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 acknowledged the value of adaptations, recalling how Bones achieved success with its adaptation of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood . However, he emphasized that nurturing the team's creativity and imagination is crucial to the studio's survival.
“I believe a company will die if it doesn't create original works. Only creating adaptations can significantly grow an anime production company. However, at Bones, we understand the need to foster creativity and imagination within our team. We approach animation as a visual medium and consider the types of works we can create. This creative aspect is crucial.”
What is an original anime and how important are they to studios?
Basically, an original anime is one that has no source 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 is ready, approaches producers to help them finance it.
Funding can be the most difficult part, because if the studio doesn't 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 sponsors typically choose to invest in anime from existing genres, such as shonen and isekai. This way, they're less likely to fail completely.
An original anime is also, in a way, like an “advertisement” for the studio, showing everything that studio can do in terms of animation and story, in addition to often displaying the studio’s own style, which is clear in studios with a strong signature like Trigger (Kill la Kill) and Shaft (Bakemonogatari).
Thus, when a work (manga, game, light novel, etc.) is going to get an anime adaptation, a production committee responsible for the work will look for a studio X to invest in an adaptation, then the studio will be paid to make an anime. This was the case with Studio Trigger and the adaptation of the game Cyberpunk 2077 into the anime Cyberpunk: Edgerunners .
Does this mean that original anime are just studio advertising and adaptations are just advertising for manga, games, and light novels? No!
In the interview with the president of Bones studio, 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 enjoyable 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 a failure can have devastating financial consequences. Because producing an original anime is a crucial undertaking for the studio, they often stretch themselves to the limit, both physically and financially, to achieve it.
Failure at this point could lead to studio closures. Like Manglobe, which reportedly closed in 2015 after failing to recover from the failure of its original anime, Samurai Flamenco, in 2013. The studio has some iconic original anime in its catalog, including Samurai Champloo, Ergo Proxy, and Michiko to Hatchin.
Some studios focus primarily on creating original works. Sunrise , for example, produces a significant proportion of its anime, including popular titles like Gundam , Cowboy Bebop , and Tiger and Bunny . However, most other studios currently rely on commissioned adaptation projects. These projects are plentiful, less demanding on the staff, and more financially secure.
Sources: Comic Natalie , ANN
