "Dajiangdong Go" is well-known; The white-faced Cao Cao, the red-faced Guan Gong... From the Yellow Turban Uprising to the annihilation of Dong Zhuo, from the Battle of Guandu to the burning of Chibi, from crossing the river in white clothes to Qishan Mountain... Since its birth, this period of history has condensed into a vigorous life with its unique charm, and has become a different appearance in the hearts of historians, novelists, opera artists, and every common people, and has been continuously spread on the land of China for nearly 2,000 years. Later, the success and wide dissemination of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" made the "Three Kingdoms Effect" transpiring and fermenting, although "three fictions and seven realities", it is still charming.

It can be said that the Chinese people have a strong three-country complex in their hearts.

However, to the confusion of many people, the Japanese also talk about the history of the Three Kingdoms. Not to mention anything else, Japan's "Three Kingdoms fans" are all over the country, and there are hundreds of "Three Kingdoms Fan Clubs" alone, and all kinds of Three Kingdoms-related anime and game works are also as high as three digits. Why? How did the Three Kingdoms become "popular" in Japan?

The popularity of the Three Kingdoms in Japan is actually quite late

The popularity of the Three Kingdoms in Japan is because of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"? Actually, it's hard to say.

For a thing, every time the threshold is raised, a large number of audiences will be reduced. The original novel version of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is also limited in popularity among young Chinese people today. After all, it is old, there are many characters, and the vernacular is not as easy to understand as Mandarin, so there are only a few young people who are willing to calm down and read the original book a few times, and more viewers are still familiar with guò TV series, movies, games, comics... and other works to get in touch with that magnificent era.

"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is still the same for young Chinese, such a work is translated into Japanese, and it is absolutely sunny and snowy in Japan, and it is hard to imagine that it will be widely disseminated to Cheng Dù, who is not easy for young people.

In fact, not to mention that "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", which is one of the first four histories, did not enter Japan for more than 1,000 years after its appearance, and it is difficult to verify when "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" entered Japan. The current theory is probably that at the end of the 14th century, a work called "Taiping Ji" made the first interpretation of the story of the Three Kingdoms period; And by the time "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was widely mentioned, it was already in the 17th century.

So, back to the point. The direct reason why the current Japanese, from the eighty-year-old man to the middle two otaku to the young girl, are all talking about the history of the Three Kingdoms will never be the relatively obscure original work (refer to the translated versions of various foreign classics in the state of Yangchun and white snow in China). Is there a more popular and understandable work that makes this history so deeply rooted in the hearts of the people?

Yes.

From one day alone to a hundred schools of thought

Prologue to the Legend of the Three Kingdoms in the manga world: Mitsuki Yokoyama "Three Kingdoms"

Speaking of the first shot of the popularization of the history of the Three Kingdoms, it is necessary to mention the "Three Kingdoms" by the Japanese popular literature master Eiji Yoshikawa. This work was serialized in the newspaper for 4 years from 1939, emphasizing people and ignoring wars, and the history of the Three Kingdoms was greatly condensed, highlighting only the jokes and heroes that were popular with him. The work had a far-reaching impact and became the source of Japan's Three Kingdoms fever after World War II. But when it comes to the works related to the Three Kingdoms that have the greatest influence on modern Japanese, it is not this one, but the manga created by Yokoyama Mitsuki - "Three Kingdoms".

In 1971, Yokoyama was 37 years old. In this year, he started a 15-year serial marathon (also commonly known as "Yokoyama Glorious Three Kingdoms") with the comic "Three Kingdoms" created based on "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", with a single edition of more than 60 volumes and a cumulative circulation of more than 50 million copies. Although from a modern point of view, the characters with Abe Gao and similar faces look slightly thunderous, and the plot is not very rigorous, but in that era, it was definitely all kinds of "crazy Cool Bully Handsome". The influence of "Yokoyama Glorious Three Kingdoms" is very huge, and it has become the "enlightenment" of many Japanese Three Kingdoms, and it is not an exaggeration to say that the basic shapes of various Three Kingdoms characters in Japanese comics have been established. To this day, you can often see this work mentioned in the discussion thread about the Three Kingdoms in 2CH.

It is worth mentioning that the theatrical version of "Three Kingdoms", which was adapted by Toei with an investment of 1.4 billion yen and a field investigation in China, took 4 years to adapt, won the highest honor in Japanese animation - the Animation Golden Throne Award. This work is often mistaken for a theatrical extension of "Yokoyama Glorious Three Kingdoms", but in fact the two are not the same work. But from another aspect, being able to cause such a misunderstanding is enough to see the influence of "Yokoyama Glorious Three Kingdoms".

The time changes of the Three Kingdoms anime - the fierce battle between orthodoxy and popularity

For a long time after that, the shadow of "Yokoyama Glorious Three Kingdoms" can still be seen in Japanese Three Kingdoms comics. In the post-Yokoyama era, although the character settings are very different in style, they are basically not too far from the development trajectory of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". One of the most famous works is "Cangtian Voyage", which began to be serialized in 1994, written by Li Xueren and painted by Wang Xintai; and the time-traveling comic "The Legend of the Dragon and Wolf", which began to be serialized in 1993.

Two masterpieces of the post-Yokoyama era

The uniqueness of "Cangtian Voyage" is that in Japan, which also uses Liu Bei's Shu Han as the orthodox, this comic chooses Cao Cao as the main depiction object. Although the middle is full of such as: Cao Cao was NTR by the eunuch NTR after falling in love with an Italian woman, Diao Chan cut his double eyelids with a watermelon knife... The plot of waiting for the thunder to fly up, as a whole, still follows a mixture of history and romance (I'm embarrassed to say it). This work was adapted into a TV anime by MADHOUSE in 2009, and the voice actor lineup is very luxurious, so interested students can take a look. "The Legend of the Dragon and Wolf" tells the story of a pair of lovers who travel to the Three Kingdoms period on a plane. Although it may seem a little old-fashioned now, the setting was quite fashionable in 1993.

The new "Three Kingdoms" that fuse various popular elements

This relatively modest adaptation of the Three Kingdoms manga changed after 2000. With the deepening of commercialization, various popular elements have also begun to invade this ancient theme, and the heroes of the Three Kingdoms era have also been pulled out to be motherized, cute, and corrupted.

"One Ride as a Thousand" tells the story of the souls of the heroes of the Three Kingdoms period condensed into "Magatama", and appeared collectively in modern Japan (cultural relics resale?). ), and selected a bunch of high school students (mostly young girls) as heirs to fight around to recreate the story of the division of the Three Kingdoms. Although this setting sounds very ridiculous, it is widely popular with otaku because of the author's superb drawing skills, excellent storytelling ability, and full of service elements such as "playing and bursting shirts"; Not only is the animation season after season of production, but the number of peripherals is even more eye-popping, and Guan Yu's female body style has even become a goddess in the hearts of many otaku. The total number of figures in "One Ride as a Thousand" can definitely rank in the top 5 of all anime-derived figures, and it is still constantly being updated, which shows its vitality.

"One Rides for a Thousand Miles" opens up a whole new possibility of historical heroes being transformed (the momentum of recent years has shown that the Japanese have not spared even their own indigenous historical figures), appearing as women, and being popular. This initiative was the basis for the subsequent "Spike! The popularity of a series of feminized Three Kingdoms comics, such as "Lu Buzi" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", has opened up a new path. At the same time, there are also more derivative works of other types of Three Kingdoms. For example, the rotten girl anime "Three Kingdoms of Steel" with Wu Guo as the core, and "SD Gundam Three Kingdoms" with the main purpose of selling toys (Khan). Of course, most of these products of the new generation are only linked to the Three Kingdoms in the eyes of Chinese anime fans, and they have refreshed their fashion value, which really has little to do with knowing and loving the history of the Three Kingdoms.

Thunderman? No, there's more thunder. If you talk about the rolling thunder, it is Wu Lunzun and Ikegami Liaoichi co-created "Ba-LORD-" (also known as "Super Three Kingdoms"), in this work, there is even a strange plot such as Zhao Yun (female) and Lu Bu gave birth to Guan Ping. Wu Nonzun and Ikegami Ryuichi are both in the Japanese comic circle, the former's masterpiece "Beidou God Fist" can be said to have influenced a generation, but this work is really impossible to look at, and it has reached the level of "friends who have seen it will be scolded". From another point of view, such famous artists have to catch the tide and wade into the troubled waters of the Three Kingdoms, which shows how popular this theme is in Japan.

Read more: Behind the popularity of the Three Kingdoms culture

From the above rough introduction, we can find that the Three Kingdoms theme is not only popular in Japan, but also full of vitality. So, why is the Three Kingdoms theme so popular with the Japanese?

In fact, there is no conclusive conclusion on this issue, and the author believes that there are mainly such reasons, welcome to add.

Four reasons make the Three Kingdoms popular in Japan

1. It's time to catch up. A work that appears at the right time can influence an era, and the most prominent example of this in China is "Saint Seiya". The single book of "Saint Seiya" has sold less than 1 million copies, which is much inferior to many famous works; If you look at it from today's point of view, the setting of "Saint Seiya" has a lot of hard injuries, but in that era, the emergence of "Saint Seiya" undoubtedly affected a large number of Chinese teenagers, and countless fans are still fanatical about it.

Although they are different works, the truth is the same, ignited by Eiji Yoshikawa's "Three Kingdoms" and sublimated by the excellent interpretation of "The Glory of Yokoyama", which added a touch of bright color to that era.

2. The charm of the history of the Three Kingdoms itself. The Three Kingdoms can become the favorite of the Chinese people, and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is indispensable; However, if the folk do not have the corresponding enthusiasm, if the story itself is not extremely charming, this history will not reach the level of the street if there is no classic scene that the audience likes to see. In this regard, it is the same in Japan.

3. A large number of heroes have extra points. Liu Guanzhang's brotherhood, Zhao Yun's single-rider savior, Zhuge Liang's ability to make good decisions, Lu Bu's bravery... These charismatic heroes have shining points that transcend nationality and history, and can be accepted, recognized and even worshiped by the Japanese masses. There is a plot in "Haiyue Ji": The otaku girl of the Three Kingdoms ran to worship the Guan Emperor Temple - Japan also has a temple of the Emperor, which shows the recognition of this kind of heroic character. More importantly, there are a huge number of heroes with different personalities and abilities, which are very consistent with ACG attributes, giving cartoonists endless creative space and imagination.

4. The history of the Three Kingdoms itself is a tragedy. In the end, none of these famous heroes were able to dominate the Central Plains. Cao Cao Chibi was defeated, and Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition was unsuccessful...... This intense and tragic color is very much in line with the Japanese aesthetic, so it is quite acceptable.

We also have good Three Kingdoms manga ourselves

Because of the limited space, we can only talk about the current situation and reasons for the Three Kingdoms anime works in Japan. Seeing that many comic fans who care about Guoman here may ask-Three Kingdoms comics are so loved in Japan, so what about our own Three Kingdoms comics? Are there any excellent Three Kingdoms-themed story comics in China?

In fact, in the editor's humble opinion, the most influential Three Kingdoms story comic is undoubtedly "Hengshan Glorious Three Kingdoms", so that the theme of the Three Kingdoms has infinite possibilities (although it has also been disgusted by many Three Kingdoms control) The story comic should be "One Ride and a Thousand", but if you talk about the most exciting content, the story is high and innovative The Three Kingdoms comics, it is really not drawn by the Japanese, it should be "Fire Phoenix Liaoyuan" painted by Hong Kong Chen Mou. "Fire Phoenix Liaoyuan" has been serialized for more than 10 years, but the story only ends at the end of the Battle of Guandu, and Chibi has not yet started fighting (Khan). The characters of "Fire Phoenix" are delicately portrayed, the battle of wits is extremely exciting, the basic restoration of history is not confined to history, and the new interpretation of the event is refreshing. If there are three kingdoms in the way of this Guoman has never set foot in, it is indeed a pity, the editor here highly recommended!

epilogue

The fascinating culture and history can still exude a different kind of brilliance even if it is not born and raised. Behind the popularity of the Three Kingdoms in Japan, there are countless answers and interpretations, what can we get from them?