by The 2024 Golden Globe Awards will also be a memorable event for Japan. Studio Ghibli’s “How Do You Live?” won the Best Animated Film Award.
A Japanese anime movie that will be a big hit in Asia in 2023 is “THE FIRST SLAM DUNK .” In the first part, Yumiko Watanabe, an anime culture journalist, looks closely at its charm and behind the scenes of its success.
In the first part, not only fans from the 1990s, when the anime was serialized and broadcast in Weekly Shonen Jump, but also young people in the Reiwa era; I told you about the background that led me to become obsessed with it as my current work. In the second part, we will delve deeper into the background behind how Japanese animation works, including how Ghibli has been able to do business as well as it has in the world.
World awareness of “Japanese anime” increased through distribution.
It’s probably only in the past ten years that it has become possible to sell ”Japanese anime” to countries around the world with “appropriate reviews” and “fair contracts.” For a long time, “Japan Anime” has been unable to conclude contracts with overseas distribution companies that benefit the company.
When selling the “distribution rights for anime works” to distribution companies in various regions around the world, it is a one-time “sell-out” contract, meaning no revenue (royalties) will be earned, no matter how popular the anime is on TV in other countries.
The openings were also altered locally, and the names of the original creators, the Japanese, were often removed from the credits, which did not help the anime’s appeal or brand strength as “an anime made in Japan.” Nowadays, it is possible to negotiate for increased prices, royalty contracts, and separate video and merchandising rights sales when signing distribution rights contracts. Still, until the 2000s, it was possible to negotiate for products that were aggressively released when signing contracts. It was only a tiny part.
The main reason was the low status of “Japanese anime.” Particularly in Europe and America, where there is a division between authority and the masses and between adults and children, there was a perception that Japanese TV anime was “for children,” it took a long time to overturn that belief. One of the reasons why it received such great acclaim overseas is undoubtedly Ghibli’s works.
The popularity of many Ghibli films and the fact that Spirited Away won the Berlin International Film Award Bear Award in 2002 and the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film in 2003 had a significant influence. In addition to this, there was also the worldwide popularity of “Jump” works such as “Pokemon,” “Doraemon,” and “Dragon Ball,” and the perception of “Japanese anime” gradually changed.
The fact that “How Do You Live?” won the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Film on January 7, 2024 (Japan Time 8) can be said to be an event that further deepened trust in Japanese animation. However, it took a long time for its popularity to be matched by monetization. Even though the number of fans of Japanese anime is increasing overseas, TV broadcasts are often sold out in bulk to local distribution companies.
In the 2000s, overseas packaged software (DVD) appeared, allowing Japanese anime companies to sell videos directly to individual customers overseas. Still, before sales began, fans were illegally uploading videos.
I used to watch it on pirated videos. Distribution has changed the position of Japanese anime overseas. Distribution service companies such as “Netflix” and “Amazon Prime Video,” which arrived in Japan in 2015, and Japanese anime distribution company “Crunchyroll,” will begin purchasing “distribution rights” for each work. If it is a famous work expected to attract many viewers, it is possible to raise the price. With distribution, Japanese anime became available overseas about the same time as in Japan.
During the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, this “distribution” became famous among anime fans and families in various countries. With entertainment limited, the demand for video works that can be enjoyed at home has rapidly increased. Through his works such as “Attack on Titan” and “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba,” Japanese anime has penetrated households worldwide. The “Japanese animation” genre was recognized as “something enjoyed by children and a niche audience.” It became an opportunity to gain the status of “visual works as rewarding for adults as live-action, Disney, or Pixar.”
