I have been writing about science fiction recently. After all, the "Three-Body" animation and "Avatar 2" were quite disappointing, and there is also the upcoming "The Wandering Earth 2". The most disappointing one is naturally the "Three-Body" animation.

text | Linghu Boguang

has been writing about science fiction recently. After all, the " three-body " animation "Avatar 2" is quite disappointing, and there is also the upcoming " wandering earth 2". The most disappointing thing is naturally the "three-body" animation.

The first part is completely omitted. The early stage of Three-Body Problem is very suspenseful. From the suicide of the physicist to the flickering of the universe, to the Three-Body Game, the truth is revealed step by step. Finally, Operation Guzheng comes to an end, leaving a suspense at the end to lead to the next part. What a good structure. The second part of

is the least difficult to adapt and the story is clear, so the current animation adaptation is also understandable. It can only be said that there is a huge gap between it and the three-body system in everyone’s mind. The current animation is not ambitious enough, and the quality of the finished film is indeed too far behind.

Although Liu Cixin's most successful animation "The Three-Body Problem" was stretched, the success of film and television is at least supported by "The Wandering Earth". The production level of the trailer for the second part has been improved by more than one level, and the concept and content are not as outdated and petty as "Avatar 2". Many Chinese science fiction fans have begun to look forward to "The Wandering Earth 2".

The problem will arise at this time, if "The Wandering Earth 2" is very successful. The gap between Chinese science fiction and American science fiction is still far away. How far is it from Japanese science fiction?

Ranking of science fiction powers in the world? The United States is No. 1, where is Japanese science fiction in the world?

The number of Chinese science fiction fans is very small, because the first large-scale breakthrough of Chinese science fiction was when "The Three-Body Problem" won the Hugo Award. This time was in 2015, less than ten years ago.

Therefore, many Chinese science fiction fans are fans of "The Three-Body Problem" and then fans of Liu Cixin. These cloud science fiction fans often use "The Three Body" and Liu Cixin to sweep all science fiction in the world, not even American science fiction, let alone Japanese science fiction.

"The Three-Body Problem" and Liu Cixin are definitely the world's top science fiction writers, but Liu Cixin, the Three Heavenly Kings and other Chinese science fiction writers really have not surpassed Japan. At the same time, the cultural depth of Japanese science fiction games, animations and film and television dramas is even more incomparable to Chinese science fiction.

Literature has always been the basis of popular culture. Just like Chinese online novels were born with computers and Internet technology in the late 1990s, science fiction novels are also related to real economic development, national strength development, industrialization, urbanization and scientific development.

The development of modern Japanese economy is the "Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea" which was supported by the United States. It began to rise with economic development, which was ten or twenty years later than that of the United States. The three giants of American science fiction in the Golden Age were from the 1940s to the 1960s, and the peak of Japanese science fiction literature was from the 1950s to the 1970s.

China has the Four Great Kings of Science Fiction, and Japanese science fiction writers also have the "Three Royals".

The first one is Hoshi Shinichi , the god of Japanese short science fiction, and the world's O. Henry , Chekhov and Maupassant the level of the master of short science fiction. However, because he did not like to adapt his novels into film and television dramas during his lifetime, his popularity among the foreign public is now a bit low.

By the way, "Detective Conan" Kudo Shinichi is named after him.

The second one is Sakyo Komatsu. This writer's relatively well-known novel, "The Sinking of Japan" in 1973, should be heard by many people. This is a very hardcore disaster science fiction film.

But in the history of world science fiction, his 1966 "At the End of Endless Change" is a world-class work, and there are many other excellent science fiction novels and works.

The third one is Tsutsui Yasutaka . Two of his science fiction novels have been adapted into very famous animated films. One is "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" by Mamoru Hosoda , and the other is "Paprika" by Satoshi Kon.

Other well-known works include "Total Sinking Outside Japan", " Rich Police Officer", "Nanase Twice" and so on.

Another world-class Japanese science fiction writer that is well known by Chinese audiences is Yoshiki Tanaka 's "Heroes of the Galaxy", which can be said to be the only world-class oriental space opera . China also has Jiang Bo's "Heart of the Galaxy" trilogy, but the gap is a bit far behind.

Yusuke Kishi's dystopian work " from the new world " can be said to be as good as " 984", "Brave New World" and " we ", as well as Takano Kazuaki's "Human Extinction" and so on.

Who is better, Chinese science fiction or Japanese science fiction? Except for Liu Cixin, the others were in complete failure.

The 1950s to the 1970s were the peak of Japanese science fiction literature. In the mid-to-late 1970s, the Japanese cultural industry developed rapidly, and other science fiction cultures also began to explode. Among them, Japan's animation and games are really good. Several science fiction cultures are even number one in the world. Not only is Chinese science fiction incomparable, even American science fiction is inferior.

One is the eternal god of live-action specials, which are monsters " Godzilla " and "Ultraman", etc.

Japanese special shots is the most developed in the world. There are many excellent live-action specials. Others include "Kamen Rider" and so on. These two IPs are definitely world-class works. For example, American Monsters has " King Kong ", and "Ultraman" does not exist in the United States.

Secondly, Japan is the god of giant mecha works, , " Mobile Suit Gundam ", " Neon Genesis Evangelion", " Macross F" and so on.

Japan is also No. 1 in the world in mecha animation. Although the United States has also produced some good works such as "Pacific Rim" (the director was also influenced by Japanese mecha), and many people may not know that the "Transformers" animation was produced in Japan in cooperation with American toy companies.

Third, Japan has played with the theme of time travel, such as Makoto Shinkai " Your Name ", and then "Steins;Gate" "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" and so on.

There are also many classic works on this theme of Western science fiction, but they are not as advanced as Japanese comics. China also has time travel, but it is far less than Japan.

In addition, Western science fiction may be played first, but Japan has also produced many world-class science fiction works, and most of them are animations.

For example, the most famous American space opera for exploring the stars is "Star Trek", and Japan has " Space Battleship Yamato ", which is one of the three milestones of Japanese science fiction animation.

In the United States, science fiction films that think about robots and humans include "Robocop", "Artificial Intelligence", "Robot No. 5", "Ex Machina" and so on. Japan has works such as "Astro Boy", "Mobile Police", and "Guangdong" (later adapted into the American movie " Alita ").

The famous cyberpunk in the United States has "Blade Runner" to establish the science fiction aesthetic, and Japan has "Ghost in the Shell" to inject Eastern aesthetics and philosophy into cyberpunk.

In addition, " Akira " is also an eternal masterpiece of Japanese science fiction animation, and " Cowboy Bebop " has also had a profound impact. At the same time, in addition to "From the New World", dystopias also include Gen Urobuchi 's animation "Psycho-Pass", and "Lelouch of the Rebellion" and so on.

This film is about dreams. Satoshi Kon's "Paprika" was much earlier than Nolan 's " Inception ", and there has been controversy over whether that film was copied. The most important thing is that Satoshi Kon and Katsuhiro Otomo wrote the short story "Memory Trilogy", and in comparison, "Love to Death" are both younger brothers.

Japanese science fiction is very profound. Is there any work similar to "The Three-Body Problem"?

There are many outstanding Japanese science fiction writers, and strictly speaking, the richness and breadth of the subject matter only began in the 1980s and only exploded in the 1990s. So far, it has only surpassed the Chinese science fiction of about 40 years. But most of them are famous artists, and they have many excellent works, many of which are world-class.

It is true that Liu Cixin and "The Three-Body Problem" have reached the level of master-level science fiction writers such as Asimov, Clark and Heinlein in the United States, as well as William Gibson in "Neuromancer" and Philip K. Dick, the father of cyberpunk in "Androids Can Dream of Electric Sheep".

This thing still depends on a long masterpiece. Liu Cixin is the only Chinese science fiction writer who can write a long masterpiece.

However, I have a negative attitude towards whether the other three science fiction kings and other science fiction writers can beat the Japanese science fiction writers. I guess there are still people who are going to criticize Liu Cixin and "The Three-Body Problem" and say how can these Japanese science fiction be considered hard science fiction? Then there is the debate about hard science fiction and soft science fiction, which is essentially meaningless.

Some Japanese science fiction themes are the best in the world, and the standards for hard science fiction are not limited to "The Three-Body Problem" and Liu Cixin.

For example, there are sociological experiments on human nature in science fiction themes summarized on the Internet. Japan's "Battle Royale" is the originator of this type of work. South Korea's " squid game " that became popular in the world in the past two years is leftover from other people's games. The same goes for the game "Chicken Eating" that everyone plays.

The so-called originator of the infinite genre is not "Infinite Horror", but Japan's "Killing City". Two years ago, Netflix's Japan's "Alice in the Land of Dying" can be said to be a battle royale fused with unlimited streaming.

All in all, if you look at it from the perspective of science fiction culture, even if it is a bit weaker in live-action movies and TV series. However, the thickness, depth, breadth and influence of Japanese science fiction culture are far beyond what can be compared with the Chinese science fiction that has just started in science fiction games, animated comics, and film and television dramas.

Why is Japanese science fiction stronger than China? Success is also "Three-Body", failure is also "Three-Body"

There are only two mature science fiction film and television industry systems in the world, one is the United States (Europe is auxiliary), and the other is Japan. Hong Kong has never been successful, and Russia's decline will obviously make it difficult to break through in the near future. India and South Korea are on the rise, but they have not yet been able to establish their own science fiction systems.

The United States relies on the world's number one special effects industry accumulated by Hollywood (whether it is real-life scenes in the early years or current computers), and it also attracts visual art and design talents from all over the world. Japan is not far behind the United States in terms of design, but in its early years, animation relied on pure hand-drawing labor, even without advanced computer special effects.

Both countries are major powers in science fiction literature. Just compare our own to neighboring Japan. The 1970s, when the golden age of American science fiction and the new wave of science fiction alternated, was also the era of the explosion of Japanese science fiction literature.

Tanaka Yoshiki's " Legend of Galaxy Heroes " has been on the bestseller list. Looking at us today, even excellent science fiction masterpieces such as "The Three-Body Problem" can only barely break through the circle.

Chinese science fiction literature, film and television, animation comics and games still have a long way to go. The knowledge and aesthetics of science fiction readers, movie fans, and players also need to be cultivated for a long time. I think it is very difficult to have an inclusive cultural ecology like Japan and the United States that can produce a large number of excellent science fiction works, at least not now.

American and Japanese science fiction directors in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s wanted to make science fiction because they thought they liked it and it would definitely become popular after they made it.

In China today, the audience culture has low self-esteem and arrogance, and they will only use Liu Cixin and "The Three-Body Problem" to sweep everything away and send police everywhere. At present, this generation of cultural elites except Guo Fan team, others do not understand science fiction at all, and have no idea what kind of science fiction can really attract audiences.

This is also related to the lack of systematic understanding of science fiction by this wave of Chinese cultural creators. Japanese directors in the golden age began shooting science fiction special effects since college. American directors experienced the baptism of the golden age from the 1940s to the 1960s, and began to explode in the 1970s.

Chinese science fiction may have become popular after "The Three-Body Problem" and science fiction literature became popular after 2010. This wave of young people has grown up. I guess it will be after 2030.

Finally, even though American science fiction has good special effects and poor plot, the themes are outdated, and zzzq is rampant, the accumulation is far beyond what Chinese science fiction can match. Compared with Japanese science fiction, the development of the cultural industry is closely related to the economy, social environment, etc. Compared with Japanese science fiction, the only advantage is that Japan entered its 40th year of decline in the 1990s.

Japanese science fiction literature has not made much progress. In fact, film, television, animation and games have always rested on their laurels, but Japan has a strong capital. You have been watching Hong Kong movies for 20 years now, and all you have left is police and gangster movies.

China is developing rapidly and slowly, but there is still a chance to catch up, but of course not now.

ps: A little bit of trivia, "Doraemon" and the original "Midnight Ring" are both science fiction.