History ExecutiveMeddling / Anime

** In [[http://web.archive.org/web/20180330022613/https://imgur.com/a/4Fouv this 2014 Jump Festa interview]], Creator/MasashiKishimoto reveals that [[BaseBreakingCharacter Sasuke]] and [[TheScrappy Sakura]] were included in the narrative because of this. He explains that his first editor, Kosuke Yahagi, told him to establish Sasuke as Naruto's rival and Sakura as the heroine and then create a LoveTriangle between the three of them. Kishimoto admits that he didn't plan on creating Sakura or the LoveTriangle because he's not good with female characters.

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* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Sasuke was created because Masashi Kishimoto's editor told him that Naruto needed a [[TheRival rival]].

** In ''[[Anime/DragonBallKai Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters]]'', Creator/FUNimation hired members of Creator/TeamFourStar to play the characters in the SoBadItsGood Cell Games Reenactment in a sequence with many references to ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' and ''DBZ'' memes in general. Creator/ToeiAnimation found out about this thanks to a Toonami promo that used an audio clip from that scene and ordered Funimation to re-edit it, replacing TFS's audio with that from the original dub of ''DBZ''. Fans were not pleased. Then in late 2017, Toei leaned on Funimation to stop hiring members of Team Four Star for their dubs, effectively getting them "greylisted".

** [[Manga/YuGiOh The original manga]] started out about various games of all types, not just Duel Monsters. When it became unexpectedly popular (and conveniently marketable), Kazuki Takahashi had to retool the series to revolve around it.

** In ''[[Anime/DragonBallKai Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters]]'', Creator/FUNimation hired members of Creator/TeamFourStar to play the characters in the SoBadItsGood "Mr. Satan vs Cell" movie, in a sequence with many references to ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' and ''DBZ'' memes in general. Creator/ToeiAnimation found out about this thanks to a Toonami promo that used an audio clip from that scene and ordered Funimation to re-edit it, replacing TFS's audio with that from the original dub of ''DBZ''. Fans were not pleased.
*** Then in late 2017, Toei leaned on Funimation to stop hiring members of Team Four Star for their dubs, effectively getting them "greylisted".

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'':
** Sasuke was created because Masashi Kishimoto's editor told him that Naruto needed a [[TheRival rival]].

** Almost everything outside of Naruto's final chapter. It starts with ''The Last'' and it snowballs from there; a majority of content, tie-ins and Naruto/Boruto spin-offs aren't written by Kishimoto, but broken up and distributed by various commercial authorities/contracts. Ukyō Kodachi, Takashi Yano, and Mikio Ikemoto are just a few names behind new content. Kishimoto signed-off on it all nonetheless.

** In ''[[Anime/DragonBallKai Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters]]'', Creator/FUNimation was forced by Toei to replace the audio featuring Creator/TeamFourStar in the joke Mr. Satan vs. Cell movie after an audio provided by Nick Landis, a.k.a. Lanipator, in Toonami's promo was played. Fans were not amused by this.

** There exist a plethora of baseless rumours claiming that Toriyama intended to end the manga at certain points, such as the Freeza or Cell saga. However, there is only one point at which he had intended to finish the manga but was encouraged to continue, that being shortly after the release of the tenth volume. Though he did not have a clear ending in mind by then, Toriyama decided to write on significantly longer than he would have if not for encouragement due to the manga's quickly skyrocketing popularity.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': [[Creator/ToeiAnimation Toei]] forced Creator/FourKidsEntertainment and Creator/{{FUNimation}} to have Monkey D. Luffy [[CrossdressingVoices be voiced by a woman]] when they did their respective dubs of the anime.

** Creator/TakeshiShudo's original intention for the series was one that could be [[DoingItForTheArt enjoyed by both children and adults]]. However, CreativeDifferences with the show's staff saw him forced to include to implement the StrictlyFormula elements which have largely characterized the show. Shudo's blogs reveal the direction he originally had in mind for the series, namely that Ash and Gary's rivalry would be an ongoing StoryArc, and the finale would involve a conflict between humans and Pokémon -- but that meddling from the staff meant the show ended up going on far longer than he'd intended.
*** On a lesser note, [[http://dogasu.bulbagarden.net/movies/pm_lord_unknown_tower_entei/lord_unknown_tower_entei_mythical_third_movie.html his original idea]] for the third movie (which involved a reanimated TyrannosaurusRex fossil, as well as the mystery of real-world animals in relation to Pokémon) was rejected by the staff because they thought it lacked success potential.

** An inversion occured prior to the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai arc; Toriyama threatened his editor that if [[KidHero Goku]] didn't grow up into an adult, then he couldn't continue with serialization. The editor responded with, "You can have the protagonist grow up, just don't scare me like that!"
** The reason the Cell arc kept constantly changing villains (from Androids 19 and 20, to 17 and 18, before settling with Cell) was because of an unusual variant of this. Creator/AkiraToriyama's former editor kept telling him that the villains he chose weren't good enough; Toriyama seemingly had no real obligation to listen, but did so anyway for some reason.
*** A straighter version occured with Cell's forms; his first "Imperfect" form was initially his only one, but Toriyama's ''current'' editor thought he looked ugly, suggesting he transform like previous BigBad Frieza. The following Semi-Perfect form (which [[CreatorsFavorite Toriyama himself liked the most]]) was meant to have a larger role, but the editor thought he looked like "a moron", and pressured him into having Cell achieve his Perfect form much sooner than planned.

** The reason the Cell arc in ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' kept constantly changing villains was because Creator/AkiraToriyama's editors kept telling him that the villains he chose weren't good enough. This caused Toriyama to shoehorn new villains in the arc. This also caused him to create new designs for Cell later on.

** Creator/TakeshiShudo's original intention for the series was one that could be [[DoingItForTheArt enjoyed by both children and adults]]. However, CreativeDifferences with the show's staff saw him forced to include to implement the StrictlyFormula elements which have largely characterized the show. Shudo's blogs reveal the direction he originally had in mind for the series, namely that Ash and Gary's rivalry would be an ongoing StoryArc, and the finale would involve a conflict between humans and Pokémon - but that meddling from the staff meant the show ended up going on far longer than he'd intended.
*** On a lesser note, [[http://dogasu.bulbagarden.net/movies/pm_lord_unknown_tower_entei/lord_unknown_tower_entei_mythical_third_movie.html his original idea]] for the third movie was rejected by the staff because they thought it lacked success potential.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': [[Creator/ToeiAnimation Toei]] forced Creator/FourKidsEntertainment and Creator/{{FUNimation}} to have Monkey D. Luffy be voiced by a woman when did their respective dubs of the anime.

** The reason the Cell arc in ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' kept constantly changing villains was because Creator/AkiraToriyama's editor kept telling him that the villains he chose weren't good enough. This caused Toriyama to shoehorn new villains in the arc. This also caused him to create new designs for Cell later on.

** Almost everything outside of Naruto's final chapter. It starts with ''The Last'' and it snowballs from there; a majority of content, tie-ins and Naruto/Boruto spin-offs aren't written by Kishimoto , but by various commercial contracts/authorities. Ukyō Kodachi, Takashi Yano, and Mikio Ikemoto are just a few names behind new content. Kishimoto signed-off on it all nonetheless.

** Almost everything outside of Naruto's final chapter. It starts with ''The Last'' and it snowballs from there; a good majority of content, tie-ins and Naruto/Boruto spin-offs aren't made by Kishimoto himself, but by various commercial contracts/authorities. Ukyō Kodachi, Takashi Yano, and Mikio Ikemoto are just a few names behind new content. Kishimoto signed-off nonetheless.

** Almost everything outside of Naruto's final chapter. It starts with ''The Last'' and it snowballs from there; a good majority of content, tie-ins and Naruto/Boruto spin-offs aren't made by Kishimoto himself, but by various various commercial authorities/contracts. Ukyō Kodachi, Takashi Yano, and Mikio Ikemoto are just a few names behind new content. Kishimoto signed-off nonetheless.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Sasuke was created because Masashi Kishimoto's editor told him that Naruto needed a [[TheRival rival]].

** When the manga was first adapted into an animated film in 1966, the film executives felt they needed a KidAppealCharacter. Thus, they took the {{Shapeshifting}} Cyborg 007/G.B. and transformed him from his mid-forties to a FormerChildStar and the second youngest of the cyborgs (with [[GooGooGodlike 001/Ivan]] remaining the youngest as an infant). Ishinomori disliked the change, but briefly incorporated it into a one-shot chapter released in the same year titled "The Man with the Expensive Castle", and in a special "Prologue" story (and rewrite of the team's origin) that he published in Weekly Shonen Magazine before the start of the ''Underground Empire of Yomi'' arc. The child form would briefly be referenced in the actual arc as a sort of SleepModeSize gag, but was otherwise phased out immediately. However, the child version of G.B. would persist in the the 1968 monochrome TV series.

** In the anime adaptation of ''Sailor Stars'', Toei changed the Sailor Starlights from [[WholesomeCrossdresser women who dress in drag]] to full-out [[GenderBender gender benders]] who are men in their civilian forms and become women when they transform. They also get ascended to main character status, while they stayed supporting characters in the manga. The ending was also changed rather drastically, with Chibichibi's role being completely re-written and Sailor Cosmos never appearing at all. Takeuchi was not pleased with the changes.

** In general, this is widely believed to be the reason why the ''Gundam'' boom faded in the US - ''Wing'' was a hit on Creator/{{Toonami}}, so after ''Wing'' finished airing, Toonami went to Sunrise to ask for another Gundam series, eying the aforementioned ''X'' and ''Anime/TurnAGundam''. However, Sunrise forced them to air 0079...which, on top of having a widely different premise from ''Wing'', also had extremely dated animation. Because of this, as well as Bandai losing favor with toy stores from having to restock merchandise, by the time ''SEED'' was put on the block, Gundam was pretty much given the FridayNightDeathSlot on Toonami. Later, Sunrise forced Toonami to air ''Anime/SDGundamForce''...despite the block not wanting to (the staff at Toonami ended up being VindicatedByHistory on this one, because the show did not even air all of it's episodes on the block).
*** What makes this example particularly weird is that Sunrise later let Toonami air ''G Gundam'' - one has to wonder why Sunrise didn't just make Toonami air that after ''Wing'' instead of the original.

** In general, this is widely believed to be the reason why the ''Gundam'' boom faded in the US - ''Wing'' was a hit on Creator/{{Toonami}}, so after ''Wing'' finished airing, Toonami went to Sunrise to ask for another Gundam series, eying the aforementioned ''X'' and ''Anime/TurnAGundam''. However, Sunrise forced them to air 0079...which, on top of having a widely different premise from ''Wing'', also had extremely dated animation. Later, Sunrise forced Toonami to air ''Anime/SDGundamForce''...despite the block not wanting to (the staff at Toonami ended up being VindicatedByHistory on this one, because the show did not even air all of it's episodes on the block).

* ''Anime/TheIdolmaster'': InUniverse. The show ''[[ShowWithinAShow Are We Live?]]'' is cancelled despite good ratings to free the timeslot for other shows.

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*** The entire season owes its existence to this, as the head writer of Adventure didn't want to create a sequel.

* ''Manga/DragonBall'': The reason the Cell arc in ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' kept constantly changing villains was because Creator/AkiraToriyama's then current and previous editors kept telling him that the villains he chose weren't good enough. This caused Toriyama to shoehorn new villains in the arc. This also caused him to create new designs for Cell later on.
** In ''Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters'', FUNimation was forced by Toei to replace the audio featuring Creator/TeamFourStar in the joke Mr. Satan vs. Cell movie after an audio provided by Nick Landis (AKA Lanipator) in Toonami's promo was played. Fans were not amused by this.

** Takeuchi herself invoked executive meddling when it came to the creation of the all new English dub from Creator/VizMedia. Due to her dislike on how the previous dubs were handled, she had to personally approve the new voice cast in order for the project to be given the final greenlight.