Bilibili's Capsules project supports Chinese animation

Bilibili's Capsules project's second season will debut with 13 original animated shorts online starting Dec. 5, showcasing high-quality Chinese animation creations supported by the online streaming giant.

Animation creators and fans pose for a group photo at an advanced screening event of "Capsules II" held in Beijing, Nov. 30, 2023. [Photo courtesy of Bilibili]

Three shorts – Zhang Bo's "Ruthless Blade," Xie Dan's "A Tale Under Water," and Wang Jiaguo's "A Tale of the Stolen Peach" – were selected for advanced screenings, presented to animation enthusiasts and Bilibili's premier members in Beijing and Shanghai. The audience was impressed by the avant-garde and stylish concepts and productions. The creators also attended these screenings to engage with viewers.

Bilibili collaborated with 13 animation studios for this project, anticipating that these animated shorts will introduce fresh perspectives and new possibilities to China's animation sector.

"Capsules II" will release one of the new 13 shorts every Tuesday to Thursday for the next few weeks. The Capsules project is a component of Bilibili's Light Catcher initiative, which supports Chinese original animation in various forms, styles and content. With the aim to invigorate the sector, the initiative invites professional teams with extensive animation production experience to create and experiment with shorts that display vivid creativity, explore the depths of human nature, and capture genuine emotional narratives. The shorts will be categorized into four chapters, celebrating new interpretations of Chinese aesthetics, exploring real-life experiences, delving into pioneering science-fiction, and paying tribute to diverse aspects of life.

A poster for Bilibili's Capsules project season 2. [Photo courtesy of Bilibili]

The first season of the series, which debuted in 2022, made a significant impact on the Chinese animation industry, earning a notable score of 8.5/10 on Douban, a popular review aggregation website. This success led Li Ni, vice chairman and chief operating officer of Bilibili, to announce earlier this year that the company will continue to ramp up its investment in original content over the next three years.