Ask John: Do Anime Series Ever Get Licensed but Not Released?

Question:
I was just wondering, have there ever been times that anime had been licensed but never released? And if so, what happens to it.

Answer:
Generally it’s too expensive for a domestic licensor to acquire translation and distribution rights to an anime title then never release it. Anime fans tend to worry, a bit excessively, over the possibility of a distributor picking up a popular anime title then simply sitting on it. This fear is partially rooted in reality, but is highly over exaggerated. Especially AD Vision has a reputation for licensing titles then not releasing them until years later. Bandai is a second distributor that’s taken, in some cases, 3 or more years to actually release an acquired license in America. But in just about every case, albeit sometimes delayed, virtually every anime title that’s ever been acknowledged as licensed for American release has, eventually, hit the market. The only exception I know of is 1987 hentai OAV Minna Agechau (I Give My All). This ecchi OAV was to be Central Park Media’s debut release back in 1991, but media scrutiny portraying all anime as pornography, and CPM’s cute but misunderstood marketing strategy of promoting the upcoming release with flyers shaped like pink panties undermined the planned release. Twelve years later, Minna Agechau has still never been officially released in America and probably never will be.

The circumstances surrounding the classic Mamoru Oshii film Angel’s Egg are quite confusing. In early 2000 Anchor Bay Entertainment announced that it had secured the North American distribution rights to the Tenshi no Tamago anime movie. In the fall of 2001 the company again officially confirmed its acquisition of the title. But in more recent years Anchor Bay has denied its ownership of the title without providing any details or explanation. Is Angel’s Egg licensed for American release? I don’t know. Was it ever? I’m not sure.

There have been instances of domestic releases never being completed, but that’s not quite the same thing. Media Blasters released only the first 5 out of 26 episodes of Fortune Quest L before apparently deciding that the series was not successful enough to warrant continued release. Urban Vision has released two out of four DVD volumes of Strange Dawn with promises of completing the series’ release eventually. And in 1998 Star Anime Enterprises released one subtitled volume of the 39 episode long Dragon League anime TV series before going out of business.

What happens to an anime series that licensed for American distribution but not released is a complex path that varies with the series and the conditions of its original licensing contract and the players involved. Presumably, as is the case with now out of print American release anime titles like the original Spirit of Wonder anime OAV and the Gunnm OAV series, the rights revert back to the original Japanese distributor, which may not want to license out the show to America a second time. In other cases, such as in the case of the Iria: Zeiram the Animation OAV series and much of Streamline Pictures’ catalog, licenses get bought by other domestic releasing companies. But it’s virtually unheard of for an anime title to get licensed for domestic release then never make it to American retail at all. Japanese licensors carefully choose which distributors they’re willing to work with because they take care to ensure that a potential American distributor is trustworthy and likely to actually release a licensed property. With the same consideration, American distributors do whatever necessary to ensure that they don’t spend thousands, or hundreds of thousands of dollars to acquire properties they’ll never see an investment return on. So, in the decade plus that the anime industry has been established and active in America, I’ve never heard of an anime title licensed for American release that hasn’t had at least one tape or DVD released to the American market, or at least one episode broadcast on American TV.