Ask John: Will America Get Japanese Live Action Dramas?

Question:
What are the chances of live action Japanese movies and TV shows based on anime, like the live action GTO, being licensed for US release? Also, do you think that any companies would want to license live action Japanese movies that might appeal to anime fans, like Moon Child? So far, it seems like the only way to get these movies (with US DVD region) is through pirating ^^;

Answer:
In one sense, the odds of seeing anime based “dorama” (a Romanization of the English word “drama” referring to Japanese live-action “soap opera” TV series) released in America are very good considering that AD Vision has licensed the Steel Angel Kurumi Pure TV series. But on the other hand, Kotetsu Tenshi Kurumi Pure is the only known Japanese anime related “dorama” licensed for nationwide American release. Numerous fans have requested the live action GTO TV series, but TOKYOPOP has been coy about the title, answering inquiries with the statement that while they’d like to import the show, a decision would depend on its American market viability.

That lies at the heart of the matter. Many American anime fans pine for this or that Japanese title to be released in America, and there are countless number of anime fans willing to watch virtually anything anime related if they can easily download it for free. But professional American translating companies have to estimate how many viewers will be willing to pay $30 up to several hundred dollars to buy a particular show. And based on American precedents, American viewers just aren’t interested in watching live action films with predominantly Asian casts. Power Rangers achieved success in America, but after its original Japanese cast had been edited out. Hollywood has lately been on a spree of buying re-make rights to popular Asian films: Ring, Chaos, Ju-On, Infernal Affairs, My Wife is a Gangster, Blood: The Last Vampire, Lone Wolf & Cub, and so on. But instead of bringing the original Japanese, Chinese and Korean films to American theaters, Hollywood is remaking the films with American actors.

Some Japanese genre efforts are seeing American localization lately; films including Versus, Wild Zero, Stacy, Ichi the Killer, the Guinea Pig series, Junk, Evil Dead Trap, Suicide Circle, Happiness of the Katakuris, Another Heaven, City of Lost Souls, Dead or Alive, and Brother. But all of these films are marketed in America to the art film and foreign cinema and underground cult film circles. None of these films, including even Ichi the Killer and Guinea Pig: Flower of Flesh & Blood which are both live action adaptations of manga, are being specifically marketed to or localized for the domestic anime fan market.

There’s simply not enough evidence that American consumers are actually interested in seeing anime based live action productions like GTO and Pretty Guardian Sailormoon and You’re Under Arrest. And there is evidence that American consumers specifically prefer not to see films with predominantly Asian casts. While bootleg (poorly) English subtitled DVDs of Kamen Rider, Boogiepop Phantom, GTO and Battle Royale may help American viewers see these Asian films, competition from less expensive pirated DVDs does little to encourage American distributors to invest thousands of dollars into selling the same films to the same consumers at a much higher price. (Regardless of what some fans may want to believe, it’s simply impossible for an officially licensed DVD release to match the retail price of a bootleg that has lower overhead and production costs and pays no licensing fees or royalties.)

From a businessman’s perspective, the current home video market in America just doesn’t look very fertile for the release of most live-action, anime based, Japanese television series and movies. If you want to see these kinds of DVDs released in America, speak up. Let distributors know that you’re willing to pay $29.95 per disc to buy professional quality, officially licensed releases of Japanese dorama series. Until American licensors feel confident that they can sell enough copies of these shows to at least recover their expenses, we won’t see many such DVDs beyond occasional isolated experimental releases.