Ask John: Will Ideon Ever Be Released in America?

Question:
Would there ever be a possibility for a stateside release of Space Runaway Ideon, or at least it’s two-part movies?

Answer:
Especially since the late 1990s, when American interest in Evangelion was at its height, the 1980 mecha TV series Space Runaway Ideon has become something of a holy grail to American fans. Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno cited Ideon as an influence on Evangelion, which almost instantly piqued the curiosity of American Evangelion and mecha fans. Interest in the predecessor to Evangelion suddenly exploded from virtually none at all to fervent online discussions about the show and its relationship to Evangelion. However, it seems as though many American fans like to refer to Ideon, but relatively few are actually interested in watching it. To the best of my knowledge, hardcore American anime fans were aware of Ideon during the 1980s and 90s, but none of the Ideon anime was ever fansubbed on VHS. Even now, in the digital era, the series has only been translated by one group of fans, and only relatively recently.

There may be a lot of online discussion about the show, but I seriously doubt that there are enough potential American consumers interested in the show to make it a viable American commercial release. Among the many giant robot anime of the early 1980s, including Ideon, Giant Gorg, Dougram, Dragonar, L-Gaim, Xabungle, GoShogun, Godmars, and Vifam, just to name a few, barely any of them have ever been released domestically. The American releases of Aura Battler Dunbine, Orguss, and Dancougar have been relative failures. Bandai didn’t pursue its plans for domestic releases of Giant Gorg and SPT Layzner. The original Mobile Suit Gundam series wasn’t particularly successful in America. There’s no evidence that would suggest Ideon might succeed in America. There’s no evidence that there’s a significant number of American consumers willing to buy the show. Any American licensor bringing Ideon to America would be doing so on principle. And in today’s American anime market, with profits decreasing, and costs and competition increasing, I don’t think that there are any American distribution companies willing to knowingly lose money by releasing a show in America just for the sake of posterity. I’d love to see Ideon, as well as many other vintage shows, officially released in America just because these classic shows deserve wider exposure and recognition. But attempting to license and release Ideon, or virtually any vintage anime in America is probably an unwise business decision.

An American release isn’t entirely impossible, though. American distributors do listen to the requests of America’s fan community. Recently Right Stuf’s CEO Shawne Kleckner stated that he acquired the domestic distribution rights to the second half of Super GALS! Kotobuki Ran because he’d heard countless requests for the show from American fans. With the present state of the American anime community, I think the odds of the Ideon anime getting an official American release are extremely remote. But America’s fan community can improve those odds if there’s an actual significant demand, and the fan community makes efforts to alert potential licensors of that demand.