Crowdfunding has become quite popular in recent years and the anime industry has certainly taken note of this. While I have covered this topic before with regards to manga, I think it might be interesting to see how crowdfunding can be used to produce anime that might not be otherwise created.
Before we begin examining the use of modern crowdfunding for the production of anime, I think it’s noteworthy that the core concept of crowdfunding is not foreign to the production of anime. When I discussed the economics of anime, I pointed out how anime is typically sold for $60 for 4 episodes in Japan (variants of this exist of course but this is the most common). In a sense, with only a few thousand people buying each release, this process is similar to crowdfunding except that the money comes in at the end rather than at the beginning.
One of the most noteworthy examples of this is the film “In This Corner of the World”, a film adapting the manga of the same name and animated by MAPPA. The film is mostly set during World War II and follows civilians who suffer because of the conflict. The production of the movie had been announced in 2012 but, due to a lack of funding, turned to crowdfunding in 2015. The project proved successful, raising nearly double the amount asked for.
When In This Corner of the World was released in 2017, it proved to be very successful with an estimated box office of $22.5 million and overwhelmingly positive reviews. This eventually saw In This Corner of the World take home the prize for Best Animation of the Year at the 40th Japan Academy Film Prize (notably beating Makoto Shinkai’s “Your Name”).
We have seen other anime funded through crowdfunding such as Under the Dog, the Nekopara OVA and Kick-Heart but I remain disappointed at the lack of ambition of these titles with all of these titles only around 30 minutes long or less. Kick-Heart did eventually see an airing on Adult Swim under the Toonami Block but I still can’t help but think that the anime industry is thinking too little of the power of crowdfunding.
It is also interesting to examine the use of crowdfunding by Studio Trigger. While it is true that Studio Trigger used Kickstarter at one point to produce Little Witch Academia 2, I’m more interested in examining their use of Patreon instead. With around 2,500 patrons as of this article with a gross of around $7,000 a month, it would seem to be quite a success. However, an article from IGN reveals that the money has, so far, been used only for the purposes of streaming on Twitch, providing digital files of what is drawn to the viewers and interacting with the fans through surveys.
It is fascinating to me how crowdfunding is used to produce anime but I think that the anime industry as a whole should become more ambitious with their projects. Rather than producing short films, they should follow In This Corner of the World’s example and try to create feature length films. Perhaps one day we’ll see an entire anime series funded through crowdfunding (although I wouldn’t expect that any time soon). Let me know your thoughts on producing anime through crowdfunding, your thoughts on any of the titles that I’ve mentioned and what examples I haven’t mentioned.
Hopefully you have found this article interesting and informative and, if you wish to seek any of the works I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk and amazon.com for all of your needs!