Ask John: Why Are Yaoi OVA Series Always So Short?

Question:
Is there a good reason why There were only 4 Okane Ga Nai OVAs, leaving the tale quite incomplete, compared to the ongoing status of the manga? It seems that a lot of yaois face this issue, such as Maiden Rose most recently. Is the fan base for yaoi too small to be worth pleasing? Series like a lot of the Tales anime don’t keep too much fandom after the first few episodes from what I’ve heard, and yet some of them reach over 12 episodes.
So I guess my question is why don’t yaois get the chance to flourish, when animes that could be equally as explicit (except with females) get more air time?

Answer:
I’ve never heard nor read an explanation for why so few yaoi anime series have more than just a few episodes. A handful of boy love TV anime including Gravitation, Gakuen Heaven, and Seiyo Kotto Yogashiten have had 12-13 episodes but yaoi OVA series rarely seem to manage more than two episodes. The size of Japan’s yaoi consumer market undoubtedly has an impact on the length of yaoi anime productions, but the interests of that particular market are probably even more influential. It should be noticed that yaoi manga is very prevelant in Japan while yaoi anime is not. Risqué anime aimed at male viewers is very common. As many as a half-dozen new erotic anime OVAs for a primarily male consumer audience hit Japanese DVD every month while fewer than a half-dozen yaoi anime seem to premiere in any given year. Observation of the Japanese market suggests that Japanese women and Japanese anime viewers simply prefer to see yaoi in the form of manga and merchandise more so than in animated form. Occasional titles like Gravitation, Junjo Romantica, and Gakuen Heaven are probably assumed to be accessible and attractive enough to a large otaku audience that they earn adaptation as short television series. Seiyo Kotto Yogashiten ~Antique~ aired in the Fuji TV network’s late night “Noitamina” time slot reserved for anime targeted at mainstream, non-otaku viewers interested in unique and unconventional TV programs. Titles including Okane ga Nai, Hyakujitsu no Bara ~ Maiden Rose, Kirepapa, and Papa to Kiss in the Dark probably get adapted into OVAs because the titles have enough demand, or are deemed to have enough potential to justify anime adaptation, but don’t sell well enough to sustain more than one or two episode productions. The Maiden Rose and Kirepapa OVAs, for example, cost a staggering 9,975 yen per episode on Japanese DVD. Even the discount priced re-release of the Kirepapa OVAs still retails at 6,300 yen per half-hour episode. Presumably the steep price is necessary to compensate for anticipated low sales. I don’t believe that there’s a conspiracy which prevents yaoi OVA series from having more than four episodes. Productions that are successful continue. I think that the consumer market for yaoi in anime form in Japan is big enough to periodically support new productions, but not big or avid enough to sustain most yaoi anime series beyond just a few installments.