Clowning around on the Internet

Last year was a good one for Taiwan's animation fans. A-Kuei (阿貴), the online animation series, launched its Japan and China Web sites. It also launched a theme restaurant on one of Taipei's busiest streets. Foul-mouthed Dragon, another online animation with a talent for singing, also released his first album.

Their popularity has inspired many imitators including AniTime, of Hong Guang group (宏廣集團), Taiwan's long-time leading animation contractor who has worked for Warner Bros and Walt Disney, Kokoro (洛可可), a Flash animation team working with Sony Network Taiwan, the Internet branch of Japan's Sony, and Miluku Technology (鎧甲娛樂科技) and Entertainment, but these groups are still struggling to create characters who can equal A-Kuei and Foul-mouthed Dragon's commercial success.

Spring House entertainment (春水堂科技娛樂), creator of the A-Kuei series, which focuses on the life of the namesake third-grader and his parents, wanted the series to become a match for Walt Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse in Asia. In the face of recession and the ebbing of the "A-Kuei" sensation, the company has been relatively quiet this year.

In spite of the release of Foul-mouthed Dragon's second album Piss and Shit about Love (愛情大小便) in August, Ch1 Internet (在線上網際), the company behind the character, has also shifted into a lower gear. It took two months for two singles from the album to make it into the charts in KTVs.

The two companies only announced plans to bring their animation characters back to public attention this month.

A-Kuei's Gonna Hammer Your Head (阿貴鎚你喔), the cartoon character's cinematic debut, is scheduled for release in early December. At the same time, Chang Rong-kuei (張榮貴), director of Spring House, announced plans to team up with other animation makers to reach out to the international market.

Ch1 will target the China market and has high hopes for 3D QQ, an online chatroom game to be released in January, in which Foul-mouthed Dragon will be one of the main stars.

Marketing virtual people

Both A-Kuei and Foul-mouth Dragon have been victims of piracy, but more significantly, they have the singular disadvantage of not having human foibles. Chiang Chang-hsieh (江長燮), president of Ch1, attributed the decrease of Foul-mouthed Dragon's activities to the nature of virtual characters. "With `real' people, you can promote them and their albums by having them appear in variety shows or performing at concerts. If the person attempts suicide or has a love affair, they immediately come into the media spotlight. Virtual figures can do none of these things."

"With online animation characters, the best way for them to thrive is a steady flow of new content rather than expensive promotional campaigns," Chiang said.

Even if that means slow development, Chiang is not worried. "I want to create a Snoopy. One single character that people still recognize 50 years later," Chiang said. "Characters like that may remain obscure for decades and then shoot to fame."

The early history of Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse has been a favorite reference for Chiang. Originally designed as a "bad guy" character, the sharp-nosed grizzly mouse evolved into a more human-looking and benign character over a period of five years. It took the now much "cuter" mouse another five years for its image to get accepted by the public.