Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-08-03)

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BloombergBusinessweek August 3, 2020

a popularboxingmanga.

“Andsincehewasn’tgood

at drawingcleanlines,I had

himredrawscenesfrom

romancemanga.”

Asa storyteller,though,

Isayamawasa natural.The

comicseemed,at a glance,

tobea nichestory,witha

uniquesettingthatwould

appealto“comicbook

geeks,”Kawakubosays.

But“lookingdeeper,it had

allthemakingsofa main-

streamhit.”Morethanmost

artists,Isayamaseemed

able—andwilling—toview

hischaractersfroma mar-

ketingperspectiveaswell

asanartisticone.Heknew

howtoleavereaderswantingmore—howtokeepthemcoming

backissueafterissuewithplottwistsandcliffhangers,almost

asthoughhewaswritingforTV.

KawakubotracesthissensibilitytoIsayama’smovetoTokyo

fromruralOitaprefecture.“Hethoughtdeeplyaboutwhat

readerswantedfromhim,becausefailingtodeliverwould

meanreturningtoworka dayjobuntilhisnextseriescame

along,”Kawakubosays.“Becauseofthatmindset,he’sbecome

anauthorwhois capableofthinkinglikea mangaeditoror

ananimeproducer.”

IN1996,DEMARCOANDSEANAKINS,TWOCREATIVE

directorsattheCartoonNetwork,werechargedwithfillinga

newblockofafter-schoolprogramming.Theycameupwith

Toonami, a four-hourshowthatreflectedtheiroff-kiltertastes.

It mixedHanna-BarberacartoonssuchasBirdmanwitholder

animelikeVoltronandRobotech, whichcouldbelicensedfor

virtuallynothing—moreorlessthebudgetDeMarcoandAkins

setoutwith.AfterToonamididwellinitsfirstmonths,their

bosstossedthemsomepocketmoneyformoreanime.

“DragonBallZwasoneweknewabout,becausewehad

watchedbootlegVHStapesthatwerentedfroma Japanese

homevideostorehereinAtlanta,”DeMarcosaidwhenwemet

attheGeorgiaofficesofAdultSwim,CartoonNetwork’slate-

nightprogrammingblock.Whentheyaddedit totheirlineup

in1998,majordistributorssuchasBandaiCo.andFunimation

ProductionsLLCstartedcomingtohimwithpitchesforother

shows.EventuallyToonamimovedtoAdultSwim,whereit

introducedAmericanviewerstoiconicmangacharacters

suchasSailorMoonbeforedwindlingratings led to its can-

cellation in 2008.

DeMarco is now vice president and creative director of

Adult Swim. Sitting in a conference room named for Astro

Boy, wearing jeans and a black T-shirt with a faded image

from a horror manga by Junji Ito, he looked like a linebacker

who’d gone on vacation in Japan and never come home. He

told me about the Cartoon Network’s decision to bring back

Toonami in 2012. The revival began as a one-time April Fool’s

Day nostalgia trip for die-hard fans, but when it got tremen-

dous ratings and social media attention, DeMarco decided

to make it permanent.

To fill the block he turned to his contacts at Funimation,

who showed him a teaser trailer for the Attack on Titan anime

it was seeking to distribute. “It was literally just an image of the

titan coming over the wall,” DeMarco told me. “When we saw

that we were, like, ‘Hell yeah!’ We didn’t even read the comic,

we just said, ‘Yeah, we’re interested in this.’ I’m a big horror

fan, and the idea of a skinless, giant humanoid eating people—

you don’t have to work hard to sell me on that.”

Toonami began including Attack on Titan in May 2014, seven

months after the first season concluded in Japan. It was an imme-

diate hit, bringing in about 1.3 million viewers in its midnight

timeslot.“You’retalkingabouta crazyJapanese show that’s

drawingasbiganaudienceasFamilyGuy, which is one of the

biggesthitcartoonsintheU.S.inthelast 20 years,” DeMarco

said.“That’saboutasmainstreamasanimecan get in the U.S.”

Theshow’ssuccesshelpedtilttheU.S.’sentire comic book

markettotheEast.From 2015 to2018,Barnes & Noble Inc.

doubledtheshelfspaceit devotedtomangaandbeganhold-

ing“MangaMondays”salesevents.ThathelpedAttackon

Titan, whichhadfewerthana millionEnglish-languagecopies

inprintattheendof2014,approximatelytriple its print run

withina year.Some4 millioncopieshavenow been issued,

plusalmost1 milliondownloadsofthedigital edition. The

windfallcaughteveryoneinvolvedwiththeshow off guard.

Theyhadn’tplannedforanotherseason,leaving fans to wait

until 2017 foranother.

Aroundthetimetheanimereturned,Netflix Japan dropped

whatDeMarcocallsa “moneybomb”onthe market. Netflix

hasn’tsaidexactlyhowmuchcashit invested, but its chief

contentofficer,TedSarandos,toldanalystslatethatyear

thatit plannedtospenda significantchunkofits$8billion

original-contentbudgetonanime.GregPeters, Netflix’s chief

productofficer,attributesthecompany’sinterest in part to

howwellanimeworkswithstreamingtechnology: “If you

Also from Attack on Titan Volume 29

Sales rank of Attack on Titan Volumes sold

among manga series

Anime show

premieres

TITANIC SALES

2011 2019

#1

15

2011 2019

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