The Four Color Media Monitor

Variety reports from the SDCC on where Japan's anime industry is going lately, seeing investments from firms that haven't typically dealt with animation until now:

Ahead of a weekend when Asian content will be making a big impact at San Diego Comic-Con, two of Japan’s largest industrial and financial conglomerates have quietly begun to invest in Japanese animation, the hottest part of the country’s film and TV industry.

Marubeni, which has roots in cereals, chemicals and paper but has diversified to become a trading giant and Japan’s 13th largest corporation, says it is targeting the booming manga (comics) and anime (animated movies and series) markets through a new venture with Shogakukan, a leading publisher.

Mizuho Securities, another part of the Mizuho keiretsu (a form of business alliance common in Japan), revealed this month that it will launch an animation film fund. The brokerage will raise finance from institutions and wealthy individuals in lots starting at JPY300 million ($200,000) apiece and says that it aims to raise $15 million by the end of the year.

Japanese animation is certainly enjoying a period of unprecedented success. Titles such as Shogakukan and Shin-Ei Animation’s “Doraemon,” Shuiesha and Ufotable’s “Demon Slayer” and “Detective Conan” and “One Piece” have become powerful global franchises. Recently too, Japanese animated films including Studio Ghibli’s “The Boy and the Heron” and CoMix Wave-Toho’s “Suzume” have proven themselves capable of $100 million single-territory theatrical feats.

Yes, but if they succumb to political correctness as seen in the USA nowadays, they won't see success for much longer. Of course that's not saying the Japanese can't make mistakes. But if they cave to the kind of outrageous PC that's practically bred in universities today, that's where they'll be making a serious error, artistically or otherwise. However, if I'm reading the following correctly, something good is to be found here, yet simultaneously, something bad:

Institutional funds were a bigger part of the Japanese scene in the early 2000s, but have since given way to the dominant production committee system. These committees are clusters of companies either in the entertainment business or closely allied to it, such as ad giants Dentsu and Hakuhodo, that agree to share risk.

The production committee system creates stability, but it has been criticized for slow decision making, scaring off international co-productions and keeping budgets artificially low. The per film, special purpose vehicles that committees frequently set up ring-fence financial risk but may also discourage reinvestment.

In recent years, however, multiple factors are causing an erosion of the risk-averse committees. These include the growing international success of Japanese anime, Sony’s acquisition and rejuvenation of specialty anime streamer Crunchyroll and the arrival of Netflix as another major investor in the sector.

If committees aren't attached or forced upon most productions, that's good, but it depends mainly on whether they're connected with the artistic development. Several weeks ago, I'd linked to a Bustle interview where actress Dakota Johnson said there's independent movies now employing committees, not unlike major blockbusters today, and that's bad for artistic freedom. Any Japanese producer who allows committees to dictate how a film or TV show is developed, laced with severe PC, is not doing a favor for anybody. And again, does Netflix provide a good omen? Nope. It also says here:

The threats posed by overseas rivals and AI-assisted production — and the current opportunities for diversification of Japanese anime into new markets and online formats — are catalysts for transformation of the sector that will require funding.

Now is that really a good idea to rely upon AI for future animation development? The simple answer is "no". AI is not guaranteed to draw you a scene (or write a screenplay) in the most picture perfect or exact way you'd like to envision it, and that's why it pays for a human animator to do it. Oh yes, and it also pays to provide the employees with satisfying wages, recalling having once read in the early 2000s that the USA cartoon industry didn't offer the best payments to employees, and the Japanese industry can also have problems like that. AI cannot replace human talent in every way, shape and form, and for anybody who's in it for the glory, it's an insult to sideline them for the sake of technology that may not be as cheap we think. It also risks leaving potentially talented people unemployed.

So it remains to be seen if Japan will stand firm on artistic freedom. If there's any improvement needed from a cultural perspective, it'll only be accomplished through making proper distinctions. It certainly won't be made by adhering to the PC coming out of the USA and/or the west these days.

Labels: conventions, Europe and Asia, manga and anime, sales, technology