There are more and more anime series that are more accessible (and it also costs more to keep them all up to date), so the rhythm of production is non-stop in the studies. On many occasions, a single anime studio ends up taking over the entire project over several years, as with Bones and ‘Boku no Hero Academia’, but sometimes we also find that a series changes hands between seasons.
It is not something out of the ordinary, although it seems that it clashes more with the bigger series, because…why would a studio want to drop the license with a bombshell like ‘Attack on Titan’?
It’s an unsafe bet
In the case of Wit Studio, there are already several animes that have been taken over in their first seasons and then the production of the series has been taken over by another studio. The most famous case is ‘Attack on Titan’ (‘Shingeki no Kyojin’), which passed into the hands of MAPPA from its fourth season.
It is not the only one, because this year the refrain has also been repeated with the second season of ‘Vinland Saga’ also going to MAPPA, and the second season of ‘The Ancient Magus Bride’, directed by Studio Kafka. The situation ended up clarifying it George WadaPresident of Wit Studio and producer at Production IG
“For all those titles, we were only contracted for one season. And once we get the DVD sales results, we make an offer based on that,” Wada explained during Anime NYC. “Back then my directing skills were not that good, and I couldn’t add more seasons to the production schedule directly because I had other series pending financing. And of course, the fans and publishers want the second season to come out as soon as possible, which is leading to another studio animating them.”
So from scratch, not all studios can commit from the beginning to the money that producing several seasons can entail until they see if a specific title is profitable or not. And of course, On some occasions, another studio can arrive in the meantime and get the license to start developing the new chapters as soon as possible.. However, Wada admits that letting go of the series was not entirely a bad decision, especially considering the studio’s new series, such as ‘Spy x Family’.
“I think it was the best option. Because with the increase in global fans and the number of streaming platforms available, we can make long-term decisions and continue making a series,” the producer continued. “It is what I would like to do with Wit Studio in the future, now that we have the financial base to be able to hire longer periods.