Each anime series is a world of its own. Whether it’s a real world or fantasy world setting, the story’s characters inhabit that setting and – together with the story premise – create a unique universe never seen by anyone before.
All fictional universes do this. But anime goes a step further.
When I became an anime fan, one of my first major purchases was the soundtrack CD for Fullmetal Alchemist - the original first series, not Brotherhood. It was imported from Japan and pretty expensive.
The soundtrack was really impressive, with original music performed by a full orchestra like you’d see for a movie or TV series. I’m not sure, looking back, why that surprised me. I think in those early days when I was still discovering what anime was, it didn’t occur to me that anime productions would have that kind of major budget spent on them. I was still thinking of it as animation (read: cartoons) from my American perspective, so this was startling to me.
Once I fell down the rabbit hole of anime fandom, of course, there was no escape. ;-)
I started off by buying the usual: modest fan items from my favorite series like posters, keychains, coin purses, little notebooks, etc. Soon it progressed to wall scrolls, lunchboxes, and messenger bags, as well as, of course, the DVDs and manga books of the series themselves.
If that was all there was to anime subsidiary products and merchandise, it would be manageable. However... there is basically no end to it.
When an anime – let’s say one that is based on a successful manga series – gets greenlighted for production, countless interrelated actions are set in motion.
The production committee casts the seiyuu, a very important step in the process since top-level voice actors will bring their own fan bases with them. A composer is hired for the music, and the orchestra gets ready. The small army of dedicated animators launches into its exacting artistic work.
The wheels of promotion begin to turn, and in addition to marketing, the licensing of merchandise gets underway.
Blankets, clocks, drinkware, keychains, lunchboxes, food products, office supplies, calendars, magnets, patches, pins, buttons, pillows, plushes, tech accessories, towels, wall art, posters, tapestries, figures, model kits, dolls, statues, bags, hats, t-shirts, jewelry, wallets, video games, computer games, RPG games, board games – all begin to be produced.
As for books – aside from the manga books, there may be graphic novels, light novels, and art books.
And in addition to Blu-rays and DVDS – there are CDs for the music soundtracks.
All of this is something predictable. Anime is big business in Japan, and there’s a huge market for the side stuff that is made in conjunction with anime productions.
Where Japan diverges from the rest of the world... is in making licensed products and entertainment that expands the series universe to provide more of what fans of that series really want.
For example, drama CDs. What are drama CDs?
Drama CDs are like radio dramas and comedies featuring the original cast of the series, who act out side stories that often give you further insight into what makes this or that character tick. The stories can be serious or amusing. For fans of the series, hungry for more interaction between the characters, drama CDs help fill in the gaps that the series doesn’t fill in itself.
And while we’re on CDs – there are character songs CDs, too.
What are character songs? These are – like drama CDs – fully licensed by the anime production. They’re original songs performed by the voice actor who portrays that character in the series, tailored to that particular character.
For example, an aggressive character will have a song with aggressive lyrics that speak to who that specific character is, while a shy character will sing a shy song that represents that character. Multiply the songs by the number of main characters (and even side characters – who often get their own songs as well) in an anime series, and it’s a whole other
Another licensed and legitimate series-related thing is – I’m not even sure what they’re called, but there are events held in concert halls that are drama CD type events where the seiyuu perform side stories and skits from their anime series before live audiences. You can find some videos of these events on You Tube if you’re curious. They’re like drama CDs but on steroids, since they are live performances before enthusiastic fans.
Somewhat related to those events are – and again, I don’t know if these have a name, but they’re videos that are like late-night television interview shows where the seiyuu are asked questions by a panel of fans. These might not be actual licensed productions, but rather fan productions that focus on the seiyuu themselves and their overall careers.
Speaking of seiyuu, some of the more popular ones will team up and do their own radio shows, like Hiroshi Kamiya and Daisuke Ono with Dear Girl Stories. And more than a few of them have successful singing careers in addition to doing voice work.
And finally to the unlicensed materials. There’s fan fiction, doujinshi, fan art... all of which gets sold at Comiket in Tokyo, attended by 100,000 fans two times a year, entirely unlicensed, at which the production companies all turn their heads and ignore what’s happening – because engaged fans are fans that will continue to support an anime series and all of its licensed subsidiary products, and they know it.
Why am I talking about all of this? Well, recently I gave in and got a Disney Plus subscription, and in the process I’ve rediscovered a massive series universe that exists in American pop culture.
If I have a favorite series universe in American popular culture, it’s Star Wars. I’ve seen a number of the Avengers-universe movies and I like them, but they’re not anything I obsess over.
Despite that assertion, I’ll say that I watched Wandavision and am starting to watch Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and I’ve realized a big truth: compared to the anime producers in Japan, Disney is a bunch of amateurs.
“But Disney is huge at merchandising...” you say, and you would be correct. But do they really understand, as Japanese anime producers do, what keeps fans engaged and coming back for more?
Let’s say Disney begins holding fan events at which the Avenger actors read side stories like in drama CDs, but with a full orchestra playing background music. The hype and the sales – not only ticket sales, but sales of new subscriptions to Disney Plus – would be enormous. And the possibilities would be endless for more fan events of the same ilk.
The actors from Wandavision could release a few character songs. Wanda’s would be “I Lost Everything When I Lost You” and Vision’s would be “Who Am I?” since he’s an android and, I would think, he suffers from a few identity issues.
The Falcon and Winter Soldier actors could have their own radio show called “Wingmen” or maybe “Best Enemies” or something similar. Falcon’s character song would be “When I’m Flying” and the Winter Soldier’s song would be “Who Am I... Really?” since he lived as a brainwashed killer for decades.
I’m joking obviously, and I know that major Hollywood movie stars would be unlikely to be interested in extracurricular fan servicing of this kind, while Japanese seiyuu build their fan bases on being accessible to the fans in ways that would never work here in the U.S.
But the idea still makes sense. The whole ecosystem that rises up when an anime series is produced is meant to draw in fans and gain their devotion. You do that by creating as much secondary material as possible to keep fans engaged and interested in the story and characters.
I think Disney is starting to catch on to the possibilities. On Disney Plus they have a series of seven-minute shorts that reintroduce some of the Avengers movie characters to the audience. The series is called Legends. I watched it and was reminded of this or that character, and it did what it was intended to do: I started thinking, hm, maybe I should see this movie again... or see that other movie in the series for the first time.
The 24/7 nature of Disney Plus also lends itself to this all-encompassing ecosystem. If you wake up at 3 a.m. realizing that you have to see the Thor movies in order to complete your knowledge of the Avengers universe, well, they’re right there on Disney Plus ready and available for you to watch at any time.
It may take a while for Disney to catch up to your average anime production committee as far as creating insane series ecosystems goes – but I know they can do it. ;-)
