Ask John: Why Don’t Translating Companies Just Please Everyone?

Question:
The “uncut” dub of Dragonball Z, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh and Digimon are great shows in Japan, but the English dubs are definitely watered down for American audiences. This has caused many fans to start petitions, letter writting campaigns, and boycotts to get their favorite show subtitled on DVD. Why don’t these big companies do what fans want and release these show subtitled? Why can’t they have a dubbed and subbed version of Pokemon on one DVD? When Pioneer released a subtitled only release of CCS it out-sold Cardcaptors 10 to 1 (or so I’ve heard). So why are some companies still afraid to do something like this? Do subtitles really cost that much? Can’t 4Kids release “Special Edition” DVD’s with an uncut dub with an uncut sub on one disk? FUNimation does. Why must some of these companies make the real fans suffer by only releasing a censored version of a show?

Answer:
Your dilemma is ample evidence that the market for anime in America is simply still not quite as big or as influential as many American anime fans seem to think it is. This can be determined by consideration of which companies do and which don’t issue alternate versions of their anime releases, and the way in which these companies choose to market their releases. Pioneer is exceptional for releasing two completely different versions of Card Captor Sakura, but keep in mind that Pioneer is a Japanese company with a policy of marketing directly to hard-core anime fans in America. FUNimation also releases edited and uncut versions of Dragonball Z, but FUNimation is likewise run by a Japanese businessman that knows that Dragonball has a devoted, mature market in America that will pay extra for an uncut, unedited version. Rhino Video is to be commended for going out of its way to include not 2 but 3 different versions of Gatchaman on their Battle of the Planets DVDs, but again Rhino, with its roots in the music industry, has always focused its attention on releases specifically for eclectic tastes and target consumers. Anime is significant enough in America for even Columbia Pictures to take note and license anime titles, but not a big enough product line to warrant Columbia releasing anime under the Columbia or TriStar banners. Instead Columbia Pictures has created a new subdivision, Destination Films, specifically to release mainly Asian films including anime and John Woo and Jackie Chan films.

Companies like Fox and 4Kids are much more concerned with the “bigger picture” than the hard-core anime fan market. They deal with sales figures in the millions of units rather than the scale of anime, which is measured in, at most, the hundred thousands. To a large degree, pleasing the relatively small anime fan market is simply not worth their time or effort. On a relative scale, it’s not difficult or expensive to include alternate versions on a release, but these companies are either unaware that there’s a market for alternate versions, or they specifically don’t want to include alternate versions. The Buena Vista company, for example, simply wasn’t aware that there was a tremendous demand for a subtitled version of Mononoke Hime on the Princess Mononoke DVD. After a successful letter writing and online petition campaign made Buena Vista executives aware that the release of a subtitled version would result in significantly increased sales and profits, anime fans saw results. In the case of children’s titles, though, it’s very possible that American distribution companies simply don’t want multiple versions available in America. Titles like Pokemon, Digimon and Yu-Gi-Oh are aimed at American children. If DVD releases tout a bonus “uncut version” there’s a danger that mainstream consumers will begin to question the content of these releases. The concept of “uncut” inherently implies that the show was previously edited. This in turn may make some consumers fear that the show contains content unsuitable for children that needed to be edited and thus buy something else instead. The inclusion of an uncut version also gives rise to the possibility that a child will accidentally watch an unsuitable version of the show because it’s on the same DVD. It’s natural to expect parents to avoid this possibility by simply buying a different, unqualified all ages suitable release. Multiple versions or releases also carry the possibility of confusing parents or grandparents who don’t notice the difference between edited and unedited versions. So it’s possible that companies like Fox and 4Kids would rather keep their children’s titles purely simple and straightforward and easy to buy. It’s simply much easier for an anime illiterate consumer to purchase a different title altogether than decide which version of Pokemon is suitable for his or her child or grandchild. Naturally, its reasonable to expect that distribution companies would want to minimize this possibility and maximize their potential sales.

Furthermore, the release of edited, dubbed only anime releases is simply, possibly more profitable than releases with multiple versions. When Fox, for example, releases a children’s anime series on home video, their cost includes little more than replication and distribution expenses. Twentieth Century Fox doesn’t have to pay for the production of the show because it’s already been made in Japan and already been licensed and translated by some other company. All that Fox has to do is put it on DVD, sell it and enjoy the profits. Including alternate versions means more effort, which costs more and therefore cuts into sales profit margins. It’s true that the inclusion of uncut versions may result in increased sales to hard-core anime fans, but major companies probably either aren’t aware that this additional potential market exists, or this market is considered too fringe and too small to be worth the additional time, effort and expense to market to. By releasing “special editions” of anime such as Zoids or Pokemon or Digimon, home video companies may be able to maintain long term, repeat customers in anime fans, but major distribution companies simply aren’t looking for long term sales from children’s titles. Children’s series like Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh are considered fads, so major distribution companies focus on immediate turn around and quick, big profits before interest in a given franchise cools off.

To an executive at a major film and video distribution company, titles like Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh are no different than any other cartoon. They’re made to sell commercial advertising time on television, and they’re made to sell as home video impulse buys to parents in malls or the endcap displays in Target and K-Mart family discount stores. These executives don’t think of Pokemon or Digimon as art, and they don’t recognize these shows as having a devoted fan base seriously interested in the original artistic integrity and collectibility of these shows. These programs are simply marketing fodder to be sold quickly and forgotten. Until anime achieves enough foothold and recognition in America for the “average person” to recognize the difference between an anime title and some other Western produced children’s cartoon, it’s unlikely that we’ll see children’s anime marketed in America any different than any other children’s cartoon.