Made in Japan / Produced globally - Anime houses open up to copro partners

Kid culture is going increasingly global. You need only look at the girls in Japan slipping on their American-style cowboy boots, and the boys scouring local bookshops for the latest translated manga in the U.S. to see kids fashion, entertainment and general pop culture references melding into a cross-Pacific hybrid. So it's no wonder western industry giants such as Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon are becoming more interested in co-producing with Japanese-based animation and advertising agencies to create a new breed of programming designed to work across all continents.

The West's relationship with toons produced in Japan is in fact changing, moving from the pure import model established during the first wave of anime-mania in the late '90s, to one involving more co-productions. So we thought it was time to assess the landscape, look at some of the players in this nascent field and the opportunities and challenges inherent in breaking new ground.

U.S. nets board copro train

Cartoon Network dipped its toe into the cross-cultural production waters early, giving the go ahead to Toei Animation and partner Aniplex to produce a Japanese version of the PowerPuff Girls in early 2005. The resulting Demashita! PowerPuff Girls Z took to TV Tokyo airwaves this past July and is awaiting a North American debut. To follow up, CN recently set up a production division in Japan to create more cross-cultural fare. Meanwhile, Nickelodeon made announcements at Tokyo Anime Fair last spring about deals to create series with two different Japanese production houses. And not to be left out, Disney-owned Jetix Europe brought Oban Star Racers to air this year. The series, several years in the making, taps into the country's rich animation history to illustrate a Euro idea from Paris, France's Sav! the World prodco.

Canada's Cookie Jar Entertainment has also been active. New series Spider Riders began appearing on international schedules including those of Canada's Teletoon and the Kids WB! in the U.S. this past March. Financed and developed in partnership with Japanese advertising agency Yumiko and toonhouse Bee Train, it's the first Canadian/Japanese co-production to hit the airwaves so far. The series follows 13-year-old Hunter as he uncovers a hidden world, all the while continually trying to stave off potential attacks from giant mutant insects. The series is gaining traction in North America, with approximately 700,000 kids registering to play the Spider Riders on-line game since the series' launch.

And it soon won't be the only Canadian-Japanese copro, with Toronto's Nelvana and toy company Spin Master joining forces with Sega Toys, TMS Animation and Japan Vistec to create a series based on the upcoming toy, Bakugan. It's about a boy and his friends who use their Bakugan Brawlers to ultimately save Earth from destruction. The 52 x half hour program, set to make its launch at MIPCOM, is rendered in 2-D and projected to be delivered by spring 2007. However, the partners insist it's not a glorified toy commercial. Even though broadcast deals in Japan involve producers paying TV advertisers to place their programs on sponsored blocks, Doug Murphy, president of Nelvana Enterprises, says the show is about strong character and story elements.

Thirst for anime quenched

Of course, many of these relationships between international broadcasters and Japanese producers began about seven years ago, when Western networks were clamoring for anime to put on their skeds. With the likes of Pokémon and Dragonball Z capturing kids imaginations and pocket books across the globe, the floodgates opened and Western broadcasters began sniffing around for anything - old or new - to put on air. Realizing they could capitalize on this global trend, studios in Tokyo started working overtime to create new anime to sate the appetites of broadcasters and audiences alike.

But Toper Taylor, president and COO at Cookie Jar, says as quickly as Japanese programming flooded Western schedules, the well of big-name anime dried up. While the industry in Japan expanded at a rapid clip over the past seven years to supply Western demand, he says it's now going through a natural calming period. "One of the key reasons Japan is so keen on co-production now is the appetite from Western broadcasters for anime has diminished dramatically," he says. From a trend perspective, he says kids are still happy to watch Japanese-inspired programming, but the industry feels the genre is on the downside of the bell curve. "Only the best animation companies will survive, and it will be fascinating to see how this Japanese industry reacts to the slow down."

Although Nelvana's Murphy agrees international broadcasters are less enamored with anime right now, he doesn't necessarily see an increased number of co-productions emerging from Japan. "I don't think the country's any more open to it than it was before," he says. But VP and general manager at Nickelodeon Japan Ed Wells disagrees. He says Japan is opening up to several regions, not just the West for international co-production opps and points to blossoming relationships between Japan and Singapore, Korea, China and India as evidence. "Western companies are still at the top of the list just because of the market size," he says. "It's the biggest market in the world."

And despite a worldwide slowdown in acquisitions on the horizon, it's not the only reason Japanese animation companies are looking beyond their border to create new series. The fact is the local production landscape has changed quite a bit in the last few years as well. In the past, Japanese producers had enough money and interest in anime to sustain themselves without having to forge international partnerships - but not any more.

For starters, the kids population in the region is flat or declining. Twenty years ago, Japan could have easily supported a fully animated series and local toy launch, but with a shrinking kids population, Spin Master's CEO Ronnen Harary says there is an increased interest in leveraging costs internationally. At the same time, more animation is being produced, while terrestrial free-to-air slot availability is on the wane. "Given the cost of creating these animations and the opportunities on terrestrial to recoup these costs, Japanese companies are definitely opening up to the international market," Wells explains.