Time Warner and Itochu Corp (C. Itoh & Co.) have announced that they will jointly produce new anime to be broadcast simultaneously on Cartoon Network in Japan and North America.
By April 2006, the joint venture is expected to be producing weekly episodes for three shows, at a budget of 20 million yen ($US 190,000) per episode, 20 to 50 percent higher than the current average budget for anime TV series. The added budget will be spent on higher-than-average quality animation using more animators and other staff than is typically used in anime.
I really really really don't like this idea at all -- at least not from a fan (as opposed to a business) perspective. Having a US company co-produce anime for simultaneous US and Japanese broadcast just seems like it would bastardize the whole idea of what makes anime desirable in the first place: the fact that it is foreign material imbued with Japanese standards, cultural themes, and artistic energy. I just worry that a US company would try to push the Japanese company into making it more accessible to American audiences (ie, dumb it down).
Not that there hasn't been animation made with this kind of international partnership before to mild success (see Big O 2 or Dead Leaves) but it's always just been done on a case-by-case basis (as far as I know).
But whatever. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what comes of it all.
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