Chapter 395 - 390: All Gold Awards

Chapter 395: Chapter 390: All Gold Awards

Time flew by. After a sweet five-day vacation, Wang Ming and Shen Ying both returned to their jobs.

Qitian Animation was now firing on all cylinders, simultaneously working on the serialization of *Cat and Mouse* and *Slam Dunk*, as well as the feature film *Cat and Mouse: Lucky Rabbit Year*. Coupled with the promotional advantage of D Station’s anime and comics community, Qitian Animation had, true to its name, become the animation company with the most momentum in the country in recent years.

As the awards ceremony approached, the official Golden Dragon Award account also posted the nomination lists for all major categories on Weibo.

When countless netizens saw that the single work *Cat and Mouse* had snagged nominations for several awards, a host of related topics immediately went viral.

A debate erupted online: were the other animations just that bad, or was *Cat and Mouse* simply that outstanding?

In response, some netizens posted the viewership ratings for all major TV stations since *Cat and Mouse* began airing last summer. The dark horse series had left everyone in the dust right from its premiere, leaving countless TV dramas and animated shows far behind.

The fan-created content that followed—all sorts of images and internet memes—was endless, and the topic never lost its heat.

You could say that after more than a year of serialization, the beloved frenemies Tom and Jerry had captured the hearts of the public. Securing nominations in major Golden Dragon Award categories was only to be expected.

In comparison, the other animations paled significantly. Unlike *Cat and Mouse*, which had already become a national sensation, many of the other nominated works had titles that people hadn’t even heard of.

At the same time, sharp-eyed netizens noticed that *Slam Dunk*, a work of equally excellent quality, was nowhere on the nomination list. They flooded the official Weibo account, demanding to know if the organizers had some kind of bias against *Slam Dunk*.

More and more *Slam Dunk* fans caught wind of the news and, with the help of the wider online community, the topic shot to the number one spot on Weibo’s trending list, with discussion volume reaching the tens of millions.

This eventually forced the Golden Dragon Award organizers to issue an explanation: *Slam Dunk* was released too late and had missed the submission period. Even though its viewership and discussion volume were now enormous, it was ineligible to participate in this year’s Golden Dragon Award.

Of course, given *Slam Dunk*’s current popularity, getting nominated for Best Shonen Animation at next year’s Golden Dragon Award should be a piece of cake.

Later, Qitian Animation’s official account also came out to confirm this, while promising fans who loved *Slam Dunk* that they would continue to produce the animation with the utmost passion, dedicated to creating works that everyone would enjoy.

This move by Qitian Animation’s official account once again earned them the goodwill of many netizens. For such a humble animation company not to be popular would be a crime against nature.

Thus, the situation gradually evolved into people joking, "If *Slam Dunk* had also been nominated, would you have left any chance for the other animations to survive?"

The thought of Qitian Animation Company potentially sweeping all the biggest awards was just too epic to imagine, and countless netizens began to chuckle in secret.

Someone even Photoshopped an image with the caption: "If all the talent in Chinese animation were ten bushels, Qitian alone would have nine, and everyone else would share the last one."

Although it was a bit of an exaggeration, the published nomination list made it clear that Qitian Animation was the undisputed star of the year, with all other studios relegated to being runner-ups.

Even if they had complaints, faced with an indescribable gap in popularity, they had no choice but to swallow their resentment.

「In the blink of an eye, it was July 20th.」

On the day of the Golden Dragon Award ceremony, D Station, being the largest gathering place for anime and comics fans in the country and a co-organizer of the event, naturally secured the exclusive online streaming rights.

Just like for an Apple product launch, Li Weiya had someone create a banner for the livestream on the D Station homepage that took up almost the entire page layout.

Countless *Cat and Mouse* fans, along with the vast internet crowd just looking for some fun, flooded the livestream channel to watch this feast for the animation world.

Jiang Xia was dressed in a well-fitted suit, while Lin Yanwan wore a black evening gown. The two of them were seated in the center of the front row, as arranged by the organizers.

The cameraman, who clearly knew what the audience wanted, gave the two a close-up, zooming in from their handsome and beautiful faces to their intertwined hands. The inexpensive Gold Rings on their fingers were especially dazzling at this moment.

And so, the bullet comments suddenly shifted from "President Jiang is so handsome!" and "Teacher Lin is so beautiful!" to "Dammit! Enough with the PDA, even at an awards ceremony?"

Of course, Jiang Xia and Lin Yanwan were completely unaware of what was happening in the D Station bullet comments at that moment.

Just as the host loudly announced, "*Cat and Mouse* has won the Gold Award for Best Animated Feature Film!" Jiang Xia stood up, gave an elegant bow to the judges and his peers, and then confidently took his wife’s hand and walked toward the stage.

The D Station bullet comments exploded with messages: "President Jiang is incredible!" "Go, Cat and Mouse, go!" "WAAAH, I’m so jealous of the love between President Jiang and the boss’s wife."

The award for one animation category was over. Jiang Xia had just sat back down with his wife when the host began to announce loudly again, "*Cat and Mouse* has won the Gold Award for Best Animated Series!"

The two of them ran up to the stage again, and a wave of laughter spread through the audience.

And then...

*Cat and Mouse* has won the Gold Award for Best Animated Character!

*Cat and Mouse* has won the Gold Award for Best Student Animation!

*Cat and Mouse* has won the Gold Award for Best Animated IP!

The so-called Student Award refers to creations made during one’s time as a student. As a student at Qingmei, Jiang Xia perfectly met the criteria. Compared to the other student works, *Cat and Mouse* won the gold award in a near-total landslide.

The Gold Award for Animated IP was also easy to understand. With the immense popularity of *Cat and Mouse*, partners from various industries had signed deals with Qitian Animation. Even dairy products were now printed with *Cat and Mouse* images and selling like hotcakes.

One could say that *Cat and Mouse* now had what it took to become a most valuable IP. The annual revenue from contract shares alone amounted to a terrifying sum.

And so, the husband-and-wife duo ran up a total of five times for five categories, winning five gold awards. This scene left countless netizens utterly dumbfounded.

Besides spamming the bullet comments with "Cat and Mouse is awesome!", there was nothing else they could say.

With this level of prestige, how could the other animations even compete? They couldn’t even touch them; it was a complete rout.

At this moment, the livestream camera cut to many of the animation producers in the audience, and a deep sense of helplessness was visible on their faces.

There was nothing to be done. *Cat and Mouse* was just too strong. It was a national hit, broadcast day and night. From seventy- and eighty-year-old seniors down to one- and two-year-old toddlers, people of all ages loved it. Its influence was on a completely different level compared to other animations.

Just when all the viewers thought that *Cat and Mouse*’s awards must be finished, the host began to announce the individual awards.

The winner of the Best Animation Director award was the new-generation student director—Jiang Xia!

The winner of the Best Voice Acting award was the new-generation student voice actor—Lin Yanwan!

The countless viewers at the awards ceremony, as well as those in the D Station livestream, were once again in an uproar.