Tianxing's decision to postpone its release had been unexpected, yet entirely understandable.
To be honest, even employees at other animation companies found it hard to understand why GT Animation Company had gone out of its way to produce two major animated works, Slam Dunk and Spirited Away, just to go head-to-head with Tianxing.
After all, judging by the actual clashes between the two companies, GT Animation Company on Japan Island had clearly come out ahead in every encounter. Even compared to Lan Feng, which had aired in April, Slam Dunk's reputation was steadily improving, and it was already showing signs of overtaking it. Given more time, it was hard to say which would win out: Slam Dunk or Lan Feng.
GT Animation Company had lost nothing at all. In fact, it had come out ahead in every way. Yet under these circumstances, the company had chosen to go all-out against Tianxing.
Even if Tianxing's chairman, Yin Tian, had beaten GT Animation Company's boss to a pulp, that still wouldn't justify this. They were risking a full seven or eight hundred million just to prove a point?
But what was done was done. Since the other side had come after them with the attitude of "if I go down, I'm taking you with me," Tianxing's decision to back down was understandable. When it came to profit, saving face wasn't everything.
Many people in the animation industry actually praised Tianxing's decision to dodge the clash, after giving it some rational thought.
Postponing a release by a week might not seem like a big difference, but that week would be when the audience rush for Spirited Away was winding down. Avoiding its strongest period and focusing instead on competing with the other two live-action films was a sensible move.
The production companies behind