Ask John: Is Media Blasters Going Sub Only?

Question:
Is Media Blasters in Trouble? There have been a few series from Media Blasters like Princess Princess, Gakuen Heaven, Kirameki Project that are sub only. They did dub GaoGaiGar though. Can they not afford to dub these shows?

Answer:
Naturally no one will be better qualified to answer this question than a Media Blasters spokesperson, and fans may have the opportunity to pose the question to Media Blasters directly at one of the summer’s upcoming anime conventions. However, a privately owned company may be unwilling to answer because, according to common wisdom, bad news is bad for business. People typically don’t hurry toward a sinking ship, and consumers are often hesitant to buy from a company they have little faith in. (Acknowledging desperation and asking for help is usually a last resort for companies that have nothing to lose.) However, based on pure speculation and industry observation, I don’t think that Media Blasters is facing serious financial trouble.

Exactly how financially secure and profitable any of America’s anime distributors is may be a matter of perspective. Anime sales and resultant profits seem to be significantly down from their heights of five years ago. As of 2006, Media Blasters’ market share was not among America’s top five anime distributors. However, in my opinion, Media Blasters has been one of America’s shrewdest distributors. Media Blasters has wisely and carefully diversified its business beyond just distributing anime – expanding into licensing Asian horror films, European exploitation, and American sleaze movies – as well as investing in film production and distributing the popular American cartoon Invader Zim. Over the past few years, Media Blasters has increasingly been moving toward subtitled only anime releases. The company’s yaoi titles have been subtitled only presumably because they’re a niche market commodity for a demographic that prefers authentic Japanese presentation. Kirameki Project was released subtitled only because it’s a title with marginal American commercial potential. The announcement that Girls’ High will be released subtitled only may represent a turning point because it’s the first significant mainstream title that Media Blasters will be releasing without an English dub. Although I don’t know for certain, I suspect that the decision to move toward phasing out dubbing, if that’s actually what Media Blasters is doing, is not a reactionary move implemented by necessity, but rather a precautionary move anticipating future trends in the American anime community. (Media Blasters apparently isn’t entirely going subtitled only, as its newest announced title, “Aoi & Mutsuki: A Pair Of Queens” will be a bilingual release; however, this may possibly be an older, previously unreleased translation.)

A cost of $10,000 to dub an average 25 minute anime TV episode has been tossed about in American anime community discussion. At today’s expenses, $10,000 is actually around the low end of dubbing cost. Naturally, dubbing costs vary by ADR studio, talent, number of actors needed, and amount of dialogue to be dubbed. But using the low end estimate of $10,000 per episode, a 26 episode series would cost $260,000 to dub. If a distributor releases that series on 7 DVD volumes at a $15 wholesale cost per volume, the distributor has to sell roughly 2,500 copies of each disc just to recover the dubbing cost. Regrettably, there are numerous anime series released in America which don’t sell even 2,500 copies per disc. Dubbing does increase an anime DVD’s market viability, but it’s beginning to seem as though an optional English dub does not attract enough additional consumers to justify the expense of dubbing. The expense of dubbing can be the difference between a domestic release being profitable or losing money.

Media Blasters is releasing an increasing number of subtitled only anime DVDs. After releasing its first two domestic titles with optional English dubbing, Bandai Visual has announced that eliminating dubbing on current and future releases is necessary to make its distribution strategy viable. New American anime distributor ImagineAsian has tacitly announced that it will not produce English dubs for its anime titles. Viz has announced that its planned first release of the Death Note anime in America will be subtitled only. These examples suggest to me that Media Blasters is not reducing costs because the company is in dire financial jeopardy. Rather, Media Blasters may be one of the domestic companies leading the next evolution in America’s anime distribution industry. Although I only have vague impressions and speculation to rely on, I think that Media Blasters is astute and able enough to adapt to changes in the domestic anime industry to stay viable and active.