I’ve spoken before about the economics of anime but, in that article, I was more focused on the sources of revenue rather than the actual production of the anime themselves. Today, I’d like to take a look at the world of anime production committees and why I find them so fascinating.
To begin, let’s discuss what a production committee is. When an anime is being developed, a committee is established where companies invest money into production and are awarded certain rights such as merchandising, domestic broadcast rights, overseas distribution etc. These investments help to minimise the risk to any one company by spreading costs while allowing them to make money in their field of expertise.
It’s estimated that these anime production committees began around the same time as the rise of home video sales around the late 80s to early 90s in order to reduce reliance on TV networks and sponsors. This was in order to be able to create more adult-oriented shows as well as produce for the, then rising, OVA market. This production method has seen the number of anime shows per year skyrocket to the point that it is now standard for there to be more than a 100 anime series produced and released each year.
Recently, we’ve begun to see Western distributors of anime become involved in these production committees such as Funimation and Crunchyroll. There are numerous benefits for Western distributors to become part of these committees with notable examples being bypassing the bidding process, more secure long-term distribution rights and being allowed to oversee the production of and contribute to the anime in question. While not without some risks, it’s generally viewed that being able to be part of the committee is a net positive for these Western distributors.
However, this production method is certainly not without flaws. One of the most well-known issues with this system is that only a relatively small amount of the revenue, the cost of production, actually goes to the anime studios in charge of animating the shows. This results in low wages for the animators and contributes to the ongoing brain-drain of the anime industry.
Another interesting criticism of production committees is the argument that so many companies overseeing production reduces creativity and creates a “bland production”. While this may seem to contradict the original purpose of these committees, which was to avoid restrictions imposed by television networks and sponsors, rising competition and budgets do seem to have contributed to this shift to safer, more traditional anime.
I find the world of anime production committees fascinating but I also acknowledge that there are numerous problems with the system. As well as continuing to learn more and more about this system, I continue to hope that production committees will eventually reform themselves so that anime studios can earn more of the revenue and increase the wages of their animators. I also hope that they will eventually overcome their tendency to create typical anime series in the hope of safe profits. Let me know your thoughts on anime production committees, how you originally learned about them, how you think they can improve themselves and any additional information you might have on the topic.
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 or amazon.com for all of your needs!