Ask John: Why Haven’t Excellent 2007-2008 Anime Been Licensed?

Question:
It seems like there are a whole lot of unlicensed gems from the years 2007 and 2008. Kaiji, Mononoke, Denno Coil, Kaiba, Michiko & Hatchin, just to name a few shows I frequently hear mentioned by fans. This itself is probably not too surprising. With Geneon USA out of business and ADV spiralling downward, this was a real low point for the Region 1 anime industry. What I find surprising, however, is that even now with things looking up and Sentai/Section 23 going back and picking up a lot of shows from that era we still haven’t seen any of these gems licensed. Now granted, not all of these gems have that much mainstream appeal. However, when you look at some of the random, obscure and generally forgotten shows Sentai/Section 23 has recently picked up from that time period (I mean, Ice? Really?) I can’t help but wonder why not a single one of these gems ever got licensed. So I guess my question is this: Why do you think we’ve seen a whole lot of generally mediocre and forgotten shows from this era licensed while these gems are left on the shelf? Is there some reason why these in particular aren’t getting picked up?

Answer:
While 2007 and 2008 were disasterous years for the American anime distribution industry, they were noteably good years in anime production, turning out a large number of TV anime series and an unusually large percentage of exceptional programs. Many of the TV anime from these two years have been released on American DVD, including Garei Zero, Persona -trinity soul-, Mnemosyme, Kanokon, Rocket Girls, Claymore, Lucky Star, and Seirei no Moribito. However, in addition to 2007 & 2008 anime series such as Denno Coil, Kaiba, Kaiji, Michiko & Hatchin, and Mononoke, outstanding shows including Fireball, Love Com, Manabi Straight!, Minami-ke, Natsume Yujincho, Nijuu Mensou no Musume, Nodame Cantabile, RD Sennou Chousashitsu, and Shion no Oh remain unavailable on American DVD. I can’t speak for America’s licensing companies or express their motivations, but examination of domestic licensing trends may reveal some reasons why particular shows remain unlicensed.

Since the current trend in domestic anime licensing polarizes largely between high profile ongoing series, short shows that can be fully contained in a single release, and very recent titles, longer shows from three or four years ago seem to be getting largely overlooked. Several of Sentai Filmworks’ recently acquisitions and releases have been short OVAs and features, such as Asylum Session, Hoshizora no Kiseki, ICE, Koisento, and Norageki, or single “coole” TV shows including High School of the Dead, Shin Koihime Muso ~Otome Tairan~, Angel Beats, Night Raid 1931, and Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaoh. Sentai has also recently concentrated on acquiring very recent single kuru shows including No. 6, Kamisama no Memocho, Ro-Kyu-Bu, and Ikoku Meiro no Croisée. Media Blasters’ recent acquisitions and releases have been single kuru shows: Queen’s Blade, Kanokon, Ikkitousen, Ika Musume. Recent FUNimation releases have been single kuru shows including Eden of the East, Spice & Wolf II, and Sekirei. FUNimation’s latest acquisitions have been titles from this year: Ginyoku no Fam, Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai, the Sora no Otoshimono movie. Bandai’s most recent acquisitions have been brand new titles from this year: Nichijou and Gosick. Aniplex’s most recent acquisitions, Madoka Magica and Ao no Exorcist, are both from this year. Media Blasters’ most recently announced acquisition, Bakuman, aired earlier this year. NISA has acquired this year’s Dororon Enma-kun Merameera. Clearly, the characteristic trend in current domestic licensing concentrates on shorter programs that are cheaper to acquire and prepare for domestic distribution, and fresh titles that are no more than roughly a year old. Particularly shows with 24 or more episodes from three or more years ago don’t neatly fit into the current dominant licensing scheme. With digital distribution now narrowing down lead time between Japanese and American release to as little as 30 minutes, titles from 2007 and 2008 are now “old” and simply not as appealing to American consumers as brand new titles still in recent recollection. For example, how many American otaku even recall that Sentai Filmworks currently distributes Shigofumi, one of 2008’s highly praised but very niche TV series?

Fans can take comfort in the recognition that the dominant contemporary licensing concerns are not absolute. Sentai Filmworks has recently acquired or released two kuru shows from 2009 or earlier including 2009’s Guin Saga and 2008’s Allison & Lilia. Bandai is now distributing 2009’s Girl Who Leapt Through Space and K-On! FUNimation is preparing to release 2008’s Rosario & Vampire. So 24+ episode shows from prior to 2009 haven’t been completely abandoned by domestic licensors, but such shows are evidently not of highest priority for current acquisition.