Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs' plan to collect anime original drawings faces doubts, lack of management talent

In mid-August, the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs announced that it would take the lead in launching a comprehensive work on the collection, preservation and regulation of overseas flow of Japanese anime manuscripts by government agencies. Although it received support from many large Japanese anime publishers, there were also voices of doubt, fearing that there was simply no suitable operational talent.

The first batch of participating comic collection projects include the four major Japanese publishing houses, Kodansha, Shueisha, Shogakukan, and KADOKAWA. They will first establish a private association "Comic Archives Organization" and, through cooperation with art galleries around the country, it is expected to collect 360,000 precious original drawings in five years.

Although the plan sounds good, some opposing voices cited similar examples from the Japanese government before. As early as 2009, during the Aso Cabinet era, the government proposed a plan to build a huge comprehensive animation and game public facility with a budget of 11.7 billion yen. The plan was to create a comprehensive animation and game mecca that would receive more than 600,000 people a year. However, the plan eventually failed.

Some analysts pointed out that excluding the political factors between the political parties, the lack of a suitable leader to implement the plan is also one of the important reasons for the failure of the plan. A series of issues such as funds, venues, resources, connections, public relations, etc. all need strong people to coordinate and operate. The plan of the Ministry of Culture this time may also be a fantasy that looks beautiful but has little impact.