Ask John: Why Can’t Anime Series Be Released All At Once?

Question:
Why can’t licensing companies release all the DVDs or episodes of an anime all at once? Is it because the dubbing of the series is still being done or are the companies trying to make as much money as possible off the separate DVDs? If so, why can’t they just release the whole series on separate DVDs all at once?

Answer:
In practical terms, domestic anime companies literally can’t afford to release entire series all at once. In many cases, anime distributors need the profits from sales of early DVD volumes to pay for the production of later volumes. Dubbing an anime series is usually the most expensive part of bringing an anime series to America. Most anime companies just don’t have enough spare money to pay the entire cost of dubbing a 26 episode series in advance.

There have been complete anime series released simultaneously in America. Media Blasters released the entire 12 episode Seraphim Call and Sentimental Journey series in subtitled only double disc sets. Bandai has released the entire 13 episode Avenger series in a single bilingual set, and has released the entire 50 episode Mobile Suit Z Gundam series in a bilingual set. And Sony released the entire 2004 Astro Boy series in a single DVD boxed set. But Media Blasters’ releases were subtitled only, which doubtlessly reduced their production cost significantly. Bandai’s Avenger was a short series and Bandai has referred to its release as a special situation. The long Zeta Gundam simultaneous release was planned long in advance and was released in very limited quantity. And Sony’s Astro Boy was already partially dubbed into English, and has the backing of a very affluent home video distributor.

In most cases, initially releasing full, bilingual series all at once in America is simply not financially possible for small American anime translating companies.