Ask John: Will There Be An American Trend Toward Subtitled Only DVDs?

Question:
Based on the recent news article about Media Blasters acquiring a series titled “Loveless” and (according to said article) their plans to bring the series to Western audiences with subtitles only, do you think other retailers will consider heading in that direction also – the most likely reason being to offest the increasing costs of producing an English adaptation that seems to be a significant factor contributing to the present condition of the U.S. anime industry?

Answer:
The soft American market for anime DVDs right now isn’t entirely to blame on the cost of localizing anime, but I’m sure that dubbing costs do contribute to the American industry’s financial crunch. The cost of dubbing can be the biggest expense in releasing an anime series in America. Excluding a dub can significantly cut the cost of releasing an anime in America, by as much as half or possibly even more. However, excluding a dub also comes at a significant cost. American consumers are so accustomed to dubbed anime not including an English language track on a domestic DVD can significantly reduce sales. In practical effect, dubbing anime isn’t a negotiable option; it’s a necessity.

Anime DVDs from Columbia Pictures and DreamWorks including Ghost in the Shell 2, Millennium Actress, and Tokyo Godfathers have been subtitled only because their domestic distributors have prioritized the integrity of the original films and chosen not to alter the films. I can’t believe that distributors such as Columbia Pictures and DreamWorks couldn’t afford to produce dubs if they’d wanted to. Every other subtitled only anime DVD I’m aware of in the American market has been subtitled only because it wasn’t expected to sell very well. Central Park Media has released older titles like Ariel and Iczer-Three on subtitled only DVD, and has announced that its re-release of Votoms will be subtitled only. These are all titles that have minimal American commercial potential, so there’s no reason to spend additional capitol on them producing dubs if the DVDs still aren’t going to sell well. Geneon’s DVD release of “Magical Project S” was subtitled only because it was a poor selling title, so Geneon didn’t want to invest any more than necessary into it. TOKYOPOP’s release of St. Tail and Bandai’s release of Eatman ’98 started bilingually, then became subtitled only when minimal sales proved that the expense of dubbing was just wasted money. Likewise Media Blasters has released the Seraphim Call and Sentimental Journey series on subtitled only DVD. Neither title has been a breakout hit, nor did any anyone ever seriously expect either of these titles to be a major hit with American consumers. So far, beside these two bishoujo life-sim dramas, all of the anime DVDs that Media Blasters has released subtitled only have been “boy love” shows that are expected to appeal to only a small niche market of consumers. It’s not economically intelligent for Media Blasters to pay for dubbing on boy’s love shows because the dubbing won’t significantly boost sales. For shows that are expected to sell roughly the same number of copies with or without an English dub, there’s no advantage to be gained from spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on producing a dub.

The shows that are released in America subtitled only are generally ones that are expected to appeal only to small niche audiences. American market demands have established that any anime coming from the core American distribution industry must have a dub in order to have any chance of commercial success. Rather than eliminating dubbing, AD Vision’s treatment of shows like Oh! Super Milk-chan and Gakkou no Kaiden have proven that not only do dubs have to be created, they’ve got to be specifically tailored to attract consumer’s attention. The purchasing decisions made by American consumers over the past several years have proven that only anime with an English dub have a significant potential for sales success. The release of English dubbed only anime targeted at mainstream American consumers, including Rave Master, Yu-Gi-Oh, Megaman NT, Kirby, and One Piece supplies evidence that English results in sales while original language only releases are almost instantly relegated to minimal sales success.

If major anime titles could be released in America without English dubs, domestic anime DVDs would be released faster and cheaper. However, American consumers have spoken with their purchasing decisions and clearly sent the message that they won’t support subtitled only DVDs. In practical terms, apart from anime that’s only expected to sell a small number of units anyway, releasing anime in America on subtitled only DVD is virtually commercial suicide. Although producing English dubs is very expensive, not producing a dub can ultimately cost even more due to lost sales from consumers that refuse to buy subtitled only DVDs.