Source Material

The origin of an anime's creative work typically will be based on existing source material, such as manga , a video game, or a light novel. Anime can also be based on new material, like with DARLING in the FRANXX. This original Source Material is the first stop on our intellectual property chain. This source material is an original copyrighted work.

For example—for the anime Kaiji, if you look at the banner on Crunchyroll, at the very bottom it says "© Nobuyuki Fukumoto / Kodashana" The original copyright of the artwork, characters, story, etc., is owned by the author and artist, Nobuyuki Fukumoto, and Kodashana, a book publisher. Source Material creators like Fukumoto and Kodashana typically provide licenses of their copyrighted works to an Animation Studio that permit the studios to create animated versions of their work.

Animation Studio

The next stop would be Animation Studios, companies such as J.C. Staff, MADHOUSE, and SUNRISE. These studios handle everything from voice acting to the coloring and drawing of the animation cells. They use the Source Material as reference to create the animation. Similar to how Hollywood movies adapt novels, creative liberties may be taken, such as the removal or addition of scenes. However, very often lines are taken from the Source Material word-for-word. They also take instruction from and work with the Content Committee.

The anime created by the studio is a new copyrighted derivative work of the Source Material. This new work is created using the rights licensed from the Source Material. These rights could include the story and the ability to use the characters for the derivative work, but may also include the use of individual characters, for things such as advertising and merchandise, or even slot machines. For Kaiji, MADHOUSE was the Animation Studio that created the anime.

Content Committee

Content Committees are also referred to as "Production Committees." This is a board or team of people responsible for organizing the production of the anime itself . They're sometimes known as the decision makers for an anime. While the Animation Studio is the one creating the content, the Content Committee works with the creators of the Source Material to make sure that the content is created in a way that respects the original author's wishes. This is not a straightforward process, as oftentimes there needs to be discussion with various people such as the original manga author of the Source Material, the Animation Studio, and advertisers. The role that the Content Committee plays is a complicated one, and they are involved in many aspects of an anime's creation that aren't visible on the surface.

For Kaiji, MADHOUSE likely worked with a Content Committee for funding the project, as well as Nobuyuki Fukumoto. The anime was timed to come out a year or so before the live action adaption of the story, so the Content Committee likely had a hand in planning that.

Syndication

Historically, syndication meant distributing the show to different television networks. However, in more recent years, it could be extended to streaming services as well.

Broadcast

The next stop is Broadcast. This can mean television companies, such as TV Asahi and NHK; The network is given a license to distribute the copyrighted anime work for a set period of time by the Animation Studio. The network may even be given a license to use the trademark of the anime for advertising purposes, such as promoting their service or television channel.

Streaming Services

This could mean Japanese streaming services such as Paravi and Netflix Japan, or international ones, such as Crunchyroll. The anime is then licensed and distributed internationally to various locations depending on what the license permits. Crunchyroll, depending on the rights they have—can even sub-license the content out to other companies for merchandising and other derivative works.

Physical Media Distributors

Physical media refers to DVD and Blu-ray copies of an anime. This generally happens months, or even years after Broadcast. Oftentimes, the content committee provides a license to Physical Media Distributors - for example, VAP for Japanese releases, and Sentai Filmworks for international releases. Because of the way that physical media such as DVDs work, they are typically hard-coded to only play on DVD players sold in certain regions.