The Japanese do film business differently than the rest of the world, says Herve Bedard, the first Canadian animator to strike an international coproduction with Japan.

With perhaps the world's deepest pockets for animation investment, Japanese production partners in most cases finance an entire project up front, which in the case of Bedard's new 13-episode animated series Cybersix amounts to us$5 million.

Then, says the president of Vancouver-based Network of Animation, Japanese producers go ahead with production and gamble that the concept will translate into a program that will find an audience and generate a merchandizing windfall. And only when episodes of the series are complete do they begin to attend markets to look for international broadcasters.

The result is the Japanese partner assumes greater risk, greater interest in program quality, and a greater reward over the longer term, says Bedard.

At home and in Europe, he explains by way of comparison, no broadcaster wants to risk their licences on a project that doesn't already have demonstrated international interest. The multitudes of interested parties then sometimes have the effect of diluting the concept and increasing the costs.

"The Cybersix partnership is more product-driven and less a money deal, and that's better for everyone," says Bedard, adding that he has more creative control in his landmark coproduction arrangement with venerable TMS Kyokuichi Corporation of Tokyo.

"Their investment is long-term rather than short-term," which to Bedard demonstrates a stronger commitment to the Cybersix project.

"For noa, or any small producer, the only chance in the land of giants is to have a hit," Bedard adds. "If Cybersix makes it, then noa is all of a sudden on the map. It creates confidence. Our problem in Canada is that it's a game of money and territories. It's not about product."

Based on an internationally popular comic book character from Argentina, Cybersix is the continuing story of a 20-year-old woman who is the lone survivor of the original line of powerful and agile cyber-beings (akin to Bladerunner's replicants) destroyed by their creator for being disobedient.

The evil Von Richter wants to take over the world by replacing humans with his cyber creatures, and Cybersix's escape frustrates him. Benevolent Cybersix, however, needs to stay close to Von Richter's lab because she requires a fluid called The Sustenance to stay alive. To protect her identity, Cybersix assumes the role of a male English professor and at night does battle with the new breeds of cyber-beings.

Bedard originally conceived of the series as an adult-oriented story, enlivened with campy gender-bending, vampirism and not-so-vague references to drug addiction. But with tms aboard, the demographic has shifted to the preteen market in order to appeal to more markets, which in turn dampened violence and forced necessary changes in how Cybersix defeats her enemies and collects her Sustenance.