Ask John: Will More Baseball Anime Reach America?

Question:
John, have you ever seen “Meimon! Daisan Yakyubu”? It’s a late 80’s baseball show. If you have seen it, what did you think of it? Touch is the baseball show most fans probably want most. Is there any chance either would be licenced?

Answer:
Coincidentally, I watched the first episode of the 1988 Meimon! Third Baseball Club television series this past March. Since I’m typically not especially interested in sports anime, my impression of the first episode was that it’s the pitiful loser who overcomes adversity almost by accident anime that doesn’t appeal to me. Since I am now watching Cross Game, I find it interesting to compare the way both shows approach a similar subject. Meimon and Cross Game both revolve around the members of a high school back-up baseball team oppressed by a short-sighted and spiteful coach. But while the Meimon players have little dignity and no sense of self-worth, the primary cast of Cross Game steels its determination to fight back and prove that they, not the coach, are right. Judging from the single episode I watched, “Meimon” exhibited production values typical of its age, and competent writing. In other words, it didn’t seem like a bad show. It just didn’t appeal to my personal tastes.

I shouldn’t need to remind Americans that sports anime and vintage anime typically don’t perform well in domestic release. Digital distribution may be the only viable way older baseball anime can be released in America. However, even streaming distribution for a title like “Meimon” may be a remote possibility. Some of the most successful and fondly remembered baseball themed anime include Kyoujin no Hoshi, Captain, Major, and Touch. “Meimon” seems to fall into a second tier of respectable but largely forgotten baseball anime that also includes titles like Play Ball, Miracle Giants Domu-kun, Apatchi Yakyugun, and Yakyuukyou no Uta. My instinct is to believe that titles most likely to be selected for American streaming are Japan’s long running and high profile titles rather than a series like “Meimon.” If Japanese distributors are going to distribute only a limited amount of anime online for Americans, I think they’ll pick their masthead titles like Touch rather than obscure series like Meimon! Daisan Yakyubu.

Baseball anime have never performed especially well in America, and if any new baseball anime are likely to reach America, I think it’s natural to expect them to be recent or high profile titles rather than old and lesser known titles. In fact, my prediction is that the next baseball anime to reach America will be this summer’s upcoming “K-On with sports” show Taisho Yakyu Musume. Personally, I’d also love to see this year’s fantastic One Outs series reach American viewers. In the meantime, FUNimation is distributing Big Windup (Ookiku Furikabutte), and in recent public polls has placed current baseball anime series Cross Game on its short list of potential new acquisitions. So FUNimation isn’t opposed to licensing and distributing baseball anime. (Sports titles have not performed well for Media Blasters or Bandai Entertainment. And AD Vision shows little sign of licensing titles not previously released in America.) If FUNimation does acquire distribution rights to Cross Game, the chances of also acquiring other baseball anime based on Mitsuru Adachi manga, like Touch and H2, may increase.

Neither “Meimon,” Touch, nor most other baseball anime have much chance to being profitable in America through a traditional DVD release. Streaming distribution is more viable, but Japanese distributors haven’t yet widely adopted the opportunity to stream vintage anime for American viewers. And the few vintage titles that have received American streaming distribution, like Captain Harlock, Galaxy Express 999, and Wonder Beat S, have been masthead titles – shows that represent their producers and distributors. To put it simply, my gut instinct is that Meimon! Daisan Yakyubu has practically no chance of ever receiving an official American release. The odds of the Touch anime eventually being delivered to American viewers are better, but still remote.