Bones studio president Masahiko Minami said in an interview for the 'Anime Studio Chronicle' segment on Comic Natalie that “a company will die if it doesn't create original works” .
In the interview Minami recognized the value of adaptations, remembering how the Bones studio achieved success with the adaptation of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood . However, he emphasized that nurturing the team's creativity and imagination is a crucial element to the studio's survival.
“I believe that a company will die if it does not create original works. Just creating adaptations can make an anime production company grow significantly. However, at Bones, we understand the need to foster creativity and imagination together with our team. We approach animation as a visual medium and contemplate the types of works we can create. That creative aspect is crucial.”
What is an original anime and how important are they for studios?
Basically, an original anime is one that has no base material, that is, it was not based on a manga, game, light novel, etc.
In these cases, the animation studio develops (or helps an author develop) a concept for an anime and, when it's ready, approaches producers to help them finance it.
Financing can be the most difficult part, because if the studio does not have the resources to produce the anime, it needs sponsorship. For an idea to be sponsored it needs to be commercially attractive and “safe”, so normally sponsors choose to invest in anime from existing genres, such as shonen and isekais. This way, they are less likely to have a complete failure.
An original anime is also in a way like an “advertisement” for the studio, showing everything that studio can be capable of in terms of animation and story, in addition to often displaying the studio's own style, which is clear in studios with strong signature like Trigger (Kill la Kill) and Shaft (Bakemonogatari).
In this way, when a work (manga, game, light novel, etc.) is going to be adapted into an anime, a production committee responsible for the work will look for a studio an anime. Which was the case with the Trigger studio and the adaptation of the Cyberpunk 2077 game into the anime Cyberpunk: Edgerunners .
Does this mean that original anime are just advertisements for studios and adaptations are just advertisements for manga, games and light novels? No!
In the interview with the Bones studio president, he says that sometimes the team asks “Why did we decide to create 'Space☆Dandy'?”, to which he replied “Why wouldn't it be fun?”
Minami explains that both the creators and the audience wanted something fun. “Everyone agrees that it was an extremely pleasant experience. To some extent, 'Dandy' was a project that Director Watanabe and I were eager to embrace with enthusiasm. Both the creators involved in the production and the audience shared a desire to create and witness something genuinely entertaining.”
The success of an original anime brings substantial profits to the studio, but failure can have devastating financial impacts. As producing your own anime is a crucial undertaking for the studio, they often stretch themselves to the limit, both physically and financially, to carry it out.
Failure at this point could lead to studio closures. Like Manglobe, which reportedly closed in 2015 after failing to recover from the failure of the original anime Samurai Flamenco in 2013. The studio has some iconic original animes in its catalog such as Samurai Champloo, Ergo Proxy and Michiko to Hatchin.
Certain studios have a primary focus on creating original work. Sunrise for example, with a significant proportion of its anime being original productions, including famous titles such as Gundam , Cowboy Bebop and Tiger and Bunny . However, most other studios these days tend to rely on commissioned adaptation projects. These projects are plentiful, less demanding on the team, and more financially secure.
Sources: Comic Natalie , ANN
