Anime @ Work : Anime scriptwriter Yamanobe Kazuki's Anime and Historical Drama Update - No.9

Cross media planning is a way to repurpose one storyline across a variety of expressive media platforms, such as novels, comics, and animation, and in Japan today, this form of media use is relevant in the world of Japanese comic magazines and animation. With each medium complementing each other to produce an overall synergistic effect, cross media planning has also been generally known as media mix in Japan.

A well-known precedent of this is the weekly comic magazine, "Shonen Jump." This publication succeeded in increasing its circulation figure by selecting popular manga works that ran in its magazines since 1980 and adapting them into animation films. In recent years, one success has been the "Fullmetal Alchemist," which ran in the monthly comic magazine, "Shonen Gan-Gan." After this was adapted into an animation film in 2003, the circulation figure of "Shonen Gan-Gan" saw a dramatic rise from 160,000 to 400,000 copies, while sales up to now for the 13-volume series has exceeded 20 million copies.

Similarly in the US, works of animation and live-action films based on comics, including Superman and Spiderman, have been successful in some cases. However, what should be noted with regard to the situation in Japan is that the number of comic titles available is extremely high compared to the number found in the US.

Currently, the total number of weekly and monthly comic magazines being published in Japan is approximately 120. Assuming that there are at least ten titles published per issue, a reader can expect to choose from over 1,200 titles found in magazines over a one-month period. With the adaptation of popular titles among them into animation films and live-action movies, a synergistic effect can be expected for concerned companies, helping to improve recognition levels for titles, increase the circulation figures of comic magazines, and increase a publisher's earnings.

Recently, Production I.G, an animation production firm, announced that it would be integrating its business with that of the publishing firm Mag Garden through the use of a holding company. Thanks to this tie-up with Mag Garden, which owns numerous comic titles, Production I.G will be poised to deploy properties across other media platforms on their own, while Mag Garden will be able to hope for a boost in the circulation figures of its magazines with the adaptation of its works into animation films. I believe that such hookups are sure to be on the rise in Japan from now on as well.


Profile of Yamanobe Kazuki
Scriptwriter
Member of the Writer's Guild of Japan
Representative Director of the scenario production company, Edgeworks

Official site of Edgeworks http://www.edge-works.co.jp