Have you ever noticed a new film is coming out from an anime franchise that you really like, you get excited and then you learn that it is merely a compilation film? It can be pretty disheartening when you come to that realization but why does this happen and why does anime continue to create films in this style when it seems the rest of the world has moved on?
But what is a compilation film? A compilation film is where you take footage that was previously released and edit them to produce a film. This film might include some new footage, narration, music etc but will still be predominantly made up of content that was released before. When it comes to anime compilation films, the footage is usually from TV series that are edited so that a section of the story is presented with some parts from the show shortened or removed.
As pointed out by Justin Sevakis in this article, compilation films served a very important purpose before the advent of home video. Unable to collect a series, you were reliant on re-runs in order to relive the story. However, a compilation film allowed you to experience a larger chunk of the story on a time schedule you were more capable of controlling. This was also prevalent in the West at this time where many TV series and miniseries were compiled into a film version.
As the home video market grew, the appeal of compilation films began to wane. Why watch a compilation film when you could just collect the series? However, it isn’t as simple when it comes to anime. You have to remember the high cost of collecting anime in Japan (4 episodes for $60 is my typical example but these figures can vary). This might not be a problem for collectors but these prices are excessive for the typical person.
It is worth mentioning that the Gundam franchise owes its existence to compilation films. The original Gundam series was infamously cancelled due to poor ratings. However, the popularity of reruns and growing sales of Gunpla led to the release of a movie trilogy of compilation films retelling the story of the TV series. These films proved to be enormous successes, grossing approximately $50 million from 1981 to 1982. This success led to the creation of the sequel series Zeta Gundam and to the revitalization of the franchise.
While there are undoubtedly many examples of important compilation anime films, I can never shake the feeling of exploitation, particularly films after the introduction of home video. The low cost of producing these films along with the expectation that fans of the show will buy these films for the few scenes of new content caused me to view these films cynically and, even though I know why these films exist now, the feeling persists.
It will be interesting to see if anime compilation films continue to be made in the future, particularly with the rise of streaming which may remove the financial barrier to rewatching a series again. Let me know your thoughts on anime compilation films and which ones you have seen.
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!
For me, it’s all about milking the cow and that’s it. Unless they add quite a few minutes that might be relevant to the plot or character development, who needs these movies? I might be acting too extreme eheh
For example, more recently with Attack on Titan movies. I love the series but I won’t watch the compilations movies even though I don’t know if they add something unique or not. I rather watch the whole series to be honest. Like I said, it’s all bout getting more money. By going to the cinema, it also gets more public probably and maybe some news fans that won’t watch anime on a more daily basis? I dont know.
Yeah, that’s definitely a factor. In the modern era, the need for compilation films has waned.