Ask John: Why License Instead of Commission?

Question:
Hello from Japan. I know in most cases American distributors acquire anime titles primarily aimed at Japanese domestic consumers, and I was wondering if they attempt to acquire the rights to manga titles with the potential to appeal to American viewers and then order Japanese studios to make them into anime. In short, do American domestic firms hold exclusive anime production rights including those for TV broadcast, DVD, net distribution, and (if possible) merchandise, not to mention American actors/actresses do character voices, and allowing American musicians sing the both opening and ending songs. In other words, it is up to Japanese distributors whether they would like to import them. What do you say to the feasibility of my humble idea? I believe it has some advantage: American anime distributors do not have to be worried about the conflict of anime trends between the U.S. and Japan, the threat of fansubbing (since they air or are distributed in English language from the beginning) make American viewers able to enjoy them sooner than in any other area or country, and so forth. I know it may be difficult to acquire the anime rights to manga titles being currently serialized in Japanese magazines because their merchandises or anime might be planned already in Japan, but I suppose it is still pretty possible to acquire the exclusive anime production right to manga titles completed already. Or am I just a dreamer?

Answer:
If I’m interpreting the question properly, the question is to the effect: why don’t American anime distributors acquire the rights to Japanese manga titles with American commercial potential and comission the adaptation of these manga into anime for American release? The theory is solid. Comissioning the development of anime adaptations of manga would retain the creative attributes of Japanese storytelling and the qualities and visual appeal of Japanese animation. Furthermore, producing original animation would ensure development of anime especially suitable for American viewers, in place of anime for Japanese viewers that also possibly appeals to American viewers. But an excellent theory isn’t always practically possible, in this case, largely due to conflicts in timing and situation.

According to knowledgable insiders within the American anime industry, Japanese anime producers and distributors resisted the idea of American collaboration during the 1990s and early 2000s. Japanese anime sponsors and distributors were perfectly happy to sell overseas distribution rights to existing anime, but were cool to the idea of sharing creative control with foreign investors. According to the same whispered sources, circumstances in Japan and America have now both changed. These days, according to rumor, Japanese anime developers are now eager to consider American collaborations, but America’s core anime industry no longer has the investment capital that it had during the early 2000s.

Examination of contemporary anime collaborations reveals a telling trend. The Animatrix, Batman: Gotham Knight, Highlander: The Search For Vengeance, the Disney partnership with Toei that has generated RoboDz, Fireball, and Stitch all represent American comissioned or produced anime funded by companies apart from America’s core anime distribution industry. FUNimation did co-produce the Afro Samurai anime, but that production originated with Gonzo, not FUNimation. Similarly, recent American co-productions including Kite Liberator and Strait Jacket represent traditional American co-productions rather than original American comissions. American companies that would have an interest in licensing Japanese manga with the goal of creating anime based on those manga simply can’t afford to fund original anime productions. America’s core anime industry can only afford to contribute to productions that already have Japanese sponsors.

Productions like The Animatrix, Gotham Knight, and Highlander demonstrate that American companies that can afford to launch Japanese anime productions are inclined to hire Japanese animators to work on American screenplays and American created characters and concepts that are familiar to American consumers. Titles like The Animatrix, Gotham Knight, and Highlander have the potential to interest both American anime fans and mainstream American consumers familiar with the brand name who would otherwise have little interest in anime. Manga adaptations, even those based on manga that are especially accessible to Americans, are still primarily attractive only to America’s small audience of anime fans. The American companies that can afford to produce original anime are interested in a consumer audience much larger than just America’s hardcore anime fan market. The domestic companies that market to the hardcore fan community can’t afford to produce original anime. In summation, major American film producers that could afford to commission the production of anime specifically for the American market aren’t interested in investing in the production of adaptations of Japanese comics. The American core anime distribution industry that is interested in producing anime adaptations of manga can only afford to license or co-produce Japanese productions – not fund the development of original productions. (FUNimation may be an exception, with its planned development of “The Five Killers,” but it remains to be seen if this original American concept gets produced.)