Chapter 290 - 287: Cat and Mouse Dialect Version

Chapter 290: Chapter 287: Cat and Mouse Dialect Version

In mid-December, the third season of *Cat and Mouse* officially premiered on the CCTV Children’s Channel. Thanks to the popularity of the first two seasons, a major promotional push from the channel, and a nationwide audience, the third season—boasting even more refined animation—saw its ratings soar from the very beginning.

However, many people noticed that the third season was premiering on CCTV Children’s Channel instead of its original home, Yu Du TV Station. This led to widespread speculation that Qitian Animation Company had a falling out with Yu Du TV Station, or perhaps that the latter hadn’t offered enough money, causing Qitian Animation to defect to the deep-pocketed CCTV Children’s Channel.

None of the three parties involved offered any detailed explanation.

Instead, Qitian Animation Company posted on its official social media account, explaining the reason for the improved animation quality and conveying its philosophy of creating animation with passion. The post received unanimous praise from countless fans online.

On the strength of this attitude alone, his father-in-law’s toy factory—Qitian Animation Company’s sole partner—saw an explosive growth in orders.

Watching the money pile up in their bank account, the old couple had been grinning from ear to ear. They were even considering expanding and opening a second factory.

Of course, the biggest beneficiary of the show’s broadcast was still Qitian Animation Company. The popularity of *Cat and Mouse* in the country was undeniable; anything even remotely associated with the show was an instant hit with kids.

One after another, well-known shoe, stationery, clothing, and food companies sent partnership inquiries to Qitian Animation. At the end of the day, all these potential contracts represented cold, hard cash.

A wave of counterfeit and shoddy products even appeared on the market, using the *Cat and Mouse* brand to shamelessly rake in money.

In response, Qitian Animation Company established a legal department overnight. Any company profiting from the brand without official authorization was immediately sent a cease-and-desist letter, demanding a public apology and the removal of their products from the market. If a party’s infringement was particularly egregious, the company would sue them directly.

Fortunately, Jiang Xia had Shen Ying register all kinds of trademarks and copyrights related to *Cat and Mouse* from the very beginning. As a result, when it came to lawsuits, they had a near-perfect track record.

Now, at the monthly company-wide meeting, Jiang Xia presented a project proposal for dialect-dubbed versions of *Cat and Mouse*. The plan was to create separate voice-overs for the characters in the local dialects of China’s major provinces and language regions.

The current official version, after all, had almost no dialogue, relying entirely on the characters’ body language, facial expressions, and the background score to convey their feelings. The dialect dubs, however, would offer a more direct and explicit form of storytelling.

"President Jiang, the pantomime is the signature feature of our *Cat and Mouse*. Wouldn’t adding voice-overs be gilding the lily? Is it really necessary to put so much effort into making so many regional versions?" someone asked, puzzled.

The others nodded in agreement. Regional versions implied a limited audience; a speaker of Southwestern Mandarin, for example, would be unlikely to enjoy a version in the Min Nan dialect.

Jiang Xia couldn’t help but smile at the question. As someone who had been reborn, he knew exactly how much of a promotional boost the dialect versions would give *Cat and Mouse*. Through localized scripts and dialogue rich with regional flavor, they could offer people all over the country a different, more personal kind of joy—one that felt like it belonged just to them.

Besides, people who weren’t fond of the pantomime format might be completely won over after watching a hilarious dubbed version.

Furthermore, episodes that had already been aired countless times would find new life in these various dialect versions, becoming popular all across the country once again and ensuring the show’s enduring appeal.

He turned to the music supervisor and asked, "Teacher Meng, how difficult would it be to simply add a comedic voice-over track to the original episodes?"

Meng Xiulian shook her head slightly. "It’s simple. As long as we have the voice actors and the scripts, given the length of a *Cat and Mouse* season, we could easily record everything in a single day."

Jiang Xia nodded and proceeded to answer the earlier question.

"Strictly speaking, the official version and the dialect versions aren’t that different. Think of it like tofu pudding—some people like it savory, and some like it sweet. Our job is simply to offer more ’flavors’ and let the audience choose for themselves. Eventually, we’ll find a flavor that hits the spot for them."

He smiled and continued, "And as you all just heard from Teacher Meng, producing the voice-overs for these regional versions isn’t difficult. We can essentially get two revenue streams for the price of one. Of course, our main goal here isn’t the money. It’s to broaden the promotional reach of *Cat and Mouse*, maintain the show’s momentum, and increase its overall brand influence."

Hearing it put that way, everyone understood.

"President Jiang, I suggest we pick one regional dialect for a pilot program. We can look at the ratings and then decide whether to produce other versions," Meng Xiulian said after a moment of thought.

Jiang Xia smiled. "I was thinking the exact same thing."

He turned, picked up a marker, and wrote two words on the whiteboard: "Si Chuan." Then, above the names "Tom" and "Jerry," he wrote "Fake Experienced" and "Pinwheel," respectively.

"We’ll prioritize the Si Chuan dialect version. Tom will be called ’Fake Experienced,’ and Jerry will be called ’Pinwheel.’"

The employees in the room couldn’t help but crack a smile when they saw the names. The official dub wasn’t even out, but the names alone were already hilarious.

"Teacher Meng, I’ll have to ask your music department to handle the voice casting for the regional dubs," Jiang Xia said. "I recommend we cast voice actors from different areas for different characters to create as much linguistic diversity as possible."

"No problem." Meng Xiulian jotted down each of his requirements.

After the meeting, the teams were bustling with activity once more. Buoyed by the perfect run of the third season, they channeled their enthusiasm and excitement into producing the fourth.

After all, seeing their work air successfully on television and receive unanimous praise online was the lifelong dream of every animator.

On the way back to the university, Lin Yanwan affectionately linked her arm with Jiang Xia’s.

"I was starting to think you’d forgotten about the dialect dubs," she chuckled.

"How could I? This is a major part of the strategy," Jiang Xia said, shaking his head. "The conditions just weren’t right before, so I put the idea aside for a while."

In truth, the dialect dub project had always been part of his plan. It was just that they had too few episodes and were short-staffed before, so the idea had to be temporarily shelved.

Now that *Cat and Mouse* had a total of 36 episodes across three seasons, they could finally start rolling out the dialect versions.

"By the way, are you going to be there for the voice actor auditions?" Jiang Xia asked.

"Didn’t you already assign that to Teacher Meng? What would I do there?" Lin Yanwan said.

"She’s never seen the original dialect dubs. You have a better ear for voices, so you might be able to find someone who’s a good fit for the characters."

"Hmm... alright, I guess I can," Lin Yanwan agreed with a nod.

She had indeed seen the Si Chuan dialect version many times and had a very clear memory of the voices for Fake Experienced and Pinwheel. If someone at the audition had a similar vocal tone and delivery, she was confident she’d be able to spot them.

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