hankyoreh

Kim Il-ju, staff reporter

The animated film Robot Taekwon V was rereleased nationally last year, and has so far attracted an audience of 690,000. That’s a new record for a Korean animation film, breaking the record held by 1994’s Blue Seagull, which was seen by 500,000. It took ten whole years for a Korean animation film to set a new record, and since Robot Taekwon V actually came out in 1976, in a way what this means is that there hasn’t been anything better in Korean animation than what came out 30 years ago.

It would be worth looking at the audience here. Most of the people who saw Robot Taekwon V went as families. When it first came out in 1976, it attracted 180,000 people in what was a very large audience at the time, so this time around what happened was that parents brought their children to see the film and show them what their memories are like.

"Robot Taekwon V began as entertainment for children, but now enough time has gone by that it has been reborn as family entertainment, something even parents can enjoy," said cultural critic Bak Seong-sik.

"It is a [100%] Korean cartoon, one that people in their thirties and forties can enjoy for the first time with their children," he said.

At any rate, it is encouraging that Robot Taekwon V has been able to demonstrate the possibilities for Korean animation. Sadly, though, much of its recent success has rested on adults’ memories, because while masterpieces should be kept recirculating within culture, you’d like to see more new creations.

It’s not that Korean audiences aren’t asking for more. Hayao Miyazaki's Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) attracted a Korean audience of 3 million. One would like to see Korean animation fill this niche market and attract big crowds without having to rely on nostalgia.

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