Streaming vs fansubbing - 5 anime titles that should have been licensed in North America

The quantity of anime titles being picked up and released in North America seems to have hit a critical point with the advent of legitimate internet streaming services, forever changing the landscape of anime consumption by the masses.  While this has made more titles easily available to the public it has also made the world of fansubbing dubious and under-served.  Even with the increased access and quick turnaround between original Japanese release and North American release, there are still plenty of titles that are not getting the light of day that probably should.  Here are the top series from the beginning of the century that perplex me to their un-licensed status.

While I welcome streaming services such as Crunchyroll I also have issues with the treatment of their titles.  It seems in many cases they put minimal effort into translating and subtitling the dialog and little else.  Over the years I have been spoiled by the flare found in many fansub groups, which is sorely missing from commercial ‘next-day’ subbing services.  I shudder to think what a series such as Sayanora Zetsubo Sensei would look like on Crunchyroll.  It goes to show you there really isn’t the passion in some of these licensing and distribution companies like you can find in some fansub circles.  It’s just too bad fansubbing is an illegal activity which does nor garner the intellectual property right holders any financial compensation for their creativity.

Minami-ke

    Given that other similar series’ have been welcomed in North America with varying degrees of commercial success it is interesting that Minami-ke has not seen the light of day.  The on-going manga the series is based on is also not available commercially in North America.  I have not been tapped into the mindset of the North American commercial otaku for many years so I am really not sure what is popular and what is not, but I suspect if it is anything like what has been transpiring in Japan…it is a grim fetishist based reality.

    Even with that possibility, there should still exists a large enough fan base for odd slice of life comedies, once people have read/watched Azumanga Daioh and Ouran High School Host Club, what else are they to do to fill the void in lusting after similar titles?  It’s not like there are that many in this subset available commercially.

    Interests must lie elsewhere.

 

  

Macross Zero

    The complexity surrounding the Macross/Robotech franchise and its ability to be licensed in North America are, by now, quite legendary.  Original copyright holder, Harmony Gold, has maintained a tight fist on the property in North America and for a long time has had conflicting legal and intellectual interests with the franchise outside of Japan.  The last series from this long running franchise to successfully see the light of day in North America was Macross Plus, which was licensed by Manga Entertainment.  I have no idea the circumstances that allowed the 4 OAVs and movie to be released without Harmony Gold suing everyone.  Unfortunately nothing else has been as fortunate.

    Macross Zero is, in my mind, the best story to come out of the entire Macross/Robotech franchise and it will probably never be commercially available in North America.  Shame on you Harmony Gold…shame on you.  On the plus side, this has kept the vile Macross 7 out of America.

Itazura na Kiss

    This series, for a few reasons, was probably a bit too late to cash in on the anime boom of the late 90’s in North America.  What probably would have made it certain that this was licensed for release would be by hanging off of the coattails of Ranma ½ and Tenchi Muyo.  Yet, it seems there really is no market in North America for a well written and touching, mature love story.  One possibility of this ever seeing its release is that the manga is licensed…but seeing this series is from 2008 and the advent of quick turn-around, it isn’t new enough to garner any interest in licensing companies.  If they wanted it, they would have picked it up sooner rather than later.

Borukano

   This one really surprises me.  This came out not too long after Noein, which was licensed and released in North America and can be enjoyed by the same fans.  More perplexing is that Viz owns the license for the manga and they release a shit ton of anime.  If anything I could see this series streamed, if nothing else…  Yet, with the current trend of only jumping on the absolute newest titles this one is probably too old to get in on the streaming bandwagon.  Given that the manga is available the macabre subject matter shouldn’t be holding it back.

UPDATE: Since this post Bokurano has been licensed in North America by Discotek Media but no release as of yet or any word on it ever being released.

Dennou Coil

    This is by far the most perplexing case of a series that should have been licensed and released in North America but has not and probably never will be.  This is one of the best series I have seen.  This show could easily find a home on Toonami, Cartoon Network, any of the numerous streaming sources, DVD/BD etc.  It’s confounding and frustrating that it is not available to wider audiences and quite disappointing.  Now more than ever with the advent of wearable and publicly acceptable heads up display devices and the general population understanding AR this series is ripe for popularity.  Yet, in an interesting event it was released, worldwide, with English subtitles by Tokuma Shoten via iOS devices...so the Japanese took it upon themselves to release it to the world to enjoy…and for $2.99 and episode you too can watch it on your iPad.