Ask John: How Has the Anime Market Changed Since the Introduction of DVD?

Question:
Much anime on DVD is available subtitled and dubbed. But before DVD, what sorts of anime were available subtitled on VHS and LD? Do you think the anime market is improved from the purist standpoint since DVD?

Answer:
As one of many domestic anime fans that clearly remembers the VHS era of anime fandom, I find it very disorienting to discuss the market as if it consisted of two clearly delineated periods of pre- and post- DVD. Certainly the variety and diversity of anime available in America has expanded since the days of VHS, and to some degree the awareness and respect for cultural and artistic integrity in anime releases has improved in recent years, but I think these changes are primarily due to the maturation of the hobby in America and not directly attributable to the introduction of DVD technology.

There is more shoujo and sports anime available in America now than ever before, and there are more anime titles available in America than ever before. But I think this situation is simply a response to the increasing demand for anime in America and the increasing size of the domestic anime market. Furthermore, I think we’re seeing a wider diversity of genres of anime coming to America just because the number of boys’ action and adventure shows to localize is quickly diminishing. To enlighten newer anime fans that weren’t aware of the hobby during the VHS era, the domestic anime industry wasn’t really that much different a decade ago than it is now. Smaller, yes, but otherwise not that different. Many of the anime titles available on American DVD now were ones originally released in the pre-DVD days when it was common for shows to be released on separate subtitled and dubbed VHS cassettes and laserdiscs. Many of the acknowledged classics and popular titles, including even some not available on DVD now, were available in VHS format including My Neighbor Totoro, Cowboy Bebop, the early American Gundam titles, Giant Robo, Macross, Nadia, Evangelion, Escaflowne, Akira, Graveyard of Fireflies, Ranma 1/2, Dragonball, and countless others. A number of American anime releases from the VHS days have, in fact, never been released on American DVD, including the Macross movie, Girl from Phantasia, Ten Little Gall Force and Scramble Wars, the Raven Tengu Kabuto OAV and the Guyver: Out of Standardized OAV, Ai City, Leda, Gunbuster, Clamp Campus Detectives, Ergheiz, A.W.O.L., Robot Carnival, and numerous others.

Just as the range and depth of anime available in America has increased over time, the concern over authentic presentation has likewise matured, at least a bit. The early days of the American anime VHS distribution era were also the early days of anime itself in America. During that time, Streamline Pictures had a reputation for horribly mangling American adaptations of anime. US Renditions produced questionable releases more by accident or incompetence than in the spirit of the intentional bastardizations of Streamline. As the industry has evolved, fans have become more savvy and more demanding and some of the domestic distributors have responded. AnimEigo has always stressed responsible integrity in its translations. FUNimation and Synch Point may be credited as the first companies to romanize Japanese honorifics and terms in their subtitle translations. Geneon has, in the DVD era, made a conscious effort to become more attentive to reflecting the original Japanese format of anime releases. But on the other hand, companies like TOKYOPOP, Viz and AD Vision that have never heavily prioritized artistic or cultural respect, seem to have changed their localization strategies very little over the years.

In my opinion, the domestic anime industry and market has become bigger and more diverse and more sophisticated as a result of its maturity. The introduction of the DVD format and its ability to simultaneously contain subtitled and dubbed versions, and even edited and unedited versions, seems to have made little more than an incidental impact on the American anime community. Bilingual anime existed before DVD, and continues to exist today. A diversity of styles of anime released in America started in the VHS era and continues today. The concern with the integrity of anime localizations originated in the consciousness of anime fans in the early VHS era and continues to influence the domestic anime industry today, although still not as thoroughly as I’d personally like to see. I think the introduction of DVD was merely the introduction of a new distribution format. Change in the anime industry comes from fans, not technology. So I honestly believe that the diversity of anime available in America today, and the professional anime industry’s limited concern with faithful presentation would still be largely as they are now even if DVD technology had never been invented. The growth and evolution of the anime community in America has been a steady maturation, not a development that was suddenly radically revolutionized by the introduction of the DVD format.