Ask John: Why Haven’t the Disney Anime Reached America?

Question:
I’m really surprised Disney’s not bringing over these co-productions here. You’d figure we’d at least see the Stitch shorts by now.

Answer:

After Disney negotiated a deal with Tokuma Shoten in 1996 for American distribution rights to select Studio Ghibli anime productions, Disney didn’t immediately expand its venture into anime. In fact, fifteen years later, Disney still doesn’t distribute any anime productions domestically apart from its Ghibli catalog. Disney, in fact, didn’t even get directly involved in anime production in Japan until 2008 when it co-produced the RoboDz Kazagumo Hen television series with Toei. The CG sci-fi adventure with a ninja theme did air on America’s Disney XD network in 2009.

In 2008 Disney also co-produced the Stitch! anime television series with Madhouse and the CG anime series Fireball with Toei. Fireball has not been officially released in America, nor has Madhouse’s Stitch nor is two sequel series. I’m not at all surprised, as I perceive Disney’s decision adheres to the same philosophy that caused Disney to sell its ownership of the “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” franchise. The Disney company is especially concerned with maintaining the consistency and brand appeal of its core child-oriented media, so the company is cautious about compromising or confusing that core brand philosophy. Although Disney officially states that it sold the Power Rangers franchise in May 2010 because it did not fit Disney’s long-term programming strategy or “Disney brand,” inside word is that Disney perceived mothers objecting to the violence and fighting themes central within the Power Rangers franchise. Disney sold the franchise in order to avoid compromising its core family-friendly media orientation.

The Stitch anime franchise is significantly different from its American counterpart. Despite being in continuity with the American franchise, Madhouse’s Stitch anime is set in Japan and features an entire cast of characters and situations unfamiliar to typical American Stitch fans and viewers. The Stitch anime was made for Japanese release, so I’m sure that Disney has no reason to be happy distributing it exclusively in Japan and Asia where it has no chance of confusing American children used to the American movies and cartoon series.

Disney & Toei’s Fireball is a series of 90 second humorous conversations between two CG rendered robots. The Japanese style “manzai” comedy involving the female robot Drossel von Flügel playing the “boke” role with Gedächtnis playing the straight man “tsukkomi” role relies heavily upon Japanese language word puns. The show’s briskly paced and often non-sequiter dialogue is practically exclusively targeted at grown Japanese viewers that can understand and appreciate the show’s absurdity. In other words, even among hardcore American otaku, the show has a very limited potential audience. A creative screenwriter could invent entirely new scripts for an English dubbed adaptation of the program, but who is the show’s American target audience? While Disney can successfully co-produce and market Fireball in Japan, the show has no obvious sizeable potential viewing audience in America. The short length of the episodes make it difficult to fit into an American television broadcast schedule. While online distribution would be more viable, I can’t see much advantage to Disney in streaming the show for American viewers. I don’t believe that there are actually vary many anime that are genuinely “too Japanese” for American release, but Fireball, faithful to its Japanese dialogue, is “too Japanese” for mainstream American success, too niche for American home video or streaming release, and too far removed from Disney’s identifiable brand identity in America. Regrettably for their fans, Disney’s Stitch and Fireball anime are probably destined to never officially reach American distribution.