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Who generally owns the intellectual property (IP) rights to manga characters
and stories?

In the USA, comic books are generally produced by a team -- writer, artist,
inker, colorist, letterer, editor, and maybe even plotter. Sometimes one or
more of these folks can sometimes even get replaced mid-issue. The characters
are typically part of a shared universe involving multiple, interacting
characters. It makes sense that Marvel and DC, the largest publishers would
own the IP.

It also makes sense that some of the artistic folks would want full ownership
and control over their work, and independent publishers were formed allowing
this. The leading publishers partially adapted to this desire, and sometimes
grant limited exclusivity to the creator of a character. Ownership was still
with the publisher, but only the creator could make decisions concerning their
character, so long as they remained with the publisher.

From what I understand, manga is vastly different. One person handles writing,
art, and lettering. There is no colorist, and the publisher's editor generally
suggests things, not mandates them. Characters from different manga seldom
interact. With the one-person focus, it would make sense to me that the
mangaka would hold IP rights. Is this generally the case?

Anime is broader, involving many folks for one series. Are they simply
licensed to tell the mangaka's (or some other person's) story? (Maybe this is
similar to how Fox is licensed to make X-Men movies, even though the X-Men
themselves belong to Marvel.) I know some anime is a new work not based on a
manga or light novel. In those cases, the studio **is** the creator, and it is
likely they own the IP as well.


CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-16T23:14:01.270
38451
2020-11-20T01:01:04.690
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question
anime-production manga-production
Who generally owns the rights for a manga or anime?


> summary (final paragraph):  
>  **Like the five previous examples, the mangaka (or writer) shares the
> copyright. Since this occurred in six of the five works I looked up, I'll
> assume it to be the "general rule" my question asked for.** If someone knows
> different, please let us know!

# Manga

**Duh!** \-- It just occurred to me my Crunchyroll subscription includes
access to manga. So I went there to look for the copyright notices. At first I
didn't find any. My expectation was each chapter would have one, so I was
scanning thru the volumes of _Sweetness and Lightning_ and couldn't find such
a thing. Not at chapter start or end, or even volume start or end. I tried a
couple other manga, and I could not find notices for them either. Finally a
tree appeared out of the forest --- near the bottom right of the stupid start
page for each series. (Anyone can see these without a subscription. Non-
subscribers won't be able to view any actual pages, though.)

There appears to be no standard template, so I chose three at random, listed
by order of complexity. Since the info does not appear to come from the manga
issues themselves, what you see is my transcription of Crunchyroll's
translation. The original Japanese may include different and/or standardized
notices.

[ReLIFE](http://www.crunchyroll.com/comics/manga/relife/volumes)

[code]

    Publisher: Comico
    First Published:
    Author: Yayoiso
    Artist: Yayoiso
    Copyright: © Yayoiso / comico
    Translator: Andrew Cunningham
    Editor: Emily Sorensen
    Letterer: Cheryl Alvarez
    
[/code]

Both the author and publisher share copyright. I'm guessing the **letterer** s
are for the English version, and the author did the original Japanese
lettering.

[Sweetness & Lightning](http://www.crunchyroll.com/comics/manga/sweetness-and-
lightning/volumes)

[code]

    Publisher: Kodansha
    First Published: 
    Author: Gido Amagakure
    Artist: 
    Copyright: Based on the manga "Amaama to Inazuma" by Gido Amagakure
      originally serialized in the monthly good! Afternoon magazine published by KODANSHA LTD.
      Sweetness and Lightning copyright © Gido Amagakure／KODANSHA LTD.
      English translation copyright © Gido Amagakure／KODANSHA LTD.
      All rights reserved.
    
[/code]

Once again, a shared copyright between author and publisher. They also take
ownership of the English translation. Whether it was a staff person at
Kodansha or Gido is fluent in English, I do not know.

[Fairy Tail](http://www.crunchyroll.com/comics/manga/fairy-tail/volumes)

[code]

    Publisher: Kodansha
    First Published: 2005
    Author: Hiro Mashima
    Artist: Hiro Mashima
    Copyright: Based on the manga "FAIRY TAIL" by Hiro Mashima
      originally serialized in the weekly Shonen Magazine published by KODANSHA LTD.
      FAIRY TAIL copyright © Hiro Mashima／KODANSHA LTD.
      English translation copyright © Hiro Mashima／KODANSHA LTD.
      All rights reserved.
    Translator: William Flanagan
    Editor: Erin Subramanian
    Letterer: AndWorld Design
    
[/code]

These three may indicate a shared copyright is the norm. Same publisher as
S&L, but now the translator is given credit by name.

# Anime

I tried to check for copyright on several anime series. The few I looked at
did not bother translating the opening or closing credits, so if copyright
info was there, I could not read it. I also checked their English dub of
_Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club_ , but the dub did not translate the credits
either. Funimation's site appears to be in transition right now, and I cannot
access anything there. If no one else adds animation info, I'll update this
later with any anime info I find.

/edit add 5 hours later

Funimation is back up with its site revamp operational. They have also started
airing 2003's [Wolf's Rain](https://www.funimation.com/shows/wolfs-rain/), and
I remembered noticing that dubs of older series tend to translate the credits.
Sure enough, it does. It's notice is a one-liner, and reads:

[code]

    © BONES • KEIKO NOBUMOTO/BV Licensed by Funimation® Productions, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
    
[/code]

The copyright is once again shared, this time between the studio and writer.
However, _Wolf's Rain_ appears to be a special case, in that the manga and
anime were being released simultaneous, with Kodansha publishing the manga. It
would be interesting to know if the manga copyright lists Kodansha in place of
Bones, in addition to it, or not at all.

(... searched and found the manga copyright online). The manga copyright does
not even include Kodansha. The notice is listed at the end of the last volume
(11) and reads:

[code]

    © 2004 TOSHITSUGU IIDA and BONES • KEIKO NOBUMOTO/BV
    
[/code]

So the manga copyright added the illustrator's name, even listing him first.
In context, now, it appears Keiko was probably an employee or contractee of
Bones. I don't know what the "/BV" after his name means. I'm guessing Bones
hired Iida to be the manga illustrator, and part of the deal was that he be
given co-owner status of it.

The page containing the copyright gives lots of credits, mostly for the anime
staff. Viz Media was the English license holder at the time, and their
presence is prominent on the page as well. Another thing I notice is that the
Japanese copyrights don't seem to concern themselves with listing a year or
year range. But this page was clearly for an English-speaking audience, and
the copyright here is more like I expect to see -- "© 2004". (Watching the
first few minutes of the anime, it was instantly clear that Viz chose an
excellent voice actor cast! The first four episodes are currently up.)

Since _Wolf's Rain_ is a special case as a product of an anime studio first
and manga second (well, co-released), I looked up another old series on
Funimation, [Mushi-Shi](https://www.funimation.com/shows/mushi-shi/). I also
verified that the manga came first. It ran from 1999-2008, and the original 26
episodes of the anime were broadcast in 2005 and 2006. The copyright reads:

[code]

       ©Yuki Urushibara / KODANSHA - MUSHI-SHI Partnership.
    Licensed by Kodansha through Funimation® Productions, Ltd.
                       All Rights Reserved.
    
[/code]

I find this case interesting in that Artland, the anime studio, was not called
out specifically. It is likely part of the entity called "Mushi-Shi
Partnership".

**Like the five previous examples, the mangaka (or writer) shares the
copyright. Since this occurred in six of the five works I looked up, I'll
assume it to be the "general rule" my question asked for.** If someone knows
different, please let us know!


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2017-01-18T00:48:55.927
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2017-01-18T16:29:23.873
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answer


Almost everything in the world of Japanese animation is owned by "committees."
This is usually just a fancy way of saying that between 5 and 30 companies
(more or less) got together, each contributed something like $10,000 to
$500,000 (more or less) to the project, and then in turn each own a percent of
the project. Usually one company contributed the most, and it's usually a
Television station, as they also in-turn in the most ad-revenue from the
anime. That company is usually the contact for licensing information and is
usually listed as the copyright holder in publications.

They do this chiefly to minimize risk, in case a project or an anime loses
money. Additionally, it makes planning easier - say a company makes figurines
for anime, if that company is on this committee and contributed money, it's
obvious that they're going to be the company who wants the rights to make
merchandise.

When it comes to manga, most manga artists work for a particular publisher,
who pays their salary. If they're receiving a salary during that time, the
work is owned by the publisher, however the manga-ka typically also retains a
lot of say in what happens with the manga. Whether or not it's legally
required, or if it's simply expected and "the way of things", is still unclear
to me.


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