CoMix Wave Films President and CEO Tomohiro Tokunaga Shares His Vision

CoMix Wave Films entered a new era on May 28, 2024 with the appointment of Tomohiro Tokunaga as President and CEO of the company. A former producer at Telecom Animation Film, Tokunaga has been involved in projects such as Lupin III and several shojo manga titles. After his tenure with Telecom Animation Film, he joined CoMix Wave Films in 2020 as the chief producer for Suzume. Since joining CoMix Wave Films, he has worked with Makoto Shinkai to produce the director's films. With such an accomplished career, he is now taking the challenge of helming the animation studio. Tokunaga was kind enough to set aside some time to speak with Anime News Network about his vision for the studio.

What interested you in anime and the anime industry?

I entered the animation industry not because I liked animation or the medium of television, but because I had good connections. That's how I got into this industry, and my previous company, Telecom Animation Film. As I was making anime, I realized that animation is Japan's strength and culture. Although I got into the industry without thinking about it at first, I realized it had a positive impact on my life.

You joined CoMix Wave Films in 2020, while the world was in the midst of the pandemic. What was that period like for the studio?

This was probably the case for all the companies, but animation has always been produced in a culture where everyone sits down and talks face-to-face, creating it as a large group of people. This was the first year we had to explore how to create animation without direct communication. Of course, I was no exception. It was also my first time working with Shinkai-san, and the scale of the work was in a league of its own compared to the ones I worked on previously. 2020 was a time I struggled a lot with how to create something with someone I had never worked with before, without face-to-face contact.

Can you talk us through the history of the studio itself? What are some key points in the studio's development over the years?

As I mentioned earlier, I joined in 2020. In 2007, the previous president, Noritaka Kawaguchi, acquired the film division from a company called CW, CoMix Wave, and started CoMix Wave Films in Kojimachi. In 2015, CWF moved to Ichigaya. In 2017, Kawaguchi decided to make a studio and work on productions since they were becoming larger. CWF moved to Ogikubo. Originally, CWF didn't have a studio and outsourced work, but he wanted to keep productions as in-house as possible, so we came here. The studio in Ogikubo and the headquarters in Ichigaya were separate locations,

Kawaguchi said, "If that's the case, we can all gather here." In 2021 the headquarters moved here. Now that we're in one location, we could sell and create everything while communicating face-to-face, which I think is a great environment. That's how CWF has come to be today.

You were promoted to Representative Director and President on May 28. How has the transition process been from your previous posting?

I started in the production department and worked my way up to producer, and now I'm a CEO with representative authority. What I do now is completely different. Until now, I didn't have to think about anything more than simply creating good works and releasing them to the world, but I was still in a profession where that was the most important part of my job.

Of course, making something good costs money. And from the perspective of a CEO, it means you need money to run a company. It's a contradictory conflict; I want to make something good and have a budget, so I want to reflect that in a good way within the budget. As a producer, I wasn't concerned with things like "How should we create next together with everyone at the studio?" Instead, I thought, "If we make something good, it'll be fine." It's been difficult switching my mindset because I used to focus on quality between projects.

Kawaguchi originally came from ITOCHU Corporation, so I get the impression that our management is probably stricter than other animation companies. In that sense, I feel like I've been given the education and mindset that will help me improve by one or even two levels.

CoMix Wave Films and Makoto Shinkai have a long history of collaborating on projects, starting with the 2002 OVA Voice of a Distant Star. What has been the key to the studio's long relationship with him?

The biggest thing is the relationship between Shinkai-san and Chairman Kawaguchi. I mentioned earlier that most production companies are contracted, and the way IP and contracted productions are made is completely different. Kawaguchi happened to create the original IP first, and I think it was the only company at the time that fit what Shinkai-san wanted to make and how to monetize it.

If Shinkai-san had decided to work with another studio, but that studio wasn't accustomed to his type of work, or if Shinkai-san wasn't accustomed to their type of work, he would choose our studio that has the know-how to do his projects. Kawaguchi's business style has been important for the anime industry and Shinkai-san.

In 2018, CoMix Wave Films partnered with Li Haoling, Joshua Yi, and Yoshitaka Takeuchi to produce Flavors of Youth. Have you thought about doing another project with foreign directors?

It hasn't been decided if we'll work with foreign directors in the future. Shinkai-san is a hitmaker. For someone who can bring in as much revenue as he does with one work, he isn't someone you find that often. Still, we must look for other people to work with. If one movie makes 15 billion yen (about US$100 million) at the box office, I think it would be fine to have three people who can make 5 billion yen (about US$35 million), and it would be fine to count that as the sales of one movie. In that sense, there may not be many directors who hit a huge home run in the future, but I think it would be interesting to have foreign directors who can consistently produce average hits. And maybe the next big hitter may not even be a Japanese director.

We don't particularly have a strong preference for Japanese directors, and we want to broaden our horizons and meet all kinds of talented people. If someone from overseas wants to make Japanese animation in Japan, I think the common language should be Japanese. Language is culture, and we can work with people from overseas who accept that culture and want to make anime here in Japan.

The studio is currently working on an animated project with a 'rookie director.' What information can you share about this new project?

I need to talk about how CWF is a little different from other studios. Most animation companies receive production fees and make gross profits from those production fees. That's still the case for more than 90% of them. When Kawaguchi made the MBO from CW to CWF, he wanted CWF to be a company that paid the production fees and made films. Of course, that will generate money later, like a kind of rent income, but many of the staff currently here at CWF come from companies that have only ever done contract work rather than creating their own IPs—and that applies to me as well. In that context, the starting point from simply accepting an order and creating an IP is completely different.

For now, I'm hoping to continue working with Shinkai-san, but if he were to say, "I think I'll retire as an anime director," I fear we would abandon IP production in an instant (and fall back on contract work). So, we need to be conscious of original IP production even while Shinkai-san is active. So, I'm working with a rookie director on a different line from Shinkai-san. Shinkai-san originally started as an independent producer. Since there is a saying that history repeats itself, I want to maintain that trend, which is why I decided to work with a rookie director.

As for the content of the project, we haven't announced the title or what the story is about. All I can say is please look forward to it.

What advice would you give to those considering entering the anime industry?

I'm 36 now, so I haven't been in the industry as long as people in their 50s and 60s. Still, compared to when I started in the animation industry, anime is a part of many people's lives–and the industry has become more accepted than it used to be. In the past, it was constantly criticized for having very bad working conditions and very low wages. As times have changed, the industry has also changed, and now, more studios are much easier to work in.

If you aim for it or want to work in this industry, you need to have the ambition, skills, and ability. If you take a step forward with confidence and get into this industry, there are people who could help you.