Ask John: Why Is There Such Hostility Toward Bandai Visual?

Question:
When Bandai Visual USA first came onto the R1 anime scene, people were pretty excited about their releases of Patlabor 1 and 2 and seemed to support them. However, now there seems to be a backlash against them on their release of Gunbuster and their newly announced solicitations for Gunbuster 2 and Demon Prince Enma. Why do you think fans are turning against them so harshly?

Answer:
The recent reaction toward Bandai Visual in America’s fan community is, I think, a combination of mis-steps from Bandai Visual and misperception from American fans. Some of the anger and disappointment targeted at Bandai Visual is justified while some of it is misplaced.

The announcement about Bandai Visual entering the domestic distribution field was met with eager anticipation from the hardcore American fan community, for good reason. The launch of a new distributor is a sign of industry growth and stability. And a new distributor offers the possibility of exciting new anime available to fans and collectors. The release of the Patlabor movies was deemed a positive sign because the DVDs were bilingual, and they were released in a standard version that adhered to domestic industry standards, and a special edition similar to the Japanese release, aimed at exclusive collectors. Dissatisfaction began to arise as the release of Gunbuster approached.

Bandai Visual announced that Gunbuster would be released subtitled only, which immediately alienated many potential consumers. The price of the DVD was a minor concern for some consumers, as was the fact that the domestic release seemed to be patterned after the Japanese release, yet the domestic version would not include the fourth disc of supplemental material included in the Japanese set. But the biggest controversy over the domestic release was the fact that Bandai Visual revealed, at virtually the last minute, that a small portion of the original background music had been replaced for its American DVD release, despite the fact that the series had been previously released without alteration on American VHS. Furthermore, Bandai Visual even publicly promoted the fact that the unaltered Japanese release was also available for purchase in America, albeit without any English translation. Die-hard Gunbuster fans were outraged that a piece of music clearly intended as parody was being removed from the American release because Bandai Visual was apparently skittish of allowing for potential of a copyright infringement suit. An even wider number of American fans were outraged that Bandai Visual seemed like it had intended to sneak out the alteration without ever bringing attention to it, admitting and explaining the change only after being forced to do so.

Following shortly upon the controversy over the alteration to the music in Gunbuster, Bandai Visual announced its next releases: Gunbuster 2 and Demon Prince Enma. Both releases are priced $10 above domestic industry standard, and the Gunbuster 2 DVDs contain less content than industry standard. As of this time, Gunbuster 2 is scheduled for domestic release subtitled only with two 30 minute episodes on each $40 DVD. From its inception, Bandai Visual has specified that its intention was to market contemporary classic anime titles in exclusive editions to upscale collectors. Despite that stated intention, much of the fan community still measures Bandai Visual by the standards applied to all domestic licensors. And by those standards, Bandai Visual is offering less product at a higher cost.

Bandai Visual itself is to blame for unnecessarily altering Gunbuster and seemingly attempting to keep consumers unaware of the change. Fans may be blamed for trying to judge Bandai Visual by inappropriate standards. Bandai Visual has never adhered strictly to the average standards of the domestic anime industry, nor has the company ever stated an intention to meet those standards. So it’s unfair to accuse Bandai Visual of not falling in step with other anime licensors. But some of the surprise and resentment from the fan community toward Bandai Visual may be logical. When all of America’s core anime distributors adhere to an unwritten set of collective guidelines except Bandai Visual, it’s natural for fans to be a bit surprised and shocked by Bandai Visual’s non-conformity.