

For example, to originally script dialogues in English and set the story in a
country of any and the characters are non-Japanese.

If anime became world-renowned, why can't animation studios bother to create
animes that target foreign audiences rather than its own Japanese audiences?

For example, the video game _Resident Evil_ is produced by Capcom, a Japanese
video game developer, but the game was created for American audiences because
originally the English acting was recorded. Also, _Afro Samurai_ which was
animated by Gonzo was an anime that originally recorded English voice acting,
so I would presume that anime was catered to American audiences.

So I find it strange why Japanese animation studios can't even produce animes
to target non-Japanese audiences.


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Why can't anime studios create animes for foreigns audiences?


When anime is exported overseas, very little of the money makes it back to the
creators. Most of the profit is absorbed by the companies that buy the
international rights to the show and then proceed to sell them to various
western networks.

Unless an anime becomes _massively_ popular (DBZ, Pokémon, SM, Naruto, AoT,
etc) the bread and butter of the anime studios is the local Japanese market.

If you want an anime made for America, look at the anime style American made
cartoons. Avatar, the last Airbender comes to mind.


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I'd say that it's not that they can't, but rather that there simply **isn't
much incentive** for them to do so. It just doesn't make much business or
financial sense to target a foreign audience, not when a Japanese audience is
much closer, more familiar, and less costly to target.

To target foreign audiences, I would imagine that an animation studio would
need to expend a lot of additional time and effort on things like dealing with
overseas licensors, TV networks, distributors, as well as having to handle
language barriers and translations (since I'd imagine that most people working
in a Japanese animation studio wouldn't be fluent in English). Even for
typical anime, studios tend to avoid [hiring native speakers of foreign
languages](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/41721/why-dont-anime-
studios-hire-native-english-speakers) if they need a voice for a character
with a foreign language, because it's generally much cheaper to hire someone
born in Japan. So, if even one foreign voice actor is too costly, then the
entire production being in a foreign language would be out of the question.

Okay, but what if we just let the studio produce everything in Japanese, a
language that the staff are all familiar with, and then let another company
handle the translations for the foreign audience? Well, if the original
language is in Japanese, they might as well just target it to Japan in the
first place! The localization is probably best left to companies in the target
country who natively know the language anyway (or else we might get something
like the Engrish in the Psycho Pass Movie). Also, as [Memor-X points
out](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/43289/why-cant-anime-studios-
create-animes-for-foreigns-audiences#comment58051_43289), Japanese studios for
the most part have little control over which English actors are used and how
the English localization and distribution are done.

**That's not to say that anime targeted at foreign audiences have never
happened.** The barrier is just higher. As you and [Memor-X
mention](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/43289/why-cant-anime-
studios-create-animes-for-foreigns-audiences#comment58044_43289), [Afro
Samurai](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/press-release/2005-05-03/samuel-l-
jackson-gets-animated-for-spike-tv-with-afro-samurai) was a production that
happened thanks to Samuel L. Jackson's interest and contribution. [Gagantous
also points out](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/43289/why-cant-
anime-studios-create-animes-for-foreigns-audiences#comment58034_43289) that
Netflix has financed a number of [original anime
series](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_original_programs_distributed_by_Netflix#Anime)
that seem to be animated by Japanese studios, and like with other Netflix
original series, are released worldwide all at once.

So, as these examples have shown, Japanese animation studios _are_ capable of
creating anime for foreign audiences. It's just that in most non-exceptional
cases, they wouldn't have much reason to do so.

Note that if the incentive is there (e.g. either personal interest or with
investment from a foreign party, like with Samuel L. Jackson and _Samurai
Afro_ ), it _is_ doable. After all, if there's a foreign producer already in
the loop, then the entrance barrier is much lower.

While Japanese anime studios haven't really created any foreign-targeted anime
on their own, **they _have_ however been _involved_ in a number of foreign
animation productions.** So in a way, I suppose you could say that Japanese
animation studios _have_ (co-)created a number of _anime_ (for
[some](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/6198/can-an-animated-show-
created-outside-japan-be-called-anime)
[definition](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/69/what-differentiates-
anime-from-regular-cartoons) of anime) for foreign audiences. For example:

  * [Batman: The Animated Series](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman:_The_Animated_Series#Animation) was produced by Warner Bros. Animation, but animated by various overseas animation studios, including the Japanese studios Spectrum Animation, Sunrise, Studio Junio, and TMS Entertainment (as well as various other studios from South Korea, Hong Kong, Spain, and Canada).
  * [The Animatrix](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Animatrix), a compilation of nine animated short films based on _The Matrix_ trilogy, was produced by the Wachowskis, but a large number of the films were animated by Studio 4°C and Madhouse from Japan.
  * [Transformers Animated](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformers:_Animated) (I watched this series growing up!) was produced by Cartoon Network Studios, but animated by the Japanese studios MOOK DLE, The Answer Studio, and Studio 4°C.
  * [Legend of Korra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Korra) had some parts of it animated by Studio Pierrot from Japan (as well as Studio Mir from Korea).
  * [Miraculous Ladybug](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miraculous:_Tales_of_Ladybug_%26_Cat_Noir#Production) is produced by French studios Zagtoon and Method Animation, in collaboration with De Agostini Editore from Italy, Toei Animation from Japan, and SAMG Animation from South Korea. Actually, it was originally going to be a 2D anime-style series (see [this trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlwV3scCgAM) for a taste of what could have been), but for design reasons, they switched to 3D CGI animation later on.
  * Also, [Toei Animation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toei_Animation#Commission_work) has actually been commissioned to provide animation for lots of American studios in the past.

As a final side note, I'd like to add that there _is_ precedent in other media
where the producers mainly target domestic audiences over local audiences when
there's money to be had. For example, [Hollywood and
China](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jul/02/warcraft-film-china-
blockbuster-hollywood-investment).


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My answer to this would first have to be a question right back at you: Why
would they?

Really, where is the incentive? Anime became world renown without doing any of
that, so why would they start now? I would argue that it's that style, bred by
their foreign sensibilities and culture that made it so popular in the rest of
world to begin with.

Now, the second thing is, you are wrong. No, they probably don't script
dialogues in English, but that's a bit of a huge hurdle to put in their lap
when they are already strapped for time on most projects.

However, they definitely know of the Western/other audiences and take them
input things (it can be general themes, or jokes that clearly wouldn't be in
there if it wasn't for such audiences) related to that. The point being that
they are aware and influenced - in small or big ways depending on the project
- by that part of their audience. The proof of that is that you have a few
projects that get slammed by Japanese fanbases for seemingly altering parts of
their work to cater to western sensibilities. That is something more often
seen in the video games industry, because Western influence is a lot more
direct and palpable (to the people making money from it) in that industry.

The third thing is, to follow up, that they still make most of their money, at
least initially, from the home market. Simulcast and other such appearances of
anime in a more direct manner in the west are bound to make these influences
more numerous, whereas it used to be that the only thing Western audiences
brought was goodies/DVD sale's income.

The fourth and last thing is, in most cases, this isn't something that depends
on the animation studios at all. To this day, most anime that are actually
made come from manga (a rapidly growing number from light novels, and even
mobile games, and some, completely original), a market that is even more
centralized to Japan. And the popularity(and therefore the likeliness for it
to be made into an anime) of a manga is almost solely based on the
reviews/scores people give to the magazine publishers, chapter by chapter.

It's not to say that Western influence isn't there though. A clear example
would be _Watamote_ , I encourage you to look into the popularization of this
specific manga/anime. How different the reception was in America and Japan.


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