A lot of assumptions regarding the anime industry
come from common sense ideas. High quality
animation should cost more money, anime should
be made on computers these days because it’s
quicker, and adaptations should have the goal
of promoting the source material. This myth
is a popular one, and it even has its own
page on /r/anime as an FAQ regarding why a
show might not have a sequel. It states, quote,
“Most anime are adaptions of various manga,
light novels, and visual novels. They are
produced to boost sales of the source material.”
and “If no boost in sale occurs for the
source material, the adaptation isn't doing
its original job.”
But the anime industry has a habit of complicating
things. And because of the production committee
system, an anime doesn’t just serve one
purpose. And sometimes the anime staff really
couldn’t care whether you buy the original
source, or not. Which means that this myth…
is busted.
But let’s talk about the production circumstances
here and try and express what actually constitutes
as a success for an adaptation.
There are a million different ways an anime
gets greenlit and a million different purposes
for it to exist. In this way, every case has
an exception and there’s always going to
be a caveat. So in the interest of not having
to say “But” after every sentence, this
is largely going to be a generalisation.
With that said, let’s start with how an
anime adaptation gets made in the first place.
It often starts with a pitch from a major
anime company like Aniplex or Toho. They’ll
approach the publishers of a popular property
and say something like, “Here’s our plan.
Here’s our proposed schedule and budget,
what do you think?” If it’s approved,
then comes the funding stage, where they will
contact companies across the entire industry,
asking them to invest in the new show. These
can involve merchandisers, tourism companies,
music companies, international streamers,
and the publisher themselves.
The idea that in most cases, companies other
than the publisher are investing more into
an adaptation might seem weird. You might
wonder why they don’t just make an original
instead, and some do, but the benefit of investing
into an adaptation is twofold. Firstly, it’s
a safer investment, since if the original
is popular, there’s a good chance the adaptation
will be too, secondly, anime adaptations are
one of the few opportunities to invest in
a major way in someone else’s property.
Anime costs millions of dollars to produce,
so to mitigate the risk of a financial flop,
each company puts in a bit of money and then
can claim to have a bit of ownership. In return,
they can use the property for their own means,
within reason, and earn money back through
revenue.
This is a massive oversimplification, but
it gets the idea across. Sometimes the publisher
will be the one to start a project and sometimes
an anime studio will do it themselves, often
with the help of an independent producer.
So let’s move onto the why. Why do these
companies invest in anime, and therefore,
what is the purpose of the anime? In the cases
of the big boys, the Aniplexes, Tohos, and
Warner Bros, they are anime production companies.
They often invest the most and get the most
back. They want the anime and everything surrounding
it to be successful.
In the case of the publisher, they want to
make money back from the show, but they’re
also wanting to have some creative control
and make sure that the anime is representing
their property well.
Merchandise creators want the license to produce
merchandise for the show. Therefore, they
don’t need to fight for licensing rights
after the show airs, and by investing, they
can get a head start on all the things that
will make for great products.
This is the same for overseas companies that
become part of the production committee. It’s
a show of faith that pays off by not having
to bid for streaming rights and being more
likely to be able to use assets in marketing.
Music companies want anything that can be
slapped on a CD. They want character songs,
they want soundtrack releases, but more than
anything, they want their artists performing
the opening and ending songs for the show.
This is why most of the shows Lisa, an artist
signed to Sony Music, sings for are Aniplex
shows, a company also owned by Sony Music.
Anime studios will sometimes also sit on the
committee. They can only receive royalties
from the success of a show if they invest
in it, but another reason why they’re here
is so they have the power to control the schedule.
This way, they can’t be pushed around by
the other companies as easily, and they can
try to maintain better quality and conditions.
But all of these companies aren’t just investing
in the anime. They’re investing in the anime
brand, which can be expanded into a whole
bunch of things like events, merchandise,
and collaborations. And this includes adaptations
as well. Merchandise created from the anime
is labelled distinctly from merch from the
original source.
For instance, items that are a part of the
anime are often marked with a copyright that
looks something like this. First, it credits
the original author and publisher, then it
usually states the name of the production
committee.
This copyright is a symbol of belonging. Whatever
it’s on is with permission from the copyright
owner. This is distinctive from the copyright
for the manga or original material. So if
you look at this figure of a sexy Joker from
Persona 5, they paid a licensing fee to ATLUS
and Sega. Except, syke, this isn’t Joker
from Persona 5. This is Ren Amamiya from Persona
5 the Animation and therefore, the licensing
fee would have been paid to the production
committee, which also includes Aniplex as
well as Sega and Atlus. The same is the case
with the Berserk and the Band of the Hawk
Game. That’s not a Berserk game, that’s
a Berserk anime game.
So it’s not just the anime itself, but a
network of merchandise, music, overseas licensing
deals and events that all funnel in to the
success of this anime brand and the production
committee that invested in it.
There are cases where anime is only greenlit
for the sake of promoting the source material,
but it’s rare and often only the case for
smaller projects. Sometimes the publisher
isn’t involved in the anime at all. At that
point, there’s nobody involved in the anime
who care at all how many people buy the source
material. For instance, the first two seasons
of Log Horizon were solely funded by the NHK,
because they needed content for the public
broadcasting channel NHK E. In that case,
the light novel publishers had little to do
with the final product.
But there’s an infinite amount of ways an
anime can get made and an infinite of reasons
for it to exist, so while it’s far from
common, there are cases where the original
publisher will be the sole funding body. Rage
of Bahamut Virgin Soul and Isekai Quartet
were both solely funded for their publishers.
But even then, it’s not just about selling
the original works, but also about expanding
these brands beyond their original forms.
Anime doesn’t just exist to promote its
source material. It exists because people
want to watch and support anime in the same
way that people want to watch and support
film adaptations. If they just wanted something
to promote the original work, they’d do
a little animated trailer like this one or
something. While Gundam shows want to push
merch, idol shows want to push CDs and streaming
exclusives want to push subscriptions, ultimately,
anime exists to be watched. And if you want
to pat the corporate investors on the back
afterwards by spending money in their industry,
go right ahead. Captalism ho!
Thanks for watching The Canipa Effect.
