The cost of Japanese animation is rising, and the late night version costs 800 million yuan, all thanks to the support of the production committee.

Although the Japanese animation industry has been resurrected after 2010, the working environment for producers has become increasingly harsh. "Chronic procrastination" has become the norm in the entire industry and even the business system. At the same time, as market growth has gradually slowed down in the past two years, the survival of animation production companies has become increasingly worrying.

Japanese animation industry has resurfaced after 2010, the working environment of producers has become increasingly harsh. "Chronic procrastination" has become the norm in the entire industry and even the business system. At the same time, as market growth has gradually slowed down in the past two years, the survival of animation production companies has become increasingly worrying. What is the current situation of the Japanese animation industry? Recently, Yasuo Kameyama of the Japanese General Corporation CiP Association gave a speech at the Japan Animation Economic Partner Forum to explain in detail the current situation of the Japanese animation market.

From 1986 to 2003, Mr. Kameyama worked as a producer in the planning department of Dentsu's advertising agency ADK. He has served as A planner and producer of many animations such as "Doraemon","Super Demon War", and "Marmalade Boy". Later, he was responsible for animic-related exhibitions in weve from 2003 to 2012, and has since been responsible for international business with content and core content at the CiP Association in Japan.

Japanese animation's annual revenue is 184.7 billion. The animation industry is 1.62 trillion yen

. Japanese animation manufacturers 'historical revenue

According to the "2015 Animation Industry Report" released by the Japan Animation Association, the total animation sales of Japanese animation companies in 2014 were approximately 184.7 billion yen (approximately 11.7 billion yuan). Although this figure may seem very exaggerated, compared with 629.7 billion yen (about 103 billion yuan) in the animation and peripheral business, this figure is not worth mentioning.

The total income of animation-related industries over the years

has been rising, and the cost of late night movies has reached 800 million

yuan. Of course, if you want to make animation, the cost problem is absolutely unavoidable. For an ordinary TV version of animation, it is not considered promotion expenses, but the production cost is calculated in hundreds of millions of yen.

The production cost of TV animation for children:

Single episode production cost 10 million yen *52 episodes (4 quarters)= 520 million yen

playback cost 25 million yen *12 months = 300 million yen

, a total of approximately 820 million yen

Late night TV animation production cost:

Single episode production cost 20 million yen *13 episodes (1 quarter)= 260 million yen

playback cost + promotion cost = 40 million yen, a total of

approximately 800 million yen.

From the above data, we can see that this is a very huge number. So where did this money come from? If the animation production company had to take out all of it, it was obviously impossible. In the final analysis, it was actually the Animation Production Committee that paid for it.

Students who are familiar with Japanese animation should have an impression of the above words. The name of the animation production committee will be specially marked after the opening song of each animation episode. For example, the Sakurakaya Light Sound Department is "Light Sound Girl"; the SOS Group is "The Melancholy of Spring in the Saomiya Palace"; and the Queen's watchdog is "Black Deacon".

Where does animation production cost come from? It all depends on

the rights of the production committee

. The picture above shows the distribution of authorizations for animations. It can be seen that the production committee has almost a monopoly on the rights of an animation. It can adapt animations into various peripheral derivative products through authorization. Including exclusive rights to broadcast videos, many TV stations are now vying for exclusive rights to broadcast those masterpieces at high prices.

The

specific income distribution of the production committee system is shown in the above figure. Each company in each industry chain conducts business according to its own rights, and various licensing fees will also be generated from it. The role of the production committee is to centrally coordinate and ultimately allocate all licensing fees.

By the way, in the earliest days, there was only sponsorship from advertisers. Until the 1970s, toy manufacturers saw the money landscape of this industry and became the bulk of licensing fees. This is also because in the 1970s, the popularity of "Space Warship Yamato" and "Mobile Suit Genda" in Japan led to a significant increase in the number of young users under the age of 20.

Judging from the above situation, the main income of animation has gradually developed from toys and plastic models in the past to BD/DVD, and its related indicators have also evolved from ratings to video sales. In addition, animation production expenses have also changed from indirect investment by program sponsors in the early days to direct investment by the current production committee.

The emergence of the production committee actually gave the Japanese animation industry a respite. On the one hand, the production committee of each animation is jointly formed by multiple companies, so the risks of each manufacturer are greatly dispersed. It is not new for more than ten companies to jointly establish a production committee. In addition, there is no Fudan in terms of cost, which also allows small-scale animation production companies to have more opportunities.

Of course, in addition to the production committee, there are other ways to earn animation production fees. For example, the animation production company TRIGGER (whose family produced the animation "Idol Master" in 2011) once crowdfunded US$630,000 on Kickstarter to produce the animation "The Magic Journey of the Little Witch Academy". The theatrical version of the animation "A Corner of the World" received a production fee of 36 million yen through crowdfunding.

Changes in the form of TV, distribution animation, and theater animation The

number of Japanese domestic TV animation works

over the years Next, the comparison of the number of domestic TV animation works. According to the data, a total of 232 animations were broadcast in 2014. Students who often watch Japanese animations will know that Japanese animations generally update new animations in January, April, July and October. In this way, an average of 50 to 60 new animations are released every quarter, compared with 2000. The data basically increased threefold. Although it seems that the number of works has increased, most of the time they are instant noodles, that is, short films of only 3 to 5 minutes per episode.

The length of TV animation over the years

, which can also be seen from the length of TV animation production, reached its peak in 2006. At that time, basically all capital was pouring into the animation market. As the market overheated, many investors launched it one after another, which also caused the rupture of some production team funds, which in turn caused the market to shrink, and this situation continued until 2011. There was only growth.

Comparison of full-day and late-night animation time The

above picture shows the details of daytime and late-night animations in Japan. It can be seen that late-night animations increased by about 350% from 2002 to 2014, while the growth of daytime animations has almost stalled.

On

the other hand, the distribution animation market is also growing. Especially in 2012, with the second network acceleration, coupled with the launch of the D animation store and au video, the year-on-year growth exceeded 60%. With the subsequent acquisition of Netfix by Japanese TV station Hulu and the establishment of AbemaTV by Asahi TV, this market has entered a period of vigorous development.

The revenue and number of animated films over the years

are then a comparison of the revenue of theatrical animations over the years in the Japanese market. Judging from the number of theatrical animated films, it shows an increasing trend year by year. Many of these works are remastered on DVD or TV versions and then put on the big screen.

The top ten domestic box office in Japan in 2014

were the top ten domestic theater animated films in Japan in 2014. It can be seen that in addition to Disney's works, other animations from Japan are adapted based on comics, novels or games. It can be seen that for the Japanese animation market, the final winner is IP.

Editor: Nancy