Ask John: How Much Anime is Original?

Question:
This might seem terribly ignorant, but it always felt to me like almost all anime is based on work already created, i.e. manga. What percent of the anime made would you say is completely original, and what percent would you say is adapted from work already created?

Answer:
While anime is a vividly and uniquely creative contemporary art, it’s also a commercial business. Although anime productions costs less than 2D animation production in America, anime still costs millions to make, so naturally the sponsors and producers that fund anime production prefer the security of knowing that they’re investing in the production of an anime which has a sound foundation and an established audience. Since its inception, modern anime has always primarily been adapted from existing material – mostly manga. Determining a precise percentage figure of exactly how much anime is entirely original is an exceedingly difficult task because simply keeping track of all the anime that exists is a difficult notwithstanding classifying which are based on pre-existing properties and which are original concepts. Furthermore, categorization becomes difficult to apply when one must determine if sequels based on a property which was once “original” are still original themselves. For example, the first Pretty Cure series was an original anime not based on any previously existing material. But should the seventh Pretty Cure series also be considered “original,” or is it now based on an earlier work?

For rough estimation, I examined the television anime from 2009 and 2010. I counted series derived from “original” anime as also “original” anime. Out of 128 TV anime series or specials that premiered in 2009, 21 were “original” anime not based on any previously existing manga, novel, toy, video game, or movie. By my estimation, which isn’t scientific or even positively accurate, roughly 27% of last year’s TV broadcast anime was “original.” Of the 79 television anime shows or specials to premiere this year, by my count, 15 have been “original” concepts, only 12%.