>>109830208Not really. The source material for both those shows (the first volume or two of the respective light novel series) have been out for a few years now. But they're big and popular, and the publishing company needs to sell more copies, so they put out an anime adaption to get a broader audience interested.
Most western animation stands on its own first, then might get adaptions (which are generally new stories unto themselves) later if they're successful.
Adding to that, light novels are generally the work of two (three, counting the editor) people- the writer and an artist who only has to put out a half-dozen or so illustrations per book, so even the source material doesn't take as much work as it does in the west.
