Every episode of an anime is a monetary investment that has to pay dividends down the line — so of course, the studios are interested in making each episode as cheap as possible. And there are five common ways they get away with this — some of which we don’t even think about anymore!
Endings
Let’s be real — there are very few endings in the history of anime that are worth watching. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure (JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken) tries to make them as interesting as possible in every season, and so does the first (and currently the only, looking at you Netflix) season of Dorohedoro. But most of the time? We skip them (since they’re boring), not even thinking about how most shows use the same ending in every single episode, padding out 2 whole minutes with a song and a slideshow.
Openings
Yes, anime openings are usually more interesting than their endings, and sometimes they are good enough to NEVER skip (Neon Genesis Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop and once again, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure), but you’ve guessed it — openings are also there to pad time. And even if these are commissioned out of the studio and given higher production value than regular footage — these glorified music videos are there to make anime production overall cheaper.
Flashbacks
Some anime use flashbacks very, very sparingly — maybe a couple of seconds per episode, nothing major. Some other anime we won’t point our finger at (One Piece) would give us several minutes of flashbacks at every possible opportunity, maybe even multiple times per episode (seriously, One Piece, take it easy).
Transformation sequences
Well, more like “stock footage”, but transformation sequences — popularized by magical girl shows like Sailor Moon (Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon) and Pretty Cure (Futari wa Precure) — are the most archetypical example of this technique. Every episode of a magical girl show has to have a magical girl fight, and for that, she has to transform in a beautiful and elaborate sequence that can last for 30 seconds or even more, animated exactly once before being reused repeatedly. Of course, nowadays studios have learned not to make it too obvious, reusing animations with different backgrounds, making reused footage slightly more difficult to spot.
Outsourcing
Animation itself is a grueling and expensive process, and even with opening, ending, 5 minutes of flashbacks and 1 minute of consecutive transformation sequences, a studio would still have to create 14 minutes of animation — which could be tens of thousands of individual drawings. That could’ve been entirely too expensive to make, given Japan’s salary ranges — which is why, studios themselves usually only make storyboards and keyframes (the most essential parts of an animated sequence), and then outsource in-betweens to a studio in South Korea — like Studio Mir, Comma Studio, DR Movie and others.
An anime episode is 24 minutes long. Or is it?
Summary:
Endings.
Openings.
Long flashbacks.
Transformation sequences.
Outsourcing animation.
Every episode of an anime is a monetary investment that has to pay dividends down the line — so of course, the studios are interested in making each episode as cheap as possible. And there are five common ways they get away with this — some of which we don’t even think about anymore!
Endings
Let’s be real — there are very few endings in the history of anime that are worth watching. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure (JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken) tries to make them as interesting as possible in every season, and so does the first (and currently the only, looking at you Netflix) season of Dorohedoro. But most of the time? We skip them (since they’re boring), not even thinking about how most shows use the same ending in every single episode, padding out 2 whole minutes with a song and a slideshow.
Openings
Yes, anime openings are usually more interesting than their endings, and sometimes they are good enough to NEVER skip (Neon Genesis Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop and once again, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure), but you’ve guessed it — openings are also there to pad time. And even if these are commissioned out of the studio and given higher production value than regular footage — these glorified music videos are there to make anime production overall cheaper.
Flashbacks
Some anime use flashbacks very, very sparingly — maybe a couple of seconds per episode, nothing major. Some other anime we won’t point our finger at (One Piece) would give us several minutes of flashbacks at every possible opportunity, maybe even multiple times per episode (seriously, One Piece, take it easy).
Transformation sequences
Well, more like “stock footage”, but transformation sequences — popularized by magical girl shows like Sailor Moon (Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon) and Pretty Cure (Futari wa Precure) — are the most archetypical example of this technique. Every episode of a magical girl show has to have a magical girl fight, and for that, she has to transform in a beautiful and elaborate sequence that can last for 30 seconds or even more, animated exactly once before being reused repeatedly. Of course, nowadays studios have learned not to make it too obvious, reusing animations with different backgrounds, making reused footage slightly more difficult to spot.
Outsourcing
Animation itself is a grueling and expensive process, and even with opening, ending, 5 minutes of flashbacks and 1 minute of consecutive transformation sequences, a studio would still have to create 14 minutes of animation — which could be tens of thousands of individual drawings. That could’ve been entirely too expensive to make, given Japan’s salary ranges — which is why, studios themselves usually only make storyboards and keyframes (the most essential parts of an animated sequence), and then outsource in-betweens to a studio in South Korea — like Studio Mir, Comma Studio, DR Movie and others.
