In these days of instant access and streaming, many young anime fans don’t realise just how difficult things were in the 80s and 90s. When something got released, if it even did get released, then many times it would be chopped up and mangled with shoddy dubbing that in some cases completely changed the character names and story. They were handled by people who cared more about making it as palatable as possible for Western audiences even if it was to the anime’s detriment. Thankfully, there were some people who did care. AnimEigo has been at the forefront of anime distribution for over thirty years. Their latest project, “The Anime Business”, a documentary series which allows those people who wanted to share anime with new audiences, gives their perspective on the early days of the industry.
John O’Donnell founded Central Park Media in 1990. It was one of the first distributors in North America to deal in anime and manga. They released a lot of erotic media but also titles such as “Revolutionary Girl Utena”, “Tokyo Babylon”, and even the first Western release of “Grave of the Fireflies”.
Whilst the interview is hosted by Justin Sevakis, founder of both Anime News Network and MediaOCD, he allows O’Donnell space to tell his story and show his passion, with only a few bits of text or image add-ons to help support what he’s talking about. This is a man who has been there and seen everything in this industry and knows what he’s talking about. The deep dive into the eras of anime on US television and comparison of anime and opera are particularly interesting. He even goes into the background of the infamous unreleased “Minna Agechau” which was set to be the company’s first release. A sex comedy OVA, the first wave of VHS’s would come with a pair of panties, something that had been done with the original Japanese release. Word got around and a huge backlash followed, leading to the video being pulled and “Dominion Tank Police” being Central Park Media’s first release. You get the impression that at times O’Donnell has had to fight against the prevailing perceptions of anime as simply sex and violence. Each victory and release was a hard won victory with so many people expecting the company to fail.
With its first episode, “The Anime Business” looks set to be a captivating and insightful look into the early struggles and triumphs of anime distribution. This is the kind of series that will be useful to newer anime fans for whom this era of the industry is an unknown, whilst also offering perceptions and interesting anecdotes to longtime fans who might get to enjoy learning something new. John O’Donnell was a great choice for the opening interview, and it will be exciting to see what other treasures of anime history are going to be uncovered.
