How Anime Gets Made
Discover how production committees fund anime, why creators rarely connect with fans, and how Oshi changes that.
Understand how anime gets funded and produced, and why Oshi can offer access that doesn't exist anywhere else.
The Production Committee Model
Most anime isn't made by a single company. Instead, a group of companies pool resources to fund production together. This group is called a production committee.
A typical production committee might include:
The publisher (who owns the original story)
An animation studio (who actually makes the anime)
A music label (who handles the soundtrack)
A broadcaster (who airs it on TV)
Merchandise and licensing partners
Each member contributes funding and shares both the risk and the rewards. In exchange, they get decision-making authority and access to production materials.
This is how most anime you've watched got made, from Attack on Titan to Demon Slayer to GATE.
What "owning a story" means
When people in the anime industry talk about an "IP" (intellectual property), they mean the story, characters, and world that make up an anime. It's everything that defines what a series is and what it can become.
GATE started as light novels published by Alphapolis. The IP includes those novels, the characters like Tokushima and Primera, the Special Region world, and the rights to adapt it into anime, games, and merchandise. When an IP is successful, light novels and manga become anime, reaching entirely new audiences.
Key point: The production committee controls what happens with the IP, including what content gets shared with fans. Oshi holds a seat on the GATE 2 production committee, which is what makes this level of fan access possible.
Where Oshi fits
Production committees decide what fans see and when. Traditionally, that means fans wait until release, watch the finished product, and never see the work that went into making it.
Oshi exists to change that.
For GATE 2, Oshi is part of the production committee and holds the master licensing rights, covering streaming, merchandise, marketing, and distribution. That position gives Oshi direct access to production content that typically never leaves the studio: storyboards, character designs, key animation frames, and commentary from the people actually making the anime.
We built a platform where creators can share their journey directly with the fans who care most. Studio M2 (founded by Masao Maruyama) and GENCO are involved with the animation production of GATE 2. For future projects, creators and studios may use Oshi to open their doors to fans themselves. The structure varies. What doesn't change is the result: fans finally have a place to support the work they love while it's being made.
Why this matters to you
Traditional anime experience: Anime gets announced → You wait months or years → You watch it like everyone else.
With Oshi: You join during production → You access exclusive content as it's created → You're part of the journey before the first episode airs.
You're not just a viewer waiting for release. You see how the anime gets made, support the creators directly through the Creator Reward Pool (Oshi's system ensuring animators, directors, and production staff receive ongoing compensation), and become part of the production story.
That's what oshikatsu looks like when creators and fans are actually connected.
Last updated: 2026 Feb 06
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About Oshi: What Oshi is and why it exists
GATE 2 Overview: Current campaign details
Glossary: Key terms explained
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