Ask John: Why Do Licensing Agents Acquire Anime?

Question:
Why do “middle-man” companies like ShoPro and Enoki Films pick up titles that are probably never going to become liscened, like Shinseikiden Mars, Majuu Sensen The Apocalypse, Monkey Turn, and Croket? And do those companies lose the rights to those shows after a while?

Answer:
There’s some irony in the phrasing of your question because companies like ShoPro and Enoki Films are only “middle-man companies” from the perspective of end user audiences. These companies aren’t hording licenses and preventing anime from being seen internationally. In fact, their purpose is exactly the opposite. Companies like ShoPro Entertainment, Enoki Films, and several other similar licensing agents that I won’t name for the sake of business propriety, exist specifically to enable and assist international licensing and distribution. Titles like Maju Sensen and Monkey Turn aren’t unlicensed in America because they’re held by escrow agents. They’re unlicensed in America because no American distributors are interested in them.

All anime is owned by someone. Every anime has a company responsible for managing its distribution, and those companies are usually not television networks nor anime production studios. The permanent ownership and stewardship of anime productions usually falls into the hands of either home video distribution companies like Bandai, Geneon, KSS, VAP, Toho, Seishinsha, Toei, and so forth, or specialized rights management firms like Kadokawa Films, Enoki Films, and ShoPro. These rights management firms don’t withhold anime or prevent it from being licensed. In fact, the very purpose of these companies is to promote these shows to international licensors and market these shows at international trade conventions in hopes of selling them to TV networks or DVD distributors. Companies like Enoki and ShoPro don’t actually distribute anime themselves; they are the original Japanese rights holders that sell distribution rights to international distributors. For example, Kadokawa Films is the master rights holder for series including Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid, and Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Kadokawa has sold distribution rights to these shows to FUNimation and Bandai Entertainment, respectively.

The fact that titles like Mars and Monkey Turn remain unlicensed isn’t because a Japanese “middle-man” is withholding the license. In fact, the fact that ShoPro and Enoki handle these licenses means that these are titles which are actively being marketed for international release, but no one is buying. Furthermore, companies like Enoki Films may continue to promote series already licensed for American release because such anime may still be available to licensors from other countries. These companies may also promote the anime they represent with names that seem odd to anime fans, such as marketing Revolutionary Girl Utena as “Ursula’s Kiss,” because the goal of the rights management company is to get the film licensed internationally. So the use of an easily accessible, internationally suitable name is designed to make the property more attractive to potential international buyers.