Ask John: What’s the History of Homeroom Affairs?

Question:
I was wondering if you could give me any information on an anime called Homeroom Affair. A friend of mine had it on beta years ago, and I’ve been searching for it forever. It wasn’t hentai, but it was full of dirty jokes and partial nudity. Anyway, it’s hilarious and doesn’t seem to exist anymore. Any help would be appreciated.

Answer:
In 1994, JC Staff, the studio now best known for producing shows including Azumanga Daioh, Ai Yori Aoshi, Slayers, and Utena, produced a two episode OVA adaptation of Ichiro Arima’s 1993 risqué comedy manga series Tanin no Kankei. Those two anime OVAs were subtitled and released on American VHS in 1996 as “Homeroom Affairs,” the first domestic release from New York based distributor Star Anime Enterprises. Two years later, Star Anime Enterprises managed to release a subtitled VHS tape containing the first two episodes of the 39 episode 1993 television series Dragon League. Promotion for the release of Dragon League emphasized the fact that the show starred fan favorite voice actress Megumi Hayashibara, suggesting that Star Anime Enterprises had hopes to target its releases to the hardcore anime fan community. However, the company soon after went out of business, before ever releasing any anime DVDs.

The Star Anime Enterprises releases of Homeroom Affairs and Dragon League are among the most obscure and rarest of all official American anime releases, but they shouldn’t be particularly expensive to acquire. Homeroom Affairs was available for a few years, so it’s not as difficult to find as Dragon League. Scouring after-market sources like eBay and local comic book stores may turn up copies. Given the age and relative obscurity of both of these titles, I don’t expect to ever see either Tanin no Kankei or Dragon League turn up on official American DVD.