Collaborative Creativity, Dark Energy, and Anime’s Global Success◆特集＊招待論文◆

Collaborative Creativity,
Dark Energy, and Anime’s
Global Success
協調的創造性、ダーク・エナジー、アニメのグローバルな成功
Ian Condry

Associate Professor, Comparative Media Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
コンドリー・イアン
マサチューセッツ工科大学比較メディア研究准教授

In this essay, I give an overview of some of the main ideas of my new book The Soul of Anime:
Collaborative Creativity and Japan’s Media Success Story. Drawing on ethnographic research,
including fieldwork at Madhouse, as well as a historical consideration of the original Gundam series,
I discuss how anime can be best understood in terms of platforms for collaborative creativity. I argue
that the global success of Japanese animation has grown out of a collective social energy that operates
across industries—including those that produce film, television, manga (comic books), and toys andother licensed merchandise—and connects fans to the creators of anime. For me, this collective social
energy is the soul of anime.
本論文において、拙著『アニメのダーク・エナジー：協調的創造性と日本のメディアの成功例』
における中心的なアイデアの紹介を行う。アニメを制作する企業マッドハウスにおけるフィール
ドワークを含む、人類学的な研究を行うとともに、オリジナルの『ガンダム』シリーズに関する
歴史的な考察をふまえて、協調的創造性のプラットフォームとしてアニメを位置付けることができるかどうか検討する。日本アニメのグローバルな成功は、映画、テレビ、漫画、玩具、そしてその他のライセンス事業を含めて、アニメファンと創作者をつなぐ集団的なソーシャル・エナジーに基づいていると主張する。このような集団的なソーシャル・エナジーがアニメの精神であると
著者は考えている。
Keywords: Media, Popular Culture, Globalization, Japan, Ethnography

Acknowledgements: Thank you to Motohiro Tsuchiya for including me in this project. I think “Platform
Lab” is an excellent rubric because I believe media should be viewed as a platform of participation
rather than content for consumption. I view scholarship the same way. My anime research was
supported by the Japan Foundation, the US National Science Foundation, and the Japan Society for
the Promotion of Science. I have also received generous funding from, MIT, Harvard, Yale, and theFulbright program. A heartfelt appreciation goes out to the colleagues, friends, students, industry
professionals and numerous fans who have added their voices to this ethnographic effort.

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In my new book, The Soul of Anime (Condrysocial energy is what I mean by the“soul”of anime.

2013), I examine the worlds of Japanese animation

What do I mean by“collective social energy”?

to explore the ways cultural movements succeed—

During my fieldwork, I witnessed the camaraderiethat is, gain value and go global through forces ofamong the many people who make anime developed

collective action. By some estimates, a staggering

through storyboard discussions and script meetings.

60 percent of the world’s tv broadcasts of cartoons

I felt the energy at fan conventions, when hundreds

1

are Japanese in origin (jetro 2005). Anime featureof people cheered for the most entertaining anime

films encompass a range of works from mass

music videos. The importance of social energy canentertainment to art-house cinema, from primetime

be seen historically as well. The original Gundam

mainstream children’s series to late night otakii

Mobile Suits series, which began airing in 1979, wasseries. I use the word“anime”to refer to Japaneseinitially cancelled before the end of its first year ofanimated film and television, but the worlds ofbroadcast because the sponsor’s toys were not selling

anime extend well beyond what appears on screens.

well. But the intensity of fan interest led to a revival

Anime is characteristic of contemporary media inof the series, which is now one of the best-known

its interconnected webs of commercial and cultural

franchises in anime. In my experience, writers who

activities that reach across industries and national

emphasize the business side of media often fail toboundaries. In the United States and elsewhere,

recognize the importance of the social energy thatanime fan conventions draw tens of thousands

leads to business success. From my perspective as aof participants, many dressed as their favorite

cultural anthropologist, there is a social life to media

characters. A vast array of licensed merchandisethat extends far beyond the business world. My bookdepends on anime characters, as well, characters

aims to illustrate how that social energy operates andoften born in manga (comic books), but also inwhat it means for media success.

videogames, light novels, and even tv commercials.

1 Globalization from Below

What is the secret of anime’s global success?
Many scholars, fans, and media observers who

Anime is a success in the sense that it became

wrestle with this question focus on the content ofa sustainable form of creative expression and a style

anime films and series themselves or on the creators

recognized as“Japanese”that went global without

who design the characters and worlds. In my book, I

the push of major corporations (at least at first) andstart from a different perspective by using fieldwork

thus represents a kind of globalization from below.

in animation studios and other sites of anime-related

In other words, anime demonstrates the diversity of

production to explore ethnographically the social

actors involved in the transformation of a small-scale,side of media. I start with the logic and practices

niche cultural form into something that reaches

of making animation and use this perspective as

wider audiences and influences people around thea way to think about cultural production more

world.

broadly. I argue that the secret of anime’s successWhy did Japan, of all places, become a global

is collaborative creativity, which operates acrossleader in animation? How did the cultural universe

media industries and connects official producers toof anime expand from being a (mostly) children’s

unofficial fan production. Put simply, success arises

genre to something of value for teenagers and adults,

from social dynamics that lead people to put theiras well, and why did this not happen in the Unitedenergy into today’s media worlds. This collective

States until much later? What can anime tell us36Collaborative Creativity, Dark Energy, and Anime’s Global Successabout the emergence of media forms that depend

complexities of transmedia synergies. Overall, thisnot only on corporate backing but also on grassroots

is a story of the emergence of a media form that,and independent efforts to extend audiences andas it matured and spread, gained both wider mass

impact? These questions give us the opportunity

audiences and deeper, more niche-oriented fansto rethink how we understand the emergence andin Japan and overseas. The example of anime is all

spread of distinctive cultural forms as something

the more striking, and more provocative in terms ofother than a game of“follow the money.”Instead,thinking about how cultural movements go global,

we need to follow the activity, the energy, and theonce we recognize that anime studios succeeded

commitment of those who care, starting with what

despite relatively modest economic returns. The

is most meaningful to them. Anime is instructive

idea of collaborative creativity enables us to map the

because it reveals the centrality of a kind of social

broader connections of anime beyond the media texts

energy that emerges in the space between people

themselves.

and media. For me, the soul of anime does not point

Many studies of animation begin with a question

to some ultimate, internal essence of the media as an

about the object—what is anime?—but I suggest aobject. Rather, the soul of anime points to this social

different entry point: who makes anime? The chaptersenergy that arises from our collective engagementsof my book can be read as an attempt to understandthrough media, and as such, it gives us an alternative

anime’s value in terms of a circle of interaction across

way to think about what is of value in media. Like

categories of producers. Rather than beginning withthe cosmological“dark energy”that is accelerating

the contrasts between production and consumption,

the expansion of the universe yet is unseen, I thinkanswering the question“Who makes anime?”startsof the collective social energy that is expanding thefrom a different place, making central not only thecultural universe of anime as a kind of“dark energy”

roles of anime creators but also the roles of manga

too, because it is largely unseen by commentators.

artists, sponsors, merchandisers, and fans as partGiven the problematic associations of“soul”withof wider processes of production.2 In the chapters,“essence,”we might think of the soul of anime inI examine, in turn, the making of anime by looking

terms of a social“dark energy.” This dark energy

at how professional animators design new anime

suggests new possibilities for producing creativearound characters and worlds (chapters 1-2); theplatforms on which to shape new futures.

emergence of different approaches to anime, such

The book’s central thematic is the interplay

as feature films versus tv, as a way to think about the

between an internal logic of anime as a kind oftransmedia connections that are necessary to makeportable creative platform (glossed as“characters

anime successful, notably the key role of manga

and worlds”but somewhat more complex) and the(chapter 3); how synergies between anime creatorssocial contexts in which anime gains its meaning

and toy companies pushed the development ofand value—what I’m calling the“social side ofrobot anime that emphasized“real”(i.e., grownup)

media,”which includes both paid labor and fanthemes and helped to expand audiences for anime

activities. By looking at cultural production acrossfrom children to adults (chapter 4); how“cutting-categories of producers, we can gain insight intoedge”studios design their own workplaces as (morethe workings of contemporary media and culture

or less) open spaces for creativity (chapter 5); howby reflecting on pre-Internet examples of user-

online file sharing and the practices of“fansubbing”

generated content, so-called“viral”media, and the

expand the cultural universe of anime amid fierce

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debates over the legitimacy of copyright (chapter

usually requires a specialized, often workmanlike6); and how Japanese otaku (obsessive fans) channel

repetitiveness in which mimicking the drawings oftheir desire for anime characters, even to the point

others with great precision, over and over, is a basicof wanting to marry them, and whether this should

principle of production. In some ways analogous

be viewed as a deeper descent into a closed-off

to the contrast between“working together”andniche world or, instead, as another gesture toward“submission to the enemy,”the study of popularmass appeal (chapter 7). In the conclusion, I returnculture more generally can lead to optimistic readings

to some of the larger questions about how culturalof collective projects that tackle complex problems

forms travel from niche to mass — or, perhaps morethrough innovation and shared commitments, or

accurate, from niche to more widely dispersed niches

pessimistic readings that emphasize the dreary,— and the diverse ways in which media are related toconstricting forces that reproduce hegemoniccollective action.

structures of inequality. This binary of oppression

In this circular journey, we can see how theand liberation is difficult to escape, especially in ourvalue of anime arises from its movement, a fluidity

current era, when even promises of“freedom”often

not confined to a single location or to unique, original

seem to impose the constrictions of free-market

authors. This understanding of value as arising from

capitalism, or neoliberalism, in the name of consumer

living social relations in dynamic interaction shareschoice. That is why looking at a specific case study

inspiration with some foundational anthropologists

such as anime in detail can offer unique insights into

and their approaches to culture and economy,

the workings of media today by giving us a chance toincluding Bronislaw Malinowski (Malinowski 1984

track what happens when something moves across(1922)) and Marcel Mauss (Mauss 1990), both ofplatforms and across national boundaries. In thiswhom found models of economic action centeredrespect, the lessons of anime with regard to questions

on rational individuals hopelessly naïve, a lessonof creativity and control echo against a backdrop of

relevant today and still explored by many. My efforts

broader social and economic change globally.

build on the work of many other scholars who attend

2

2002; Ito 2010; Larkin 2008). By drawing attention

Ethnography and Fieldwork in Anime
Studiosto the circulation and reworking of cultural forms,

As a cultural anthropologist, I approach these

The Soul of Anime speaks to the often-unpredictableissues by attending to some of the nuances of social

potential of ongoing, collaborative projects.

life and then use those details to develop larger

to the social side of media as well (Ginsburg, et al.

Because collaboration is often contentious,

theories about the workings of media and culture.

chaotic, and fluid, we can observe in anime a political

My research centers on ethnographic fieldwork,

struggle over the control and circulation of value.

primarily in several anime studios in Tokyo, between

The term“collaborate,”when used in relation to2004 and 2010. I spent three and a half months in

new social media, tends to have a positive meaning

the summer of 2006 attending script meetings, voiceof“working together,”but we might note that it canrecordings, and editing sessions, and I conductedmean“working for the enemy,”too. In contrast to ainterviews with dozens of creators. In the years

notion of participation, which implies less hierarchy,

before and after, I made one or two brief trips tocollaboration carries hints of disciplined structure.

Japan annually to continue my research. My main

This is appropriate because creating animation

field sites were Gonzo, Aniplex, and Madhouse,38Collaborative Creativity, Dark Energy, and Anime’s Global Success

but I also visited Studio Ghibli, Production I.G.,

office buildings extending in all directions from

Toei Animation, Sunrise, and several other smaller

Tokyo’s center. For all of its international impact,

operations where I observed creators at work.

Japan’s anime production remains in many ways

During one voice-recording session, I was evena cottage industry. A studio can employ anywhererecruited to be a voice actor for a couple of lines (infrom fifteen to a few hundred people, and the studios

Japanese) when an extra was needed (see chapter

rely on local freelance animators as well as large

5). For comparison with practices within the Unitedoffshore animation production houses primarily inStates, I spent a day at the Cartoon Network studios

South Korea, the Philippines, and China. By somein Burbank, California, and I interviewed a Koreanestimates, 90 percent of the frames used in JapaneseAmerican anime director who works in the United

animation are drawn overseas, although the work

States, Japan, and South Korea (chapter 3). In Japan,of design and storytelling is more often done in

I observed labor at a high-end toy factory (the BandaiJapan. Many anime firms cooperate in production,

Hobby Center in Shizuoka), and I met with Japaneseespecially when crunch time comes, and individual

anime magazine writers, publishers, scholars, andanimators’career paths can lead through several

fans. My research also extended beyond today’s

studios. The studios operate as a fragmented but

workplaces, both in thinking historically and in othercomplexly networked epicenter of what has become

realms of fandom. I attended anime conventions in

an increasingly global business.

Boston (2006–2009) and Los Angeles (2011) and theInside the workspaces, the commonalities

enormous“fanzine”convention Comic Market inamong the studios I visited—the lived-in atmosphere,

Tokyo (August 2006), and I follow many aspects ofthe backlit desks for the animators (some of whom,

online anime fandom both in Japan and the United

inevitably, were face-down asleep), the rows ofStates. I also watched a lot of anime, and I read what

computers for others—were reminders of how anime

other academics, fans, and commentators have to

production in Japan has, and has not, evolved since

say.

the industry began in the late 1950s. Most of theGiven the substantial international influence ofdozen anime studios I visited were work-worn andanime, readers might be surprised by the crowded,

bare bones. Although anime studios also had a playfuloften disheveled look of the places where animatorsside, with musical instruments and other pastimes

work. I was surprised by the piles and piles of paper,lying about, they are places of strict deadlines, where

the intensity of hand-drawn work, and the sheer

the work literally piles up.

amount of labor required. I was also impressed by the

To spend time in an anime studio is to be struck

workers’focus, energy, and commitment to working

by the labor of making media. My working definition

together on enormous projects. Collaborativeof“animation”is a media form that is created one

creativity is more than jargon for animators.

frame at a time. A tremendous amount of work is

Most of Tokyo’s anime studios are scattered inrequired, with painstaking attention to detail, tothe suburbs west and north of the city, generally increate each frame of film (or, at least, multiple frames

the pie slice formed by the Chuo train line (heading

per second). It’s a crazy idea. In fact, in the film

west from Shinjuku) and the Seibu Ikebukuro line

Little Nemo, a short from 1911 that mixes animation(heading northwest from Ikebukuro). The buildings

and live action, the American cartoonist Winsor

tend to be nondescript, concrete slabs that could

McCay portrayed his start at“drawing pictures

be mistaken for the countless condos and smallthat will move”as a parlor bet against his cigar-

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smoking friends. In the film, he says that he will draw

the table. Work in an anime studio is not glamorous,

4000 pictures in one month’s time, and make his

and a lot of it is solitary. The film’s young producer,

characters move! His friends think he’s crazy. They

, introduced everyone in the room,laugh, rubbing his head to see if perhaps his skull

including me as an observer and a couple of otheris cracked. The film then cuts to McCay’s stylized

Madhouse staff members. Except for an assistantworkplace, and we see the thousands of pages of

producer for Madhouse, the rest of the group was

paper, barrels of ink, and a playful reference to themen. Most of the people were from Digital Frontier, ainevitable missteps of creating animated work. In

leading computer graphics production company thatthe end, however, McCay succeeds, amazing his

works in film, videogames, and more. Hosoda began

friends with the magic of animation. One wonders,the meeting with comments about an earthquake thatwould he have had the energy to do all that work if

had rocked northern Japan the night before, with

it weren’t for his friends waiting in anticipation? The

shocks reaching hundreds of miles away in Tokyo.

motivation that arises from that anxiety of wanting

But this was still three years before theto please one’s friends and peers is part of what I(northeastern Japan) earthquake of March 2011

mean by“social energy.” It is not easily recognized

and the devastating tsunami and nuclear crisis thatin economic terms, but it plays a key role in defining

followed. The quake we experienced in 2008 caused

what becomes successful.

little damage. At the meeting, Hosoda asked whether

Let’s jump ahead almost a century and take aanyone had injured friends or family, and no one

closer look at work in an anime studio by visiting adid.“Well, it was just an earthquake,”he concluded.

morning meeting with an anime director in the early

Then he lit a cigarette and got down to business.

stages of creating a film that went on to win the BestWe each had a stack of paper in front of us: theAnimated Feature award from the Japan Academy

current draft of the storyboards for the first half ofPrize Association in 2010.

the film. Over the next three hours, Hosoda led us

In the summer of 2008, the director Mamoru

through the roughly three hundred pages, sometimes

Hosoda was deep into creating the storyboards forskimming quickly and sometimes stopping to discuss

his feature film Summer Wars. It was a year before

certain issues in more detail. He discussed“camera

the film’s scheduled release, and the work wasangles”(as they would be drawn), the possible

heating up. The producer of Summer Wars invited

effects that could be used, and above all the lookme to observe a meeting between the director andand feel that he was aiming for. He noted that somehis computer graphics team. I was struck by howof the scenes should look“cartoony”(

storyboards help guide the collaborative creativity ofin contrast to the more photorealistic 3d computer

anime production in distinctive ways.

graphics animation (full 3d cg) used, for example, in),On the day of the meeting, Hosoda met me at

the film Appleseed: Ex Machina, on which several ofa small office building for Madhouse Studios near

the cg team members in the room had worked. For

Ogikubo Station in western Tokyo and we went

Hosoda’s film, most of the character movements

upstairs. Feeble air conditioners hummed in thewould be hand-drawn. Many of the backgrounds

small, muggy room, which was barely large enoughwere hand painted, as well—notably, those featuring

for the ten of us around a table. An array of snacks

the luxurious rural home in Nagano where much ofand canned coffee, apparently bought at a nearby

the action takes place. Even this hand-drawn work,

convenience store, was spread out in the middle ofhowever, would be scanned into computers to be40

Collaborative Creativity, Dark Energy, and Anime’s Global Successassembled and edited. The computer graphics wouldof something larger than the media object itself,

be used especially for certain scenes that were bestsomething emerging from a collective commitment

done with computer modeling, such as the virtualamong those who care. Storyboards helped achieve

world setting (although this was not 3d in the sensethat focus of attention, and that focus began to takeof requiring glasses to give the illusion of depth).

on a life of its own.3

At one point, Hosoda noted a scene that required a

Meetings like this regarding backgroundboy to look out the back of a car as it moved down

paintings, characters’movements, special effects,

the street.“This scene we’re going to need yourvoice acting, music, and so on, would continue in thehelp on,”he said, explaining that it was very difficult

months that followed. After the meetings, the more

to portray a receding landscape without using

solitary work of drawing and constructing the scenes

computers.

would continue. Much of the practice of animation

Hosoda trained as an oil painter in art college,

is focused downward, toward a page of paper or aand his visual sensibility shows through in thecomputer screen. As an ethnographer, however,nuances of his storyboards. He is adept at shaping

I found the meetings indispensable because they

the contours and tempo of his films. Hosoda’s

clarified some of the underlying logic of making

drawings are filled with a kind of kinetic energy. Even

animation and allowed me to experience the energy

in the morning in a sweaty room with canned coffee,

of working closely with others—sharing information,

we found ourselves being pulled into the world of theworking out goals, dividing up the labor.

film. We sensed the tension between the characters3

as they faced their respective challenges. We flipped

Labor and Media Studies

through the storyboards, page by page, scene after

Storyboards are intriguing because they arescene, and the visual storytelling was clearly taking

integral to the process of production, but in the end

shape in the minds of the cg team. But to be honest,

they are regarded as waste, a useless by-product,

the film did not really take shape for me. I found it

and in most cases are thrown away. This highlights

very difficult to imagine, based on the sketches andsomething we intuitively know: What we see on-

scribbled directions, what the final product would

screen represents a small slice of the labor involved

actually become. Here, too, a personal history ofin the overall projects. Hosoda’s job is to guidecertain experiences was required to make sense ofmuch of that work, but it was readily apparent thatthe drawings, and I lacked that experience.

problem solving, creativity, and innovation would

Even so, there was something about being

be required, to a greater or lesser extent, at manyin a meeting like that, with others in the roomstages in the process. Moreover, success itself

intensely focused on the project at hand that has adepends not only on production inside studios, but

galvanizing effect. The collective attention helped

also on many factors the creators cannot control.

build connections, bring focus, and clarify the roles

This fundamental unpredictability requires creatorsof the many people needed to complete such a

to take a leap of faith into projects when they arelarge project. Such meetings did more than convey

uncertain of the outcome. Both history and futurism

abstract information about a mechanical process

play a role in guiding the creative action that flows

of production; they helped reinforce a sense ofthrough anime projects, revealing how our cultural

engaged commitment. The energy in the room wasassumptions go into creating the worlds we inhabit.

contagious, and this energy begins to give a sense

Writers about anime get the luxury of knowing how

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things turned out, but this can give a false impression

Some people are quick to blame unauthorized onlineof the perspective of working in media worlds. In thisaccess to anime as the culprit, but other factors are

regard, anime gives us a concrete example to think

important, too, including how low budgets are related

through the social dynamics of purposeful creativity

to the history of Japanese animation and the terms

in a global context. Anime exists not only as media

set by early tv series like Astro Boy (see chapter 3).

but also as labor and energy that connects creators,

For workers, the pressure of working quickly

businesses, and fans. Collaborative creativity canand cheaply, combined with the uncertainty ofoffer a way to rethink the value of contemporary

the success, adds to the precarious nature of themedia, not only as content, but also as connection. In

business. According to an article in the Wall Street

turn, it allows us to extend analyses across locales,

Journal, nine out of ten animators leave the industry

platforms, and kinds of producers.

within three years to move to other areas of work.

This doesn’t mean that anime creators are

The average salary for animators in their twenties

getting rich. The value of the cultural success of

was estimated at $11,000 per year and only twice

anime as a global phenomenon, and the energy ofthat for animators in their thirties (Hayashi 2009).5

the participants, is not easily translated into monetary

Long hours are the norm, and many animators work

rewards for the studios. This means low salaries forfreelance, moving from project to project, often

animators; it also has broader significance. Japan,

without benefits. Most animators burn out or simply

like other advanced industrial nations, is facing the

can’t make a living on the pay they receive for theirchallenge of developing new industries, especiallydrawings. Those who remain tend to be the ones who

now that manufacturing increasingly is moving

work quickly and who can handle the grueling pace.

overseas to low-wage nations. When I began thisIn terms of economic success, anime

project in the early 2000s, I imagined that the“content

seems more of a cautionary tale than a model ofindustries”(the Japanese term for media, publishing,entrepreneurial innovation. The same Wall Street

and entertainment) might be a powerful engine of

Journal article noted that some animators leave theeconomic growth; the reality is more complicated.

business for more lucrative work in videogames. In

Although the work of creating scripts andfact, when several representatives from the Japanesestoryboards, designing characters and backgroundvideogame company Square Enix visited mit inartwork, and drawing key frames is generally done in

March 2009 to give a seminar on the making of theJapan, much of the drawing of“in-between”frames

Final Fantasy XII game, I was excited to share myby lower-wage animators is done overseas in Southinsights about the workings of characters and the

Korea, the Philippines, and China. Depending on

intriguing parallels between anime and videogame

how you measure it,“Japanese”animation is madeproduction. But the director, Hiroshi Minagawa, also

mostly outside Japan. For the Madhouse producer

had something to ask me about my study of anime:

Yūichirō Saitō, however, that really isn’t an issue as“Why are you studying such an old-fashioned andlong as the quality of work is solid.“We just want tounprofitable industry?”Good question.

make good animation; we are not so concerned about

For me, the answer to the question“Why4national origins,”he said. Still, given the budget

study anime?”lies in an interest in uncovering theconstraints of making animation and the tremendous

dynamics of cultural movements that don’t rely onamount of work required, we find that cultural

the promise of exorbitant wealth as the measure of

success and economic success mean different things.

success. Anime has become a globally recognized42

Collaborative Creativity, Dark Energy, and Anime’s Global Successstyle—or, more accurately, a generative platform

real human consequences. In the first episode, one

for creativity—despite relatively modest economicof the lead female characters, Fraw Bow, watches

returns. Some researchers describe animation as ahelplessly as her mother is killed by a blast. The

business, with a kind of“follow-the-money”approach

series unfolds by following the Earth Federation(Tada 2002). But in an era of user-generated

spaceship White Base as it tries to escape from rebel

media, when amateur productions can rival those of

Zeon pursuers. A complex cat-and-mouse game plays

professional studios, we need a wider perspective toout over the course of the series, with side stories

map how emergent cultural forms develop and takeand complex conspiracies developing alongside love

hold. Japan, as the world’s third largest economy andaffairs and family trauma. According to Ueda, thea robust epicenter in the import and export of popular

creators became increasingly engrossed in (hamatta)

culture, provides a useful location for unravelingthe world of Gundam, and their excitement andthe dynamic political struggles over the meanings

commitment to the project grew deeper and moreof popular culture, both as cultural resource and asintense.“We wanted to make a world that seemedcommercial product.

like it could actually exist,”he said.
Much to the disappointment of Clover, the toy

4

From Failure to Success: Fans Revive
Gundamcompany that sponsored the original series, however,

The unusual story of the Gundam franchisethat it was a difficult time for the creators (yappari,

offers another perspective on how“social energy”istaihen deshita):“Clover complained in many ways.

a better explanation of media success compared to

The show was too complex, too confusing. It was

narrower economic interpretations. The reason is

too dark. Children couldn’t follow what was going

simple. The first series of Gundam Mobile Suits wason. Clover wanted all kinds of changes. But withcancelled by the sponsor because it was deemed aanimation, you have to plan episodes six months inbusiness failure, but it was revived when an outsideadvance to get them on air. It’s not the kind of thing

toy company recognized the power of the social

you can easily change in reaction to what audiences

energy of older fans.

respond to.”7 What did Clover want?“It’s a little

the Gundam toys did not sell. Ueda acknowledged

One of the producers of the original Gundam

harsh to put it this way, but they just wanted toys

series, Masao Ueda, is someone I met during

to sell. They didn’t really care how we did it,”saidfieldwork. He described the aims of the original

Ueda. Moreover, past examples seemed to clarify

creators who worked with the director Yoshiyuki

Gundam’s failure. In contrast to shows like Astro Boy,

Tomino:“We struggled to make a show that rid itself

which generally reached a resolution at the end ofof the kinds of lies (usoppoi) that characterized heroeach half-hour, Gundam wove complex story arcs,

programs up to that point. In Gundam, the robots

with storylines extending across many episodes.

do not have superpowers. They are just weapons

If you missed an episode, it would be difficult toof battle. In addition, most heroes that came before

catch up the following week. This was before vcrs

were unrealistically courageous, but in Gundam theyand video rental stores, not to mention digital video

had doubts, and they were scared. This seemed torecorders. When the toys didn’t sell, Clover canceled6

us to have much more reality (reariteii).” In thethe program early—after ten months instead of theoriginal Gundam, this seriousness was conveyed

one year that was originally planned.

through the gruesome destruction of war and its

But then something remarkable happened:

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Bandai, then a small toy company, approached Cloverworld. According to Ueda,“When asked about theseand asked to buy the rights to make plastic models

fan works, we always said,‘it’s possible that’s theof Gundam robots. Clover was not in the business

way it is.’”This openness helped energize fans in theof making plastic models, so it was happy to sell

1980s and beyond, an early example of how media

those particular rights. A representative at Bandai

could be a platform for participation as much as anrecognized that with Space Battleship Yamato and Star

object of consumption. In this regard, too, we see

Wars, teenagers were eager to build such models,the precursors of today’s social media and a kind ofand he thought that Gundam plastic models would beprehistory of media’s shift from content to platform.

similarly successful. Sure enough, sales of Gundam

Collaborative creativity in Gundam draws

plastic models (which came to be known as GunPlaattention to the synergies among anime, the toy

or ganpura) boomed. It is tempting to see this as acompanies, and fans. Clearly, we need to look beyond

prophetic moment: Clover eventually went bankrupt,

the content of the show and the marketing strategies

and Bandai is now Japan’s largest toy company.

to understand the feedback loops that led to the

New variations on the Gundam series are still being

emergence of a popular movement, even after thecreated. In other words, the key to Gundam’s successseries was deemed a failure. The eventual successarose from the fan energy that built up amongof the Gundam series illustrates the power of fansolder, more hardcore fans, even though Clover’s

as active participants in the production of the world

aim of selling toys to young children was a failure.

around the series. But we also see that explaining the

The social energy is what makes possible businessphenomenon in terms of“spreadable”or“drillable”

models, and successful business models in turn help

media (Jenkins 2009b) risks pulling us into a criticalpromote the emergence of more social energy.

reading inside the world of Gundam when we also

Other synergies helped Gundam as well,need to be sensitive to changes in the“outsideespecially as the broader media context aroundworld,”including the development of anime specialty

anime shifted in the late seventies and early eighties

magazines and high school and college fan circles.

(Otsuka and Sakakibara 2001). As fans matured,

The emergence of anime’s success comes from thisthey founded new forms of fandom. Specialty anime

kind of wider dynamic.

magazines aimed at teenagers and older readers,

5 Conclusion

such as Animage, had been launched with the Space
Battleship Yamato boom. Anime fan clubs emerged

I would argue that paradigm shift is reshaping

around Gundam in high schools and colleges. Many

the study of media and popular culture. We areof these fans were energized by the military and sci-increasingly aware of the distinction between thefi elements of Gundam; in turn,“research”(kenkyū )idea that media acts as a conveyor of content (like a

into the show became an important fan activity.

newspaper) and, in contrast, media can also be a

For example, one of the show’s conceits was that

platform for participation (like Twitter). This is not so“Minovsky particles”could be used as a kind ofmuch a contrast between types of media, but rather

defense shield. Fans took this idea and developed

a contrast in how we analyze media. Of course,

detailed theories of“Minovsky physics”(Minofusukii

people can participate in newspapers, like writing

butsurigaku), producing study guides and other fan-letters to the editor. By the same token, Twittermade materials. Significantly, the creators neveris also a conveyor of content. But depending on

objected to fans’interpretations of the Gundam

whether we think in terms of content or platform,

44Collaborative Creativity, Dark Energy, and Anime’s Global Success

we raise different kinds of questions. If we think inversus personalized futures? What will this meanterms of content, we tend to analyze media texts andfor citizenship and democracy, consumerism andmessages. On the other hand, if we think in terms

markets? Where will we find the heroes to tackleof platforms, we emphasize social practices, thetoday’s most pressing challenges? By thinking inemergence of relationships, and the ways networks

terms of collaborative creativity, we may come to see

develop through communication. It seems to me

how even our tiny niches are connected to broader

that this latter perspective can offer important new

networks of people and activities, which, in turn, areapproaches to the study of media, especially as social

shaped by diverse values that come into being as we

media becomes increasingly important. During

act on them. Anime demonstrates how, with somethe course of my research, I found that the story ofluck and some drive, we can have greater, moreanime’s success is also in many ways a kind of pre-extensive influence than we might imagine.

history of social media. Anime is best understood interms of the dark energy that characterizes the social

Notes: This is an overview of some of the main ideas

in media.

in my new book The Soul of Anime: Collaborative

In the examples above, I have tried to draw

Creativity and Japan’s Media Success Story (2013, Dukeattention to the ways ethnography can help us see

University Press, USA). FREE DOWNLOAD of thethe ways in which anime operates as a platform ofIntroduction to the book is here: http://www.scribd.com/

participation. In the example of Hosoda’s Summer

doc/117380368/The-Soul-of-Anime-by-Ian-Condry

Wars, we saw how storyboards operate as a kind of
platform that enables the collaborative production ofanime, guiding the workflow of hundreds of people.

Endnotes

In the Gundam example, we saw how the original

1

sponsors viewed the original series failure in terms ofa very limited business model (selling Clover’s toys).
However, a broader perspective that considered theemerging energy of anime fans – their“research,”2

their desire to build plastic models, the growth of fan
clubs and fan-oriented magazines – we saw that there3

was a potential for businesses to build upon, eventhough it was largely invisible to Clover. If we aretrying to understand what makes cultural movements

45

go global, this draws our attention to the social
energy of engaged participants and the contexts inwhich their commitments create something. This is6
7

the idea behind collaborative creativity.
Looking at media in terms of platforms and

The figure comes from an English-language report by theJapan External Trade Organization (jetro), which quotes
meti 2004. The 60 percent figure is widely quoted bothonline and in print. I cannot verify its accuracy, but I willnote that when I asked the head of Cartoon Networks
Studios, he said, “That sounds about right.”
I acknowledge the advice of an anonymous reviewer insuggesting this analytical direction, and I have borrowed
some of the reviewer’s phrasing in this paragraph and thenext.
The converse is also true. Where there is little of thatenergy, there is also the danger of little being accomplished.
A Japanese friend who was trying to break into the anime
screenwriting business once reported that meetings arounda faltering project were low energy and pointless.
Yūichirō Saitō, interview by the author, August 2008.
The cost of living in Tokyo is comparable to that of major
American cities, so it would be diff icult, though not
impossible, to support oneself on that level of pay.
Masao Ueda, interview by the author, August 2006.
Ibid.

References

contexts should give us new opportunities to

Condry, Ian, The Soul of Anime: Collaborative Creativity
and Japan’s Media Success Story. Durham, NC: Duke
University Press, 2013.
Ginsburg, Faye D., Lila Abu-Lughod, and Brian Larkin, Media

materialize ideas through cultural practice. Ideally,
it can also allow us to ask new questions: How do
we balance the forces of networked collaboration

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worlds : anthropology on new terrain. Berkeley: Universityof California Press, 2002.
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Mauss, Marcel, The Gift: The Form and Reason For Exchange
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Otsuka, Eiji, and Gô Sakakibara, Kyôyô to shite manga anime(Manga and anime as education). Tokyo, Japan: Kodansha,
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Tada, Makoto, Kore ga anime bijinesu da (This is business ofanime). Tokyo, Japan: Kosaido Publishing, 2002.

〔受付日

2013. 6. 3〕

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