Ask John: Why Reboot Instead of Continuing Manga Adaptations?

Question:

Why are Japanese anime companies reluctant to do sequels to manga adaptations, even when they have the material for them? Everyone’s been waiting for new Berserk in animated form, not just a shiny retread of what’s already been available. Is it because the later conent in Berserk is too “violent” to sell on certain timeslots? Though even the Fist of the North Star and Saint Seiya anime franchise had follow-ups, even if it took a few decades. And the same question applies to Hunter X Hunter. Or is it just possible that the OAD market isn’t as lucrative as the industry would prefer, and it’s currently cheaper to stick with the formulas which were successful, even if everyone who was interested already bought the original incarnations of those properties? And does the fact that Hellsing Ultimate’s been a disappointment also factor in with anime companies’ reluctance to adapt newer material?

Answer:
I’m not in a position to guess the motivations or psychology of Japan’s anime industry executives, but I can speculate based on observation and theory. I mean no offense when I say that American otaku seem to have a longer memory for anime than Japanese otaku, although that gap is steadily diminishing. Japanese fans are exposed to a dozen or more new anime series every three months. Supplementing that new exposure with countless games, manga, and light novels results in a Japanese fan base that is dominantly occupied with the present and future. Forgettable and mid-teir popularity shows are quickly forgotten in the rush of new programs, and even interest in exceptional, popular titles inevitably gets compromised by a blitzkreig of exposure to new titles. American fans that are quite so overwhelmed by the latest anime at every turn have a greater tendency to, and more ability to, remember and cling to well-liked titles from a year, two years, or more ago. Thus American fans are more receptive to and more desiring of sequels and continuations of shows from months or years ago because they haven’t forgotten about those older shows or haven’t entirely set them aside in favor of newer titles.

But even here in America, otaku are beginning to necessarily adopt a Japanese style perspective on anime. How many American otaku consciously recall anime series like White Album, Asura Cryin’, Sora no Manimani, and Tatakau Shisho ~ The Book of Bantora~ that aired less than two years ago? American fans may be eagerly anticipating the upcoming Last Exile ~Ginyoku no Fam~ television series, but it seems to be only moderately anticipated by Japanese fans because countless Japanese fans don’t remember or aren’t familiar with the original series.

Given the speed at which Japan’s anime industry moves, revivals like the Hellsing OVA series, and the forthcoming Hunter x Hunter TV series and Berserk movie trilogy are obligated to start at the beginning rather than pick up where their predecessor adaptations ended because Japanese producers can’t assume that contemporary audiences are familiar with the back-stories of anime released just a few years ago. Furthermore, as this month’s American DC Comics relaunch proves, providing a new starting point attracts a lot more consumer attention and interest than trying to appease a smaller, pre-existing audience, especially when a percentage of those existing fans may have already moved on to new interests and new titles.

Launching sequels or continuations, like starting Hunter x Hunter after the Greed Island saga, or beginning Berserk after the eclipse, may thrill established fans, but a relaunch from the beginning has a potential to attract many of the series’ established fans plus new viewers. And launching entirely new franchises has the ability to introduce big new hits like Ika Musume, Toaru Majutsu no Index, and Baka to Test to Shokanjyu that can get sequel series rapidly following their debut series and establish entirely new lines of marketing, merchandising, and franchising.

Fans do occasionally get sequel series. Kaiji Hakairoku-hen and Natsume Yujincho San immediately spring to mind as examples of delayed sequels that start adaptating later volumes of their source manga instead of starting at the beginning. But obviously such instances are less frequent than relaunches. OADs have largely supplanted the traditional OVA release, but if OADs were really as popular and profitable as OVAs were in the 80s and early 90s, I think we’d see more OAD releases more often than we actually do, and a new vitality in the OVA format. Rather, I think that the natural pace and audience momentum in Japan’s anime community make relaunches much more viable and financially sound investments than sequels or continuations of titles that are more than a year old.