Ask John: Why Did Media Blasters License Gaogaiger?

Question:
How close to a miracle is the announced American release of GaoGaiGar? While I am personally thrilled, it simply doesn’t add up. The series is already several years old and, overall, giant robot anime has never been all that successful here in America, nevermind the fact that maybe 1 in 200 American fans known what the “Yuusha” series is. This simply seems like a bad thing waiting to happen, so I’m wondering about your opinion on why Media Blasters would take the risk of bringing such a seemingly poor choice to the United States.

Answer:
Logically the best person to answer this question is Media Blasters CEO John Sirabella, and Mr. Sirabella may be very forthcoming with an answer if he’s asked during the upcoming summer convention season. However, since it’s fun to speculate, I’ll hazard an answer myself. Media Blasters is undeniably a company with astute business acumen. Anime Works has made some mis-steps and had some setbacks with licenses like Babel II, Genma Wars, and Cosmo Warrior Zero, and admirable experiments like Seraphim Call and Sentimental Journey. But Media Blasters has also scored some excellent acquisitions including Rurouni Kenshin, Berserk, and the Bible Black series. Media Blasters has also solidified its financial foundation by diversifying into distributing live action films, American cartoons, and producing original comics and live action movies. I don’t have any “inside” contacts with Media Blasters to collect information from. My external observations lead me to believe that Media Blasters is a company willing and able to take risks on licensing and distributing very niche market titles – probably ones that the staff themselves like.

Media Blasters has my respect for acquiring and distributing relatively little known but deserving titles like Urda, Detatoko Princess, Puppet Princess, Madara, Blame, and Kirameki Project. Media Blasters has also acquired and released a significant number of older, worthy titles like Iczer One, Tekkaman Blade, and Cleopatra DC. All of these acquisitions give me the impression that a percentage of Media Blasters’ licensing strategy is based on acquiring titles that the staff respects or likes, or acquiring titles that the company believes are worth introducing to American viewers. While Yuusha Oh Gaogaiger was a tremendous hit in Japan a number of years ago, it never caught on with the majority of American fans, probably primarily because it’s a giant robot show for pre-adolescent Japanese boys. There was some small degree of rejoicing in America’s fan community when Media Blasters announced its acquisition of Gaogaiger, but I suspect that the majority of America’s fan community thought nothing of the announcement, and I imagine that America’s mainstream consumer market will likewise largely ignore the series. Gaogaiger was directed by Yoshitomo Kometani, who also directed Brigadoon and Betterman. Neither of those series were particularly successful in America. I expect Gaogaiger to have a similar fate in America.

It’s possible that Media Blasters has acquired so many anime from the 1980s and 90s because these older titles may be cheaper to license than brand new shows. But even cheaper licenses are still very expensive, especially after accounting for the cost of translation and domestic production. With Tekkaman Blade, Go Lion, and Gaogaiger all licensed in short order, it seems as though Media Blasters went on a shopping spree for older robot anime with cult appeal. I don’t know the exact circumstances or motivations behind the Gaogaiger acquisition, but I doubt that Media Blasters would have agreed to the deal without forethought. I presume that Media Blasters is aware that Gaogaiger is a show with very limited appeal outside of Japan, suggesting that they probably licensed it either very cheaply, or more probably, just because it’s a show that they liked and wanted to support and work with.