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When
watching forms of entertainment such as anime or live action television shows, something
which a viewer tends not to focus on is the company which chose to produce the
program. This is most likely because knowing the name of a company does not
affect how much a viewer is likely to enjoy a program. However, in looking at
the works and philosophies of a production company a person can gain a better
perspective of what kinds of tactics and practices a company goes through with
in order to gain profit. This essay
hopes to examine the philosophies, works, and tactics of the company Kyoto
Animation to show how the company’s patterns of production and attention to
detail in creation have made them a successful business.
Before going into
detail as to how Kyoto Animation has used successful tactics as a production
company, some basic information about the company should first be given. Kyoto
Animation, often abbreviated as Kyoani, is the name of an anime production
company located in Uji of the Kyoto prefecture of Japan (Kyoto Animation
Website). The company was founded in 1981 by Hatta Yoko and her husband Hatta
Hideaki both of which already had a history with anime production (Cavallaro,11).
Tezuka Osamu, the creator of the popular anime series Astro Boy, handed the company over to the duo when he was done
working in 1969 (Mushi Pro TV Tropes). The two were in charge of the company until
it went bankrupt, only to bring it back a few years later. Then in 1981 the two
moved on to start up Kyoto Animation (Mushi Pro TV Tropes). Hatta Yoko is
currently in charge of which anime are produced by the company, and her husband
is currently the president of the company( Kyoto Animation Wikipedia). Since
the company was created it has produced a total of 21 full length anime series,
six movie adaptions of these anime, two original video animations, and five
original animation series. In addition to their own productions Kyoani has also
assisted with the production of anime outside of their company such as Inuyasha and Tenchi Universe.(Cavallaro, 3). The company is affiliated with the
Sunrise company which creates Mecha anime such as the Gundam series (Cavallaro,
3). It is also the owner of the animation company Animation Do (Kyoto Animation
Wikipedia). The company has also produced a few light novels and has made the
opening and closing animations for the video game Jikkyō Powerful Pro Yakyū (Kyoto Animation Wikipedia).
However, the company did not begin in 1981 as
a full company to start with. When it first started up, Kyoani was a limited
company(Kyoto Animation Wikipedia). This means that people who have invested in
the company do not have to pay for any financial problems that the company
would go through (Limited Company Investipedia). In order to move from a
limited company to an actual corporation as it did in 1999, the company had to
build their company up with successful programs.
One way in which the
company built itself up was by following through with its four philosophies as to
how the company should run. These rules which were posted on the company’s
website are listed as embracing challenges, doing one’s best, creating animations
that people need, and being a human company (Cavallaro 4).
Of all of the philosophies Kyoani describes as
important to being successful as a company, the one which they most obviously
seem to follow is that of being a human company. An example of how Kyoani focuses
on the needs of people rather than on making money is the way that they handle the
animation process. Instead of just having an animation team working on the
projects themselves, Kyoto Animation offers animation lessons to nonprofessional
students who are interested in working at an animation company (Cavallaro 5).
By providing this service to students, Kyoto Animation is not only providing actual
animation practice to students who are interested in the job, but they are also
building up a group of people who will potentially be skilled with animation in
the future when many of the current animators have retired or moved on to
different professions.
In terms of following the philosophy of doing
one’s best, one of the ways in which Kyoani works to provide the best work
possible is the amount of detail they put into making sure that their animation
is unique and detailed. One of the ways in which Kyoani personalizes their work
is through the use of real world locations as inspirations for their backgrounds.
Instead of just drawing a generic building as the backgrounds for their
animations, Kyoani actually finds locations from real life and replicates them
for the backgrounds of their shows (Cavallaro 136). This attention to detail
makes the work seem more personalized than a generic background and it also
shows that Kyoani is not just trying to mass produce their work quickly so that
they are able to make products faster in an attempt to gain more money from
less work.
In a similar manner to the way that they put a
large amount of detail into the artwork that they create, Kyoani is also “creating
animation that people need” by making sure that they pick projects that they
are invested in 100 percent. This is shown both through the amount of content
Kyoani has created as well as the competitions Kyoani has made to create new
content. As it has previously been stated, Kyoani as a corporation was started
in 1981. However, in the 33 years that the company has existed they have only
made 21 full length anime series which is a rather small number when compared
to other anime companies such as Studio Deen who in the years of 2000-2010
produced 52 titles and has produced a total of 100 works since the company’s
foundation in 1975 (Studio Deen Wikipedia). By creating only a few titles in
the 33 years of their company, it has been able not only to create works with
more attention to detail, the company has also been able to be selective in
picking projects that the members of the company are truly passionate about. Another
way in which Kyoto Animation has shown to be a human company and create the
works that people need, is through a story contest which they created in 2009 (Cavallaro
9). By asking writers and artists to come up with story ideas that the company
could potentially animate, Kyoani is not only giving writers the ability to have
their works animated or exposed to a larger audience, they are also making sure
as a company that they are making anime with what they think is of best quality
both in the actual animation and the story. Since the creation of the contest, only
one entry’s work was converted into anime (Cavallaro 9). Other works which the
company liked from the competition were given smaller animations which were
posted online (Cavallaro 9).
Besides the four
philosophies that Kyoto Animation uses to produce their work, they also seem to
use formulas in the work they produce. In looking over the anime Kyoani has
produced there seem to be three main types of anime that they make. These
stories are romance stories based off of visual novels, slice of life comedies
based off of manga, and school based stories based upon light novels.
Four of the anime which
Kyoani has produced have been adaptations of visual novels. These series are Air,
Kanon, Clannad, and Clannad After Story (Kyoto Animation
Wikipedia). A visual novel is a type of video game popular in Japan which is similar
to an adventure novel. The player is lead through a text based story with
pictures and makes choices which effect how the story ends. All of the visual
novels which Kyoani has adapted into anime have been from the video game
company named Key. All four of these stories focus on a boy and his
relationships with a number of different girls. Excluding Clannad, all
of these series when they were originally in the game featured erotic moments,
however this is not the case for any of the anime adaptations which were made. Due
to the fact that these novels were based upon the male protagonist’s
relationships with the female characters, it is safe to say that the main
demographic for these anime would be straight males. However, due to the fact
that these adaptations focus less on the sexual content of the novels and more
on the relationships of the characters, it is likely that the stories would be
appealing to people outside of their main demographic. Another aspect as to why
it would be advantageous of Kyoani to produce adaptations based on visual
novels, is because in the format of visual novels, the player of the game is
usually placed in the position of the protagonist and they are likely to get
attached to the characters. By playing in to the game players previous
attachments to the characters, it is likely that Kyoani would be able to get regular
viewers for these series.
The second type of
series Kyoani seems to have produced is slice of life anime based upon the
lives of female protagonists which are often based upon manga. Series which
fall into this category are Lucky Star, K-on!, Nichijou, and Tamako
Market (Kyoto Animation Wikipedia). With the exception of Tamako Market
which was an original story concept made Kyoani, all of the series under this
category are adaptations of manga from monthly manga magazines (Kyoto Animation
Wikipedia). One aspect of these series which might make them appealing to a
male demographic is the fact that virtually all of the main characters in these
series are female. Much like the visual novel anime were appealing to a male
audience because they focused on a male protagonist’s relationship with
multiple women, these slice of life anime may also appeal to males because it
allows the viewer a detailed look into the lives of the female characters.
However, at the same time, the large amount of developed female characters in
these series would also be appealing to a female audience, due to the fact that
there are not too many anime with a female heavy cast. Another aspect of these
series which make them appealing to all demographics is that they often contain
humorous scenes and do not have any of the characters getting caught up in
romance.
One particular innovation
to sell products which was done by Kyoani was using the character of Konata
from Lucky Star to sell products. Konata is a self-proclaimed otaku who
spends most of her time on the computer or watching anime. Kyoani has used this
character trait to their advantage by allowing her to reference other anime
that the company has produced as well as anime which Kyoani is affiliated with.
A particular interest of Konata is the anime series, The Melancholy of
Haruhi Suzumiya, which was also produced by Kyoani. What makes this
interest so important however, is the fact that the characters of Konata and
Haruhi are voiced by the same voice actress. Kyoani uses this to their
advantage and has Konata cosplay as Haruhi so that they can use the voice
actress to reference their other products. While plugging other anime through
Lucky Star may seem like a cheap attempt at selling their other products, it
can also be appealing to an audience of anime fans who would want to see if
they understand all of the references made in the show.
The final type of show
that Kyoani makes are anime which are adapted from different forms of novels. Some
series which would fall under this category are The Melancholy of Haruhi
Suzumiya, Hyōka, Free!, Beyond the Boundary, and Chūnibyō demo Koi ga Shitai (Kyoto Animation
Wikipedia). All of these stories are based upon school life and either have members
who are part of a club or are in the process of creating a club. Two
distinctive traits which differentiate these series from the other two types
Kyoani seems to create are the inclusion of well-rounded male characters and
the elements of the supernatural in a normal setting. Compared to the stories based on visual novels
where the male characters do not have much of a personality, and in the slice
of life series in which they are virtually non-existent, the male characters in
these series have a significant role to play and are allowed to develop as the
story progresses. However, this does not prevent the female characters in these
stories from developing either as they are usually just as important as the
male protagonists. While this is not the case for every series under this
category, the anime in this section usually feature supernatural elements such
as yomu, espers, and aliens which allows the stories to have action elements
even though they are in a school setting and it also allows the characters to
bond over shared experiences. Even though all of the types of anime that Kyoani
produces could be appealing to anyone, this particular type would most likely draw
in the biggest crowd because it not only deals with stories which are usually
gender neutral, it also has a good inclusion of male and female characters.
Overall, Kyoto Animation has been
able to successfully market their products to audience members for the last 33
years due to their attention to detail and their ability to pick series that will
not only be appealing to audience members, but will also be a project that members
of the company will be passionate about as well. By helping writers and future
animators to gain practice and publicity for themselves, Kyoani shows that they
are not just concerned with profit, they are also concerned with the future of
animation. In following their four guiding principles and creating patterns of content
that viewer enjoy, Kyoto Animation is doing its best to entertain its audience
with their highest quality entertainment.
Works
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Cavallaro,
Dani. "Kyoto Animation in Context." Kyoto Animation a Critical
Study and Filmography. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland &,, 2012.
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