[White Night Talk] Why are fewer people watching JOJO?

About a year and a half ago, the announcement of the animation of the sixth JOJO series “Sea of ​​Stone” unsurprisingly ignited major social media. Under the fermentation of the excellent word-of-mouth of many previous animations, the JOJO series has already broken the circle in many countries and regions outside Japan, and the highly infectious “stems” passed on by fans have also become a part of the diverse Internet culture. . “Sea of ​​Stone”, as a brand new animation work in the series, naturally attracted much attention before it started broadcasting.

It was quite different from the empty-handed scene at that time. Last Thursday, the animation of “Sea of ​​Stone” came to an end quietly. Presumably, most of the viewers recalled that there was such a popular movie this year. Forgotten animation.

Not only domestic, overseas audiences also felt the plunge in popularity

From being popular all over the Internet to now being silent, the decline in the popularity of “Sea of ​​Stones” is obvious to all. If someone made a violent comment like “no one pays attention to the ending of “Sea of ​​Stone”” a year ago, he would probably be regarded as a fool. After all, as far as the original work is concerned, the ending of the sixth part has unprecedented scenes. There are famous scenes that have been passed down for a long time, and there are also the most heroic boss battles. No matter from which angle you look at it, this work should not be so popular.

If you want to hold accountable, the subtle style of “Sea of ​​Stone” itself cannot escape the responsibility. Viewers who have watched the animation can more or less perceive that the stand-ins in this film are increasingly developing in the direction of exaggeration. It affects the look and feel. Even if the ending is full of emotions, it is difficult for people to ignore the previous bad experience. To some extent, this animation is quite similar to the “Pokémon Zhuzi” next door.

In addition, as many people have pointed out, Netflix’s one-time delivery mechanism is also a key reason for this problem.

Netflix’s broadcast system is a common topic. General Japanese TV animation usually takes the form of weekly updates, with one episode played every week. While ensuring the smoothness of the story, it allows the audience a week of emotional fermentation time, so that everyone has the motivation to continue watching the next episodes. For JOJO, it actually has a more special meaning.

The JOJO series has a wonderful phenomenon called “JOJO Friday” in the fan community. Since the third part, every episode of JOJO animation will be played on Friday (except for the final episode of “Golden Wind”, which was postponed halfway through), Eight years, as always, consistent. Friday has become a symbol of JOJO. Fans will look forward to the arrival of Friday when the animation starts, and continue to wait for the next Friday after they are satisfied, until the appearance of Netflix destroys the animation group and fans. Unspoken traditions among communities.

JOJO can break the circle to the point where it is today. The small group of fans in the early stage contributed a lot to the spontaneous promotion. Maybe some friends will remember jokes like “JO chefs can chat through memes”-this group of fans is in It has largely promoted the viral spread of JOJO. And abandoning the traditions that fans have passed down for a long time has also damaged the fan culture of the series.

In fact, there are few successful cases of Japanese animation invested by Netflix, and I could have counted on it. It’s just a coincidence that “Cyberpunk Edge Walker”, which was also broadcast in one breath a while ago, has excellent quality and became popular. Many viewers saw the animation as proof that “there’s nothing wrong with the Netflix format.” But for me, “David’s Bizarre Adventure” is backed by a popular game with tens of millions of sales, and its short and brisk length is far from JOJO, which often has thirty or forty episodes, so it cannot be used as an example.

The high-quality Japanese animation “Devilman Crybaby” produced by Netflix in the early days was thought to be just the beginning, but unexpectedly became one of the pinnacles

The problem of the Netflix model is not limited to folk discussions. The Japanese media have also written many articles observing the Netflix model. Many practitioners have mentioned that there is a general distrust of Netflix in the Japanese animation industry today. An animation company The executives of the company also mentioned in the interview the strange phenomenon that “the work that was not able to form a topic during the exclusive online broadcast period of Netflix, but a good response was broadcast on TV a few years later”.

The Netflix platform is more like a backstop for Japanese animation companies. Many animation companies have formed a consensus that “broadcasting popular masterpieces that are expected to sell well on TV is more profitable than broadcasting them on Netflix”. Fei drastically cut down many investment projects, which shows that in the near future, more animation companies will choose to give up cooperation with Netflix in order to ensure the popularity and quality of their works.

Netflix paid membership increase and decrease data

Speaking of JOJO, it is actually a miracle that this series can achieve the sixth volume. Judging from the BD sales of the original comics and animations, JOJO’s popularity has been going down all the way. Maybe “Sea of ​​Stone” can’t hold it at all. The high enthusiasm when the animation was announced. But if you want to ask me which one to choose between today’s bleak status quo and no “Sea of ​​Stone” animation at all, then I will definitely choose the former. This is at least better than all the works without the following, and I am satisfied with new animations to watch.