Anime First: Difference between revisions

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
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(There have been Zexal, Arc-V, and SEVENS mangas by now; it seems this trend will continue.)
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Anime is usually based on manga, light novels, visual novels or video games. Occasionally there are exceptions.
Anime is usually based on manga, light novels, visual novels or video games. Occasionally there are exceptions.


Anime is always more risky than manga. Pretty much everyone has a manga specifically geared to their interest somewhere, and the largely black and white format of manga makes it cheaper to produce than even the average western comic book. Producing a show is much more expensive.<ref>Even a cheaply-done 12 episode anime can literally cost $US 1 Million to produce when all is said and done, and that's the cheap stuff. Mind you, the expensive shows such as ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' cost $US 1 Million per episode.</ref> And while a lot of manga is made to be accessible and disposable, the demographics of TV watchers is different. This is the major reason anime is mostly populated by shounen and shoujo, as kids simply have more time. Meanwhile, [[Josei]] manga rarely ever gets made into anime, if reaching television at all.
Anime is always more risky than manga. Pretty much everyone has a manga specifically geared to their interest somewhere, and the largely black and white format of manga makes it cheaper to produce than even the average western comic book. Producing a show is much more expensive.<ref>Even a cheaply-done 12 episode anime can literally cost $US 1 Million to produce when all is said and done, and that's the cheap stuff. Mind you, the expensive shows such as ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' cost $US 1 Million per episode. The really high end stuff, like ''[[The Tale of the Princess Kaguya]]'', needs around ten million dollars for 20 minutes of animation.</ref> And while a lot of manga is made to be accessible and disposable, the demographics of TV watchers is different. This is the major reason anime is mostly populated by shounen and shoujo, as kids simply have more time. Meanwhile, [[Josei]] manga rarely ever gets made into anime, if reaching television at all.


Anime also requires voice actors and a hopefully decent animation budget. On the other hand, it's much easier to make a show based on a known money-generating property. Making a show suddenly becomes lucrative once you figure in things like new merchandise (character [[Image Song]] and soundtracks, most noticeably) which pays for the show. This is the main reason [[Bleached Underpants|H-games made into anime]] are the most successful financially and on the other extreme, why most '''Anime First''' shows for youngsters are explicitly [[Merchandise-Driven]]. [[Magical Girl]] and Mecha series in particular have a high chance of being '''Anime First'''.
Anime also requires voice actors and a hopefully decent animation budget. On the other hand, it's much easier to make a show based on a known money-generating property. Making a show suddenly becomes lucrative once you figure in things like new merchandise (character [[Image Song]] and soundtracks, most noticeably) which pays for the show. This is the main reason [[Bleached Underpants|H-games made into anime]] are the most successful financially and on the other extreme, why most '''Anime First''' shows for youngsters are explicitly [[Merchandise-Driven]]. [[Magical Girl]] and Mecha series in particular have a high chance of being '''Anime First'''.
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* Very similar to ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Evangelion]]'', above, ''[[Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind]]'' is a weird example wherein the manga was released first, but primarily to help the production of and promote the (anime) film. This example is further atypical in that the manga wound up being a major [[Adaptation Expansion]], starting its run two years before the film ultimately came out... and finishing ''ten years'' after it, a total run of twelve years. (And unlike with ''Evangelion'', this had nothing to do with [[Schedule Slip]].)
* Very similar to ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Evangelion]]'', above, ''[[Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind]]'' is a weird example wherein the manga was released first, but primarily to help the production of and promote the (anime) film. This example is further atypical in that the manga wound up being a major [[Adaptation Expansion]], starting its run two years before the film ultimately came out... and finishing ''ten years'' after it, a total run of twelve years. (And unlike with ''Evangelion'', this had nothing to do with [[Schedule Slip]].)
* ''[[Saint October]]''
* ''[[Saint October]]''
* ''[[The Boy and the Heron (anime)|The Boy and the Heron]]'' is an original story by [[Hayao Miyazaki]]. It does feature a real world novel, ''How Do You Live?'', whose name served as the tentative English title, but the story of the film is all original. It's further distinguished from other anime in that it doesn't have a production committee, meaning all production funds came out of [[Studio Ghibli]]'s pockets. This allows for a level of creative freedom rarely seen in any ''animated'' production, not just anime.


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Revision as of 02:55, 15 July 2023

Anime is usually based on manga, light novels, visual novels or video games. Occasionally there are exceptions.

Anime is always more risky than manga. Pretty much everyone has a manga specifically geared to their interest somewhere, and the largely black and white format of manga makes it cheaper to produce than even the average western comic book. Producing a show is much more expensive.[1] And while a lot of manga is made to be accessible and disposable, the demographics of TV watchers is different. This is the major reason anime is mostly populated by shounen and shoujo, as kids simply have more time. Meanwhile, Josei manga rarely ever gets made into anime, if reaching television at all.

Anime also requires voice actors and a hopefully decent animation budget. On the other hand, it's much easier to make a show based on a known money-generating property. Making a show suddenly becomes lucrative once you figure in things like new merchandise (character Image Song and soundtracks, most noticeably) which pays for the show. This is the main reason H-games made into anime are the most successful financially and on the other extreme, why most Anime First shows for youngsters are explicitly Merchandise-Driven. Magical Girl and Mecha series in particular have a high chance of being Anime First.

Occasionally manga comes out after such an anime, but only as a limited run. Some manga run concurrently to a show, so divergences are common and accepted. You don't want them to be exactly alike or the audience will wonder why you're messing with the story. You also rarely get a sort of Double Subversion where the manga comes out first, but the original project was conceived as an anime; the manga was primarily intended as advertisement. (Two well-known examples are Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Neon Genesis Evangelion.)

Not to be confused with the common gripe that all of the anime examples on a trope page come first. (Seriously, guys, it's alphabetical. Either add in some examples from advertising, or let it go.)

Examples of Anime First include:
  1. ↑ Even a cheaply-done 12 episode anime can literally cost $US 1 Million to produce when all is said and done, and that's the cheap stuff. Mind you, the expensive shows such as Cowboy Bebop cost $US 1 Million per episode. The really high end stuff, like The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, needs around ten million dollars for 20 minutes of animation.
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