Ask John: Whatever Happened to G-On Riders?

Question:
I was just joining the online anime community, especially the fansubbing community, around the launch of Hand Maid May many years ago. I remember a few weeks after said show concluded, artwork and websites for a show called G-On Riders hit the internet. I followed the show through fansubs and enjoyed it greatly as a mix of harem anime and sentai superhero comedy along with other assorted weirdness. It definitely had its tongue planted firmly in the moe cheek, maybe even to its detriment, a few years ahead of the curve.

My question is your thoughts on why this show has never received a US license or release. I would have thought the style of comedy this show had would have been a natural fit on Pioneer/Geneon up until it closed down. Was it due to lackluster sales of Hand Maid May in the US? Or is it more complicated, being associated with the troubled and eventual canceled production of the Hand Maid Mai OAV sequel?

Answer:
Anime licensing is a complex procedure affected by a multitude of influences. The interests of the domestic distributor, the financial resources available to the domestic distributor, the perceived size of the American commercial audience, the success of the title in Japan, the length of the show, and the financial interests of the production’s original investors, sponsors, producers, and animators are just some of the factors that influence which anime do and don’t reach America. I don’t have first-hand knowledge of the licensing status of the 2002 G-On Riders television anime, but I do think I can safely speculate. Rather than complicated, unfortunate circumstances confounding a potential American release, I suspect that G-On Riders is simply one of many similar anime that just passed by, and got passed over due to a confluence of circumstances.

G-On Riders was a fun, attractive looking and well animated action comedy that proved successful enough to earn a DVD exclusive 14th episode. It was animated by Shaft (Negima!?, Tsukuyomi ~Moon Phase~, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei) and TNK (Hand Maid May, Honey & Clover, School Days) – both well respected production studios. The show may also be considered one of the early “moe” anime specifically for indulging “meganekko moe” or providing exhaustive fan service for otaku with a fetish for anime girls wearing glasses. Nearly every female character in the series wears glasses. The show was animation studio TNK’s follow-up to Hand Maid May, but it premiered a year before Hand Maid Mai and has no connection to Hand Maid Mai at all. The planned three episode Hand Maid Mai OVA series was cut short at a promotional “episode zero” and first OVA when distributor Five Ways went out of business. However, Hand Maid Mai animation studio Wonder Farm went on to produce the 2004 TV series Ryusei Sentai Musumet. So the absence of G-On Riders in America wasn’t caused by a publisher collapse or some similar business catastrophe. I think the show was simply overlooked.

Certain fun but trifling anime series like Saber Marionette J, Steel Angel Kurumi, Hand Maid May, Wandaba Style, Geobreeders, Maho Yuugi, and Galaxy Angel have reached America and earned moderate success. However, a number of other similarly frivolous, entertaining, and sometimes impressively animated bishoujo anime like G-On Riders, D4 Princess, Ryusei Sentai Musumet, Ultimate Girls, Akahori Gedo Hour Lovege, and (especially) Renkin 3-kyuu Magical? Pokaan haven’t made it to America. I think there are a few reasons behind this discrepancy. First, and probably foremost, a large portion of America’s fan community and an especially large portion of America’s anime DVD consumers don’t like, and don’t want to support lightweight, frivolous bishoujo anime. While there will always been Americans willing to watch and enjoy these types of shows, a large portion of America’s anime viewers are drawn to anime that the perceive as edgy, stylish, exciting, and provocative. Shows like Naruto, Bleach, and Dragon Ball are masculine, action-oriented, violent, and therefore have a foreign novelty not found in American cartoons. Harem anime like Tenchi Muyo, Saber Marionette, Steel Angel Kurumi, Hand Maid May, and Love Hina have an innate sexiness not found in American animation. Shows like G-On Riders, however, are easy to dismiss as nothing more than superficial fan service. The accusation may be correct, but that doesn’t make the shows automatically bad.

I suspect that, for many American anime viewers, anime has to be more than just entertaining. Although they may not consciously realize it, many of America’s anime viewers demand justification for watching “cartoons.” Cartoons, Americans instinctively think, are a childish medium intended for children. But it’s okay for a teen or young adult to watch anime series X because it has “mature” violence and action, or because it has a substantial story and complex characterization. For a small number of American viewers, the fact that a show like G-On Riders is well animated, cute, and fun is reason enough to like it. But many other Americans may feel self-conscious or subconsciously embarrassed to watch trivial, disposable “cartoons.” Countless Americans maintain the personal standard that an anime has to contain some degree of literary substance in order to be worth watching. Bishoujo anime including Magikano, Miami Guns, Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora (“Shattered Angels”), Aoi Umi no Tristia, Detatoko Princess, Galaxy Frauline Yuna, Jungle de Ikou, Jaja Uma Quartet, and Idol Project that are considered redundant or superficial have never performed well in America despite often being fun, well animated shows. The fact that Japan is still producing shows like Kyouran Kazoku Nikki, Kanokon, Penguin Musume Heart, Koihime Musou, Macademi Wasshoi!, and K-On demonstrates that Japanese viewers are willing to support these types of anime as amusing, temporary distractions. But America doesn’t support nearly the variety of anime produced and released in Japan.

Furthermore, specific to G-On Riders, it should also be noted that the show premiered in 2002, near the beginning of the international peak of anime popularity. In the early 2000s there were an unprecedented number of contemporary anime available for American distributors to consider licensing, and the cost of licensing anime was on the rise. At the time, G-On Riders was simply a good but unremarkable licensing candidate among hundreds of other titles. In fact, it’s a title that even AN Entertainment briefly considered before concentrating on other options. G-On Riders has always been a bystander title in a large pool of similar anime, which is probably why it never earned more than a cursory glance from American licensors. I’m sure the show is just as good now as it was seven years ago, but a show that didn’t have much chance of catching the interest of American viewers then probably has even less chance now. I’d like to see G-On Riders get an American DVD release. I’d even more so like to see similarly harmless fun shows like Magical Pokaan, Kyouran Kazoku Nikki, and Potemayo reach America. But with American anime DVD sales so depressed and the number of active American licensors down to early 1990s levels, it’s getting increasingly difficult to envision these older nuggets getting picked up, dusted off, and put back out on the market.