Planning" is further divided into two kinds. The first is that in the annual planning meeting, the boss (English: boss, excutive producer, Japanese: president, planner) of the animation company or the producer who is a little bit great and has a little bit of say sees an interesting and famous manga or a novel, and thinks that it should make a lot of money to make it into an animation, so he calls the agent who represents the manga or the novel that is selected to ask whether the right to make it into an animation has been sold, and if not, then the rights negotiation "sometimes long, sometimes short, sometimes painful, sometimes happy" begins. So they call the agent who represents the manga or novel and ask if the rights to make it into an anime have been sold, and if they haven't, they start negotiating for the rights, which is sometimes long, sometimes short, sometimes painful, and sometimes happy. If you see the word "original" at the beginning of an anime's credits, you're likely to fall into this category.

Another type of director or animator under an animation company thinks it would be fun to make an animation of the results of his or her daydreaming, not drawing, and not submitting on time, so he or she starts to write the plan himself or herself and gives it to the boss to look over. Luckily, if the plan is approved, the boss or the producer will go around looking for money... Ah, no, sponsors to respond to the great plan. If you see the word "original project" in the opening credits of an anime, it's mostly in this category.