Ask John: Would Editing Make Unpopular Anime Genres More Successful in America?

Question:
There are many anime genres that don’t sell well or are not popular in America. They include harem, magical girl, mecha, and slice-of-life, among others. Do you think anything could be done to make them more appealing or increase consumers’ interest in them, ultimately making more sales and profit for licensors and distributors? Would editing of such genre titles to make them suitable for mainstream TV broadcast? Many old school anime titles that were heavily edited for TV broadcast – such as Sailor Moon, Robotech, Teknoman, Gatchman, and Speed Racer – fall into genres that don’t sell well today, yet they remain cult favorites.

Answer:
I respect and appreciate your interest in considering a method that may encourage support for the livelihood of Japanese animators, but I must admit that I cringe whenever I hear an anime fan suggest or even encourage editing, censorship, or other means of altering anime for commercial gain. Sometimes I do wonder if I’m mistaken, but I like to think that American fans appreciate anime because it’s a unique Japanese art that’s very different from the American popular culture that we’re familiar with. You have every right to disagree with me, but my own position is that American viewers that want anime specifically tailored to their tastes may be better served by encouraging domestic animation studios to develop American animation influenced by anime. After all, American animators are certain to be more familiar with the tastes of American viewers than Japanese animators. Domestically produced animation may also be able to reach consumers faster and cheaper than imported animation, as well. My own theory is that the point of watching Japanese animation is that it’s Japanese.

There are two methods by which less popular anime genres may become more popular in America. Unfortunately, neither avenue is especially fast or efficient. It’s true that older, heavily edited anime titles remain popular. Voltron is one of Media Blasters’ best selling titles. Robotech has been released on American DVD multiple times. Gatchaman and Speed Racer have a high enough profile in America to get major American theatrical films. But it’s not the editing that made these series successful. The mainstream exposure these series received is responsible for their success and popularity. The editing imposed upon these series was a necessary component to enable their mainstream exposure, not, I hope, the reason for their mainstream success. More recent unedited, or relatively unedited, American TV broadcasts suggest that the heavy censoring that needed to be imposed on anime during the 60s to 90s is no longer necessary.

If exposure helps generate interest in fringe anime genres, the problem comes from getting the initial exposure. It’s a Catch-22 that there’s no viewer demand for less popular anime genres in America because of minimal exposure, and American television networks are hesitant to broadcast programs in less popular genres because there’s minimal viewer demand for them. No magical girl series broadcast on American television since Sailor Moon has been successful, but no magical girl series has been broadcast on American television relatively unmolested within the past decade. Giant robot shows including Evangelion and Escaflowne failed on American TV, but Evangelion’s initial broadcast was merely select, random episodes, and Escaflowne was clearly targeted at a wholly inappropriate viewing audience.

Exposure to less popular anime genres has the potential to generate interest. Wisdom and maturity can also increase interest in fringe genres. As American fans deepen their interest in anime, and develop an increased respect for the artistic quality of anime, beyond simply appreciating its superficial trendiness, I think it’s natural to become curious about a broader range of anime. Die hard anime fans naturally want to see more anime, leading to an interest in various types and genres of anime. But this sort of expansive interest often comes only after prolonged exposure to anime, or after a viewer becomes jaded and bored with mainstream shonen action/adventure titles.

Neither of these solutions are especially quick and effective, but I don’t believe that editing anime and altering it to adhere to American tastes is the solution either. In fact, altering anime to appease American tastes will only result in a maintenance of the status quo, not a revolutionary interest in genres that American audiences traditionally have less interest in. Furthermore, editing anime to appease American tastes fundamentally excises the qualities that make Japanese animation the unique, imported art that it is. Rather than alter anime to give Americans more of the same things that they already like, the solution is to encourage Americans to broaden their interests. Concerned fans can help affect this revolution in two ways. First and easiest, expose your friends and neighbors to anime that they wouldn’t normally watch. Word of mouth and personal recommendations provide more motivation than any amount of commercial advertising. Simply encouraging others to sample a variety of anime, by law of averages, will inevitably result in a growing audience for lesser supported anime genres. Second, fans can encourage distributors and TV networks to take more interest in lesser supported anime genres. Many anime fans have the ability to directly communicate with anime industry executives at anime conventions, and through e-mail and online forums. TV networks also pay attention to home video sales. You can be certain that if TV networks recognize a consumer demand for a particular type of content, they’ll respond to that demand.