The Creator of Adult Swim’s Best Mecha Anime Has a Dire Warning For the Industry

Over the past decade or so, anime’s rapid rise in popularity has turned it into a legitimate global mainstream form of entertainment. Each passing year seems to bring along yet another culture-shifting title, helping to attract countless new fans and further grow the industry and its following.

Major streaming services like Netflix are reporting that up to half of all users regularly watch anime, while the industry continues to shatter its own revenue records. Anime is the biggest it’s ever been, yet some can’t help but feel there are troubling times ahead.

This past week, Code Geass series director Goro Taniguchi had a warning for the anime industry, believing that the overreliance on adaptations, instead of crafting original stories, will be the death of Japanese anime.

Code Geass Series Director Urges the Need for Anime-Original Productions

Says Adaptations Have Become the Norm, but Original Stories Should Not Be Neglected

While celebrating the premiere of his new film, Paris ni Saku Étoile, Goro Taniguchi spoke with Tokyo Shimbun about his latest work and the state of the anime industry. Notably, he mentioned the importance of anime-original productions, like his latest film and the iconic 2000s mecha franchise, Code Geass. Taniguchi said:

“Adaptations have understandably become the norm, because they’re easier to secure a profit on. But I believe that, if left with nothing but adaptations, Japanese anime will be done for.”

He has a point, at least with adaptations being the new norm in the industry. In recent years, titles like Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man, Attack on Titan, Spy x Family, and others have dominated the landscape of anime, and they all got their starts as original manga series. The majority of which ran in the massively popular Weekly Shōnen Jump.

It’s been some time since an anime-original series became the talking point of the anime community, like a Neon Genesis Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, Code Geass, or Puella Magi Madoka Magica did in years past.

Taniguchi explained that the skillsets needed when working on adaptations and original stories are largely different, likening those who work on the former to arrangers, while those who work on original stories are like composers. There’s less risk involved in adaptations, as most will have built-in fanbases.

Anime-Original Productions Have Dwindled in Recent Years

Taniguchi mentioned the importance of anime-original productions remaining after the wave of adaptations ends. It’s unlikely that adaptations are a passing trend, as his words suggest, but that doesn’t diminish the director’s statement. At one time, original anime series nearly matched the number of adaptations released each season.

These days, it’s become unlikely fans will see more than a few fully original works in a year. Talented directors and writers have less of a chance to flex their own creative muscles when working on a series based on someone else’s work, and if history proves anything, it’s that there are plenty of interesting stories to be told in anime.

As long as adaptations prove the least risky avenue for anime studios, they’ll likely remain the norm in the industry, though fans deserve the chance to see more original work from creators like Code Geass‘ Goro Taniguchi.