Ask John: What Would be a Good Anime to Show on American TV?

Question:
I was just wondering what would be a good anime that could be shown on TV that wouldn’t anger fans by having too much cut out. I personally would like to see Magic Knight Rayearth on TV; it’s good, clean, and wholesome.

Answer:
The trick to finding a good candidate for American TV broadcast lies in several areas. First and foremost, and anime series has to be marketable. That means that the show has to have a story and characters and a dynamic that will appeal to American viewers and convince advertisers that people will watch it. After all, the entire point of TV programs is not to entertain viewers but rather to sell advertising time through commercials. If viewers don’t watch a particular program, the program is canceled not because it’s bad but because not enough people are watching the commercials that air during the program. So, if a series doesn’t seem to have a “hook” or seem to have a potential in the eyes of advertisers, advertising companies won’t buy air-time for their commercials, and the TV network will look for some other more potentially lucrative show. For that reason, it’s unlikely that a great deal more shoujo anime will grace American TV screens anytime soon. Sailormoon, while wildly popular, seems to have been a commercial failure, as proven by its cancellation by DIC. The shoujo influenced Escaflowne was also a failure, although due more to poor scheduling than anything else. Cardcaptors has done well, but it has been altered and edited almost beyond any similarity to its original format.

Anime for boys seems to be much more acceptable for American TV broadcast based on the success of programs like Gundam Wing, Dragonball, The Big O, and Outlaw Star, and the impending premiers of “First Gundam,” Gundam MS 08 and “Pilot Candidates.” These programs are largely sci-fi, so their violence is in the realm of the fantastic rather than the immediate and identifiable, and the element of Japanese culture in them is lessened relative to especially shoujo anime.

Since popular wishes including Trigun, City Hunter, Cowboy Bebop and Evangelion simply contain too much violence and gunplay to be acceptable in mainstream broadcast television “cartoons,” the best candidates for American television broadcast in a relatively unaltered form, are, in my own opinion, a relatively slim few. I would suggest Slayers, but Slayers has already been picked up for American television broadcast. From there, my list is devoted to import series which have not yet come to America, or which have been licensed for American release but haven’t yet made it to America.

Popolocrois Monogatari is a wonderful children’s fantasy based on the best selling series of Playstation RPGs. Popolocrois features wonderful characters and characterizations, a fantasy location free of Japanese cultural references, and violence that’s whimsical and fantastic and fairy tale in nature. If Disney were to ever create a fantasy RPG TV series without pandering to the lowest common denominator, it might be something like Popolocrois.

Hana Yori Dango would appeal to fans of MTV Real World/Ally McBeal style character driven real world situations. Hana Yori Dango features stylish, believable characters written incredibly well, engaged in totally convincing relationship, romantic and peer pressure situations.

Steam Detectives features a highly stylized world that’s unlike American cartoons but also unlike typical anime, making it a good candidate to appeal to viewers that don’t like the typical wild hair, big eyes look of anime.

Power Stone seems almost as though it was made for American TV, with its multinational cast and worldwide setting, totally bloodless action and broad stereotypical characters.

Princess Nine seems like a sure fire success simply because it’s a series about pretty girls engaged in America’s favorite past-time. It’s also thoroughly engaging with strong characters, interesting writing, and a story that’s interesting without being violent, offensive or sensationalistic.

One Piece may seem like a long shot given its odd character design and slow pace, but the engaging characters, bloodless but still exciting action and overall spirit of pirate adventure could make One Piece a surprise hit in America.

Initial D seems like even more of a hard sell with its especially odd looking character designs and solid grounding in Japanese culture, but the strength of its writing and characterizations, the high-energy spirit of techno-dance pop music and the energy and detail invested into the car racing background and action scenes that characterize Initial D may convert viewers who never had the slightest interest in street racing into obsessive fans.