On Oct. 25, Production I.G and Wit Studio held a limited meet and greet event for anime clubs from five colleges and fans to discuss the future of anime merchandise with CEO of Production I.G USA Maki Terashima-Furuta and CEO of Wit Studio, George Wada.
Production I.G and its subsidiary, Wit Studio, are staples within the anime industry, competing at the top with other famous studios. Production I.G was originally founded on Dec. 15, 1987 while Wit Studio was founded on June 1, 2012 by Wada, a former employee of Production I.G. Since their inception, the studios have gone on to create legendary titles that have seen global success, such as “Attack on Titan,” “Haikyuu!!,” “Spy x Family” and many more.
However, unlike other Japanese animation studios, Production I.G and Wit Studio are known for their events where fans can interact with the staff firsthand to express their gratitude and ask questions to the staff behind their favorite titles. In addition to this exclusive fan meet, the studio’s yearly panel at Anime Expo is known to draw in a large audience of fans eager to hear about upcoming works.
Despite their history of interacting with fans, this event was the first time fans had an organized, in-person opportunity to provide feedback on the ways merchandise should be handled. This initiative, as well as further projects, is designed to enhance the fan experience, both in terms of products and the anime produced.
Translated by Terashima-Furuta, Wada stated that, “with your support in helping [Production I.G. and Wit Studio] create more merchandising, you know, from our production, rather than the communities or anything that would really help the future of our creators and the studios and the industry.”
While already successful in Japan’s merchandise market, Production I.G and Wit Studio are still figuring out the interests of American viewers. This learning curve is due to differing purchasing patterns in Japanese and American fan culture.
For instance, Wada found that “Japanese fans tend to like the newer things, American fans, they like the older things and keep loving it more and more.” This is apparent in shows like “FLCL” and “Ghost in the Shell” where American fans maintain a cult following, while Japanese fans gravitate towards newer releases.
Despite this understanding, the types of products that American fans like are still unknown to the studios. In order to better understand what American fans are looking for, Terashima-Furuta showed a variety of sample merchandise to the audience in a presentation. As the presentation continued forward, the fan meet became akin to an auction as more people in the audience excitedly raised their hands to express their thoughts and opinions.
Durability seemed to be an important factor among the different products. Fans were interested in seeing bigger and sturdier folders, metal bookmarks and keychains and cases for electronics. But beyond functionality and purpose, they were also looking for intentionality in the design. They preferred decorative merchandise to have unique edits or original artwork of their favorite characters, instead of seeing plain stills from the show.
One more consideration was affordability, as fans preferred a wider range of accessible prices for different merchandise. Lohith Dudhyala, a USC student who attended the panel, explained, “Because I don’t spend often, I don’t mind spending a lot when I do actually spend. The next thing I look for is design. Like, is it actually gonna be something I wear often or use often?”
Feedback like this provides direction for the studios, giving them more information about the kinds of merchandise they should develop for an American audience. This situation is ultimately a win-win for the fans; they receive better merch, and with the funds, both studios can produce even greater shows to enjoy.
The fans always are the number one priority of Production I.G. and Wit Studio; with the entire team pouring their passion into every project they do in order to give the audience the best content possible. Even with this much soul in the work, Wada stated that “We weren’t even expecting these shows to, you know, become this popular outside of Japan,” Wada said. “We were only making things that we were happy with.”