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How many chapters or volumes of manga is required at minimum for a manga to get anime adaptation once the decision is made?

I mean some animes start airing while their manga is still being released and sometimes the amount of material only suffices for a 12-13 episode season only.

Others wait and get adapted to make a 26-52 episode season of an anime. Who takes that decision to say "OK! Let's make that an anime NOW!"

Update

To make it somewhat clearer, I'm asking about the length of the manga it takes to be adapted to an anime. Even if a decision was made to convert a manga to an anime there is still that point in time that they say "ok. we now have enough material for a season"

The duplicate question asks in general what it takes for a manga to adapted in anime.

Izumi-reiLuLu
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Songo
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    possible duplicate of [What is required for a manga to become an anime?](http://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/11446/what-is-required-for-a-manga-to-become-an-anime) – Peter Raeves Aug 21 '14 at 14:49
  • @PeterRaeves I updated my question to reflect the key differences between my question and the one you posted. – Songo Aug 21 '14 at 15:38
  • You could change your question to ask specifically about how much content (number of chapters or pages or volumes) is required at minimum for a manga to get anime adaptation, otherwise it's a sub-point of the linked question and therefore it's dupe. – Hakase Aug 21 '14 at 15:46
  • @user1306322 done! hope it is better now. – Songo Aug 21 '14 at 18:37

2 Answers2

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I think the correct answer is 'at least one page'. (because if it was zero, it wouldn't be a manga adaptation)

There is no set limit on how much content one must have in order to get an adaption. The deciding factor is instead decided by the production company, sponsors and any other involved parties that make up the committee who decide which animations to produce. It does help the management board decide on a series if it the series has significant existing fan interest from the manga.

Now, while I can't think of any one-page manga that have been adapted, it is perfectly possible if the committee agrees to it - There will just be more effort put into planning around this.

This blog post explains further about the anime production process:

This process depends on who’s pushing for an idea and who is backing it up, it can be animation studios themselves along with sponsors, but many anime are adaptations of manga or light novels, in which case, publishers front costs (including the costs of having it shown on TV stations). The production company (e.g Aniplex) gathers staff, sponsors, and looks at advertisement and merchandise. While many people describe studios as being cheap, only around half the budget is often given to the anime studio, with the rest going to broadcasters and other contributing companies.

It is also worthy of note that many mangas themselves are adaptations from light novels or visual novels or may have other spin-off content which adds to the content that the studios can work with.

The content range of which adaptations do come to life can vary significantly. This is to do with chapter sizes, author preference, committee requests, etc. Every show will have different requirements and differing ease of adaptation.

For example; Chihayafuru's first season (of 13 episodes) covers 40 chapters & Claymore with 22 episodes covers roughly 60. Hikari lychee club is a manga adaption, but is very different in style and story.

cute :) not cute D:

This is probably a bit of a disappointing answer, but there is no minimal content requirement and it is something that differs from company to company.

Toshinou Kyouko
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    +1, but if I'm not mistaken, the Excel Saga anime has a timeline/plot fairly distinct from the manga (not sure though since I haven't read it - but that's what's reported on Wikipedia and some other places). – Maroon Aug 27 '14 at 08:45
  • alrighty, I'll just replace it with another example – Toshinou Kyouko Aug 27 '14 at 09:23
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How many chapters or volumes of manga is required at minimum for a manga to get anime adaptation once the decision is made?

The short answer is none.

The long answer is: Anime adaptations can be in the same universe, with different characters and plot without following the original material at all, so the reason that "there isn't enough chapters for a season" becomes moot. That's why is called an "adaptation" instead of "illustration".

Braiam
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