New genre grabs attention

Makoto Shinkai's animation film Your Name, featuring two teen protagonists, will open in mainland theaters on Friday.[Photo provided to China Daily]

He also thinks the growth of cultural communication between China and Japan has led to growing domestic demand for quality animation films from Japan, one of the world's largest animation producers.

This view is echoed by Zhao Feng, an animated film researcher at the Chinese Film Association, who says that China has seen dozens of Japanese animation films being screened since last year.

Stand by Me Doraemon, shown last year, became the highest-grossing, non-Hollywood foreign film of all time in China, thanks to its protagonist, a robotic cat, which aroused sweet childhood memories in millions of Chinese.

Zhao also says the commercial success of such animation films has made Chinese distributors purchase more Japanese movies, especially considering the lackluster film market this year.

"Almost all the famous animation works - from One Piece Film: Gold and Chibi Maruko-chan: The Boy from Italy to Detective Conan: The Darkest Nightmare - have had film versions screened in the Chinese mainland this year," says Zhao.

But none of them were able to recreate the box-office magic of Stand by Me Doraemon.

Your Name could prove to be different, say industry watchers.

Taking another track, Cao says that Japan's animation movies can also be inspirational for Chinese animators. "China is not short of technology, but has a way to go when it comes to emotional and thought-provoking content," he adds.