Anime's Media Mix: Franchising Toys and Characters in Japan is a non-fiction book by Marc Steinberg, assistant professor of film studies at Concordia University. The book was published through University of Minnesota Press in 2012.
The book details the emergence of TV anime and companion product licensing through the firstTV anime series Astro Boy/Tetsuwan Atom. Through financial constraints the shows creator, Tezuka Osamu, had to seek out additional revenue avenues beyond what Fuji TV agreed to pay for each episode. He partnered with candy manufacturer Meiji Seika and the unanticipated success of the anime cemented how anime would be partnered with advertising moving forward.
The merger of Atom's image with unrelated products for the express purpose of selling the product based on the popularity of Atom was not the first time character merchandising had happened. Tezuka himself expressed his intent on following the character licensing model begun by Walt Disney in the 1930's. It wasn't even a new concept in Japan. Prior to the advent of TV anime, character merchandising and cross media exposure was already happening on radio programs and with candy manufacturers. Following the Pacific War, manufacturers who targeted children had begun including prizes in their products as a way to woo them away from American imports. Meiji Seika began to include stickers of Testsuwan Atom in the packages of their flagship product, Marble Chocolate, which pretty quickly saw an increase in sales.
Tezuka took the success of the anime as far as he could and began licensing the characters to a number of different companies, leading to children being surrounded by things with the image of the anime. This created as the author concludes, the first real media mix that anime and manga have become integral too in Japan. The manga, TV anime, radio drama, sponsor character licensing amalgamation that allows for wide exposure for the original product, with the hopes of generating compounding revenue at all levels. If the consumer is constantly reminded of a particular story they will become more involved in it. Merchandise allows them to bring a TV show with them. Action figures allow them to replay the stories shown and to create new adventures and stories involving the characters. It forms play, continually reinforcing the fondness for the core product.
Steinberg takes the groundwork laid out by Tezuka and points to it as establishing the industry standards that have persisted ever since. He goes to discuss the real cementing of the media mix mentality through book publisher Kadokawa Shoten expanding into the movie production, magazine publishing, computer game and anime licensing world beginning in the 1970's. The idea from the beginning was to push their intellectual properties into as many mediums as possible to grow revenue. For all intent and purposes it became quite successful and forced many other organizations to follow suit. The idea is that TV anime is one part of an overall marketing theory that is used to promote and capitalize on intellectual products over a wide variety of formats.
This is an well written and detailed explanation and hypothesis into the origination of TV anime as part of a larger marketing platform. The bulk of the book is devoted to the historical situations that lead to the emergence of TV anime and the directions its licensing partnerships took. It focuses solely on Tetsuwan Atom but begins to dip into later franchises in brief in the final section of the book. It is the product of an academic and is filled to the brim with academic thought references and research material.
Aside from being an interesting piece about the evolution of marketing and mass media exposure in Japan it also dips into the history of modern manga and anime. He points to the pre-war medium kamishibai as being a direct precursor to modern manga and anime. A story telling form in existence since the 12th century, it found a resurgence beginning in the 1920's as a way for people to earn money. It involved a series of detailed pictures that accompanied an oral story. A sort of picture book that was designed to entertain groups of people. The stories and artwork would be created then packaged together to be carried on the back of a bicycle. Men would pedal around towns, gathering spectators and go through the story. The medium lasted until the advent of the television rendered it obsolete. A key to the kamishibai medium was the sale of candy to the children spectating. Another key to it was serial story telling, building the desire in children to keep coming back to know more of a particular story. These idea's translated into manga and then anime in solidifying its story telling template. It was almost a given by the time Tezuka began work on the anime adaption of Testsuwan Atom that omake like merchandising tie in's would exist as well.
The book hints at an unsettling idea in the reality of why anime it self exists. This is an idea that is echoed from time to time in regards to the current state of late night anime. The idea that anime is firstly considered an advertising and marketing product instead of a creative platform. While this is not always the case and there are many original animations, it does ring with some truth in the grand scheme of things. The less pessimistic view point is that anime it's self is one part of a larger whole that is purposely designed to intertwine. This concept can still be hard to overcome as a western anime fan, given that anime is the largest sector of the whole that we are exposed to, where anime is not as significant in Japan.
Anime is many ways, is a part of a larger picture of which a prime purpose for its existence is the sales of other products, usually the source material and related merchandise. Tezuka's Curse established this through underselling his product, requiring him to form product agreements. Tetsuwan Atom and Marble Chocolates saw a significant increase in popularity and sales with the TV series. It did it's job and it did it incredibly well. Tezuka set out to emulate the Disney animation and merchandising standards and what he did has endured for over 50 years and has gone on the shape what is turning out to be a strong import item for Japan. At the end of the day, regardless of what anyone thinks, it's all about the Fukuzawa's.
The book details the emergence of TV anime and companion product licensing through the firstTV anime series Astro Boy/Tetsuwan Atom. Through financial constraints the shows creator, Tezuka Osamu, had to seek out additional revenue avenues beyond what Fuji TV agreed to pay for each episode. He partnered with candy manufacturer Meiji Seika and the unanticipated success of the anime cemented how anime would be partnered with advertising moving forward.
The merger of Atom's image with unrelated products for the express purpose of selling the product based on the popularity of Atom was not the first time character merchandising had happened. Tezuka himself expressed his intent on following the character licensing model begun by Walt Disney in the 1930's. It wasn't even a new concept in Japan. Prior to the advent of TV anime, character merchandising and cross media exposure was already happening on radio programs and with candy manufacturers. Following the Pacific War, manufacturers who targeted children had begun including prizes in their products as a way to woo them away from American imports. Meiji Seika began to include stickers of Testsuwan Atom in the packages of their flagship product, Marble Chocolate, which pretty quickly saw an increase in sales.
Tezuka took the success of the anime as far as he could and began licensing the characters to a number of different companies, leading to children being surrounded by things with the image of the anime. This created as the author concludes, the first real media mix that anime and manga have become integral too in Japan. The manga, TV anime, radio drama, sponsor character licensing amalgamation that allows for wide exposure for the original product, with the hopes of generating compounding revenue at all levels. If the consumer is constantly reminded of a particular story they will become more involved in it. Merchandise allows them to bring a TV show with them. Action figures allow them to replay the stories shown and to create new adventures and stories involving the characters. It forms play, continually reinforcing the fondness for the core product.
Steinberg takes the groundwork laid out by Tezuka and points to it as establishing the industry standards that have persisted ever since. He goes to discuss the real cementing of the media mix mentality through book publisher Kadokawa Shoten expanding into the movie production, magazine publishing, computer game and anime licensing world beginning in the 1970's. The idea from the beginning was to push their intellectual properties into as many mediums as possible to grow revenue. For all intent and purposes it became quite successful and forced many other organizations to follow suit. The idea is that TV anime is one part of an overall marketing theory that is used to promote and capitalize on intellectual products over a wide variety of formats.
This is an well written and detailed explanation and hypothesis into the origination of TV anime as part of a larger marketing platform. The bulk of the book is devoted to the historical situations that lead to the emergence of TV anime and the directions its licensing partnerships took. It focuses solely on Tetsuwan Atom but begins to dip into later franchises in brief in the final section of the book. It is the product of an academic and is filled to the brim with academic thought references and research material.
Aside from being an interesting piece about the evolution of marketing and mass media exposure in Japan it also dips into the history of modern manga and anime. He points to the pre-war medium kamishibai as being a direct precursor to modern manga and anime. A story telling form in existence since the 12th century, it found a resurgence beginning in the 1920's as a way for people to earn money. It involved a series of detailed pictures that accompanied an oral story. A sort of picture book that was designed to entertain groups of people. The stories and artwork would be created then packaged together to be carried on the back of a bicycle. Men would pedal around towns, gathering spectators and go through the story. The medium lasted until the advent of the television rendered it obsolete. A key to the kamishibai medium was the sale of candy to the children spectating. Another key to it was serial story telling, building the desire in children to keep coming back to know more of a particular story. These idea's translated into manga and then anime in solidifying its story telling template. It was almost a given by the time Tezuka began work on the anime adaption of Testsuwan Atom that omake like merchandising tie in's would exist as well.
The book hints at an unsettling idea in the reality of why anime it self exists. This is an idea that is echoed from time to time in regards to the current state of late night anime. The idea that anime is firstly considered an advertising and marketing product instead of a creative platform. While this is not always the case and there are many original animations, it does ring with some truth in the grand scheme of things. The less pessimistic view point is that anime it's self is one part of a larger whole that is purposely designed to intertwine. This concept can still be hard to overcome as a western anime fan, given that anime is the largest sector of the whole that we are exposed to, where anime is not as significant in Japan.
Anime is many ways, is a part of a larger picture of which a prime purpose for its existence is the sales of other products, usually the source material and related merchandise. Tezuka's Curse established this through underselling his product, requiring him to form product agreements. Tetsuwan Atom and Marble Chocolates saw a significant increase in popularity and sales with the TV series. It did it's job and it did it incredibly well. Tezuka set out to emulate the Disney animation and merchandising standards and what he did has endured for over 50 years and has gone on the shape what is turning out to be a strong import item for Japan. At the end of the day, regardless of what anyone thinks, it's all about the Fukuzawa's.
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