“Via the Digitalization of New Media, How Online Fan Club Accelerates the Anime Consumption in China"

Presented By: Yue Zhao, Waseda University Graduate School of Asia- Pacific Studies

This article analyzes how Chinese online fans have gathered to publicize Japanese Anime through the platform of new media in an increasingly digitalized world. With more Japanese Anime introduced into China, offline, there are the great box office hits of Your Name, as well as Detective Conan and Doraemon screened in China almost every year; online, the stream video websites can air the latest released episode of anime in the same time as it is broadcasted in Japan. Such a welcoming situation encourages fans to come close with what they love, and the thriving new media has stepped up the extensive growth of the consumption of anime and its related products. Starting with an introduction of China’s environment of Anime, the article will illustrate different facets of online fan’s behaviors in the light of a case study of Detective Conan’s fan club in China. By interviewing with Chinese fans and distributors, the author attempts to disclose the insight into the cultural and economic relations between the fan and the production and distribution companies in a digitalized environment. Based on all above, the author concludes “marketing methods” online fan club has applied to accelerate greatly the consumption of Anime in China. This kind of research related with China and Japan has rarely been done, even though China is one of the biggest import countries of Anime productions, so it intends to demonstrate the spreading of Anime from a new point of view.