Ask John: Can Big Windup! Be Successful in America?

Question:
Will the Big Windup! (Ookiku Furikabutte) manga ever reach America? Despite it receiving prestigious awards and ranking #1 on the best-selling charts, I’m kind of baffled as to why this baseball manga hasn’t been licensed yet.

Also, since FUNimation licensed the anime series earlier this year, do you see it being successful? Or rather, how do you think FUNimation can succeed in marketing it in the US market (where sports anime don’t tend to sell as well)?

Answer:
I’m personally not an especially devoted fan of Ookiku Furikabutte, but I’m pleased to know that the successful Japanese TV anime has been licensed for American release because a wider diversity of anime titles, and especially anime genres, serves as positive and encouraging exposure for Japanese animation in America. However, we all know that not every anime title brought to America becomes a hit, and titles that are tremendously popular and successful don’t necessarily gain the same response here in America. I may be proven wrong (and in this case I’ll be pleased if my prediction is disproved), but my personal expectation is that “Big Windup!” simply doen’t have much market potential in America. That may partially explain why Asa Higuchi’s manga hasn’t reached America yet and why FUNimation hasn’t scheduled a release for the anime adaptation yet.

No sports anime has ever achieved significant market success in America. Princess Nine, Dandoh!, Fighting Spirit, One Pound Gospel, Eyeshield 21, Slam Dunk, Prince of Tennis, Champion Joe (Ashita no Joe), Joe vs Joe, and Yawara have all seen official US release, yet none of them have been breakout hits. The argument may be made that the primary focus of Ookiku Furikabutte is on character relationships and character development rather than baseball, but the same may be said of many sports anime that haven’t reached America or haven’t been especially successful in America. The Ookiku Furikabutte manga won the the prestigious Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2006, and the Kodansha Manga Award in 2007. The TV anime was quite popular in Japan, especially among female viewers. But none of that ensures an equal or similar reception in America. I can’t say that the manga won’t ever be licensed for domestic release, but with the American manga market quickly approaching a saturation point, I suspect that American publishers are more interested in inexpensive licenses and titles that skew toward established American audiences rather than an acclaimed title with an uncertain American audience and market potential. The Ookiku Furikabutte manga is a bigger, higher profile risk to acquire and release domestically than a lower profile title or a shonen, shoujo, or yaoi title that can appeal to an established American consumer audience.

FUNimation is presently America’s most successful anime distributor, but not every title that FUNimation distributes has been highly successful. If I knew for certain how FUNimation could promote “Big Windup!” to ensure stellar sales, I’d be a marketing genius, which I’m not. I think that FUNimation is committed to diligently marketing every anime title it distributes, regardless of how FUNimation’s distribution of the series came about. That’s an admirable business practice, but it naturally has to result in titles like Galaxy Railways, Glass Fleet, Kodocha, Sasami, and Ragnarok the Animation not being as successful as Dragon Ball Z, Fruits Basket, Afro Samurai, and Witchblade. Aggressive advertising and a value priced release may go a long way to helping Big Windup! achieve some moderate domestic success, but I’m not convinced that there’s anything FUNimation or any other domestic distributor could possibly do to turn the Ookiku Furikabutte anime into a home run hit. I doubt that even an American TV broadcast would have very much of an impact because Ookiku Furikabutte is simply a type of anime that American viewers have minimal interest in, and there’s absolutely nothing that will encourage Americans predisposed to dismiss sports anime into watching and purchasing Big Windup! DVDs. Ookiku Furikabutte is, I think, simply a title that’s always destined to be more popular and successful in Japan than in America because Japanese audiences are naturally more inclined to enjoy and appreciate its combination of sports and relationship drama while most Americans are attracted by other, different characteristics in manga and anime.