Ask John: Is Anime Often Revised for Home Video Release?

Question:
I have read that the adaptation Ken Akamatsu’s Negima is going through extensive renovations and alterations as it is being prepared for DVD release. Does this happen often, and, in your opinion, is this an indication of the quality of the product?

Answer:
Actually, revisions and improvements made to anime TV series for their Japanese home video release are not that uncommon. For a multitude of reasons, though, foreign anime fans aren’t often aware of these changes. In the case of the Evangelion director’s cuts, in which new footage was created and added into Evangelion TV episodes 21-24 for their Japanese home video release, the additions were extensive and significant and threfore became highly sought after by international fans because Evangelion was such a massive cult favorite show. In the case of Mahou Sensei Negima, the announced renovations for the DVD release caught the attention of international fans because the initial TV version of the show has been so heavily criticized both in and outside Japan. Furthermore, since it’s highly unusual for a studio to essentially issue a public apology for the poor quality of an anime TV series and promise to improve it for the home video release, fans have taken special notice of the Negima announcement. I think that American fans are also aware that the Mezzo TV series and Heatguy J were also tweaked for their home video releases. But international fans don’t seem to make a fuss over the improved Mezzo and Heatguy J home video releases because the shows haven’t been particularly popular, so their enhancements have been largely ignored. There have been numerous other anime TV series to also receive improvements specifically for their Japanese home video releases. I’m not familiar with all of them, but I do know that titles including Outlaw Star, Akihabara Cyber Team, and Nadesico were revised, improved or extended from their original Japanese television broadcast versions for their Japanese home video release.

I want to unmistakably clarify that there’s a difference between editing and revising. I haven’t mentioned titles like Gantz First Stage and Girls Bravo First Season, which were different in their Japanese home video release than they were when broadcast on Japanese television. These series weren’t specifically altered for their home video release. They weren’t improved or extended post-broadcast. The home video releases were simply uncut versions of anime that was previously censored. Uncensored home video releases date back some time, to anime including Sakura Tsushin and the Maze Bakunetsu Jiku TV series which were censored or less risque in their TV broadcast versions than in their home video versions.

I believe that the somewhat common circumstance of anime being improved or extended for home video release validates anime as a legitimate form of creative art. Animators improve anime TV series for home video release because they want the shows to be as good as they can be. Animators, I think, don’t always have ultimate control over anime made for TV broadcast. Deadlines and the demands of the corporate sponsors who fund anime production may often compromise animators’ plans or hopes for an anime. To use the Negima TV series as an example, I’m confident in my belief that production studio Xebec wanted to produce a high quality Negima anime. (Having already created the Love Hina anime, fans worldwide know that Xebec is capable of creating a satisfying adaptation of Ken Akamatsu manga.) I suspect that Xebec was prevented from putting the time and effort into the initial production of the Negima anime that they wanted to because their corporate sponsors insisted that the series be ready for television broadcast by a certain date, regardless of how complete the production actually was at the time. (Anime being released for public consumption before it’s finished does sometimes happen. The most grievous example is the Gundress motion picture, which was released to Japanese theaters while some scenes were still in a rough, early production stage.) My guess is that for the home video release which may not have such tight deadlines or stringent demands, Xebec intends to extensively revise the Negima anime into the show that they originally envisioned it as, using the current completed animation as a starting point. So I don’t expect the home video version of Negima to look like an entirely different show, but I do expect it to have significant improvements over the televison broadcast version, which may have been compromised due to factors outside the control of the original animators.