Ask John: Could Japan’s Most Popular Anime of 2007 be Released in America?

Question:
Do you think the 13 episode Sola TV series will ever be licensed for R1 distribution? I’ve heard Sola was ranked the best anime of 2007 on Yahoo Japan, and certain companies like ADV and Funimation seem to have met with some success with harem series in Air and Kiminozo respectively.

Answer:
Because this question addresses an interesting topic, I’m going to expand my response a bit beyond just sola (purposely spelled with no capitalization). According to the results of a poll of over two million Japanese anime fans, published by Japanese marketing research magazine MarkeZine on December 26, 2007, the romantic drama anime television series sola was overwhelmingly voted the “number one” anime production of 2007. sola received 340,000 votes while second place winner Lucky Star earned less than half as much support with only 160,000 votes. The top ten ranking titles were:

01. sola
02. Lucky Star
03. Kateikyoshi Hitman Reborn
04. Ookiku Furikabutte
05. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai
06. Gintama
07. Nanoha StrikerS
08. Nanatsuiro Drops
09. Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
10. Hidamari Sketch

This list may be especially interesting for Americans because the list is drastically different from a similar list that American fans would compile. Clearly popular Japanese programs including Kateikyoshi Hitman Reborn, Ookiku Furikabutte, Gintama, Nanatsuiro Drops, and Hidamari Sketch have little or no popularity among American anime fans. 2007 titles and anime broadcast during 2007 that have been respected and extremely popular among American viewers, including Gurren Lagann, Darker Than Black, Claymore, Clannad, Denno Coil, Death Note, Code Geass, Naruto, and Bleach do not appear on this list. This disparity clearly illustrates the dramatic difference between the tastes in anime among Japanese and American viewers. Likewise, this list, I think, illustrates the fact that fan favorite status in Japan does not necessarily guarantee an American release.

Broccoli Books has acquired English language translation rights to the sola manga series, but there’s been no rumor of an American license for the anime series. What’s more, I don’t perceive any noticeable demand for an American DVD release of the sola television series from America’s anime fan community. Similar romance themed shows based on computer games including Air, Kanon, and Kimi ga Nozomu Eien have been released in America to moderate success, but the difference between Air, Kanon, and KimiNozo and sola is the fact that the former three titles were extremely popular in America’s fan community prior to their American release while American interest in sola is minimal at best.

Furthermore, other high ranking titles among Japanese fans may not stand an especially strong chance of being licensed for American release. Kateikyoshi Hitman Reborn and Gintama, for example, are titles which I can envision Viz Media attempting to distribute on American DVD, and titles which I can foresee failing in the American market. Nanatsuiro Drops is an especially surprising entry because despite it obviously being a popular title among Japanese viewers, it’s the type of magical girl “moe” anime series that the overwhelming majority of American anime consumers absolutely hate. American fans, I think, don’t hate Hidamari Sketch. Rather, Hidamari Sketch is a program that the majority of America’s anime fans have so little interest in that they don’t even feel passionate enough about it to like it or hate it.

I can’t predict that sola won’t be acquired for American release. After all, the manga has already been licensed for American release, and the series was apparently tremendously successful in Japan, which may encourage distributors to expect it to likewise perform well in America. But, excluding a small handful of exceptions, “dating simulation” anime have never been especially popular or successful in America, and my knowledge of the show and observations of America’s fan community lead me to believe that sola is far more likely to fall into the category of unpopular dating sim rather than popular exception. Actually, Lucky Star is presently the only title on Japan’s top ten anime of 2007 list that has been confirmed for future American release, and I don’t seriously expect to see very many of the remaining nine titles on that list acquired for American DVD release.

Addendum added January 14, 2008
The credibility of the poll results, and particularly the nomination of “sola” as the best anime of 2007 is considered suspect by English speaking and Japanese critics, although there is no concrete evidence to support claims that the poll results are inaccurate.