Ask John: Why Haven’t More Raijin Manga Been Re-released?

Question:
Why aren’t there more Gutsoon/Raijin license-rescues? Yes, the U.S. magazine bombed, but new companies are taking a chance on the Hokuto No Ken shows and 80’s movie, FUNimation took a chance on the Baki show, and Tokyopop took a chance on the Mammotte Shugogetten manga. Those seem to be doing well enough for their respective owners, so why aren’t we getting Souten No Ken now that there’s an anime tie-in which would help sell the manga? [The fact that Universal hasn’t released the anime here, even though it has the home video rights in Japan, is another thing which bugs me.] Inubaka seems to be doing OK for Viz, so Bow Wow Wata seems like a shoe-in for acquisition.

City Hunter was admittedly mismanaged. Raijin should’ve cross-promoted it with ADV and FOX, since those latter companies had the anime and live-action movie. Viz decided to give Slam Dunk another whirl here, but doesn’t want to touch Moufflon, even though it seems to fit in with many of the other action manga they’ve picked up in recent years (Gimmick!, Black Lagoon, Dogs). Dark Horse/DMP would also seem to be a good place for it, considering the company’s success with Gunsmith Cats, Hellsing, and Trigun.

Answer:
So called “license rescues” of manga titles do occur. Series including Lone Wolf & Cub, Akira, Masaomi Kanzaki’s Street Fighter II, Silent Mobius, and Azumanga Daioh, just to name a few, have been re-released by new domestic publishers. Even two of the titles initially translated within Raijin Comics – Mammotte Shugogetten & Slam Dunk – have been more recently distributed by new distributors. But since the American fan community hears a little less discussion about movements within the domestic manga licensing business than the anime side of the industry, manga licensing remains a bit more mysterious. I’m not privy to the internal business decisions of the manga publishing industry, so I can only speculate. First we have to consider the possibility that certain former Raijin Comics titles are simply unavailable for new American distribution. Excluding that possibility, we can examine possible related circumstances.

Naoko Takeuchi’s Sailor Moon tops the list of manga once available domestically but now inexplicably unavailable. With the growing number of American female manga consumers, I can only guess that the Sailor Moon manga isn’t presently available in America because it’s not available as a potential American license. Similarly, certain manga series formerly published by Raijin Comics may be also “off the table” for new American licensing, for reasons known only to their Japanese owners. If we set aside this possibility, we can speculate on a variety of reasons why other Raijin Comics titles haven’t been “license rescued.”

I own and have read every issue of Raijin Comics cover-to-cover (well, excepting issue 45 which got lost in the mail on its way to me), so I’m familiar with the dozen titles it carried. I’ll start with the easier titles to address. K2: Climbers Saga was a short two chapter story, so its lack of an American re-publication is understandable. Revenge of Mouflon has nice art and an interesting story, but takes much to long to get exciting. Comparing it to Slam Dunk is inappropriate because Slam Dunk is a sports manga and one of Japan’s most beloved of all manga series while Mouflon is a little known suspense thriller. The Keiji and Nemuri Kyoshiro samurai serials aren’t compelling. While neither of them are bad, neither of them are especially memorable, either. First President Of Japan is an intriguing political drama, but the failure of Viz Media’s publication of Kaiji Kawaguchi’s Eagle demonstrates that American readers aren’t interested in political drama manga. And I’ve previously discussed why Tsukasa Hojo’s City Hunter has little American market potential.

While I like Hokuto no Ken, I’ve long thought that Souten no Ken is ridiculous and dumb. I recognize its attempt to be satirically ultra-macho. I just don’t think it succeeds. While Hokuto no Ken can stand in America on its violence and nostalgic feelings, Souten no Ken has neither the frequent, excessive action nor an established, mainstream American audience. I suspect that explains why the manga hasn’t been re-licensed and why the TV anime adaptation remains unavailable in America. Like Souten no Ken, Bomber Girl and Grappler Baki are titles that appeal primarily to young adult men. Media Blasters canceling its entire line of violent and sexual seinen manga several years ago demonstrates that very few titles in the style of Souten no Ken, Bomber Girl, and Grappler Baki reach an American consumer audience large enough to financially sustain their English language release. Bow Wow Wata does seem to be a series thematically and stylistically similar to other American releases. I can only guess that, like other former Gutsoon licenses, it’s simply one of countless potential manga titles awaiting American publication.

From a domestic publisher’s perspective, licensing a title that already has a partial English translation may be somewhat more cost-effective than a title that needs to be translated from scratch. But a title that’s already been released in America once has a proven market potential while titles that haven’t previously reached America have an unknown, and therefore potentially much greater, market potential. With the sheer number of manga series available in Japan it’s natural that only a small fraction of them will ever reach America. Domestic publishers that don’t feel a strong desire to publish a certain title may want to experiment with new series rather than titles that have already demonstrated their American success – or lack thereof. Furthermore, the dozen titles published in Raijin Comics were ones selected by a Japanese publisher for exposure to American readers. Viz and Tokyopop have already seemingly acquired the titles they wanted from Raijin’s catalog. So without a Japanese publisher again encouraging the American publication of these titles, they’re simply not getting the attention of domestic publishers.

Article revised May 20, 2009