Ask John: What’s the Ratio of American Release to Japanese Release Anime?

Question:
I noticed that there are a lot of anime shown in Japan that get nixed by American licensors. What is the approximate ratio between how much anime gets licensed and the total amount of anime in Japan? Can you explain what specifically American licensors look for to determine if an anime gets licensed or not? Also, list some good anime that never was, and probably never will, picked up for American release.

Answer:
I hope you’ll forgive me in advance for perhaps being brief in certain aspects of this response because much of what I’d say to answer you I’ve said before and posted to the AnimeNation “Ask John” archive.

The current issue of Newtype Magazine lists television ratings for 56 anime TV series excluding sentai shows, Woody Woodpecker and Powerpuff Girls. Out of those 56 series, American licenses for only 7 of them have been confirmed at the present time. And this list doesn’t include current theatrical anime or OAV releases or older series. As you can see, while the amount of anime released in Japan doesn’t remotely approach the amount of live-action programming produced and broadcast on Japanese television, by American standards, there is an utterly massive amount of anime in existence and a large number of new shows being produced at any given time.

From my understanding, though, it’s not generally American licensors that refuse Western localization of series. It has happened, such as the Fox network’s decision not to license Detective Conan because it’s too violent to air on American television, but generally the American translating companies simply know what types of anime they’re interested in and only pursue certain titles. Naturally, what anime gets brought to America is determined by what licensors believe they can sell. There may be great anime programs out there like St. Seiya and Brother Dear Brother, but these series will probably never come to America because they have little commercial potential in America. Naturally, no one wants to spend the money to license, translate and distribute a property in America that’s going to lose money.

The list of anime available in Japan that’s not available in America is massive. By logical extension, if there are roughly four 13 week broadcast “quarters” in the Japanese year, and there are over 50 current anime TV series on during this month alone, if we consider that even a quarter of these shows will soon be replaced, in 40 years of anime history, that’s an incredible number of anime TV series alone produced in Japan. And while there are thousands of major anime releases that seem destined to never be released in America, the list of what is available in America increases every day. Older shows, children’s/family shows and shoujo are the most under-represented genres of anime in America. Classic older programs like Captain Harlock, Devilman, Ashita no Joe, Captain Tsubasa, St. Seiya, Lupin III TV, and Future Boy Conan are not available in America. Popular family shows like Dr. Slump, Crayon Shin-chan, One Piece, Sazae-chan, chibi Maruko-chan, and Detective Conan are either not available or severely under represented in America. And shoujo titles like Brother Dear Brother, Minky Momo, Akazukin Cha-Cha, Kodomo no Omocha, Cutey Honey TV, Princess Knight, Rose of Versailles, Aim for the Ace, and Hana Yori Dango have yet to make an impact on the American market. On the other hand, the availability of anime in America is steadily expanding and maturing. The anime available or licensed for American release runs the gamut, including family programs like Pokemon and Dragonball to adults only hentai; shoujo romantic drama including Maison Ikkoku and Orange Road; yaoi titles including Fake and Kizuna; giant robots from the contemporary (Gundam W, Dangaizer 3) to the classic (MS Gundam, Dunbine, SPT Layzner), art films like Legend of the Forest and (possibly) Angel’s Egg to mainstream hits like Akira; archival licenses such as Astro Boy and Kimba to co-production licenses for series not even created yet.

The selection of anime available in America really is quite impressive, and growing more so all the time, but America will never catch up to the selection of anime that’s available in Japan. That’s only natural. Anime is, after all, created in Japan for Japanese viewers. While awareness of the American market is increasing in Japan, anime will always be a Japanese art form that America merely imports. For it to be otherwise, anime wouldn’t be “anime” any longer. Some series are simply tailored to Japanese tastes, or for one of any number of other reasons, may never come to America. For those series, there will always be companies like AnimeNation willing to specially import Japanese copies, and devoted private fans willing to create and share fansubs or screen anime at clubs and conventions.