Ask John: Could the New Cobra & Golgo 13 Reach America?

Question:
A while back I remember you guys mentioning a new Space Adventure Cobra series/OVA as well as a Golgo 13 TV series. Have you heard any news on when these might see the light of day in the USA? Is anybody going to license them?

Answer:
Experience has taught me to respect the possibility of any given anime title officially reaching American distribution. After all, Crunchyroll is presently streaming weekly episodes of Mainichi Kaasan, a show that’s being almost totally ignored by the American anime fan community and a show which would have been an unimaginable American release just a few years ago. But as has always been the case, certain anime do stand a much better chance of getting picked for American release than others. Space Adventure Cobra and Golgo 13 are two shows that ostensibly seem ideal for American circulation but probably won’t ever reach America (again).

The four episode Cobra: Psychogun OVA series and the 50 episode Golgo 13 TV anime series premiered in 2008. The two episode Cobra: Time Drive OVA series hit earlier this year. The Japanese broadcast premiere of the new Space Adventure Cobra TV series has been delayed until next year. The 1982 Space Adventure Cobra anime movie was first glimpsed in America in 1991 when footage from the movie was used for musician Matthew Sweet’s music video “Girlfriend.” Urban Vision later released the movie on subtitled and dubbed VHS in 1998. Viz published a dozen monthly comic issues of translated Cobra manga beginning in February 1990.

Japan’s Lead Publishing released four volumes of English translated Golgo 13 manga in America in 1986 and two monthly comics in 1989 & 1990. Lead Publishing later collaborated with Viz in 1991 for the American publication of the 3 issue series The Professional: Golgo 13. Viz launched its most ambitious Golgo 13 manga publication in 2006 with the publication of a 13 volume Viz Signature Collection line of graphic novels. Streamline initially released the 1983 Golgo 13 anime motion picture on American VHS in 1992. It was re-released on VHS by Urban Vision in 2000, and on DVD in 2005. Urban Vision also brought the 1998 “Queen Bee” OVA to America shortly after its Japanese release.

In many respects, Buichi Terasawa’s Cobra is the larger half of the ancestry of Cowboy Bebop’s Spike Spiegel (the other antecedent being Lupin III). Cobra was the smoking, fighting, space faring jack-of-all-trades a decade before Cowboy Bebop existed. The Cobra manga and animation is characterized by suspenseful action and adventure in which Cobra lives by his wits and his strength, funky visual aesthetics, and rampant sexism that evokes both the tough machismo and the carefree attitudes of the American 1970s, not to mention the fashion sense of the 1970s. Golgo 13 is the epitome of seinen manga/anime and precisely what Americans should theoretically desire from Japanese animation. There’s nothing childish or cartoony about Golgo 13, despite it being comics and animation. Furthermore, Golgo 13’s own uncertain nationality, and the manga’s routine use of international settings and world events should make it more accessible and appealing to Americans than distinctly exotic Japanese series.

Yet despite seeming abundant reason for both franchises to fare well in America, neither of them ever has. Cobra’s flippant attitude and unflappable self-assurance characterize him closer to Sean Connery’s James Bond than typical anime heroes that teen and young adult viewers relate to and root for. Furthermore, I suspect that Japanese and European audiences are more willing to embrace Cobra’s machismo and sexual objectification of women as gratuitous fiction while American viewers instinctively, unconsciously recoil from such blatant exploitation. Golgo 13 appeals to mature Japanese readers because he’s the ideal Japanese man. He’s tall, handsome, and strong. He can satisfy any woman in bed. He’s stoic, ruthlessly efficient, and infallible. He’s the ideal samurai evolved into businessman evolved into hitman. But while Japanese readers never tire of Golgo 13’s exploits, Americans may find him impenetrable and his routine jobs redundant. Japanese readers admire Golgo 13. Americans want a protagonist they can relate to and empathize with. We can psychoanalyze, empathize with, and encourage Son Goku, D the vampire hunter, Naruto Uzumaki, and Spike Spiegel. But it’s more difficult to empathize with male characters including Lupin III, Captain Harlock, Kenshiro, Cobra, and Golgo 13. Male manga and anime characters with character flaws and weaknesses to be overcome are attractive to Americans. Characters that are eminently confident and capable leave no openings for Americans to latch onto and emotionally invest themselves in.

The fact that both Cobra and Golgo 13 anime have been released in America before, and both anime franchises are still viable and active in Japan today significantly improves their chances of having their new installments reach America. Presently I’m not aware of any plans for the new Cobra OVAs or the upcoming TV series, nor last year’s Golgo 13 TV series to cross the Pacific. Furthermore, considering the state of American anime licensing, I don’t have strong hopes of seeing either series reach America in the foreseeable future. But I’ve been wrong before, and in this case it’ll be a nice surprise if I’m proven wrong again.

Article revised on June 21, 2010 with assistance from John C. Watson.