The Inner Circle at the Top of Anime Business
When I was at a major record label in a previous role, I felt it acutely: there is clearly an inner circle at the upstream of anime business — particularly around anime production and production committees. Even a music company of global scale cannot easily penetrate it. You can land a theme song. Your artist's track can become a hit through anime. But that is an entirely different matter from holding planning, investment, rights, and distribution windows within a production committee.
This inner circle is not simply an exclusive club of old friends. There is exclusivity, certainly. But behind it lies the structural nature of the production committee system itself. At the upstream of anime, original works, planning, production studios, broadcasting, streaming, music, merchandising, overseas sales, events, and secondary-use rights are all intertwined in complex ways. What matters is not merely whether you can write a check, but who holds which distribution window, who manages which rights, and who has earned trust with which companies.
The Difference Between "Seisaku" and "Seisaku"
First, a crucial distinction in Japanese: "seisaku" (制作) and "seisaku" (製作) are different concepts despite being homophones. The former refers to the actual work of making anime — animation, direction, cinematography, editing, voice recording. The latter refers to organizing the work as a business venture — securing original works, developing plans, assembling investors, selecting production studios, and designing the rights windows for broadcasting, streaming, merchandising, music, and overseas sales. The production committee is a joint venture for this latter "seisaku."
A production committee, therefore, is not a mere investment club. Investors do not simply contribute capital and wait for returns. They divide roles for monetizing the IP: streaming window, merchandising window, music window, overseas sales window, home video window, events window, and more. In other words, the production committee is a system for allocating rights and revenue opportunities in the IP business.
Why the Inner Circle Emerges
This is where the inner circle takes shape. Anime projects run on long timelines — from planning through broadcast, streaming, merchandising, sequels, theatrical films, events, and overseas sales, spanning multiple years. Rights management is intricate, with original works, scripts, characters, music, voice actors, master recordings, merchandising, and international distribution all finely interlocked. Production capacity is limited, and securing the best studios, directors, producers, and animation teams is itself a source of competitive advantage.
As a result, production committees tend to select companies that have worked together before without issues, companies that process rights quickly, companies that keep their promises, companies that don't flee when trouble arises, and companies that understand the realities of the production floor. Formally, these are inter-corporate contracts. In practice, they are networks built on repeated transactions and trust. This is the substance of the anime industry's inner circle.
The essence of the anime industry's inner circle is not exclusivity. It is a practical network formed on trust and track records in an industry where rights, creation, production, merchandising, fan psychology, and global expansion are all deeply intertwined.
The "Relationship Map" Bandai Possessed
This structure connects to my experience at Bandai. During my time there, I was involved in a confidential project to map the key persons at major publishers and rights holders — documenting their areas of responsibility, personal networks, influence on decision-making, past transaction histories, and relationships that never appear on the surface. I will not mention specific company names, individuals, or sensitive details here, but in the character business of that era, possessing such a "relationship map" carried enormous practical significance.
The success or failure of character merchandising was never determined solely by the rights terms written in contracts. Who at which publisher should be approached, at what timing, in what sequence? Who is the de facto decision-maker? Who is receptive to new product initiatives, and who is sensitive to brand dilution risk? What past successes or troubles have occurred? Which producers can get things done quickly together? This kind of information is invisible on official org charts or in contracts. Yet it was critically important when it came to actually assembling the right coalition.
Bandai's competitive advantage was not built on product development or distribution capabilities alone. The Porter Prize analysis described Bandai as having strong partnerships with program production companies, enabling collaboration on developing characters and storylines suited for merchandising. Moreover, since successful merchandising generated royalty income for production companies and strengthened the characters themselves, Bandai and rights holders enjoyed a win-win relationship.
In other words, Bandai was simultaneously a toy company and a relationship hub connecting publishers, production studios, TV networks, advertising agencies, print publishers, retailers, and its own internal product divisions. The Media Division's role was not merely rights acquisition. It was the core of relationship intelligence — acquiring merchandising rights, advancing merchandising from the rights holder's perspective, negotiating on behalf of internal product divisions, and managing profitability on a per-character basis.
Bandai Namco Remains a Core Player in the Inner Circle
Crucially, Bandai/Bandai Namco was never pushed to the outside of the anime industry's inner circle. Rather, the company remains a core player — not as a legacy TV-linked toy company, but as a global IP enterprise that merchandises, develops, and monetizes IP across multiple dimensions.
Bandai Namco's medium-term plan starting April 2025 sets "Connect with Fans" as its long-term vision, aiming to build broad, deep, and complex connections with IP fans, partners, employees, and society worldwide. Under the themes of "Make Great Products," "Expand Further," "Keep Nurturing," and "Refine and Deepen," the company is pursuing new IP creation, category expansion, geographic expansion, IP brand cultivation, and data utilization.
This direction clearly demonstrates Bandai Namco's centrality today. Where the original Bandai connected TV networks, publishers, production studios, advertising agencies, and toy distribution to synchronize programs with products, today's Bandai Namco bundles toys, model kits, figures, trading cards, games, video content, music, live events, amusement, e-commerce, and global expansion to amplify IP value across multiple business domains.
Fiscal 2024 earnings materials show the IP Production segment contributing through box office revenue from "Mobile Suit Gundam SEED FREEDOM" and "Blue Lock THE MOVIE -Episode Nagi-," global video distribution, licensing, and live event-related package sales. The Amusement segment is also performing well with facility operations linked to group IP and product brands. This demonstrates that the company is not merely a toy manufacturer but a business that connects IP across video, music, merchandise, experiences, and global expansion.
Why Music Companies Cannot Enter Anime's Upstream
This is the decisive difference from music companies trying to enter anime business from the outside. Major record labels possess strengths in theme songs, artists, master recordings, music distribution, and live events. But what is required at the upstream of the anime industry's inner circle is not merely the ability to provide music. It is the capacity to extend an IP — across which domains, through which windows, over what time horizon.
Bandai Namco brings decades of relationships with publishers, production studios, TV networks, and advertising agencies, along with current capabilities spanning games, toys and hobby, video, music, events, and global fan touchpoints. This is why the company remains not just a sponsor but a core player within the inner circle, capable of amplifying IP value across multiple business domains.
What this contrast reveals is the essence of this inner circle. Entering it requires more than capital or brand power. It requires relationship capital plus the window value to actually nurture, expand, and operate IP over the long term. Bandai Namco possesses both. Music companies entering from outside must first prove what indispensable role they can play for an anime IP beyond the "music window."
Sony as a Telling Example
Even a music company of global stature — such as my former employer — cannot easily enter the upstream of anime production committees. No matter how strong the musical capabilities or capital base, without the long-accumulated trust relationships and shared language with publishers, production studios, lead committee members, advertising agencies, and existing investors, it is difficult to enter the headwaters of planning. The real barrier to entry in anime business is not contracts or capital scale alone — it is this invisible relationship capital.
For music companies, engagement with anime operates on multiple layers. Providing theme songs. Owning master recordings and music publishing. Developing soundtracks and character songs. Producing live events. Music companies' strengths shine here. But entering the upstream of a production committee requires more: relationships with original creators, trust with production studios, speed in rights processing, coordination ability within the committee, and a clear role in how the IP's value can be extended through specific windows.
On this point, Sony is a telling example. Sony does not engage with anime merely as a music company. It owns Aniplex, a core anime production enterprise. It holds Crunchyroll, a global streaming and fan engagement platform. And it can connect music, games, film, e-commerce, live events, and merchandise within the group. Sony announced in its 2025 corporate strategy that Crunchyroll's paid membership exceeded 17 million as of March 31, 2025.
Sony did not "enter anime as a music company." It sits inside the anime industry's inner circle as an IP conglomerate unifying anime production, music, streaming, games, and global fan business. Other record labels, while global powerhouses in the music industry, tend to be perceived in the anime production context as powerful music partners coming from outside. This gap is not about company size. It is about whether you can assemble the upstream coalition for an anime IP.
Markets Expand, but the Upstream Does Not Open
Of course, today's anime industry is globalizing. Streaming, social media, music platforms, overseas events, and cross-border e-commerce have expanded the market to unprecedented scale. But the expansion of the market does not mean the upstream has become fully open. If anything, as IP values have increased, the seats at the upstream table have become even more consequential.
In anime business, capital is necessary. Musical capabilities are necessary. International reach is necessary. But none of these alone is sufficient. Who can you partner with? Who trusts you? Which rights holders will take your call? Which production studios will work with you on an ongoing basis? Which windows will be entrusted to you? The accumulation of these relationships constitutes the actual barrier to entry.
The anime industry's inner circle, therefore, is not merely a relic of old industry customs. It is a practical network formed on trust and track records in an industry where rights, creation, production, capital, merchandising, fan psychology, and global expansion are complexly intertwined. From the outside, it appears closed. From the inside, it functions as a safeguard — preventing accidents, protecting rights, enabling works to be realized, and sustaining long-term IP operations.
The Real Barrier Is Relationship Capital
In conclusion, the real barrier to entry in anime business is not capital — it is relationship capital, and beyond that, the window value to actually nurture, expand, and monetize IP. Winning an anime tie-up with a hit song and entering the upstream of the anime IP business are different things. The former can succeed on the strength of the music alone. The latter cannot succeed without the ability to bundle rights, production, planning, windows, trust, and proven track records.
The anime industry has become a massive global IP business. Yet at its uppermost reaches, it is still people and their relationships that move projects forward. Before anything is written in a contract, who brings the proposal to whom? Before a matter reaches the committee, who can lay the groundwork and with whom? Before investment ratios are decided, who has earned trust? Therein lies the true nature of the anime industry's inner circle.
← Back to Thoughts