Ask John: Will Guardress Ever Be Licensed?

Question:
I recently saw the 1994 4-part OVA “Combustible Campus Guardress” [Bakuen Campus Guardress]. I have heard about it. I have read about it. My life has now been enriched by it! Of all of the domestic distributors, which do you think would be the most receptive to public requests to get this title released?

Answer:
You’re really taxing my memory with this particular question, so please forgive me if I’m confusing details about the potential licensing of this title with something else. Bakuen Campus Guardress is actually a series that AnimeNation briefly considered licensing in the late 1990s, before our licensing company had even been formally launched. Even at the time, the series was a bit old, but it still seemed like a potentially viable acquisition. These days, it’s probably much less of a viable candidate for American release, and, in fact, it may not actually be available at all.

Bakuen Campus Guardress was a co-creation from Satoru Akahori and Kazushi Hagiwara. Many of Akahori’s creations, including Sorcerer Hunters, Lamune & 40, Master Mosquiton, Saber Marionette, and Maze have reached America. Especially in the late 1990s, Kazushi Hagiwara’s Bastard!! was very popular among American fans. So Guardress had an excellent pedigree for American consideration. Furthermore, Guardress is a short series, making it a manageable domestic release, and it features stylish and sexy character designs, amusing humor, and plenty of hyper-exaggerated supernatural action – all characteristics that would seemingly make it popular among American fans.

However, I seem to vaguely recall being informed that the series was unavailable for international licensing due to some problem or dispute in Japan. It’s possible that the series has never been officially released in America because it’s never been an option for American licensing.

Some of the domestic releases most comparable to Guardress include Battle Royale High School and, to a slightly lesser degree, Prefectural Earth Defense Force and Bastard!! While the Bastard!! OAV series release in America was highly successful six years ago, I have to wonder how successful it would be if it premiered in America today. Battle Royale High School has never been a significant hit in America, and sales of Prefectural Earth Defense Force were anticipated to be so small that it wasn’t even given mainstream distribution. Guardress is now more than a dozen years old, and it’s always been relatively unheard of in America. That makes it the an thesis of what most American anime consumers are interested in. At least AnimeNation’s sales suggest that American consumers purchase anime that’s new, and anime which they’ve watched before and are familiar with. I have a strong suspicion that any American licensor that manages to acquire Guardress would be doing so for posterity, or as a means to expand a catalog; not as an effort to actually generate profit.

My personal speculation is that there are only two potential American licensors for this series, and only one practical one. AD Vision seems to have given up its attempt to archive vintage OAVs after releasing Prefectural Earth Defense Force, so they’re a longshot, although not entirely out of consideration. AnimEigo may be a genuine potential licensor as the company has recently moved back into acquiring anime, and anime from the 1980s and 1990s has always been AnimEigo’s specialty. But I don’t honestly expect to see AnimEigo suddenly announce Guardress (or any other anime). That leaves only Media Blasters as a legitimate potential licensor. Media Blasters has an admirable tradition of releasing obscure but deserving OVA series. But I think that Guardress may be a longshot even for Media Blasters. I honestly believe that if Bakuen Campus Guardress hasn’t reached American by now, it never will.