Ask John: Why Hasn’t Saki Hit American DVD?

Question:
Why hasn’t Saki been licensed yet? I’m surprised that Saki hasn’t been licensed for R1 DVD release by now. Wasn’t it being streamed by Crunchy Roll when it first came out? Seems like anything Gonzo would have been released on DVD in America.

Answer:
Agreed, although there may be some practical reasons behind the absence of the show on domestic DVD. An initial thought may be that the show’s content is just not ideally suitable for domestic release. Mahjong is not a familiar game for most Americans. Practically no anime revolving around traditional Japanese board games have ever reached American home video. Hikaru no Go got an aborted domestic DVD release, but the exceptional Akagi and Shion no Ou television series, along with Gambling Legend Tetsuya, Mudazumo Naki Kaikaku, Naki no Ryu, and Super Zugan have not reached American DVD. However, the theme alone may not be sufficient to discourage domestic viewers and licensors. An anime about Mahjong, or Go, may not be especially familiar to American viewers, but that doesn’t mean that American viewers can’t appreciate the drama, suspense, and humor prevelant with an anime like Saki.

More importantly, Saki was a huge hit in Japan despite finding only a small audience in America. The show’s success will certainly make it a relatively expensive acquisition; in other words, a big investment with a small American market potential. But still more importantly, a distribution license for the show may be difficult to arrange because of the unique production background of the show. While the 2009 Saki TV series was announced and initially produced by financially troubled Gonzo, beginning with the 15th of 25 episodes, animation studio Picture Magic took over production of the show. Typically an anime series has one pirmary animator, which limits the number of investors and distributors that must approve an international licensing contract. Doubling the number of companies involved in the primary production doubles the number of agreements, contracts, and negotiations that need to take place to secure a licensing agreement. Such efforts do periodically succeed. AD Vision licensed the Yugo television series that was animated by Artland and G&G Direction. FUNimation licensed all of Shikabane Hime, which was aniamted by Gainax & Feel. However, perhaps coincidentally, FUNimation has only, so far, licensed the first four episodes of Hellsing Ultimate that were animated by Satelight, not episodes 5-7 that were animated by Madhouse.

Many, although not all of Crunchyroll’s simulcasts have reached American DVD, some of them several years after their Crunchyroll premiere. So a domestic DVD license for Saki isn’t out of the question. But the particular circumstances of its production and its Japanese success may be playing a part in keeping the show off of American DVD for the moment.