Ask John: Will the Upcoming Fist of the North Star DVD Release Succeed?
Question:
Does “third time the charm” finally apply to Fist of the North Star? While the movie has had a cult following here, the show and the manga have had problems catching on in the U.S. Changed opening aside, Manga’s DVDs had higher episode counts than the norm for singles back then, and the series still bombed for the company! And yet, Discotek has pressed on with the goal of releasing the series in four chunks. While sales might be helped by Fist finally getting “mass” exposure in the U.S. via Crunchyroll, Zac at Anime News Network might have a point about how viewers might be more reluctant to pay for what they can currently get for free.
Nonetheless, the optimist in me thinks Fist TV is actually getting re-released at the right time. Not just because there’s a potential newer fan-base for the franchise, but because there’s a sort of zeitgeist appeal to his character which might not have existed 8-12 years ago. I’m hoping Discotek exploits it; outside of “Taken,” there’s definitely been a serious lack of a well-received “Death Wish”-like archetype consumers can embrace. And given the anger over the bank bail-outs and tepid economic recovery, Kenshiro satiates that public need for vindication which did not exist until now. Does that argument sound plausible?
Answer:
Via first and second hand associations I know of the work Discotek Media is putting into producing its domestic DVD release of the original Hokuto no Ken television series. I also know that the reason Discotek acquired distribution rights to the show in the first place is rooted largely in a personal affection for the show. Discotek’s release of the Fist of the North Star anime movie fared better than expected, probably largely due to the influence of nostalgia among consumers that remember the earlier American release from Streamline. However, I think that Discotek has moderate and realistic expectations for the sales potential of the TV series.
Discotek’s Fist of the North Star TV series is being sourced from remastered Japanese video and will be presented to American consumers unaltered and properly subtitled for the first time ever when the first DVD collection hits this June. The first DVD collection from Discotek will also tentatively include the English dub produced by Manga Entertainment. This should be an ideal release for long time fans that have patiently waited for an English friendly archival release of the original TV series. But we should also recognize that this show is now 26 years old, and it looks 26 years old. The animation quality that was fine for 1984 is rather primitive by today’s standards. American viewers most familiar with the motion picture may find the TV series’ censored violence less appealing. I have no doubt that this new release will secure some new, curious patrons. But it’s primarily going to attract only die-hard Fist fans and collectors with a penchant for vintage anime.
Particularly for that reason, free streaming distribution from Crunchyroll isn’t likely to have an appreciable dampening effect on sales of this particular title. The Hokuto no Ken television series has been around for nearly 30 years yet never gotten a faithful American packaged media release. The fans who have followed the series for years are bound to want to own this. For its loyal fans, Fist of the North Star isn’t a transient interest that can be satiated by streaming. If Fist was a watch-once-and-move-on show that could be satisfied with just free online streaming, it wouldn’t still be a viable home video release 26 years later. However, it really is only die-hard loyalists that are especially interested in it.
The theory that contemporary unsatisfied and disgruntled Americans may be attracted to a cathartic, vengeful anime is definitely an intriguing proposition. But if it carries any veracity, I think it applies only to modern productions. Even in a strong and positive economy, when American consumers had plenty of money to spend on luxury purchases, vintage anime was marginalized. Now that American consumers are purchasing drastically less anime in America, I expect them to be even more hesitant to purchase old shows. I think that this year’s DVD release of the Fist of the North Star television series will be a watershed moment in the regard that it finally signifies a respectable domestic release of this cult favorite. But the Fist of the North Star TV series is a cult favorite specifically because its only attractive to its established cult following. I simply can’t imagine any socio-economic atmosphere that would encourage American viewers to suddenly turn their attention, en mass, to a 26 year-old anime series that’s already been released in America several times before with little success.
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For what it’s worth, I’m planning on purchasing this set at launch. Diskotech can have my money for the passion and the guts they have for even attempting this release in the first place.
“I also know that the reason Discotek acquired distribution rights to the show in the first place is rooted largely in a personal affection for the show.”
Well, yeah, hence the company’s name. I’m just surprised FUNi was ok with letting the home video rights go like that, when they could’ve made all the money on it. Not sure I understand their strategy for acquiring anime for streaming-only purposes…
“American viewers most familiar with the motion picture may find the TV series’ censored violence less appealing.”
That’s how I felt, too, but they do get away with more gore as the show goes along. Not at the movie level, but pretty bloody for a kid’s show.
“The fans who have followed the series for years are bound to want to own this.”
The question is are there enough of ’em? The guy running Hokuto No Fogie back in the 80s fansub days was complaining that even back then people only watched shows like St. Seiya. [So it’s ironic that ADV/S23 hasn’t been able to get enough revenue from it to put it out in its entirety. And I’m surprised Viz was able to even finish the original manga.]
“However, it really is only die-hard loyalists that are especially interested in it.”
So you don’t think the recent Raoh spin-off and the re-release of the movie might have boosted interested from “noobs”?
“Even in a strong and positive economy, when American consumers had plenty of money to spend on luxury purchases, vintage anime was marginalized.”
Yeah, but, to be fair, the marketing and distribution was pretty wretched for vintage shows. Hell, Fist tv might have done better sooner if Gutsoon tried to cross-promote its manga with Manga’s dvds. And CR and ANN are now helping the older Gundams final get a chance to establish themselves with fans who only watch the newer titles.
“Now that American consumers are purchasing drastically less anime in America, I expect them to be even more hesitant to purchase old shows. ”
Perhaps, but many of the newer titles are starting to look alike, while the older titles at least have a rep to them which might intrigue viewers who’ve grown more sophisticated in their tastes since the early days of the boom.
“I simply can’t imagine any socio-economic atmosphere that would encourage American viewers to suddenly turn their attention, en mass,to a 26 year-old anime series that’s already been released in America several times before with little success.”
Not even when situations like http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100213/us_time/08599196345400 are happening? ^_-
I am a huge fan of FOTNS but I dont seeing this doing all that well. Older anime just does not do all that well.
“So you don’t think the recent Raoh spin-off and the re-release of the movie might have boosted interested from ‘noobs’?”
No. Based on what I’ve seen so far, American consumer interest in the Raoh TV series has been predictably negligable. I know that Discotek’s release of the movie did very well at wholesale, but I don’t know how many of those sales translated into actual consumer purchases. Furthermore, I do think that a lot of the consumers that purchased the movie did so out of nostalgia – having watched the movie in the Streamline days – not out of interest in the franchise. In this particular case, I do think that there are a lot of American consumers who may be interested in the movie who wouldn’t even seriously consider buying the TV series.
It’s a shame. That show was better than you made it out to be, but I can still see why you didn’t like it. But I thought it’d catch on better with a certain crowd which watches stuff like UFC.
Well, first off, I’m happy to hear that the folks behind the new release have “moderate and realistic expectations” for sales. So they won’t be too disappointed, unlike some who have been behing previous efforts. Also glad to hear they’re fans.
I’ve always felt the show could attract newer fans and reading some of the comments on the various sites streaming it, I think it has. I’m not sure how wide a release the show has gotten in other countries, but they might do well to try and get subtitles in Italian and Spanish as well, to try and cross-market it in countries where the program WAS popular in a way it never was here in the US.
The problems behind selling the original anime have been fairly well documented at this point, but the main drawback (in addition to the animation quality itself) is that the storyline proper doesn’t really start until halfway through the series. It’s kind of like trying to get a DragonBall Z fan to watch the first season of DragonBall, promising him that “it’ll eventually get different” and turn into the show he wants to see. It’s just a tough sell. The animation quality changes abruptly also, as does the artwork, reflecting Hara’s evolution as an artist (and his ability to get better assistants 🙂 At times the anime seems as much of a “work in progress” as the manga.
As for my mention of St. Seiya, that was meant as a joke. There weren’t a whole lot of people watching that back in the day either. Just the women who did the lion’s share of the translating back then 🙂 In my experience, mostly it was Robotech and Z Gundam, with healthy bits of Urusei Yatsura and the gonzo comedies thrown in for good measure. It was very much a fragmented fandom, with flashy animation in the OVAs getting a lot of the attention. Without subtitles (which were still a few years away), the longer series were hard to follow and almost impossible to get newbies to sit through. Getting them to take to, say, Project Ako was much easier 🙂
RWG (or course, with everything being raw, it was also difficult to sort the truly awful from the simply awful 🙂
RWG: I’m not sure if DT has the rights to non-North American countries. As for early Fist vs. early DB, I can still get more behind the former, G.I. Joe in-betweening filler aside. I’m not sure how even a reasonably-priced Fist box-set would go down with casual fans, considering that recent re-release of St. Seiya didn’t lead to the series being finished, but then the animation on the latter series is dog-shit. Fist, OTOH, could still connect with people who are tired of moe clones on the shelves.