The copyright of the very popular Japanese TV series Shinya Shokudo (Midnight Canteen) was bought by a mainland Chinese audiovisual company in order to make a Chinese version. It was broadcast at the beginning of June, and surprisingly, after great expectations from mainland audiences, a reverse-tide occurred – the audience ratings hit rock bottom. Several broadcast companies recorded very poor ratings, with one of the main TV stations, Zhejiang Satellite TV, recorded ratings of less than 0.5 percent. Meanwhile, the Internet was flooded with negative online comments. The failure of one TV series has become a cultural phenomenon worth discussing.
Shinya Shokudo was based on the Japanese manga artist Abe Yaro’s popular work of the same title. The stories take place in a small restaurant which opens late at night. The owner of the place is a mysterious man with a scar on his face. Every night clients come to the restaurant, all with different stories of happiness, sadness, loneliness and troubles to share. Through the cooking of typical dishes by the owner, the heartwarming stories of the city and the people unfold.
The original manga version of Midnight Canteen was first published in the manga magazine Big Comic Original. Made into a TV series in 2009, it has reached Season 4 since then, warming the hearts of many across the globe. Thanks to the particular structure of the story-telling, especially in terms of the lifestyle and daily eating habits in Asian countries, there is a certain degree of “transferability” to the series, and a Korean version was made in 2015.
This long-awaited Chinese version of 34 episodes was granted official authorisation, obtaining the original characters, the background setting, as well as the Japanese storytelling structure in single units. In terms of production team, one of the directors was Cai Yuexun who has created previous successful works such as Meteor Garden and The Hospital.
As for the actors, there is Huang Lei, Janine Chang, Jam Hsiao and Richie Jen, who are all popular and established actors and artists from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. With such “successful” elements yet such failure in the end, it is indeed worth asking how this has happened.
According to the discussions on the public front, some opinions suggest that the reason for the failure was too much “product placement” in the TV series. I do agree that with clumsy placement of products, a TV series can turn into an advertisement which inevitablely creates annoyance. But the method of product placement is not used only in this TV series.
On a deeper and more crucial level, the question is: Can something go wrong along the way when culture is transplanted and localised?
It was said that the original author Abe Yaro demanded that apart from keeping the scar on the face of the owner and the original design of the background set, he also wanted “the dishes to be closer to the life of the people.” If after watching the show, the audience would like to cook the dishes that they saw on the show, “then they just need to open the fridge and cook them”.
From this we can guess that the success behind the Japanese version probably was based on the inner connection between the ordinary dishes and the stories of the people. And even though the Japanese canteen style, the food, and the way the restaurant owner communicates with the clients is close to that of China, in terms of its form, they are fundamentally different. If transplanted clumsily it will only fall into a mishap of “unlikelihood”.
Looking at the Korean version, they were able to tell their own stories under the original framework, and it is certain that their localisation of the work has been successful. As for the failure of the Chinese version of Midnight Canteen, maybe it is a reminder for the Chinese writers and producers: before exploring and copying what is outside, it is more important to have digested our own local culture first.
