Anime Industry Watching No.37: Ikuji Nunokawa, Founder of "PIERO," Talks about the Past and Future of Anime Planning

PIERO, which made "Osomatsu-san" a big hit in 2015, is a production company well known for its anime adaptations of action manga published in Shonen Jump, such as "Yu Yu Hakusho" (1992) and "Naruto" (2002).
In 1983, PIERO launched its own original project, "Creamy Mami, the Magic Angel. After "Creamy Mami," PIERO produced five original animated programs until 1998 under the title of "PIERO Magical Girl Series. Why did the company not continue with original projects and become more aggressive in animating manga?　One was the company's own original project and the other was an animated adaptation of a popular manga. Which would benefit the production company and which would enrich the anime culture?　We asked Ikuji Nunokawa, founder and current chief advisor of PIERO, about the ideal anime project.

A time when original projects were necessary to sell new toys

─ PIERO established its original line with "Creamy Mami, the Magic Angel" (1983), but nowadays the number of original projects is decreasing, isn't it? Why is that?

Nunokawa: Of course, we wanted to continue original projects, but the main reason is that the environment surrounding animation has changed. Our industry has always aired animation programs during the hours that children watch, so the program sponsors have been toy, candy, and stationery manufacturers. The main sponsor of "Creamy Mami" was Bandai, but until then, the animation company that Bandai's girls' toy-making department had worked mainly with was Toei Doga (now Toei Animation). At the time, the number of children was large and the economy was booming, so we decided to work with another animation company instead of Toei to sell new girls' toys, and the plan was "Magical Princess Minky Momo" produced by Reed Productions. The original work that followed was our "Creamy Mami". As was the case with "Mobile Suit Gundam," toy manufacturers were always the backbone of original projects at that time. And such original animated programs were often broadcast in the evening hours, outside of the prime time slot.

─ ─ "Creamy Mami" was broadcast every Friday from 6:00 p.m., wasn't it?

Nunokawa: Commercial TV programs are financed by sponsors. It is important to have two or three-hour specials during prime time hours to attract a large number of sponsors for that large broadcast slot. In this respect, it is difficult for an advertising agency to market an animated program in a 30-minute slot. For this reason, animated programs were removed from the prime time slot. In the late-night slot, there are almost no sponsors. In order to survive, they had no choice but to form their own production committee to secure production expenses. Today, you can hardly find any animation programs in prime time except on Sundays. The number of children has decreased, so for Bandai, which wants to sell girls' toys, one animation for girls on Sunday mornings is enough, and they probably no longer need other original programs. TV animation is greatly influenced by the relationship between TV stations and sponsors.


───Then, have TV animation products stopped selling?

Nunokawa: No. On an annual basis, sales of animation-related products have hardly declined at all. This is because the number of children has decreased and the main focus of merchandising has shifted to adults. I think that the people who buy "Osomatsu-san" (2015) merchandise are also of a high age group.