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Japanese cartoons
日本卡通
Who are you calling cute?
你說誰可愛呢？
How anime conquered the world's screens.
動漫如何征服全世界的屏幕。
Most athletes raise their fists in triumph after a win.
大多數運動員在獲勝后都會舉起拳頭表示勝利。
When Noah Lyles, an American sprinter, won gold in the Olympics100-metre race in August, he held his hands out in front of him, wrists together and fingers extended, as though getting ready to catch a large ball.
當美國短跑運動員諾亞·萊爾斯在8月的奧運會100米賽跑中獲得金牌時，他將雙手向前伸，手腕并攏，手指展開，仿佛準備接住一個大球。
The gesture may have seemed odd, but fans of Japanese animation knew immediately that Mr Lyles, an avowed fan of the genre, was making a reference to a popular franchise, “Dragon Ball”.
這個手勢可能看起來很奇怪，但日本動漫粉絲立刻就知道，萊爾斯（公開承認的動漫迷）是在致敬一個很受歡迎的動漫系列《龍珠》。
Mr Lyles had more cause to celebrate on October 11th, with the release of a new “Dragon Ball” series and video game (more than 70m people play a mobile game from the franchise).
10月11日，萊爾斯有更多的慶祝理由了，因為新的《龍珠》系列和視頻游戲發布（超過7000萬人玩該系列的手機游戲）。
So will Ishiba Shigeru, Japan’s new prime minister, another fan.
日本新首相石破茂也將慶祝，他也是粉絲。
Once a domestically consumed niche product “watched by people with no friends at school”, as one veteran producer ruefully recalls, anime has become a global sensation.
動漫曾經是一種在國內消費的小眾產品，一位資深制片人傷感地回憶說“只有在學校里沒朋友的人才會看”，現在動漫已經火遍全球。
These days its export value in Japan, alongside other content such as video games, is approaching that of semiconductors or steel; it now claims more fans outside the country than within it.
如今，動漫與視頻游戲等其他內容在日本的總出口價值正在接近半導體或鋼鐵的出口價值，動漫在國外擁有的粉絲比在國內還多。
Some estimate that around 800m people globally are animated about anime.
據估計，全球約有8億人對動漫充滿熱情。
Those unfamiliar with the genre often wonder what anime is.
不熟悉動漫的人常常想知道什么是動漫。
“Animation created in Japan” is the simple definition offered by Rahul Purini, the head of Crunchyroll, an anime-streaming service with around 130m users across 200 countries.
Crunchyroll的老板拉胡爾·普里尼對動漫給出的簡單定義是“日本制作的動畫”，Crunchyroll是擁有約1.3億用戶、覆蓋200個國家的動漫流媒體服務平臺。
But there is also an aesthetic connotation: anime is usually hand-drawn and two-dimensional, unlike the photorealistic 3D animation that has grown more common outside Japan.
但動漫也有一種美學含義：動漫通常是手繪的和二維的，與在日本以外日益常見的逼真的3D動畫不一樣。
The characters often resemble hyper-caffeinated Tintins, with unusually large, expressive eyes, small noses, strange hair and easily decipherable emotions.
動漫角色常常很像極度亢奮的丁丁，有著異常大而富有表現力的眼睛、小鼻子、奇怪的頭發和易于解讀的情感。（注：丁丁是《丁丁歷險記》的主角。）
Anime tends to be set in non-specific places, such as vaguely European-looking cities for some films by Miyazaki Hayao, Japan’s most acclaimed creator.
動漫往往設定在非特定的地點，比如在日本最著名的創作者宮崎駿的一些電影中，設定地點有些像歐洲城市。
The setting makes it easy for non-Japanese audiences to relate; the only barrier is language, and animation is more easily dubbed than live-action films.
這種設定使非日本觀眾很容易產生共鳴，唯一的障礙是語言，而動畫比真人電影更容易配音。
Recently anime has raced into people’s homes with Lyles-like speed.
近年來，動漫以萊爾斯般的速度迅速進入人們的家庭。
In 2023 Japan’s anime industry hit a record high, with revenues of ?339bn ($2.3bn), up by nearly a quarter from a year earlier, according to Teikoku Databank, a research firm.
2023年，日本動漫產業創下歷史新高，據研究公司帝國數據庫的統計，其收入達到了3390億日元（約合23億美元），比前一年增長了近四分之一。
Anime now makes almost half its profits abroad.
現在動漫幾乎一半的利潤來自國外。
Netflix’s anime titles had more than 1bn views across 190 countries last year; the most popular included “Demon Slayer”, about an orphaned boy who battles demons to avenge his family, and “My Happy Marriage”, about a girl with magic powers who is underestimated by her in-laws.
網飛公司的動漫作品去年在190個國家的觀看量超過了10億次，其中最受歡迎的包括《鬼滅之刃》，講述了一個孤兒為了給家人報仇而與惡魔戰斗的故事，以及《我的幸福婚約》，講述了一個擁有魔法力量的女孩被婆家低估的故事。
Two factors help explain anime’s surging global popularity.
兩個因素有助于解釋動漫在全球范圍內的迅速流行。
The first is streaming, which made anime easier to find and watch.
第一個是流媒體，流媒體使人們更容易找到和觀看動漫。
Fans no longer have to depend on the decisions of network programmers or wait a week for another episode.
粉絲們不再需要依賴網絡程序員的決定，也不必再等一周才能看到下一集。
They can binge, explore and discover on their own.
他們可以盡情刷漫，自行探索和發現動漫。
Anime viewership boomed during the pandemic, as the world sat at home in front of screens for months.
在疫情期間，動漫收視率激增，因為全世界的人都在家里坐在屏幕前好幾個月。
(The year 2020 was the first time anime made more money outside Japan than within.)
（2020年是動漫在日本以外的地區比在日本國內賺的錢更多的第一年。）
Since then viewership numbers have continued rising in Japan and around the world.
從那以后，日本和世界各地的動漫觀看人數一直在上升。
Increased demand is producing increased supply.
需求的增加正在產生供應的增加。
In 2023 anime studios licensed some 300 works in regions such as North America, South-East Asia and western Europe.
在2023年，動漫工作室在北美、東南亞和西歐等地區授權了約300部作品。
