Forum - View topicAnime adaptation question.
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lindseybishop
Posts: 1 |
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With the new anime season announcement, it dawned on me how much time passes between the anime seasons.
I’m curious why the anime adaptation takes so long for new seasons to come out and it’s always uncertain if there will be a new season? I know the manga is very famous and popular in Japan. And merchandise related (especially featuring Nyanko Senseigeometry dash lite), even if not directly promoting the manga/anime series does really well and is everywhere. So if the franchise is doing well and is clearly popular in Japan. Why won’t producers make more anime seasons at a faster/more consistent rate? The anime production isn’t as costly as other mega series because the animation requirements aren’t as heavy and complex (like action shounen), so it’s easier to produce and will have good viewer % results. I know anime projects are usually taken to help promote manga sales, but that’s not always the case especially for well established series. And there’s still plenty of chapters that have never been adapted, enough certainly for a few seasons before catching up. The movie also did well at the box office and movie related merchandise was highly sought after, the success of the franchise can’t be ignored. It feels like it’s a such a unpolished gem that is adored but frequently forgotten or less effort is put into it to help shine at its best. The inconsistency of the anime just confuses me because I feel like it has the potential to have better adaptation progress. I love the story and it always feels like fans are constantly waiting to hear new season announcements over years with little indication of any certain development. 6 years it took for a season 7 announcement. The Ova’s/movies that were sprinkled in across the years following aren’t really enough. After leaving a sorta underlying plot cliffhanger at the end of season 6, it feels like a season 7 was a certainty until we were left waiting year after year. 1-3 year gaps between seasons is normal, but I feel like a lot of anime make it clear another season will eventually come if they plan on continuing the anime, with rare exceptions of popular shows announcing new seasons after they’d fallen by the wayside for a few years. Natsume anime seasons just leave you hanging, hoping for good news eventually down the line (I understand the pandemic might have effected this specific season’s production, but still…). [EDIT: Made the thread title a little more detailed. -TK] Last edited by lindseybishop on Wed Sep 11, 2024 11:21 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 24445 |
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Your questions certainly touch upon the most mysterious and perplexing part of the anime industry: trying to figure out what will get a sequel and when it might come out. Sadly, the anime industry seems to be a black box whence very little information ever escapes, so I doubt outsiders like us will ever get satisfactory answers to these questions. In comparison, the conclave cardinals hold in Rome to elect a new Pope seems to be a model of transparency and rationality.
Aptly enough, this current Summer 2024 season offered the latest in a long tine of sequel head-scratchers. Why did it take 13 years to get a season 3 of Kimi ni Todoke? Even by anime's generous standards, that's quite the time lag. Like I say, as outsiders we'll never really know, but I can offer a few speculative tidbits. Apparently, Japanese business runs on the principle of consensus where everybody must agree before something goes forward. An anime title often has an animation production committee that can be made up of several members. Supposedly, all those members need to agree if a title will get a sequel. So if 9 out of 10 say yes, that might not be good enough if there is a lone hold out who has some kind of agenda that is served by gumming up the works. I can't stress enough that this is just my own interpretation gleaned from reading various things and may not in fact reflect reality at all. Another possible reason for delays is that a rights holder may be holding out for a specific studio to be the lead and if it's a smaller studio it may not have the bandwidth to start on that title for "x" period of time. Again, this is my speculation that is not necessarily true. td;dr - I dunno. |
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 10071 Location: Virginia |
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I think you are looking at the issue from the wrong viewpoint.
As a fan of the anime, you would like to see an additional season and give reasons why it should do well. This makes good sense is you see the anime as an end in itself. Unfortunately, the publisher of the manga is the one having the ability to decide on a new season. For them the anime is not an end in itself but form of promotion for their publications. From their point of view, they have X amount of money to make Y anime each season. They have to allocate that money to get the best bang for their buck (Yen actually). From their point of view Natsume Yujincho, the manga is doing just fine and doesn't need promotion. Actually, the surprising thing is not that it took a few years, but that a seventh season was authorized at all. For a show like Natume, with no fan service and no spectacular fights that is unprecedented. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 24445 |
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@ Alan45: you make it sound like manga publishers are the main determiners of whether an anime adaptation gets additional seasons and that one of their important factors is if they feel their title needs extra promotion, or not. I don't believe that to be quite true. Certainly they have a say in the matter, of course, but I think in most cases they'd be happy to give their assent and collect royalties if a reputable anime producer approaches them. There are cases, like Yotsuba&! for example, where it is the mangaka himself who apparently is blocking any anime adaptation from happening (never mind sequels) because supposedly he was not happy with how the anime version of his Azumanga Daioh manga turned out.
And that's what I mean when I say the reasons a certain title does or does not get a sequel are often mysterious to outsiders like us. Why did it take 4 years to get a second season of Attack on Titan an anime that was an obvious hit from the get-go? Why 13 years to get a new season of Kimi ni Todoke? God knows. Unless some insider with real knowledge spills the beans, we'll never know. |
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 10071 Location: Virginia |
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Blood- wrote:
You are absolutely correct. If you want a definitive answer, no we will never know. As such that is an appropriate response to the OP's question in this thread. However, we can make some guesses. Basically you need to look at where the money is coming from. To figure that out, you have to see who benefits. A few years back, the Answer Man flatly stated that for late night anime, the anime is nothing more than an advertorial for the manga or other source material. To the extent that is still the case, the primary beneficiary is the publisher selling the manga. They will put up the largest share of the funds to make the anime and will have final say on how it is done. If the manga gets the hoped for bump in sales, they have limited incentive to fund a second season. This is why even popular anime often does not get a second season. I think that in the last five or so years that has been changing. The demand for content for streaming services, both in Japan and from foreign sources has injected new players and a lot of new money. I think this is why we are seeing popular anime coming back for seconds after multi-year delays and why we are seeing things like Urusei Yatsura getting remakes. In the case of Natsume Yujincho, after an almost unprecedented six seasons, I doubt the publisher had any intentions to make more. Someone showed up at their door with the Japanese equivalent of a briefcase full of Benjamins and made them an offer they couldn't refuse. As far as the mangaka or author of a light novel is concerned. I gather they have a sort of veto ability on any drastic changes to their manga or novel. This is limited by the fact that the publisher is usually their sole source of income. Not a lot of leverage there. Judging by their comments in the author's note, most are thrilled by a drama CD being made and are over the top thrilled by an anime being greenlit. For a mangaka, that is like winning the lottery. They are not going to rock the boat. Concerning the mangaka of Yotsuba&, we hear about that most likely since it is so rare. Note he did not have the ability to make them fix Azumanga Daio to his liking. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 24445 |
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This discussion lead me to do some searching for information on how anime is financed which in turn lead me to a very interesting ANN article on the subject. Reading it might help understanding why some series get sequels and some don't:
animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2012-03-05 |
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 10071 Location: Virginia |
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Ah, that last section explains why Funimation was always a day late and a dollar short on streaming.
That was 12 years ago. It would be interesting to see an update from Justin of the current state of the industry. The big change is the massive increase in streaming and simulcasting and the slow decline of home video. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 24445 |
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Couldn't agree more on the notion of getting an updated version of that article.
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RupanSansei
 Posts: 168 |
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As much as i want Justin to make an update i think he's too busy managing MediaOCD & AnimEigo at the moment |
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 10071 Location: Virginia |
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@RupanSansei
Yeah, I know. My comment was in the nature of wishful thinking. ANN has lost a bit over the years, We no longer have an industry insider nor do we have an expert in old anime in the US. |
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RupanSansei
Posts: 168 |
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May i ask when did Justin leave ANN? i'm just curious as he was what got me into Crusher Joe which is in my top 5 English dubs & i've always considered picking up the Studio Ironcat translation of the manga but never could find a TPB that would ship to my address |
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 10071 Location: Virginia |
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I don't remember the date. He announced it in, I think, his last answer man column. If you check back through those until you hit the last on he did you should get a specific date.
Mike Toole was our source for really old anime including that stuff you like that was syndicated here before anyone heard of anime. He just stopped producing articles. At one point we even had someone doing reviews of figures but that got too expensive. He has been gone a long time. |
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