“MAYBE IT WAS NOT BECAUSE JAPANESE ANIME WERE BETTER, BUT THAT DOMESTIC ANIMATION HAD CHANGED”

as a child, including Lotus Lantern and The Monkey King. However, she became obsessed with Japanese anime like

Slam Dunk and Sailor Moon after middle school. “Later I realized, maybe it was not because Japanese anime were better, but that domestic animation had changed,” she tells TWOC.

“People may be tired of the great principles and preaching in traditional animation, and just want to watch a fancy cartoon. Maybe cultural background matters, but the production values [of Japanese anime] are also great,” Hu muses. She also points out the impact of related products such as magazines, stickers, and clothes that Japanese anime uses to attract fans, and which Chinese works have been slow to develop.

In 2015’s Monkey King: Hero Is Back, the little monk Jiang Liu’er, who is based on Wukong’s master Tangseng, has a Monkey King puppet in his hands that exactly resembles the Monkey King in the 1961 film.

The plot was modified again for the new movie: Here, Sun Wukong is a fallen hero who has become cowardly due to defeats. It is not until he meets Jiang Liu’er that Wukong regains the courage to seek the title of “Great Sage Equal of Heaven.” The fate of the Monkey King seemed to be an allegory of Chinese animation—experiencing many ups and downs, and still chasing immortality.

Following the new Monkey King, 2019’s Ne Zha subverted all expectations to become the highest-grossing nonAmerican animated film in the world, and the second highest-grossing nonEnglish-language film of all time. Coincidentally, it was also based on Nezha’s fight against the Dragon

King in The Legend of Deification, much like how the original Nezha film followed 1961’s Monkey King. Like their predecessors, China’s animators may be seeking to create a new golden age by looking to the past.