Ask John: Why Are Fewer Anime Features Being Released on American DVD Now?

Question:
I’ve noticed that recently there haven’t been much anime feature films being released. What I mean is that, though there are anime movies being released, they all relate to a show, or expand on a show. There’s not too many stand-alone type movies, like Ninja Scroll, Ghost in a Shell, Akira, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, and so on. Is there any specific reasons for this? If I’m wrong, can you mention, or tell me about some anime films that are a lot like the ones I’ve mentioned?

Answer:
On the contrary, I think that there are a significant number of anime feature films soon to hit American DVD, in addition to the recently released first Naruto feature film. Between now and the end of this year six anime feature film releases will debut on American DVD, and half of them are films with no connections to series already available in America. From the end of September until the end of December, we’ll see the second Detective Conan movie, the Gunbuster movie double-feature, the Air movie, Tekkon Kinkreet, Shin Angyo Onshi, and Paprika all premier on American home video. The later three are titles with no other related animation, making them completely self-contained feature debuts. I’d say that the release of six anime theatrical films in little over three months is quite a rapid and full release schedule.

There will always be fewer theatrical anime titles than OVAs or television series because there are simply fewer theatrical anime productions made in Japan than other types of anime. Theatrical features require a major financial investment and have a smaller potential audience than anime made for television broadcast. Furthermore, American viewers that cite numerous examples of theatrical productions on American DVD, like Akira, Jubei Ninpucho, and Vampire Hunter D, may forget that these titles were all released in America sporadically over a period of a decade or more. Because we can name many theatrical anime films available on American DVD, and because the number of TV series and OVA releases on American DVD far outnumber theatrical film releases, it just seems as if there are few or no theatrical films being released on domestic DVD. Scrutiny reveals, however, that impressions aren’t justified. There are still a significant number of new theatrical anime productions on their way to America. And there are more to come.

The 5cm Per Second, Appleseed: Ex Machina, Gundam Z movies, Silent Mobius movies, Studio Ghibli’s Only Yesterday, Vexille, XXXHolic movie, and Tsubasa movie have all been licensed for American distribution with no confirmed DVD release dates yet.