Ask John: Does America Only License Popular Japanese Anime?

Question:
Do American Anime distributors only bring in anime that were famous in Japan? What were some of the most successful and popular anime in Japan? Like a top 5 or something. Like what anime had the most fan base in Japan.

Answer:
This isn’t really a question that I can answer simply. Animage Magazine runs a monthly fan poll of what’s popular in Japan, and their annual Animage Grand Prix is the oldest and most well respected fan poll of favorite Japanese anime running. Anihabara also posts regular reports of what’s popular on Japanese television. I don’t know what Anihabara’s list is based on, though, so I don’t know who much it can be taken as a definitive, scientific resource.

Since I’m not directly involved with companies that license anime for American broadcast, I can’t explain all of the factors that go into licensing shows, but I can provide some insights that not all fans may be aware of. Naturally domestic companies license anime that they believe will be popular and successful in America, and what’s popular in Japan is often a good barometer of fan acceptance of a particular show. Domestic anime companies have to take into account the cost of a particular license relative to its potential domestic market, the length of the series, the content of the series, the focus of the domestic company, and Japanese licensing restrictions.

Some licenses can be prohibitively expensive. AD Vision, for example, chose not to pursue the translation rights to either the extended version Evangelion TV episodes or the Eva movies because the licensing fees were too expensive. This is also the most commonly cited reason why the Katushiro Otomo film Memories has never been released in America. It’s an expensive license with only limited American market potential. It’s simply not good business sense to spend a lot to license a show that you won’t be able to recover you investment with.

Many American companies stay away from long anime TV series for a number of reasons. According to common wisdom, long series don’t sell well in the mainstream retail market. The average customer just doesn’t want to go down the the local video store to by volume 37 of a particular series. Long series are also more expensive to license simply due to the fact that there’s so much more animation footage to license.

A translating company has to carefully evaluate the content of the shows they consider relative to the company’s marketing strategy. For example, Fox Television decided, after long consideration, not to license the Detective Conan TV series because Fox executives decided that they couldn’t broadcast Meitantei Conan uncut on American television and editing the show would be prohibitively difficult. Another example is Pioneer’s decision not to license Ima Soku ni Iru Boku, although the show is a Pioneer production. Pioneer strives to maintain a generally non controversial, all ages standard with their anime releases. The extremely dark and violent Imaboku simply doesn’t conform to this standard. CPM licensed Imaboku, though, because CPM traditionally doesn’t shy away from offerings intended exclusively for more mature audiences.

Furthermore, domestic anime companies choose anime that maintains consistency with their company image. Pioneer and Viz focus heavily on family friendly, non-controversial series. Urban Vision focuses heavily on darker titles intended for teens and adults. AD Vision focuses on action oriented, bright colored, kinetic and popular anime. Bandai focuses on contemporary Bandai properties and new, lesser known sleeper hits. Media Blasters generally releases titles that have been fan favorites in the die-hard anime community and lesser known but deserving properties. AnimEigo emphasizes “golden period” classics, and Right Stuf focuses on deserving and often overlooked gems.

Finally, sometimes licensing decisions are outside the control of domestic companies. Common examples include the stipulation that no Western DVD version be released before the Japanese DVD release, or a desirable show must be licensed as part of a package deal. For example, Manga Entertainment was contractually obligated to not release the X movie on DVD in America until after it was released in Japan. And according to rumor, any company interested in licensing the Ah! My Goddess movie has to license the TV series also.

Many of the titles released in America are or were major hits in Japan but many others were not. Some of America’s biggest successes, including Cowboy Bebop, Fushigi Yuugi, Gundam Wing, Ranma, Evangelion, Rurouni Kenshin and Nadesico were all massively successful in Japan during their prime. Other popular domestic releases such as Dragon Half, Battle Angel, Fire Emblem, and The Big O were either commercially unsuccessful or only marginally popular in Japan. And then some American releases including Dog Soldier, Domain of Murder and Power Dolls haven’t proven very popular in either Japan or America.

Anime fandom in Japan can be quite fickle, and what’s popular in Japan isn’t always a dependable prediction of what will be successful in America. Nadesico has proven mildly successful in America, but in Japan created such a stir that stores and movie theaters reported a rash of Nadesico posters being stolen from walls and displays. On the other hand, series like Ranma, Evangelion, Sailormoon, Dragonball, Gundam Wing and Tenchi Muyo, which are still massively popular in America have almost no fan support left in Japan because these series are “too old.” On the other hand, Pokemon is still wildly popular in Japan while the series has largely died in America.

You can expect that some of the biggest anime in Japan will eventually come to America, but many other massively successful Japanese franchises have either not gained support in America or likely will never make it to America. Current and recent hits like Noir, Arjuna, Hanaukyo Maid Tai, Angelic Layer, Z.O.E., and Inuyasha seem like likely candidates for American translation sometime in the future, but other massively successful Japanese franchises like Gensomaden Saiyuki, Detective Conan and Kodomo no Omocha seem destined to remain Japanese exclusives while timeless Japanese hits including Lupin and Crayon Shin-chan have gained only marginal interest and support in their ventures into the American market.