Ask John: What Happened to Anime no Chikara?

Question:
The Anime no Chikara project had a great premise. Fresh new ideas, not based on mainstream moé or ninja or samurai, and not based on previous works like manga or video games or novels. I loved all three shows that came out of that project, but is the project dead? Are they waiting for a new season? I havn’t heard anything more, and I’m afraid this wonderful little project died before it could really get going. Please, if there’s any news let us know.

Answer:
Regrettably, I don’t know the current status of Aniplex and TV Tokyo’s “Anime no Chikara” development project. The endeavour may be in a transitional period between productions, or it may be akin to the Fuji TV’s seemingly short lived “Noise” initiative that hosted only two productions, Michiko to Hatchin and Ristorante Paradiso. The “Strength of Anime” initiative was announced in August 2009 as a project from the TV Tokyo broadcasting network’s newly created anime development department in collaboration with Sony’s anime development subsidiary Aniplex. The effort was designed to task “spirited” creators with crafting original anime series that would, presumably, demonstrate the characteristic strengths of unique, interesting, original contemporary anime. The Anime no Chikara project’s first work was studio A-1 Pictures’ Sora no Woto. While the show was an original concept, its visual design was distinctly reminiscent of A-1 Pictures’s prior work Kannagi, and its narrative structure, tone, and musical theme were widely compared to contemporary smash hit series K-On. Advance anticipation for Sora no Woto had been tremendous, but when the show aired, viewers found it especially familiar, despite it being an entirely original series, and especially subdued rather than exciting and dynamic. The series didn’t really feel like it found an individual voice and a compelling purpose until about mid-way through, and its conclusion was widely criticized for being anti-climactic. In fact, series’ animation director Akai Toshifumi publicly responded, “People won’t be moved nor consented unless someone dies. Why aren’t they impressed by the character’s survival?” While the show was a moderate success, it didn’t become the breakout smash hit that TV Tokyo and Aniplex seemingly hoped it would become.

Anime no Chikara’s second production was the historical fantasy Senko no Night Raid. While the show did cover a subject not covered by other anime, the show suffered significantly by not seeming to effectively cover anything at all. Bluntly put, the show was staggeringly boring. Despite having an ensemble cast of diverse characters with supernatural powers and conflicted histories, and despite the show being set in a tumultuous historical period, the series did little with any of its components. Characters had no development and little engaging personality. And the situational settings were often ignored or not used to any significant impact. Even a potentially controversial situation in which the series’ planned seventh broadcast episode was pulled from TV broadcast and replaced with a recap episode generated only yawns and footnote notice rather than outrage, surprise, or even curiosity. Once again, despite heavy advance publicity, the show went almost entirely ignored by viewers because it just wasn’t interesting or enjoyable to watch.

The third Anime no Chikara production, A-1 Pictures’ heavily advertised Seikimatsu Occult Gakuen, is arguably the best of the three series because it’s the most enjoyable, fun, and energetic of the three productions. The show does suffer from feeling rushed and inadequately fleshed out during its fourth act, especially because the earlier episodes have relatively minimal urgent focus on advancing an over-arching plot, instead focusing on more immediate, smaller situational stories. What particularly may have hindered Occult Academy’s success is its competition. The series launched against other weekly premieres including High School of the Dead, Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu, Mitsudomoe, Sengoku Basara 2, and Strike Witches 2. Against many other well known and highly anticipated franchises, the original Occult Academy seemed to simply get largely overlooked, demonstrating specifically why anime producers so often prefer adaptations rather than original anime.

The Fuji TV network’s Noitamina series has been tremendously successful and continues to continue and expand. The Fuji TV network’s Noise series produced two shows that didn’t become breakout hits, and the label seems to have gone into hiatus. The same situation may apply to the TV Tokyo network’s Anime no Chikara label. None of the three shows produced under the Anime no Chikara banner have become breakout hits, which may have convinced TV Tokyo and Aniplex to delay or cease continued development on the initiative. A label to focus on developing new original anime that illustrate the spirit and character of the potential of contemporary anime is a wonderful idea. But in order to fulfill that idea, the resultant anime series have to live up to their billing. While not especially bad shows, the first two Anime no Chikara titles didn’t really capture the imagination and attention of viewers with unique, compelling, original anime ideas or execution. The third series, again, was tremendously fun but went overlooked by many potential viewers that were drawn to other, better known contemporary shows. I respect the plan behind the Anime no Chikara effort, and I do hope that TV Tokyo announces a new entry in the line soon. However, given the span of time that’s passed since the announcement of the initial three Anime no Chikara series, I unavoidably have the suspicion that the initiative has ended before it ever really gathered steam.