Ask John: Where is Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari?

Question:
Tenchi Muyo was one of my first anime series to watch (and one of my favorites) so i am curios about the new series Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari, starring Tenchi’s half brother. Has it completed it’s releases in Japan and how long of a turnaround to bring it to the US? Didn’t the 3rd oav series released by Funi do well enough for them to grab it?

Answer:
The 13th and final episode of the Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari OVA series is scheduled for Japanese DVD and Blu-ray release later this month. Despite relatively heavy promotion, the series doesn’t seem to have become especially popular among otaku in Japan or internationally. Possibly, in part, because of its extended release schedule and minimal television broadcast exposure, the show has been largely overlooked. Fans that like it seem moderately enthused by it, but the majority of the anime viewing audience seems to be practically unaware that it even exists. While lack of exposure may explain some of the show’s relative obscurity, the series may also be overlooked because it’s an original story. Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari may be technically a side-story to the popular Tenchi Muyo franchise, but viewers without prior knowledge of that fact would never guess it. The Sasami spin-offs recycle select Tenchi Muyo characters. Tenchi Muyo GXP retained the title, some of the characters, and the space opera setting. Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari has no obvious narrative, visual, or stylistic similarities to the core Tenchi Muyo franchise. Furthermore, the anime series can’t rely on support from a pre-existing audience familiar with the story from earlier manga, novels, games, or anime.

The format of the Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari anime series is likely to make it more difficult to license and distribute in America than other anime series. Each episode is 45 minutes long rather than standard television episode length 25 minutes. Furthermore, the OVA format suggests that this series may have cost more to produce than a typical TV anime series, and may need to recoup more sales revenue than a more widely distributed and franchised TV series in order to earn a profit. While anime licensing costs have decreased significantly since their unsustainable heights of the early 2000s, bringing an anime series to American DVD is still an expensive effort, and licensing an expensive show costs more than licensing a less expensive show. The 45 minute episode length also confounds typical domestic release strategies. Episode distribution of 45 minute episodes on DVDs is different than episode distribution of 25 minute episodes. For example, five 45 minute episodes is the same running time as nine 25 minute episodes. When consumers consider how much they get for their money, they frequently look at number of episodes, not total running time. Fewer episodes seem like a lower value, even when the actual amount of anime provided is the same.

Lengthy extended length anime series have reached American DVD before. Media Blasters has released the Figure 17 television series and FUNimation distributes the Mnemosyne television series. But in the former case, Figure 17 is a television series, not an OVA series. In the later case, Mnemosyne is 5 episode television series, not a 13 episode OVA series. The differences in format, length, and original Japanese production costs may have a significant impact on licensing options. FUNimation has already demonstrated a seeming difficultly in handling domestic distribution of a presently ongoing OVA series. While FUNimation successfully released the first four episodes of the Hellsing OVA series on American DVD, episodes 5-7 have yet to reach America.

I can envision Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari coming to America eventually, but I don’t expect to see it in the immediate future. Particularly since the anime is an OVA series, its Japanese distributor may be especially adamant about allowing the show to exhaust the majority of its Japanese DVD sales potential at 4,800 yen an episode before allowing an American DVD release at a fraction of that price in order to minimize the threat of reverse importation, Japanese consumers buying the cheap American release instead of the more expensive Japanese release. Although the number of annual anime productions in Japan has dropped from its staggering height of a few years ago, there are still hundreds of new anime productions released in Japan every year. With fewer American distributors acquiring fewer shows, it makes sense for domestic distributors to prioritize acquisition of high profile and well-known titles, and shows that will be relatively easy to market and distribute domestically. Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari is a lesser known show. Its format and length pose unique obstacles to easy domestic release. And its cost may be greater than other shows that have more American audience and market potential. From a domestic licensor’s perspective, Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari certainly isn’t undesirable, but it may be a show better left alone until circumstances in Japan and America provide more practical and ideal circumstances for its American acquisition and release.