Ask John: Why Isn’t Legend of the Galactic Heroes in America?

Question:
What’s the longest anime ever created? You alluded to some anime being longer than Legend of the Galactic Heroes. So adhering to the standard 20-25 minute episode format, what series has the most episodes?

Also, why are some anime, like Legend of the Galactic Heroes, so numerous in episode number, yet never brought here? LOTGH baffles me a bit because it’s space war-oriented, which strikes me as a genre the American audience is fond of. The length of the series suggests popularity, was it popular in Japan? Has it ever been considered for release here? What likelihood does it have of being released?

Answer:
The longest running anime TV series is also the world’s longest running animated series of any kind. The weekly anime TV series Sazae-san now has 1766 episodes and counting.

There are a number of reasons why the Legend of Galactic Heroes (LoGH) series has yet to be officially released in English including its length, its Japanese popularity, and its genre. LoGH is a long anime series consisting of over 150 OAVs and two motion pictures. Considering its length, and the fact that the majority of the animation was in OAV (direct to home video format) instead of TV broadcast format, it may be presumed that LoGH is an imposing license. Because they don’t have TV sponsorship to help defray their production costs, OAVs tend to be more expensive to produce, and by result, license for translation. An OAV can cost double or more what a similar anime TV series episode may cost to license for English language release.

Furthermore, since LoGH was primarily an OAV series, it was supported in Japan by a relatively small core of devoted fans and animators. Legend of the Galactic Heroes has never been a “mainstream” hit in Japan. It’s a niche market title supported by devoted Japanese fans that were willing to spend a lot to purchase new episodes. For reference, the Japanese DVD release cost 238,000 yen (roughly $2,200 American). American licensors like to prioritize titles that are big hits in Japan and titles that can be acquired for American release cheap. LoGH is neither of those.

While Legend of the Galactic Heroes is indeed “space war-oriented,” it’s not an action or adventure series. Especially in the early days of the American anime industry, space action was profitable and in high demand. Anime was associated with spaceships and giant robots and explosions and action. But it’s debatable how many American fans existed that were interested in grand space opera and complex political drama in animated form. Even now, Bandai Entertainment’s release of the three Crest of the Stars anime series has been relatively successful, but the Cartoon Network broadcast of the original Mobile Suit Gundam TV series- another story heavy sci-fi epic, was a commercial failure canceled before it even finished its broadcast. In direct terms, it’s uncertain how many American consumers are honestly interested in watching an epic space opera series that focuses more on family disputes and political rivalries than giant robots and cute girls.

The hope of LoGH being officially released in America, though, is not entirely displaced. While no domestic distributor has ever hinted at considering licensing LoGH, the series’ Japanese distributor, and the executive staff behind the anime, have made steps toward bringing the series to American viewers. English dubbed sample episodes have screened at American conventions, and Japanese licensor Wright Staff, Ltd. has opened a poll seeking 1,500 American consumers willing to spend roughly $2,000 on an American DVD release. As of October 2003, Wright Staff announced after leaving the poll open for nearly 4 months, that they still not gathered even 1,500 pledges of support from American fans, but that the responses they’d received had been positive enough to encourage them to consider a limited edition American release. In the 6 months since then, there’s been no word on the status of a possible American release for LoGH.

The potential American price for the entire anime series on DVD, roughly between $1,700 and $2,000, is daunting but necessary considering that since the domestic release will essentially be a Japanese release in America, it will need to reflect Japanese DVD pricing. Furthermore, with an already small market in both America and Japan, Japanese producers and distributors wouldn’t want to release the series in America at a drastically lower price and risk Japanese consumers importing the American DVDs instead of buying the native Japanese release.

All things considered, America may just not be ready for Legend of the Galactic Heroes. The American market may not be widely receptive to a show of its style, nor responsive toward a release priced in scale with Japanese DVD prices. But several years ago the idea of seeing numerous shoujo anime series licensed for American release seemed virtually impossible. And the concept of manga dominating American comic book sales seemed fantastic. So considering the growing American interest in Japanese animation, and the growing American interest in a wider diversity of anime genres, and especially given that the Japanese licensor is actively striving to expose Americans to Legend of the Galactic Heroes, I think it’s very possible that we will someday see this series officially released in America.