SONIC THE HEDGEHOG – STILL UNSTOPPABLE! - Kazachok

©Eiichiro Oda/Shueisha, Toei Animation
International
Naruto, 10 years of success!
The Japanese license Naruto, based on the
manga created in 1999 by Masashi Kishimoto,
arrived in Europe in 2002. This was the start
of a giant success for the manga in Europe,
particularly in France (edited by Kana): the
French market represented almost 10% of the
150 million copies sold in the world. Naruto is
also licensed in video games, in DVD or on TV.
Namco Bandai for Sony, Ubisoft for Microsoft
and its consoles, and Tomy for Nintendo have
developed a total of 27 video games for the
French market (40 in Japan) since 2006. More
than 3.8 million copies of these games have
been sold in Europe (1.3 million in France, 10
million at a worldwide scale). The last Naruto
video game was launched in March 2012 on
Playstation3 and Xbox360 with an important
advertising campaign. This new game includes
many new features, like the possibility of
Created in Japan by Eichiro Oda in 1997, One
Piece tells the story of Monkey D. Luffy, a
pirate whose main goal in life is to acquire the
treasure of the King of Pirates, Gol D. Roger.
Acquiring this treasure would make him the
next King of Pirates. The manga, edited in Japan
by Shueisha, has been very successful in this
country. Now in its 65 th volume in the Japanese
edition, more than 250 million One Piece manga
have been sold in fifteen years, making it one
of the best-selling manga of all-time. And the
61st volume has set the record, in 2011, for the
fastest and biggest books sales with 2 million
Dragon Ball Z within the top five programs
among children 4-14 (both SABC2).
French children also can’t get enough of
anime, crowning Beyblade Metal Masters
as the most popular regular children’s
program from July- December 2011, with
an average audience of 359 300 children
4-14 following on kids’ net Gulli, for a
25.8% share US and European producers
were quick to catch on to the popularity of this Japanese ‘look’ and the
influence of anime can also now be seen in many international western
hits. The girl skewing Italian production, Winx Club, has a style that
identifies strongly with mahou shoujoo or “magical girl” series like Sailor
Moon. It was the sixth most watched children’s program in Russia over the
watching 60 minutes never seen before of
the animated series. According to Jérôme
Leclercq, Director of Mediatoon Licensing, the
agent of the property in France “the DVDs of the
animated series in France are the best sales in
the Japanimation sector”. The animated series
is also airing in France: Game One, NT1, France
3, Canal J or France Ô.
To celebrate the 10 th birthday of Naruto in
Europe, Mediatoon has signed many contracts
to promote the license: in March, for the 32 nd
Book Fair in Paris, Naruto was the subject of an
exposition in the Manga Square with drawings
and screenings about the manga. In the next
weeks, the 27 first issues of the manga will
be published by Kana in a new format: more
than 600 pages, using a shortened storyline.
This publication will consist of 8 volumes. The
movies will also be adapted in comic books,
trends
with 4 issues set to
be released in the
year (2 in July, 1 in
September and
1 in November).
Naruto will also
make an apparition at
the Japanexpo in Paris
in July, with the launch
of the 55 th issue of the
manga. Jérôme Leclercq
also announced
the launched of new
products by Bandai,
Abysse, Kazé, Tsumé
and a partnership with
the bank Société Générale
resulting in a credit
card branded Naruto.
One Piece, one of the best-selling manga ever
books sold in just three days. The animated
series adapted from One Piece also has also
been successful: 540 episodes of the series have
been produced since 1999 by Toei Animation
Studios, with 11 animated movies (the 12 th
movie will be released in December 2012). In
Europe and France, One Piece arrived in 2000.
Edited by Glénat in France, Carlsen Comics
in Germany and Planeta DeAgostini in Spain,
One Piece became an important license in the
European manga market quickly. In 12 years,
and 61 volumes published in France by Glénat,
8 million One Piece books have been sold. One
Piece is in France the best-selling license in
the publishing market in 2011 and for the first
quarter of 2012 1 . The 62 nd volume was published
in May 2012. Ten European channels broadcast
the series. MCM and Direct Star are the French
Sources: 1- GFK – March 2012 - 2- Médiamétrie – Dec. 2011 - 3- GFK – January-July 2011 - 4- Junior City – January 2012
broadcasters for Toei’s animé. On Direct Star,
One Piece got the best audience results in 2011,
with 500 000 viewers 2 . The DVD sales of the
license have also met success: handled by Kana
(series) and Kazé (movies), the DVDs were the
#2 sales of Japanimation DVD sales for 2011 3 .
One Piece is also a lucrative license, gathering
15 licensees for the French market: along with
Glénat, Kana and Kazé, Abysse Corp. produces
accessories and board games, Bandai makes
collector figurines, Subsonic produces phone
accessories and Hachette publishes One Piece
novels. And the Jemini Group just joined this list
of partners to make plushes with Jemini and
figurines and money-boxes with Plastoy. One
Piece, 3 rd most liked manga for the 6-25 y.o. 4 , has
become one of the best known manga in France
in just 12 years.
second half of 2011, attracting on average 265 600 children 4-15 or a 35.2%
market share. Other popular UK and European titles in which Japanese
influences can be observed include the hugely successful US Ben 10
franchise and the French Wakfu.
Although the influence of anime is not confined to children’s television, it
is unsurprising that it is in this heavily animation based market that it has
had most impact. With more and more manga books making successful
transitions to the small screen, it seems that Japan is increasingly the
most serious rival to the global dominance of the main US animation
producers. Not willing to be left behind, however, creators in both America
and Europe have been inspired by this influx of often high quality material,
and found ways to incorporate the best of anime into their own distinctive
productions.
Claire Mitchell