

There are a lot of anime that have a first season, but no second season, even
though there is enough material to produce another season. There are also a
few anime which are dubbed, but only up to a certain point in the series.

So, why do anime companies keep the rights to these anime, instead of passing
them on to another company?

For example, here are a few anime which didn't get more seasons:

  1. _Mayo Chiki_ (1 season) - Big cliffhanger
  2. _Rosario Vampire_ (2 seasons) - Another cliffhanger
  3. _High School of the Dead_ (1 season)
  4. _The World God Only Knows_ (3 seasons) - Missed out a lot of content

And some which are dubbed only to a certain point in the series:

  1. _Detective Conan_ (130 episodes) - Stopped due to low ratings
  2. _The Familiar of Zero_ (1 season) - Dubbed no further due to low ratings

There are many more examples. Why are the studios behind these series and dubs
reluctant to release the rights to others to continue the series?


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anime-production
Why do anime production studios keep the rights to anime which they don't plan on continuing?


## Essentially, it all comes down to money.

A lot of series are discontinued simply because the series aren't making
enough money - whether that be for the English publishers in the West, or the
original publishers in Japan.

Selling the rights of an anime means that they cannot continue to receive any
recurring income from the series - even if it isn't that significant. Ongoing
income could include licensing the rights to stream the show as part of a
package deal to streaming services. For example, a studio licenses a bundle of
three shows to CrunchyRoll, when CrunchyRoll really just wants one. [On a side
note, this is why there's a load of random movies on Netflix]. Also, if there
are new platforms on which to sell their media - such as new online stores or
new video systems - studios effectively get another burst of sales, especially
if it's digital (much less cost to put the items up for sale).

There isn't a lot of incentive for other companies to buy studio's productions
that have proven to be loss-making, especially as the price and the long
processes to secure the deal would often be hard to justify. It's a much wiser
decision for companies to focus on works that have a solid following.

Every season, the popularity of a show drops as less and less people keep up
to date/interested. If a show is profitable in the first season, it doesn't
necessarily mean that it can manage with reduced sales the next time round. On
the other hand, if the main show is still profitable, they don't really have
much reason to sell it either.

## It isn't strictly true that shows will never change hands though.

Take Yuru Yuri for example: the third season is going to be animated by TYO
Animations, even though the first 2 were animated by Dogakobo. Anime companies
tend to be fairly tight-lipped about internal processes and exchanges, so I'm
afraid it's quite hard to get more information on why they swapped studios, or
the process they had to go through to do it.

There have been several Western examples of "license rescues", which, whilst
not explicitly the same as the bare rights (but similar to your dubbing
question), allow publication of a discontinued series to continue to be
translated. This is quite rare unfortunately - [Viz Media explains that they
tend to be hard sells](http://organizationasg.kokidokom.net/2014/03/24/what-
manga-publishers-can-actually-license-in-the-us/). Western companies are
similarly tight-lipped, although luckily less so that their Japanese
counterparts

## Further reading

  * [Anime News Network on U.S. licensing](http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2012-06-11)


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Although this is an old question being revived, I'm here to clear up a bit of
things.

The studios of anime are usually just hired staff. They don't run or own
series. Unless its an original project E.G: Trigger's _"Kill La Kill"_.

There are things called production committees composed of lead producers &
company members that are filling in spots for companies such as: Kodansha,
Kyoani and etc.

A Producer comes a long to get an animation adaption of a series. Usually
places like SQUARE Enix, a large multi-media company, have a production office
where they find series associated with themselves to be animated. Such as
popular manga, being printed by SQUARE ENIX. Which then they take to
financiers, people with resources, producers & studios.

The heads & most important are those choosing to make the series continue or
not, whether for financial reasons or just no-longer wanting to work on the
project.

For example _"SNAFU 2"_ was animated by a totally new company. That decision
was done by the Production Committee. Not the animation studio. Though,
remember animation studios can be part of the production committee either on
top or usually the bottom. Mostly they are on top due to original productions,
they own. Changes in the studio can happen due to large schedules, or
disliking their work on the first project.

However, a director or art director, may be associated with the animation
studio. Which will lead in the anime`s directing overall or just an art
direction such as the production studio: SHAFT. SHAFT, though Aniplex is the
head-producer of _"Nisekoi"_ a few producers & Chief director are from SHAFT.
Because, Aniplex adores their style. This weaves back & forth. A Director
maybe from one studio but still direct for other series, with different
studios.

Just check all the cast & staff. Or at the end of an anime's opening you may
see who is producing the series. Though, it is undisclosed many times.


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