Ask John: Why is Saikano Getting a Sequel?

Question:
Regarding Saikano, why has this anime been so highly regarded among certain critical circles? Apparently enough to influence it’s producers to commission an OVA attached to it. I am a fan of the series, however, I felt that it would not achieve such a level of popularity, dealing with the amount of death and rather depressing subject matter [that it does].

Answer:
I think that especially American anime fans frequently make the mistake of confusing popularity with quality. Although in a perfect world whatever is best would also be most popular, in reality frequently anime that don’t particularly excel do become tremendously popular while other outstanding anime productions go unnoticed by the majority of viewers. To soften the bluntness of my preceding statement, I think it’s also necessary to clarify that an anime can also be highly entertaining without being technically excellent. You’re absolutely correct that the Saishu Heiki Kanojo anime is highly regarded among certain critical circles. In particular, and fans that are discriminating and critical tend to recognize the literary excellence of the SaiKano anime while the show seems to be largely overlooked by the majority of fans that gravitate toward more popular and higher profile titles. I think you’re also correct in expecting the SaiKano anime to be not particularly popular, at least in a conventional sense. I don’t think the SaiKano anime is popular, per se. I think it’s highly respected.

Logically it’s the most popular anime series that receive sequels. Popularity generally results in profits, so producers usually try to continue excavating a profitable mine. However, sometimes anime are continued or extended just because of a small but very loyal consumer market or because the series itself demands a continuation. Every anime fan knows of an anime series that exists because its preceding series was successful. The longevity of the Pokemon franchise, for example, is attributable to the continuing popularity and success of the franchise. But consider sequels and extended series like Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Hare Nochi Guu Deluxe and the Mahou Tsukai Tai television series, and Tenchi Muyo. In each cases these titles were continued for different reasons. Although never a tremendous mainstream success in Japan, the Legend of the Galactic Heroes anime franchise lasted for as long as it did because its small but very loyal fan following supported the franchise. In the case of Hare Nochi Guu Deluxe and the Mahou Tsukai Tai television series, the storyline of the preceding series is continued into the new series. So the sequels are necessary to complete the storylines of the preceding series. Then, finally, there are cases of sequels and new productions for titles that don’t seem like obvious choices for sequels, such as Tenchi Muyo. By the late 1990s the popularity of Tenchi Muyo in Japan and internationally had largely died off. But series creator Masaki Kajishima still had plans for the Tenchi universe, and stories that he wanted to tell, thus the revival of Tenchi Muyo with the Tenchi Muyo GXP TV series and the long awaited Tenchi Muyo OAV series.

While the following for SaiKano doesn’t seem to be very big, I think the show is respected because it’s an outstanding, best selling manga, and because its anime adaptation is a brilliant and moving one. So although I don’t know for certain what motivated Gonzo Studios to create a SaiKano OAV series, I suspect that rationale including the fact that the original series was so good that it deserves a sequel, and the fact that the animators who created the first series may still want to work with those characters and that setting, may be very influential factors in the decision to make a SaiKano anime sequel when the original anime series seems complete and self-contained.