Anime in America and Japan

WARNING!! ALL THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS ARE MY OPINION. NOT FACT!!!! I DO NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO ANY OF THE FOLLOWING ANIMES AND MANGAS MENTIONED IN THE FOLLOWING PIECE!! COMMENTS AND FEEDBACK IS ALWAYS ACCEPTED!

Anime has become extremely popular in America. The Japanese “cartoons” have invaded the pop culture of American society. Now why is it that some anime that are extremely successful in Japan, are not popular in America?

American audiences are geared more toward shows that are not heavily story based, and have serval different forms of action. Shows such as Bleach, Naruto, Dragonball Z, One Piece, etc have captured American children unlike any other anime. These types of shows tend to last for a vast amount of time, and they typically do not have a “deep” storyline. For example, the first installment of the Naruto franchise lasted for 220 episodes, Bleach is on episode 208 and counting (only 131 aired in America so far), and One Piece has 400+ episodes! The story of Naruto was basic and at some times predictable. Naruto featured many memorable action sequences, and brilliantly creative, likeable, fun characters. The same goes for Bleach, Dragonball Z, One Piece, etc. These characters drive these types of shows, more so than other types of anime. The viewer tunes in week to week not mainly because they care about the story, but rather because they want to see their favorite characters.

On the other hand, Japanese audiences have a wider range. Of course Naruto, Bleach, etc. are still enormously popular. These shows build up their huge fan base with their borderline ridiculously long life span. However the shows that make the biggest impact year by year are shows such as The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Code Geass, etc. These shows tend to be anywhere from 12 episodes long to 25 episodes. The characters in these shows are more realistic and deeper. These characters have flaws more so than Naruto(Naruto) and Ichigo(Bleach). The flaws are not small things like a weakness for sweets or pretty girls, no these flaws are things such as an overwhelming desire for power, a mental disorder, or social deficiency. The characters are most like the everyday person that is suddenly changed or affected by a chain of events, instead of just living in a “magical” or different world, such as Naruto and One Piece. The stories are also a lot deeper and tend to have a darker tone. Naruto is hardly ever dark or sad, while a shows like Welcome to the NHK and Chaos Head are hardly ever happy or upbeat. There are also many popular shows that do not feature action sequences at all, and the entire show is driven by story and character. Key is a game company that specializes in making “interactive anime”. Key has become famous for making games that have outstanding stories, characters, and dialogue. There have currently been 3 anime, based off of Key games (Air, Kanon, and Clannad). All 3 shows are amazing examples of the fact that action is not necessary to keep an audience captivated and interested. Each storyline is driven by dialogue and “real life” situations that are only strengthened by the extremely thoughtful characters.

However there are always exceptions. Death Note was one show in recent memory that was greatly popular in both America and Japan. The show lasted 37 episodes, which is longer than the usual length, but it’s not ridiculous like 100. There were action sequences but they did not drive the story. The intense and dark tone throughout the entire show was something somewhat uncommon in anime popular in America. The characters were deep and had motives that were not always clear. The viewer never knew what was going to happen next and it was almost impossible to even guess, because there were so many twists and turns that people would just give up after being wrong about 7 times in the first 5 episodes. (Note that that applies to people who have either never read the manga or read the manga after watching the show.) Is Death Note (and in some ways Cowboy Bebop) just some incredibly amazing that they just rise to the top in both America and Japan? Or is there something that these shows do that help popularity in both?

In my opinion there is no “secret formula” for success in America. Some reasons do not necessarily even have to do with the show itself. In Japan, everyone watches anime. Everyone reads manga. However in America, mostly kids and young adults watch anime and read manga, and it is rare that there is someone over the age of 30 that does. This shortens the target range of the audience, which makes it so many great animes do not even make it to the United States. Also time slots have a huge effect on what show becomes popular. In the 90’s, anime had primetime slots on Cartoon Network. Toonami had shows like Gundam Wing, Sailor Moon, Dragonball Z, and Yu Yu Hakusho in primetime, which is why these shows became all the rage. This “family friendly” viewing list evolved to become Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, etc. More “adult”/”young adult” shows were pushed back to late night; shows like Inuyasha and now Death Note. These shows were not viewed by the largest part of the American anime audience, so that although they did gain some recognition, they were not as popular as the primetime shows.

Some shows have invaded American culture just as much as it has Japanese culture. Sure franchises have beome extremely popular, only to die out with the new breed, like how Dragonball Z and Sailor Moon were, only to be replaced by Naruto and Bleach. But then there are shows that withstand the test of time and keep grabbing in new fans with every generation, while still maintaining its original fanbase. I call these the mega franchises. These are the shows like Pokemon, Digimon, and Yu-Gi-Oh. Sure people grow up and are not as interested as before, but no anime fan can deny that they have to stop and watch an episode of Pokemon if they see it on TV. These shows bring out the little kid in everyone, whether it is a 16-year-old high school student or a 24-year-old college gradate. Pokemon has forever invaded American and Japanese culture will continue this tend for a long time to come.

Then you have shows like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Haruhi is extremely popular in both America and Japan, although it is only 14 episodes. Haruhi is just one of the many quirky, “weird”, and strangely fun shows that the Japanese audience loves so much. More examples are shows like Kyoran Kazoku Nikki, Toradora, Kannagi, Kemeko DX, Lucky Star, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and Ouran High School Host Club. Some shows become fairly popular, and some don’t even make it to the U.S. So what makes The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya different? Is it the Hare Hare Yukai and the para para craze that it started? Is it the unique story and characters? Maybe but the main thing is that this show is still considered to be “underground”. It has gained a lot of praise in America, even though it has never been showed on TV. Why? Downloads!!

The Internet has become the most important resource for the American anime fan. Downloading and uploading the latest episodes has become part of most anime fans’ daily lives. Fansubbers are in high demand in order to keep up with the rising amount of people trying to download these shows. Now is this a good thing or a bad thing for the anime industry? I believe that it is a little bit of both. Sure anime companies are losing tons of money on DVD, CD, and manga sales. However they are making up this money with the high demand of anime goods. Plushes, PVCs, t-shirts, cosplay, etc. are all being helped by the internet; not only because of the easy access to them, but because of the fact that it widens the amount of anime that people watch. Before the “downloading era”, most Americans only see the 7 or 8 shows that are shown on TV, but now American anime fans have a nearly unlimited amount of shows to choose from. Also it helps the American and Japanese fans bond and become closer related because they are watching the same shows at basically the same time, so that American audiences can now go into a forum and discuss the latest shows with Japanese fans.

So what have we covered today? American anime fans like a fairly shallow storyline and lots of action. Japanese anime fans enjoy story and characters. (However there are some exceptions to both statements.) Japanese audiences are a lot larger than the American audience. Time slots and target audiences have a huge affect on what is popular in America. There are franchises that do well but fade over time, and there are mega franchises that rule forever. A show does necessary have to be long to cause a sensation. Japanese people love fun, original shows, while Americans don’t necessarily do. And downloads and fansubbers are both good and bad for the anime industry. I think that’s about it for now. Thanks for reading.