Pages

New to the Site? Click Here for a Primer!

Friday, March 20, 2020

Twelve Older Anime That Deserve License Rescues X: Ten Years Gone Part 2

If I really wanted to, I could have started these license rescue lists with some of the most obvious & blatant picks that I could find at the time, and just about anytime it seemed right I could have easily included something that would have seemed like a blatant shoo-in to get rescued. For example, after Bandai Entertainment was shuttered in 2012, I could have easily included Cowboy Bebop in the 2013 list. I precisely chose not to, though, because I have always wanted the license rescue list to prioritize the less likely or forgotten, with only the occasional more obvious pick; however, Bebop would still have felt too obvious, so it was never considered in any way. However, there has been one anime that, while not in contention early on, would occasionally be considered by me for inclusion in later lists, but I continually held off, using the justification of, "Well, it's going to happen any moment now... Right?", and yet here we are on the 10th license rescue list, & I feel as though I have no choice but to finally add it to the pile.

I mean, seriously, why HASN'T Berserk been license rescued yet?!


When I made the first list at the start of 2011, Berserk had last been re-released just about two years prior, with Media Blasters' digitally remastered DVD boxset release from December 2008 (or March 2009, according to other sites), so at that point the anime was in no way a viable contender for the license rescue lists. However, it's been over a decade since that release & it has yet to be re-released in any fashion in North America, even after both the movie trilogy that retold that anime saw release by Viz Media & the newer anime continuation having been simulcasted (& insulted for its poor use of CG) by Crunchyroll & given a home video release (with improved, if not outright redone, animation) by FUNimation. But let me not get too far ahead of myself, and instead start back at the beginning. Kentaro Miura debuted the manga Berserk in 1989 in the pages of Hakusensha's Young Animal magazine (originally Monthly Animal House, until 1992), and it became a big hit, especially once Miura entered the Golden Age Arc, which told of main character Guts' time as a member of hired mercenary group the Band of the Hawk. In late 1997, NTV aired a 25-episode late-night TV anime adaptation of the Golden Age Arc titled Kenpu Denki/Sword-Style Romance Berserk (because the anime just had to have that "Adjective-Noun" preamble, I guess), covering all the way through the infamous finale featuring "The Eclipse", which had just happened in the manga only about a year prior, at most; talk about striking while the iron was hot.

Media Blasters wound up being the company to license the anime for English release, eventually releasing the first dual-audio DVD in mid-2002, with the sixth & final DVD coming out a year later in mid-2003; there was also a VHS release, in both dub & sub flavors, but that got stopped after Volume 3. It was a gigantic hit, one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) in MB's entire history, the fact that the side-story video game for the Dreamcast had come out a couple of years earlier likely helped, & the English dub by NYAV Post (one of the studio's earliest, in fact) was similarly praised; the outtakes for Berserk are generally considered one of the greatest ever, especially for The Eclipse. Naturally, MB took advantage of that success, releasing a "Premium Collection" set in late 2003, which was simply the DVD singles housed inside the artbox, followed by a Complete Collection "brick" a year later in late 2004. If this all seems a bit ridiculous, you'd be right, & it was actions like this from all companies that irked many anime fans, as it seemed like buying singles were a waste of money; however, if a release bombed via singles, then it'd never get these re-releases, so it's a Catch-22. Regardless, following the brick collection Berserk more or less went silent, as it was still selling well enough to not require a new re-release, but that all changed at the end of 2008, when Media Blasters gave the anime one last release, this time using a brand new digital remaster that was done in Japan for the anime's 10th Anniversary, making the show look better than ever; in late 2012, Media Blasters confirmed that its license to Berserk had expired. Today, the digitally remastered boxset, which is the one to get for an English release, looks to run you about $50-$70, which honestly isn't terrible; that's about what FUNimation's boxset for the newer anime would cost at MSRP.

However, the same year Media Blaster's license expired, the original Berserk anime received an HD-remastered Blu-Ray release in Japan, making the show look even more beautiful than before, & it even got re-released in 2016. How a series like this has yet to have been rescued & re-released by another company over here is mind-blowing, especially considering that both the movie trilogy & long-awaited sequel anime series have since seen release here, as well as Dark Horse currently giving the original manga gigantic, 3-in-1 "Deluxe Edition" releases. I'm sure this has likely been an anime many companies have had interest in releasing themselves, so I can only guess that there might be some sort of licensing issue keeping "Berserk '97" from seeing a new release in English, but hopefully that'll change with time... Even if it takes another decade.

[3/2024 UPDATE: It took a long time, but the 1997 Berserk TV series has been rescued! Discotek Media is putting it out on Blu-Ray, and it's already looking to be a massive seller.]


The very first anime mentioned in the original license rescue list was B't X, a former Illumitoon Entertainment refugee (check here for Illumitoon's history) that has since been rescued & given a complete release by Anime Midstream (complete with an absolutely stellar English dub). Discotek Media has also recently put out its SD-BD complete collection release for Bobobo-Bo Bo-Bobo, another ex-Illumitoon license, this time with 100% complete English subtitles (without requiring to print out PDF files; thanks for nothing S'more Entertainment). A third Illumitoon expat, Get Ride! AMDriver, never actually saw release, minus the first 14 episodes appearing on The Anime Network on Demand back in 2008 (so that dub's lost forever), so I can't count it for this type of list; it did make my "Anime Licenses That Never Were But Should Have" list from 2012, though. Therefore, that leaves only one victim of Illumitoon Entertainment left, and it's coincidentally enough the longest one of them all, beating out Bobobo by a single episode: Beet the Vandel Buster. Debuting in the pages of the April 2002 issue of Monthly Shonen Jump, the manga was the next major work from the duo of writer Riku Sanjo & artist Koji Inada, who previously made Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai for Weekly Shonen Jump during the 90s, which was a massive success & still considered one of the all-time greatest series to come from the magazine.

For this new work, Sanjo & Inada essentially created their own RPG-inspired fantasy world, telling the tale of how a young boy named Beet wound up inheriting the Saiga, essentially spirit weapons, of his icons the Zenon Warriors, & trying his hand at bringing an end to the Dark Ages that the monstrous Vandels have brought upon humanity. It was a quick hit for Monthly Jump, & come the second half of 2004 a TV anime adaptation by Toei had debuted, though it was notable for featuring a ton of its own original content from very early on; it's obvious that Toei was hoping to turn Beet into its own hit property. After 52 episodes, the anime would come to an end, only to be followed up a week later with Beet the Vandel Buster Excellion (or "Etchelion", as Toei's website spells it), a 25-episode series that was 100% original content, similar to something like Dragon Ball GT; it ended in early 2006, giving a total of 77 episodes. A few months later, Illumitoon Entertainment made its introduction by announcing that it had licensed both seasons of Beet the Vandel Buster as its first anime series. The first 4-episode DVD for Beet would come out at the start of 2007, the company's first ever release, & it was just atrocious, with closed-captioned "dubtitles" instead of proper English subtitles (that weren't even timed to the Japanese audio!), replacing the original Japanese OP & ED with brand new & generic instrumentals (& this was regardless of language choice!), shoving said original OP & ED as their own extras on the disc (& so poorly encoded that the fansubs looked better!), poorly made menus... and the English dub wasn't really anything to write home about, either. Illumitoon did offer a replacement program for improved releases, but few actually bothered to do so, especially when it was revealed that said replacements were just burn-on-demand DVDs.

The second DVD was scheduled for release, & the cover art was even shown off, but after that initial release (& successive releases not being much better), the follow up for Beet never came out, especially once Illumitoon lost its distributor; not many TV anime only ever got one 1 English DVD out, so Beet's part of a rather exclusive club. The sad thing, too, is that Beet the Vandel Buster isn't a bad show by any means; it's not all that original, but it's still a fun series in its own right, & the theme songs are all outstanding. Much like how Viz may never return to the manga to release those newer volumes, I kind of doubt any company will really ever bother to give the anime another try, even though it most certainly deserves a second chance to make a proper first impression; this might be the poster child for that, honestly, because Illumitoon really did it dirty.


Urban Vision has had the occasional appearance on the license rescue lists over the past decade, and a fair number of its old catalog of licenses have since been rescued, though solely through the efforts of Sentai Filmworks & Discotek Media. Still, what makes UV interesting is that you could literally count the number of anime it never finished releasing on a single finger, because there is literally only one, so I think it's time for it finally become a part of my own "catalog" of anime that deserve license rescues. Airing from July to September of 2000, Strange Dawn was a 13-episode TV series by Hal Film Maker (now TYO Animations), based on an original concept by Junichi Sato (Aria, Kaleido Star), in which teenage girls Yuko & Eri get transported to a world filled with tiny people, only to get caught up in the war between the various tribes inhabiting the planet, who all want to use the girls' status as godlike "Great Protectors" for their own gains. With series direction by Shougo Kawamoto, music by Kaoru Wada, & writing by the respected Michiko Yokote, all of whom would later work with Sato for Princess Tutu, the anime found itself a cult fandom, because while it was still an anime for children it also didn't shy away from tackling tough subjects, like death or sexual assault, & was praised for its well written characters.

Urban Vision announced it had licensed Strange Dawn in Ocotber 2001, premiering it at ParaCon the following week, and even had it be the start of a new label for the company, Lil' Vision, that was aimed at younger audiences; up to this point, UV was known exclusively for its hyper-violent & adult-oriented releases. The first dual-audio DVD & dubbed VHS tape would come out at the start of 2002, and the dub in particular is an interesting thing about the release... Because UV didn't produce it. Instead, the English dub had already been produced prior to UV's involvement & was actually included with the license itself. Because of that, it was produced in Japan & exclusively used "gaijin talent", though some of the cast have been heard in various video games since, like Donna Burke (Vanessa Lewis in Virtua Fighter), Alison Noonan (Jenny the Bat in Bloody Roar 4), Angus Waycott (Morpheus D. Duvall in Resident Evil: Dead Aim), & Brett Coleman (Keith in Pokkén Tournament); still, said dub was generally not well received in North America. After the second DVD & VHS in April 2002, though, Urban Vision stopped releasing Strange Dawn, & at SakuraCon 2003 even acknowledged the fan demand, though citing that they were currently busy with Ninja Scroll: The Series' release. However, it's easy to guess that, simply put, Strange Dawn likely bombed hard for UV, hence why the release was stopped after only getting half way through. As for the Lil' Vision brand, it's only other release was the American animated production Slammin' Sammy: The Sammy Sosa Story. Meanwhile, in Europe, Dybex did release all of Strange Dawn across 4 DVDs, though without any English subs, while Channel 5 in the UK actually aired the show on TV in early 2002.

Honestly, considering the fanbase that Junichi Sato now has, I am a little surprised that Strange Dawn has never been given another go. Considering the amount of crossover there is between the staff of it & Princess Tutu, I think it'd be easy to try to market Strange Dawn to fans of that anime; sure, Tutu isn't a major name, but it keeps getting re-released, so there's got to be some market there. Not only that, but the English dub was obviously fully completed, seeing as it did air on TV in the UK; it may not be a great dub, but it at least has one.


To be honest, this entry was chosen mainly to take up a slot so that I can have 12 entries, but at least it's a show that is fondly remembered; also, it is technically available today via streaming, but these lists are all about physical re-releases. Anyway, Akitaro Daichi may very well go down in history as one of the greatest comedy directors in anime, though his legacy was scarred somewhat when, in 2017, former seiyuu Hiroko Konishi revealed an old incident where she was being forced to enter a mixed bath with Daichi, and when she refused she effectively got blacklisted from the industry; she has since become a successful singer. However, Konishi's own recollection was admittedly kind of vague as to who's more to blame: Daichi for taking his own "pleasure trips" after finishing work on a show, or her manager for forcing her to join the trip against her will; from what's been reported, Daichi wasn't the one who directly forced her to come. Regardless, this entry is about an original anime Akitaro Daichi created, so whether or not you feel it should be given a second chance on physical media is solely up to you to decide, much as it is anyone else's. Therefore, let's talk about Carried by the Wind: Tsukikage Ran.

Inspired by old chanbara series starring Jushiro Konoe, namely 1965's Suronin Tsukikage Hyougo & 1969's Suronin Hanayama Daikichi ("Suronin" means "Poor/Lowly Ronin"), Tsukikage Ran was a 13-episode TV series that aired at the start of 2000 & followed the episodic adventures of the titular Ran, a female ronin with a love for sake who simply wanders the land "wherever the wind takes her"; accompanying her at all times in Meow, a bubbly Chinese martial artist. Like it's inspiration, the anime has no overarching plot, instead seeing Ran & Meow enter a new town, get into some trouble, & Ran has to sword fight her way out. To follow that same lackadaisical style, Daichi & his writing team, which included the likes of Michiko Yokote, Tatsuo Sato & even Ryosuke Takahashi, would simply come up with an episode title first, & then write a plot based around it; Daichi even admitted an unproduced episode where everyone wound up fighting over udon or soba noodles. Still, it's easy-going nature, combined with Daichi's knack for comedy, gave it a small but endearing fanbase that appreciated its silly but enjoyable nature. Bandai Entertainment licensed the anime in 2002 & premiered it at Anime Expo, though staff admitted that finding an English name for it was tricky (for some reason), & released the show across four dual-audio DVDs from late 2002 to early 2003, followed by a brick boxset release in late 2004; the boxset would get discontinued in early 2005. After that, the anime went into obscurity until 2017, when Tubi TV announced that Tsukikage Ran was one of the anime it had licensed for streaming, though it's sub-only.

Today, the original DVD singles aren't terribly expensive, though the boxset is notably more valued (not surprising, since it was only in production for about two months), but with Tubi TV currently streaming it, I think having a new physical release would just make sense now.


The advent of being able to simply stream anime from home has definitely been a game changer, but like Blue Blazes in Part 1, or the entire half a list I did last year, the problem with it is that once the license expires, it runs the risk of no longer being available, at least in an official form; physical, though risking getting expensive once out-of-print, is still going to be there, in some way. Now, to be fair, this specific title is still currently available to watch on a smaller service like Tubi TV, but when it comes to one of its original streaming homes, like Crunchyroll, not so much. Therefore, I'll count it on a technicality, similar to Tsukikage Ran just before, or Bakuman. from Part 1; its older license did indeed expire, and now is only available on a service not as many know of. Moving on, the 00s were an interesting period for mech anime, namely in regards to the old-guard. This decade saw various reboots, sequels, & re-imaginings of franchises, namely Mazinger Z, Getter Robo, Dangaioh, Mitsuteru Yokoyama's Mars, Tetsujin 28, Gunbuster, Gundam, Giant Robo, Transformers, Macross, Dancouga, & Reideen. Joining those names in 2005 was Dino Mech Gaiking, a 1976 mech anime co-created by Toei & Go Nagai... With the former later being sued by the latter when Toei tried to excise Nagai's name from the credits; Nagai won the suit.

The end result of this 00s re-imagining was Gaiking: Legend of Daiku-Maryu, a 39-episode TV series following young boy Daiya Tsuwabuki's battle against the underground Darius Empire alongside the crew of the giant Daiku-Maryu. The anime quickly found a fanbase due to its fun storytelling, memorable characters, earworm of an OP theme by Psychic Lover, & excellent giant robot action; most consider this show to be the superior Gaiking anime. Unfortunately, while it came out during the days of the 00s anime licensing bubble, this new Gaiking anime went without ever getting licensed for English release, and it wouldn't be until 2011 that things changed. Hulu was the first to start streaming the anime, followed by Crunchyroll once Toei finally started working with the site, but today those old licenses have since expired, and today it's been relegated to the likes of Tubi TV & Pluto TV, & you can even purchase it digitally over at Amazon; not to disparage those services, but none have quite the anime market penetration of Hulu or Crunchyroll. What's even more confounding is that, in the years since Toei finally started offering this new take on Gaiking in English via streaming, the original Gaiking saw home video release in North America... Twice. First was Shout! Factory's 2013 DVD release of the three Gaiking compilation English dub movies Toei produced with William Winkler Productions, and in 2016 Discotek Media released the original Japanese version of Dino Mech Gaiking onto DVD. Meanwhile, the 2005 reboot, despite generally being considered the superior show, has remained wallowing in the depths of streaming.

Hey, that's how the cookie crumbles, sometimes.


Finally, we end the 10th license rescue list with a concept that I've never really tackled before here: Licensing an anime when there's a newer adaptation that has already (effectively) "replaced" it; the closest I was before was including the JoJo OVAs mere weeks before the TV series first got announced. After all, would Discotek Media have ever licensed the 1969 Dororo anime, had the recent anime adaptation already existed by then? Would there ever be any interest in licensing Toei's adaptation of Kanon from 2002, when there's the more celebrated & well known Kyoto Animation adaptation? Hell, would anyone even bother to license rescue the JoJo OVAs, when there's the more fleshed out & complete TV adaptation? That last situation is where we find ourselves with the final entry in this 10th license rescue list, which is the original Hunter x Hunter anime adaptation by Nippon Animation, which debuted back in 1999 & ran for 62 episodes. Directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi, the man behind iconic series like Rurouni Kenshin, You're Under Arrest!, & the previously-mentioned 2019 adaptation of Dororo, Nippon's take on Yoshihiro Togashi's iconic (& seemingly never-to-end) fourth Shonen Jump manga remains strong in the memories of fans to this very day, with some even feeling that it still manages to outdo Madhouse's 2011 adaptation in some respects at times, namely in terms of mood & cinematography; also, the original content Nippon made, mainly to extend the Hunter Exam, was generally well liked. Of course, Madhouse's adaptation is the more complete one, as Nippon's TV series only adapts up through ~2/3 of the York New story arc, though three OVA series from 2002 to 2004 continued adapting all the way through Greed Island with an additional 30 episodes, totaling things at 92.

It took a while, namely until the manga finally started seeing English release, but Viz eventually would license Nippon's Hunter x Hunter anime in 2008, and after initially trying to pitch it to television networks started releasing the series via dual-audio DVD boxsets, starting at the end of that same year. Coming out at a quarterly rate & finishing up at the end of 2009, each set had 15/16 episodes, alongside an English dub produced by Ocean Group's Blue Water Studios, a dub which got a mixed reception; I thought it was okay, but I can see why others weren't fond of it. Also, Viz got the dub to air on FUNimation Channel (now Toku) throughout 2009, which is how I actually heard the dub. Unfortunately, seeming licensing issues resulted in only the first OP & ED themes being kept intact, which means that Viz's release was robbed of the excellence that is "Taiyou ha Yoru mo Kagayaku" by Wino, the show's second OP, though an instrumental version is still heard in the final episode; the 2011 anime's theme song is outstanding, but Wino's song better fits the York New content better. Also, likely due to poor sales, Viz never licensed & released any of the OVA continuations, leaving things with a feeling of being unfinished. Afterwards, Madhouse's reboot would air from 2011 to 2014 for 148 episodes, which Crunchyroll would simulcast, covering well beyond what Nippon adapted; there were also two original theatrical movies. Viz then licensed the reboot in 2015, followed by Toonami premiering the anime's Bang Zoom! dub in April 2016. Though Viz's home video boxset releases have been painfully slow, likely so as to prevent outpacing what Toonami was airing, the seventh & final set came out this past February, bringing an end to that release. As for the old Nippon anime boxsets, they've sadly become rather expensive, ranging from $150 to $280; the third set isn't even being sold by anyone on the Amazon Marketplace, as of this article.

All that being said, though, is there even any point in ever license rescuing the original Hunter x Hunter anime? With the 2011 reboot helping revitalize interest & popularity in the series outside of Japan, would those newer fans even be interested in seeing an older take on the story, especially one that doesn't even adapt as far out, even including the OVAs? It's the sort of question that, understandably, few are actually asking... And it's one we'll likely never get the answer to.
-----
After 10 lists across 10 years, what have we learned from all of this license rescue listing? If nothing else, I think it shows just how much anime has made its way outside of Japan to English-speaking audiences, and how much of it has potentially become forgotten. Again, prior to this list, only ~34.7% of all the anime I have brought up over the years have actually been given new releases, & I'm sure the large majority of the remaining 65.3% (plus the 12 twelve I brought up in this new list) will never see any sort of re-release, period. Really, the main reason I continue doing these license rescue lists is primarily to remind both myself & anyone who reads these lists of what has come before, and should something else from these 10 lists get rescued & re-released, then I only hope there'll be at least one who will have been reminded of it beforehand, so as to now be interested in giving it another shot.

Berserk (1997) © Kentaro Miura/Hakusensha・NTV・VAP
Beet the Vandel Buster © Riku Sanjo・Koji Inada/Shueisha・Toei Animation・Beet Production Committee, Film © 2004 Toei Animation
Strange Dawn © Junichi Sato・HAL/Strange Dawn Production Committee
Carried by the Wind: Tsukikage Ran © 2000 Akitarou Daichi・Madhouse/Bandai Visual
Gaiking: Legend of Daiku-Maryu © Toei Animation
Hunter x Hunter (1999) © POT (Yoshihiro Togashi) 1998 © Nippon Animation/Shueisha

No comments:

Post a Comment