Ask John: Why Don’t Some Popular Manga Get Animated?

Question:
Why do anime studios not make good manga into anime? Things like I”s, Oh my Goddess, etc. can make a ton of cash if they make TV series for them (based on the actual manga).

Answer:
I”s and Ah! Megami-sama do have anime adaptations, although I”s doesn’t have a TV series and the Ah! My Goddess TV series is super deformed. What is and isn’t turned into anime is primarily determined by what’s popular in Japan. While manga series like Masakazu Katsura’s I”s and Kousuke Fujishima’s Ah! Megami-sama are very popular among hardcore anime fans and foreigners (non-Japanese natives), these series may not be popular enough within mainstream Japanese society to warrant their production as mainstream anime TV series. After all, it does make sense to assume that if an anime series like the I”s OAV series was successful enough to encourage the production of a TV series, there would be an I”s TV series by now. Anime is a commercial product in addition to being an art form. So if something earns a significant profit in Japan, it’s logical to assume that producers will hire animators to make more of it. But anime that either doesn’t make a profit or doesn’t earn enough profit back to justify making more usually don’t get new animation.

Furthermore, we can’t forget about the possibility that manga creators themselves may not want their stories turned into animation, or may agree to only limited anime adaptation in a short OAV series. It’s well known that Blade of the Immortal creator Hiroaki Samura does not want to see his popular samurai manga adapted into anime because he doesn’t believe that animation can effectively capture the artistic essence of his work. And Gonzo Studios president Shouji Murahama has stated that it is Hellsing creator Kouta Hirano that is delaying production of more Hellsing animation. The two common rumors are that Hirano was not pleased with the first Hellsing anime TV series and therefore doesn’t want a second series made; and that Hirano simply wants to publish more of his Hellsing manga before agreeing to allow the production of more Hellsing animation.

And finally, especially in an instance such as Ah! My Goddess, an anime TV series version may simply be impractical. It was reported several years ago that the Ah! My Goddess movie suffered production delays in Japan because the complexity of the character designs, and especially drawing and animating all of their hair, was taking more time than expected. With the tight deadlines imposed on TV series production, animators may simply deem it impossible to adequately animate a particular manga serial within the time and budget limitations of a weekly TV series.