Ask John: How Common Are Staff Changes in Anime Production?

Question:
I love the anime Basquash, but after reading that both the chief animator and director have been replaced, I’m wondering what that means for the show’s future, and is a move like this common for a show halfway through it’s run?

Answer:
Considering the collaborative and creative nature of anime production, I’m sure that upper level staff changes have been a periodic occurrence in anime for as long as anime has existed. But since Americans largely weren’t privy to Japanese industry gossip nor changes behind the scenes prior to the internet age, we’re not well acquainted with these staff changes that occurred prior to the late 1990s. Possibly the first unanticipated director change to catch the attention of American anime fans came on the 1998 Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou television series. Following his internationally acclaimed breakout hit Evangelion, American fans were closely following the career and work of director Hideaki Anno. So it was big news when Anno reportedly walked off “Kare Kano” due to creative differences between his vision for the show and the demands of the show’s corporate sponsors. Viewers that have watched “His & Her Circumstances” can almost exactly pinpoint Anno’s last episode as toward the end of the series the primary storyline abruptly ends and a new one begins focusing on a different set of protagonists.

While never as well recognized or discussed, it’s very evident that character designer Nobuteru Yuki worked on the first five episodes of the 1989 Angel Cop OVA series, but did not work on the sixth, final episode. The difference in the look of the characters in the series’ final episode compared to the earlier episodes is obvious and striking, and significant enough to be clearly more than just a result of lesser production values.

Reportedly original series creator & director Yasuchika Nagaoka suffered some sort of catastrophic anxiety attack just two months before the scheduled broadcast premiere of the 2007 Kissdum -Engage Planet- television series. Nagaoka reportedly discharged himself from the production staff, forcing the commission of a last minute replacement director. The series’ gravely troubled production is evident in the show’s wildly divergent production quality. After the initial broadcast, the series was slightly re-worked and rebroadcast as “Kissdum R -Engage Planet-”

Initial series director Yutaka Yamamoto was famously replaced after helming the first four episodes of the 2007 Lucky Star television series, according to production studio Kyoto Animation, because Yamamoto had “not reached the standard of director yet,” despite having previously worked as a director on four earlier Kyoto Animation series. Lucky for viewers, the Lucky Star TV anime doesn’t exhibit a noticeable change between its first four and its later episodes.

Probably no other staff shake-up has been accompanied by more controversy than that of Gainax’s 2007 Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann television series. In response to a barrage of anonymous online criticisms of the animation quality of the show’s first episode, series producer Takami Akai composed a vividly unpleasant reply that ultimately resulted in him being forced to resign from not only work on Gurren Lagann, but from the Gainax studio itself, which he co-founded. The controversy coincided with veteran animator and director Osamu Kobayashi directing series’ episode 4. Whether by accident or design, that episode, the only one directed by Kobayashi, was characterized by especially awful drawing and animation.

So now at least chief animator Katsuzo Hirata and original series director Shin Itagaki (who coincidentally directed Gurren Lagann episode 6) have been fired from their work on the current Basquash! television series. The Satelite anime studio put the production of Kissdum into the hands of director Eiichi Sato. Satelite has again tapped Sato to take over directing Basquash! Since news of the staff changes surfaced, Basquash episode 11 exhibited especially poorly drawn character art. The design quality returned to normal in episode 12, but episode 12 also used the unusual device of breaking the episode into two mini episodes with distinct opening and ending credit sequences. Episodes 13 & 14 appear to be back on track and “normal,” as far as Basquash! goes, excepting the new opening and ending animation sequences in episode 14.

I’ve read a lot of criticism of Basquash! I don’t oppose the right of any viewer to have a personal opinion of the show, and I can’t reject the accusations that the show is directionless (no pun intended) and uneven. However, I like the show and continue to remain supportive and interested in it. I’ll concede that the series’ story progression so far has been minimal; the show seems uncertain of its narrative and thematic goals; and its production quality has been uneven. But despite its problems, Basquash! has so far delivered enough dynamic visual style, interesting characters, and straightforward fun to make me excuse its weaknesses in deference to its strengths. The show is not an anime masterwork, which may be what its producers were expecting, and the reason for the staff change. But Basquash! has not been the disaster that some of its anonymous online critics portray it as, either. It’s certainly consistently better animated and more thematically and narratively cohesive than Satelight’s earlier Kissdum series. In light of the three series’ episodes that have aired since news of the Basquash staff change broke, I don’t see reason to expect a drastic change in the series’ second half compared to its first half.