Ask John: What CPM Titles Should be License Rescued?

Question:
What were Central Park Media’s best anime titles and is there any other lincensor trying to get those titles?

Answer:
I’ve said before, and been criticized for saying, that CPM was America’s champion advocate for bad anime. Central Park Media dumped titles including Art of Fighting, Garzey’s Wing, Narutaru, Big Wars, The Humanoid, Toshinden, Arcade Gamer Fubuki, Explorer Woman Ray, Crystal Triangle, Battle Skipper, Dog Soldier, and MD Geist on unsuspecting American viewers. However, given CPM’s one time prominence in the American anime distribution industry and the era of its operation, the company also accumulated a catalog of excellent and even masterpiece titles, many of which regrettably remain out of circulation in America.

Titles like Demon City Shinjuku, Gall Force (specifically the original trilogy and debatably the four episode “Earth” saga), Harlock Saga, Outlanders, Patlabor, DNA², Ping Pong Club, Venus Wars, Geobreeders, Yotoden, Wind Named Amnesia, Legend of Lemnear, and Roujin-Z are strong, respectable productions that deserve American circulation. Then there are select former CPM titles which are criminally unavailable domestically, and overlooked or forgotten titles that deserve a second shot.

In my opinion, America is culturally and artistically poorer for the absence of Revolutionary Girl Utena. I’ve called this series one of the finest anime productions ever, and in light of all the anime currently available in Japan, I still stand by that assertion. While the Utena TV series may not have animation quality as fluid, nor art design as vibrant as some more recent productions, the television series remains one of anime’s most brilliant artistic creations.

I almost lie awake at night terrified by the knowledge that American anime fans live in a world with no Lodoss War. I’ll grant that the TV series, apart from its wonderful opening animation, isn’t a tremendous loss, but there just seems to be something philosophically wrong with an anime community that doesn’t have legitimate access to anime’s finest sword and sorcery drama.

Night on the Galactic Railroad is one of several CPM titles that never gained the traction in America that it deserves. This is a challenging picture. It’s long; it’s slow; and it demands a lot of interpretative engagement from its viewers. That’s why it never earned a large audience, and also exactly why it belongs on American DVD. Thought provoking, intelligent, and artistic animated films are uncommon, so animation fans should cherish and respect the few that exist.

CPM’s other brilliant anime starring cats is the surrealistic Cat Soup (Nekojiru-so). This bizarre, acclaimed OVA hit America near the end of CPM’s prominent distribution activity and, as a result, never got a lot of American exposure. While diametrically opposite of the style of Night on the Galactic Railroad, Cat Soup deserves a spotlight on American DVD for the same reason. It’s a fine example of the artistic and creative capacity of anime.

Project A-ko (particularly the original 4 episode series. A-ko the Versus can go take a leap) and the second Urusei Yatsura movie, Beautiful Dreamer, are acknowledged classics of “golden era” anime. These titles have historical significance and happen to both be very enjoyable viewing. If certain titles deserve to be in American circulation merely for posterity, these should be among them.

Giving the Photon OVA series the original American subtitle “The Idiot Adventures” may have done more harm than good, discouraging viewers from discovering this gut-bustingly funny sci-fi adventure by creating the impression that it’s stupid and not worth any investment. This show is damn funny.

Shamanic Princess can be fairly accused of being superficial and pretentious. But it’s also intricately animated, lovely looking, and deeply atmospheric. There’s no shame in an anime being Gothic and indulgent as long as it does it well, so for that reason this nearly forgotten series deserves to be resurrected.

The 1988 Ultimate Teacher (Kyofun no Bio-Ningen) OVA has, over the years, developed an underground cult reverence among American anime fans because of its obscurity in America and its energetic embrace of everything that made “golden period” anime exciting and fascinating. This OVA has never gotten a DVD release, even in Japan, and it dearly deserves one.

Despite sustaining a devoted cult following in Japan and having a sound reputation, the Armored Trooper Votoms television series has failed on American DVD twice. The odds of the show getting a third shot at American distribution are slim, but, once again, there are just some titles that deserve to be in circulation for the sake of posterity.

The Alien Nine OVA series gets compromised by an abstract, ambiguous ending but the bulk of the series features lush animation, strong characterizations, and a shocking, well balanced dichotomy between the cute and the grotesque. For a show about young girls and pet monsters, Alien Nine succeeded admirably while CPM’s later acquisition Shadow Star ~ Narutaru was an abysmal failure.

Because the entire erotic anime genre gets little respect, it’s easy to forget that CPM was home to two of adult anime’s greatest franchises: Urotsukidoji and La Blue Girl. In fact, La Blue Girl has never gotten a fully uncensored DVD release in America because despite removing the Japanese digital mosaics, all American DVD releases of La Blue Girl are missing scenes involving the childlike ninja Nin-Nin – scenes which were included in CPM’s original VHS release.

Finally, I’ll probably get ridiculed for singling out this one, but I’ve got to be honest and admit that I love Wild Cardz (Jaja Uma Quartet). Suzuki Noritaka’s character designs are attractive, and I find it difficult to dislike what amounts to an hour long non-stop action scene. Criticisms of its absent story and character development are misplaced. The only goal of this two episode OVA is to provide thrilling excitement, and I think it delivers.

A number of CPM’s titles have been acquired by other domestic distributors and reintroduced to American DVD, including Aika, Here is Greenwood, Iria, Zenki, Area 88, and Angel Sanctuary. Some of them, particularly the Slayers TV series, have been more successful upon their rerelease than they ever were during their tenure with CPM. AD Vision’s recent acquisition of Graveyard of Fireflies, Now & Then, Here & There, World of Narue, and MD Geist are hopefully just the first of more future “rescues” of former CPM titles.