Author: Gu Han
Editor|Li Chunhui
As we all know, Guoman is the ruling area of the Xianxia fantasy theme, with the highest market share and the largest number of years. But this summer, a new urban ability work "Slashing God" stood out, which not only brought a new atmosphere to the market, but also made us pay attention to the different tastes of Generation Z from their predecessors.
"Killing the God" is jointly produced by Tencent Video, Tomato Animation, and Shenman Culture, which tells the story of Lin Qiye, a teenager who was selected to become the agent of the gods when he was a child, who was recruited by the night watchman organization in the foggy last days, and harvested partners and grew up in defending his home and country, which was officially launched on July 31 and ended on October 2.
During the broadcast, the work won a number of new firsts in Tencent Video Station, and the popularity value exceeded 23000; Outside the station, it opened with a score of 8.1 on Douban, and then rose to 8.4 for three consecutive times, and it was constantly searched in communities such as Douyin, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu.
In short, the ratings, word-of-mouth, and topic popularity of this new Chinese comic have no shortcomings, and it deserves to be fearful.
In fact, this "posterity" is also all-round without dead ends: "Killing God", which only came out in the first season, is the afterlife in the Guoman market; His original novel "I Learned to Kill God in a Psychiatric Hospital" is a new book serialized in 2021-2023, published on the young free platform Tomato Novel, which is a descendant of the online literature market; So it is conceivable that the core fans of its IP are not the old bookworms of the post-eighties and nineties, but Generation Z, which is the next generation among consumers.
It can be said that "Slashing God" is a new hit that is picked up by the main force of new entertainment consumption, and it heralds the arrival of new forces. This IP, which has successfully stimulated the energy of Generation Z, not only brings us a lot of creative inspiration, but also helps us understand the thoughts and thoughts of the new youth.
In line with the "coolness" of Generation Z
Many viewers may be attracted by the gorgeous and bloody battle scenes, but the coolness of "Slaying God" and the attraction of Generation Z are far more than that.
Generation Z is an Internet native, growing up with short video applications, and has been exposed to more and more mixed information, faster and more random since childhood. Compared to previous generations of young people, they can tolerate a denser amount of information and spontaneously yearn for more complex narratives. "Slashing God" also has the characteristics of mixing and matching and efficient content, which can bring the audience a hearty and focused experience.
Under the enduring template of juvenile growth, "Slashing the Gods" integrates various elements such as the revival of the gods, the advent of high martial arts, the survival of the end times, and Cthulhu, and introduces the mythological systems of various countries, with a grand and self-contained worldview.
In the same episode, you may see India gods roaming through Chinese cities, hot and cold weapons working together to fight magical attacks. In the same team, maybe this one used to be a street bully, and that one was from the Deep Mountain Sect. The brain is wide open, full of fun, what is one top five films!
Efficiency, on the other hand, is mainly reflected in the narrative. First of all, the script adaptation of "Slashing God" is professional and sophisticated, fully considering the viewing habits of the short video era, the rhythm is fast and cool. Secondly, 15 episodes are like 15 blind boxes, the content talked about and the battles triggered are basically not the same, so they are few and refined.
Finally, it's worth mentioning that even the end credits are fully utilized, sometimes with a hand-drawn Q version of the small theater that takes the audience back to the highlights of the episode, and sometimes complements the feature film.
For example, in the third episode, Zhao Kongcheng mentioned his experience of leaving home to join the army before his death, and the story of the fourth episode stopped in the mourning of his comrades, but he didn't expect this to be the end, and the end of this episode also scrolled up his letters with his mother...... Well, well, the production team knows how to control the emotions of the audience.
And this is another key to the success of "Slashing God": the production team of the animation fully understands the essence of the original work, and amplifies these qualities in the final audio-visual presentation, doubling the coolness.
In terms of art style, "Slashing God" boldly refers to the "acidic aesthetics" born from underground music, using techniques such as high saturation, contrasting color matching, fluid gradient or laser spectrum to amplify the visual impact of the picture and the psychedelic, hybrid surreal atmosphere. There is no need to read the story intensively, and the color has become a post-wave manifesto of its own.
I have to say that the form of animation is very suitable as the first meeting of the IP of "Slaying God" and the wider crowd. Only animation can blend so many different styles of scenes and so many characters of different races into just 15 episodes at a manageable cost, and the result is not obtrusive, but dazzling and dizzying.
At the same time, the production team used film-quality compositions in many places to enhance the look or support the narrative. For example, in the oversized vista, the extreme contrast of the body makes you feel the shock of the agent witnessing the god for the first time.
How comprehensive is "Slaying God"? It even switches OSTs according to different emotional tones in each episode, and there are 15 ending songs in 15 episodes, covering hip-hop, rock, electronic and other styles, and even across multiple languages.
The hit of "Slaying the Gods" also brought these songs and a group of niche bands behind them, making them appear on the charts of major music platforms. According to the official Weibo release a few days ago, the closing celebration of "Slaying God" will be held in the form of a live special session. In this regard, the fans who are still on these treasure songs have responded enthusiastically.
There is boyishness and "love"
Of course, relying on the production of dazzling skills alone is not enough to achieve this achievement, what really makes the audience want to stop "Slashing God" is the vivid group portraits and moving emotions.
The original author, Sanjiu Range, once shared the concept of "soul character" in an interview. In his opinion, the protagonist has to take care of the reading tastes of the vast majority of readers, so it is difficult to be indifferent. In contrast, well-written supporting characters are more likely to impress readers and become the calling card of the work.
This has also become the business card of "Slaying the Gods": what records the path of the protagonist Lin Qiye is not one cold copy after another, but one brilliant character after another. And the animated version also follows this principle, never treating the supporting characters badly, and trying its best to portray their characteristics and hearts in a limited time, and restore the highlights of the "soul character".
Zhao Kongcheng is such a soul character. He was the first night watchman Lin Qiye knew, and he was an uncle who didn't know anything at first sight, but then he fought with the monster to the end for his duty and for the promise to Lin Qiye. His sacrifice woke up Lin Qiye and made him out of the circle in the early stage of the novel.
After the animation, his golden sentence "This knife will be very handsome" was concretized in a cherished place, and this scene was staged again.
Appearance is also very important,Guoman market development to this day has also appeared a set"Modeling。 "Killing the God" is also carefully polished for character modeling, so that all members have high appearance and at the same time, they are "thin and fat", each with its own characteristics.
Crazy criticism of genius An Qingyu, school bully Shen Qingzhu, gentle senior Wang Mian...... every new character in "Slashing God" can almost trigger a wave of second-creation craze, attract a group of new fans into the pit, and finally form an effect similar to that of a boy group.
On the basis of the vivid group portrait, a variety of emotional relationships such as family, friendship, and mentorship have been formed between the protagonist and the supporting role, and the supporting role is equally moving without love.
The story of "Slaying the Gods" has a very classic beginning - the protagonist is gifted but is regarded as an outlier, losing his parents when he was a child and growing up in his aunt's house. But unlike the convention, Lin Qiye's relatives treated him sincerely, and later they were thousands of miles apart, and they were still each other's biggest concern.
At the end of the first season, Lin Qiye, whose abilities were temporarily sealed, repelled the bad guys who surrounded his aunt's house with his bare hands, but because of identity problems, he couldn't enter the door to reunite, let alone tell his relatives the truth, so he could only wish them a happy New Year on the phone, which was full of tears. The production team's handling of this section is also full of aura, cross-editing the quiet years of the small family and the bloody battle in the snow, and the soundtrack abandons the second explosion, and changes it to a gentle and sad song.
It can be said that "Slashing God" is very careful in shaping the protagonist and figuring out the emotions of teenagers. In addition to pretending to be cool, it will also depict the loneliness of being isolated by peers, and the awkward psychology of wanting to prove oneself, but also being easily moved by the protection of adults and the care of friends, and wanting to double the return.
"Burning" in line with the mood of the times
It must be pointed out that "Slashing God" is not only aimed at young audiences in a broad sense, but also China's Generation Z in 2024. It can finally become such an out-of-the-circle hit, and the grasp of locality and timeliness is also crucial.
In the creation of the original novel, Sanjiu Vocal Range pays great attention to giving readers a sense of substitution, which must be a world that is in line with reality. The animation team also followed this point, with many characters voiced in dialects, and scenes referencing street scenes from Guangzhou, Changsha, Chongqing, Shanghai, and other places, with sufficient detail to add to the Chinese pyrotechnics of the picture.
The classic skin of the protagonist - the red and white Chinese school uniform, as well as the dazzling various cold weapons in the hands of the night watchman, all remind the audience that this is the "superhero" and "Harry Potter" who first serve the Chinese audience, and it is really a little envious of today's teenagers.
Of course, more importantly, the values in "Slashing the God" are very Chinese. For example, the importance of folk customs and the yearning for reunion. In the last two episodes, the invasion of the villain Church of the Old God coincides with the New Year, and the production team spends a lot of idle time to portray the festive atmosphere in the streets and alleys. Lin Qiye, who once just wanted to be alone, guarded not only his own small home this time, but also the homes of thousands of strangers, vividly interpreting the word "protecting the family and defending the country".
In "Slaying the Gods", the Positive Faction's Abilities are all affiliated with the Night's Watch organization, acting in squad mode, and rarely engaging in individual heroism, which is clearly different from Western-style superheroes. In fact, its source of inspiration is the real soldiers, and its oath "If the night ends, I will stand in front of thousands of people, the sword will reach the abyss, and the blood will stain the sky" is the epitome of the iron blood and selflessness of the Chinese people in the past dynasties.
Although the first season has not yet been played, according to the description of the novel, the reason why the gods of Great Xia did not appear in the early stage is because when the earth-destroying fog arrived, the Western gods chose to abandon the people, but the gods of Great Xia chose to sacrifice themselves and protect their descendants. This point has touched countless readers. Obviously, compared with those ancient Xianxia fantasy IPs, these are more in line with the perceptual experience of Generation Z.
So, why can "Slashing God" have such outstanding timeliness? On the one hand, Sanjiu Vocal Range is a Gen Z writer born in 1999. On the other hand, the IP of "God Slashing" has achieved unprecedented incubation and development speed in the byte ecosystem. On the way out of the circle of "Slaying God", the recommendation and second creation of Dou Ren played a very important role. What are the specific fan attraction points of IP, which have been repeatedly verified in this process. From novels to animation, Douyin is the heavy battle for the promotion and operation of "Slashing God". All of this reminds us of the saying: "My lord, times have changed."
"Cutting God" was also fortunate to step on the moment when Tomato Novels made efforts in the copyright business. Tomato has worked hard to achieve the fastest head IP animation in China on "Killing God", and the live-action drama has also been put on the agenda. Such an IP development speed is expected to realize that readers can chase novels at what age and see derivatives at what age, without waiting for it to become an old feeling that they can't give up and can't appreciate.
"Slashing God" has fully demonstrated the determination, strength and content advantages of Tomato Novel in IP development, which is especially precious in 2024, when it seems to be black and red due to aesthetic fatigue. The current market, which is too bland, needs new platforms, new IPs, and new users to break through the ceiling, we have been cultivating immortals in the costume wonderland for 20 years, and it is time to crisscross the wasteland city.