Ask John: Why Hasn’t the Eyeshield 21 Anime Been Licensed for America?

Question:
Why hasn’t Eyeshield 21 anime been licensed for released in the US? With football being the number one sport in America, I would think Eyeshield 21 would do well here. Is it a licensing issue with the NFL, due to the NFL Films footage they used for commercial breaks?

Answer:
Honestly, this may seem like a redundant answer, but the only explanation I can think of for why the Eyeshield 21 anime hasn’t yet reached American is because it’s a sports series. Since I’ve received similar questions about the Eyeshield 21 anime in the past, I know that there is some interest in the show here in America. However, a handful of Americans interested in the Eyeshield 21 anime don’t constitute enough market to justify and American license for the series. Sports themed anime consistently fail to sell well in America.

Geneon licensed and released the acclaimed Hajime no Ippo (“Fighting Spirit”) TV series in America, but has no plans to localize the series’ OVAs or specials due to lacking consumer interest in the series. Viz has begun releasing the Prince of Tennis anime series in America, but the release doesn’t seem to have been especially popular. AD Vision allowed its distribution license for the Princess Nine baseball anime series to expire. In fact, no sports themed anime has ever become a major, breakout hit in America. Eyeshield 21 may focus on the popular American sport of football, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that American football fans will be interested in watching a Japanese cartoon about an exaggerated, unrealistic version of football.

Eyeshield 21 will doubtlessly be an expensive license just because there’s so much of it. With over a hundred episodes and counting, even if the licensing cost per episode is relatively low, the series will still be an expensive investment just because there’s so much of it to pay for. The series’ use of actual NFL footage is probably not a serious impediment to its American distribution because the NFL footage could be easily excised for American release. After all, when FUNimation couldn’t license the Speed Grapher with its original Japanese theme song, Duran Duran’s “Girls on Film,” the song was simply replaced with another.

The Eyeshield 21 manga has been published in America for some time now, and the anime series is a long running, massively successful Japanese hit. Just because Eyeshield 21 is a Shonen Jump title, and a high profile Japanese success, I do anticipate that the anime will eventually reach America. I suspect that the Eyeshield 21 anime franchise is too big and too successful in Japan not to eventually expand beyond Japanese borders. But I don’t expect the Eyeshield 21 anime to ever become highly successful in America, so I suspect that American licensors are in no hurry to invest in acquiring the series for immediate release.