Forum - View topicInterview: Aniplex Inc. President Koichiro Natsume
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
invalidname
 Contributor Posts: 2476 Location: Grand Rapids, MI |
|
|||
|
Excuse my ignorance, but I've been confused for a while as to the nature of just what Aniplex is. I first noticed their logo back on Fullmetal Alchemist and at first thought they might be a Japanese broadcaster or satellite company, but that's clearly not the case. Neither are they a production committee, which typically exists for the sake of a single production, nor an actual animation studio, considering that FMA was done by Bones, anohana by A-1, Madoka Magica by SHAFT, etc.
I'm left to assume they're primarily in the distribution and financing business, along the lines of the big studios in the US (Paramount, 20 Century Fox, etc.), which generally don't actually make the movies they put their logos on, but instead arrange financing, handle theatrical and home video distribution, etc. Is this an accurate analogy? Is Aniplex the rights-holder to the various shows associated with them? And who would be an equivalent/competitor anime company… Sojitz, maybe? Thanks for any clarification. Maybe it's a stupid question, but I bet I'm not the only one confused about this. |
||||
|
||||
toyNN
 Posts: 252 Location: Seattle, WA |
|
|||
|
Great interview - always love learn more about all the fun stuff behind the scenes in anime.
With Sword Art Online A-1 has a hit not only in Japan but outside as well. I'll be interested to see how quickly Aniplex gets the DVD/BD releases available for fans outside of Japan. |
||||
|
||||
|
molibdaenum
Posts: 85 |
|
|||
This is correct! To name some competitors: Pony Canyon, Bandai Visual, Geneon Universal, Media Factory, VAP etc. |
||||
|
||||
Tempest
 I Run this place.ANN Publisher  Posts: 10448 Location: Do not message me for support. |
|
|||
Sojitz was actually never much of an anime company. They got into the business with their investment in AD Vision, and they left the business when they dissolved ARM corporation after the "divorce" with AD Vision. FWIW, AFAIK, Sojitz still owns ~20% of AD Vision... As for Aniplex, they are much more than Sojitz ever was. Your comparison to the US big studios is quite accurate. Aniplex "produces" anime. As described in the interview, they form the production committee with other companies (Aniplex is more often than not the founding partner of said committee), they then sub-contract the anime-production to an animation studio (ex: AIC or A-1 Pictures, which they own). They assign a producer, who will be one of their regular employees, to oversee the production, and they hire a director (who is a contractor) to direct the anime. Most of their titles are TV series, so they have a TV-partner lined up, and Aniplex isn't actually involved in that aspect. Aniplex will then handle in the DVD sales & marketing, as well as the overseas licensing. If you want to do anything with an Aniplex title (ex: license it, show it on your TV station, screen it at your festival, make toys), Aniplex is the company you speak to, and then they will speak to the rest of the committee. |
||||
|
||||
|
SpacemanHardy
Posts: 2509 |
|
|||
|
Aniplex is kinda like Puff Daddy.
They don't really do much, yet they make all the money and take all the credit for everything anyway. 
|
||||
|
||||
Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 24034 |
|
|||
Yeah, you really have no idea what a producer does, do you? |
||||
|
||||
|
invalidname
Contributor Posts: 2476 Location: Grand Rapids, MI |
|
|||
Thanks for the clarification (molibdaenum too)! |
||||
|
||||
|
dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
|
|||
|
Interesting interview.
I can't believe he compared Guilty Crown to Ano Hana and PMMM. Given how terribly-written Guilty Crown was (far worse than any of the Anime no Chikara titles, which weren't too bad), I guess the only lessons learnt was in marketing and demographics. |
||||
|
||||
Mr. sickVisionz
 Posts: 2175 |
|
|||
|
That was a really interesting and entertaining read. Good work.
I don't want to jack the thread off course, but I wish you all could have stroked his mind and pressed a little harder to squeeze out more details on this. Some might take his comment the wrong way but it would have been great to have him release more details to rub out any confusion. |
||||
|
||||
crosswithyou
 Posts: 2895 Location: California |
|
|||
I think you're just being sensitive seeing the titles in the same sentence. All he was saying was that for Aniplex, the three are examples of successful titles based on original stories. He wasn't comparing them at all. Anyway, very interesting interview. It was nice getting a small peek at the processes anime go through to become green-lit. |
||||
|
||||
Fencedude5609
 Posts: 5088 |
|
|||
Wow, way to miss the entire point of what he was saying. |
||||
|
||||
|
dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
|
|||
No, he was saying that the three titles he listed had done well because they'd learnt lessons from the Anime no Chikara project. But I'm questioning what lessons the guys who made Guilty Crown learnt. And was Guilty Crown really that successful compared to the other two titles? 71,057 - Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica 31,523 - Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai 7,668 - Guilty Crown Those numbers are the average units sold per volume. Admittedly, Guilty Crown did sell better than the Anime no Chikara shows: 4,072 - Sora no Woto 1,784 - Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin 587 - Senkou no Night Raid However, Guilty Crown had a very high cost of production compared to a normal show - the visuals, music and big-name staff wouldn't have come cheap - so it only broke even at best. Can you really say that it deserves to be mentioned favourably to unqualified successes as Ano Hana and PMMM?
Well then, why don't you tell me? |
||||
|
||||
|
omoikane
Posts: 494 |
|
|||
Are you really saying the president of Aniplex is wrong and you are right, about Guilty Crown being a success for his company? Shouldn't you change the tone and say "oh hey, now we know Guilty Crown, that crappily written garbage, sold well!" If you ask me I'll take a guilty crown over a sword art online any time. |
||||
|
||||
|
dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
|
|||
Break-even for your typical show is around seven thousand units sold per volume, if I remember Justin's article correctly. And Guilty Crown would have been a lot more expensive to produce than most. So with that in mind, how the heck do you consider less than eight thousand units per volume a success? If he is talking about showcasing the visuals and music, then yes, Guilty Crown can be considered successful. It looked fantastic and sounded very nice. But in terms of the financial bottom line? It didn't do horribly, but I wouldn't hold it up as one of the three titles that really did well out of Anime no Chikara. It certainly isn't in the same league as Ano Hana and PMMM. |
||||
|
||||
|
Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
|
|||
This is intellectually dishonest even for you. You have absolutely no idea what the budget was or what the internal sales expectations were for Guilty Crown whatsoever. Please do not present "here are a bunch of guesses, speculation and then the only actual number I have access to" as some kind of fact. |
||||
|
||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group