[Weekly Update] January 12th, 2020

Woohoo, finally done with that big episode.

ABOUT THE CHANNEL

• Our last episode on the history of Chinese animation is doing surprisingly well. I did not expect how many people out there are actually interested in this topic, not to mention the topic has been covered by other channels before.
• It seems as result of the channel's growing popularity, we have quite a few patrons joining our club. So, here are some book keepings:

• We have a Discord channel! To join, simply connect your Discord account with with your Patreon account. We occasionally talk about new movies, anime, some behind the scene stuff, etc.
• Patrons who pledge 5$ or more have access to bonus videos, which are produced at the end of each month. Simply click the tag "Bonus Video" on the left side of the page to see all of the listed for you.

• There will be one more episode this month, in which we'll be talking about the worst Chinese movie (and possibly the worst movie I've ever watched).
• There will not be a bonus video this month. Instead, it'll be uploaded at the end of February, after my time off.
• Patrons will be not charged for February.

ABOUT MEDIA

• I can talk about CATS, but let's talk about Ne Zha, instead.
• In the episode, I was focusing nearly exclusively on visual. I feel that was the best way to present this story I want to tell. But I do want to talk about the story. And similar to the visual evolution, the stories in Chinese animation has been getting better.
• Ne Zha, in my opinion, feels most complete out of all the films I talked about in Chapter 5. As in, the film, while still somewhat loose, has a clear beginning and end, with each and every story thread resolving naturally and completely.
• That is a rather big deal. In Chinese production, practically every film is an indie film, compare to The Hollywood system. Investors can pull out their funding at a moments notice, and cuts are often made to the story half way through production.
• That was one big reason why Monkey King: Hero is Back feels so disjointed.
• I think, that'll continue to be one big hurdle Chinese animations have to deal with in the near future.

• Other problems includes the humour in the films. White Snake and Big Fish are more adult oriented, and has no humour what so ever.
• While Monkey King and Ne Zha aims for a family audience, and the humour sometimes gets in the way of the story telling.
• In Ne Zha's case, the jokes turned Taiyi into a rather an unlikeable character: lazy, alcoholic, bumbling. yet the film expects audience to like him. It may work in the mind of a young child, but from an adult perspective, the dissonance can definitely be felt.
• Going forward, I hope there are more care put into the stories.

ABOUT LIFE

• Our last episode gained a lot of attention. Every time that happens, there will be racist comments. As expected, I woke up today to a "C" word comment. Even though it has been over a year since I started this channel, I still have trouble dealing with the aggression. So I think I'll stay out of the comment sections for a bit.
• Montreal was in the middle of an ice storm. Electricity went out for 13 hours, delaying the work a bit. I still aim to release the next episode by next week.
• After that, I'll be traveling and recharge. The channel will go back live in March.

2019 has been a good year for Chinese animation, and also my YouTube... Career? It's still so weird to say, but I guess I'm working YouTube, now. So, thanks for making this possible!

I'll see you in the next episode.

Don't get too excited. The movie is really bad.