If you are a veteran world travel, like I am not, then you will know that the menu items on your favorite menus and toppings on some of your favorite foods are quite different in foreign countries. In Europe, people love to dip their french fries in mayo and/or vinegar instead of ketchup. Any international fast food franchise will have a significantly different menu in another country. There will be some menu items that are notably absent in some countries and others that are unique to one country. Heck, in different parts of the same country you will have variations in eating tastes and menu items.

Now, I’m hungry.

What does this all have to do with anime and manga? Well, it just shows that like people consume different foods in different regions they also consume different entertainment as well. There are some anime that are insanely popular in Japan that will never come to the U.S. or horribly bomb in the U.S. because Americans just don’t care for them. There are also some shows that the Japanese don’t care for but are brought over to America and sell like gangbusters. Even though there are anime fans on both sides of the Pacific the tastes in the anime that anime fans have can be wildly different.

As we know, dozens upon dozens of series get brought to the U.S. every year but there are thousands to be picked from. And there is good reason for that in many cases (and in some cases not). A lot of anime/manga are very Japanese, more Japanese than anything we have seen, and it just wouldn’t be appealing for most fans. A lot of these include comedies, which can sometimes turn out to be totally not funny if you aren’t from Japan.

There are a slew of long running anime/manga that have never even come over despite their enormous popularity in Japan. In general, Japan likes long running episodic family shows and Americans want nothing to do with them. Japan also loves sports shows but Americans ignore them completely.

Sports show are huge in Japan! Giant! The only one that seems to have any U.S. following is Prince of Tennis. But then who wouldn’t love a show where you can defeat dinosaurs by using tennis? The Touch series was especially big, it is about baseball, by Mitsuru Adachi. He did a short story series called Short Program which was released in the U.S., quite good. Anyway, Touch was decently long, had 3 movies, T.V. specials, live-action adaptations, you name it! This was an 80’s show so that may account for some of the lack of interest. Captain Tsubasa is another that comes to mind, it is about soccer. This series started in the early 80’s and still has incarnations of it running today! Manga, anime, video games, movies, the works! They can’t seem to get enough. Although this could be attributed to Americans notoriously not caring about soccer, too. Because Captain Tsubasa was translated into many languages in the Middle East and Europe. Some of both these series have been fan-subbed though.

I also remember that Captain Tsubasa has a huge fan following in South America and Mexico. America loves baseball and football but you don’t see Star of the Giants and Eyeshield 21 merchandise all over the place because of the huge TV deals they got to put those shows on Cartoon Network. I’m sure if the U.S. loved soccer we would still not see Captain Tsubasa in the U.S.

Sazae-San is clear the most famous of the huge hits in Japan that has absolutely no following in the U.S. Sazae-san is often the highest rated anime on Japanese TV. I remember that Josh in Japan said that when he lived in Japan the only anime he regularly watched was Sazae-san with his family. Sazae-san started in 1946 in a local newspaper and revolves aroun a housewife named Sazae Fuguta and her family. Much like many American newspaper comics the characters will change with the times but do not age much, like the Simpsons. Even though the manga has ended, and the original manga artist has died, the characters have proven themselves so popular that the Sazae-san anime is still has new episodes on TV today.

Doraemon is one of those perennial TV shows that so many other anime have referenced. Heck, I remember GTO and XXXholic making Doraemon jokes. The cartoon Puri Gorota in Nodame Cantabile is also an obvious parody of Doraemon. Doraemon is a robot cat from the future who was sent back in time to help out his original owners descendant named Nobita. It turns out that since Nobita is such a sad dork he runs up a huge amount of debt for his descendants in the future so they send him Doraemon in hoped that he grows up to be a better man and save the family from finical ruin. Since Doraemon is from the future, he can pull out a large array of hyper-technological gadgets from a pouch in his belly. The gadgets are supposed to help Nobita but they often get stolen by his friends or cause more trouble they they solve. Nobita usually learns a lesson from his adventures making it firmly a children’s cartoon. In many ways, Doraemon is wish fulfillment mixed with a moral lesson.

Doraemon is a cute enough show. It also doesn’t have an engrossing appeal to ever need to be watched over again, which is fine. But that doesn’t exactly mean it should be wrapped up and brought to the U.S. It also isn’t hysterically funny either. It is kind of slow and has a lot of word-play. It is something you watch with your kids and maybe you laugh, too. Also Japan loves cute mascot characters so Doraemon takes the cake.

Detective Conan is another well loved long running anime and manga in Japan. Jimmy Kudo is a 17-year old prodigy and often helps to police solve cases much like Encylopedia Brown. After helping solve one murder case he is attacked by an employee of the mysterious Black Organization and injected with an experimental poison. The poison was supposed to kill him but instead it regresses him back into a ten year old. Since the Black Organization thinks Jimmy is dead he takes the name Conan Edogawa and enrolls in elementary school. He helps his friend’s father, Richard Moore who is a detective, help solve cases while he tries to track down the leaders of the Black Organization and find a cure for his condition. Most of the episodes are Conan solving some mystery that either Richard Moore has become involved with or some problem that his friends have gotten involved with. Every few episodes Conan finds some lead with the organization but usually he ends up just as in the dark as he did at the beginning of the case.

Yay, Detective Conan! I have seen very little of this series but detectives always attract me, it’s like bat radar. I would really like to see this series released as brick sets, it is the only way it seems worth getting such an insanely long series. I would watch like the Japanese do, sort of, by watching a few episodes now and again. The problem with shows like that is you seem to lose the U.S. audience because you have to purchase it and you don’t just get to tune in randomly to it.

The main problem with Conan is it’s a kid show so it is sort of hard for people to wank on about how super deep it is (not that it stops them from doing it with other shows) but it can be rather bloody and violent which make it unsuitable for children according to U.S. standards. The paradox sort of keeps it from getting any mainstream appeal in America.

Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Koen-mae Hashutsujo (Kochikame) is the longest continually running manga in Japan and the longest running Shonen Jump manga. I know: A Shonen Jump property that is popular in Japan that has not be brought over here. It sounds like a lie but it’s true. Kankichi Ryotsu is a lazy, money grubbing otaku police officer who spends almost as much time coming up with silly plans as he does doing actual police work. I have heard that some people consider Ryotsu the Japanese Homer Simpson. There is also a large cast of Ryotsu’s fellow police officers who either help with his plans or try to foil them. There are two reasons why we won’t be seeing this in American anytime soon. The first problem, the art has been somewhat modernized but still has an unshakable old school style that most American fans don’t care for. Second, many of the plots revolve around Ryotsu trying to get rich by taking advantage of the latest fad in Japan. I assume a lot of the time even if you don’t fully understand the fad the jokes are still funny but it’s still a big hurdle for a lot of people.

Let’s not forget those few shows that slip through Japan without much interest and then get a huge reception here in the U.S. The biggest examples I can think of are Trigun, Berserk, and Big O, which then got a second season because of U.S. desire. While I like all of these shows, I have to wonder if they were really noticed because they were marketed well (Trigun especially had lots of merchandise) and also because they just had fewer shows to compete with in the states. I mean with a hundred new shows going on each year in Japan you can be lost in the shuffle. I also think that the success of these shows domestically, made a lot of people take a second look in Japan. Shows seem to stay in the minds of American fans longer.

In general, U.S. audiences like darker, action shows which generally only have otaku appeal in Japan. Hard seinen with very mature plots and little or no fantasy seems equally unpopular. Gritty or fantastic shonen seems the most popular genre of anime in America. Trigun, Berserk, and the Big O are all prime examples of that. Shows that are darker than most shonen but not as ponderous as some more mature seinen. In Japan, they tend to like either light-hearted shonen or very hard seinen depending on the age of the viewer.

I sometimes wonder how episodic shows would do if they were only released on DVD in Japan. They might fall to the same place as the U.S. but luckily for them that is not the case. Like was said earlier a lot of the shows have so many Japanese-isms that it could be difficult to translate and also might not translate into anything coherent. I think anime fans are interested in Japanese culture but not to the extent of many of these shows. Someone made the example using Seinfeld, a very American show, while some of the humor translates many of it just comes from the things we know as Americans and can’t really be duplicated. So while it was a huge success here in the states, it wouldn’t translate into big ratings in Japan.

Top 5 shows I love but the average anime fan does not care about
1. Master Keaton
2. Kekkaishi
3. Urusei Yatsura
4. Galaxy Angel
5. I’m Gonna Be An Angel!

Count Spankula of AnimeJump once joked that if someone raised a stink on the Internet about their fantastic demands for an exclusive box set for Herman’s Head, they would be laughed off the Internet and ignored. But if someone makes a random complaint about an anime DVD, the anime companies tend to scramble to fix their complaint (even if it’s a minor complaint for a distinct minority of the fans). Is this a bad thing? Don’t we want a responsive industry that actually listens to its customers? Are the anime companies actually that responsive or do they just pretend to be? Do they actually listen to what we want or do they just pretend to?

Pleasing the fans, sounds easy right? WRONG. I think over the years American fans have become increasingly more demanding to the point of impossibility for any company to make everyone happy. I’m not sure when everyone got so darned picky. Or maybe the Internet just makes me think everyone is so darn picky. But on the complete flip-side, without so much fan input would we see the releases that we do today?

For one thing no one can ever do anything to make 100% of the people happy 100% of the time. That is one of the major dilemmas of any consumer industry. The minute you decide to do things one way, someone is going to complain why didn’t you do it the way they wanted it. Sometimes you can do things both ways, but is it worth the time and effort? Nine times out of ten any changes cost money. If you want to stay in business, those costs have to be out-weighed by increased profits. The only other reason to incur a cost is to increase overall goodwill of the customer. The other major problem is people on the Internet assume they are the majority just because they find a few other people who share their opinion.

A simple example is the use of honorifics in subs and dubs. In my opinion the simple answer is to use no honorifics in a dub but use honorifics in subtitles. I think it hits the broadest amount of fans of each type of translation. I feel that most people who listen to dubs would either like or not mind as much if honorifics are left out. They want their dubs to be adapted as close to English as possible. I feel that sub fans tend to want a more Japanese feel to their shows and would want the honorifics in their translation. I think it’s an acceptable compromise.

I’m in that sub fan category! I remember when I was watching Spiral and had the subs on I was complaining that they weren’t using honorifics but what was worse was they kept subbing the main character’s name as his first name even though people were using his last name! Hisu informed of Funimation‘s strange two sub tracks. One is a sub of the dub (don’t know why this exists!) and the other is the regular sub track. I was much happier after that!

The problem is when ever a topic like this comes up on the Internet, there will be someone who complains that they are a dub fan who demands that dubs have honorific. There will also be a sub fan who can’t stand companies putting honorifics in their subs. Are these people wrong in liking what they like? Obviously not. It would be silly to fault them for that. Also my preferences are far from gospel. The problem is when they insist that their preference is the only true preference and if their demands are not met they will boycott all companies X’s products. Or attack any one who has an opinion different then their own and insist that anyone who disagrees with them is a misinformed idiot.

Whatever are you talking a bout? The internet is full of calm, rational people.

That is just one example. The infamous sub vs. dub wars still are being fought today despite the fact that the have somewhat calmed due to DVDs being able to have both. People will argue endless about the minutia of translation, while ignoring the fact that translation is hardly an exact science. People will argue for hours on minor packaging details and which extras we do and don’t get.

I was told this story about the Kimagure Orange Road DVD release. The DVD has the opening in the extras section but not at the beginning of each episode. Sounds kind of odd, but it is there, you can watch it, no big deal. Well, people threw a fit! They claimed the company should have been upfront. About what? Once again it’s not as if the opening was gone or the song changed. And AnimEigo had to redo the DVDs because people were in such an uproar. Personally, I don’t know why AnimEigo complied to it. Not to mention that show isn’t some huge seller. But then AnimEigo doesn’t make money anyway.

AnimEigo had been surveying and they saw that most people skipped the shows opening after the first two times they watched a show. So they decided instead of making people skip the opening each time, they would just place the opening on the DVD as an extra. They did not mention that they were doing this, so many people were shocked when they popped the DVDs in their players. That was the main complaint people had, AnimEigo did not tell anyone that they were going to try anything different. People paid $240.00 for a box set and then it was not how they wanted it. Although I had no big complaint about it, I see why people felt a little betrayed. It is an industry standard to place the opening in the front of every episode. I would assume there was some sort of error if the opening did not play on an episode.

Once again, I agree it is odd and an idea they shouldn’t have tried again. But once you realized where it was, was it such a big deal? I think not. Betrayed seems like an awfully harsh word to use.

There were calls to send back the DVDs and to boycott AnimEigo and all their products. I don’t think it was the best idea the company has ever had but it was definitely no reason to stage a boycott. AnimEigo is one of the most fan-friendly companies on the market. Heck they released all of Urusei Yatsura, so they have earned my gratitude. It would take a heck of a lot for me to turn on AnimEigo. Leaving off the openings of one show but still keeping it on the DVD is not enough.

AnimEigo is the only company with enough money to release titles just because they want to. And thank goodness they do! If people really thought about, they would realize that no one else would have released all of Kimagure Orange Road on DVD.

AnimEigo went above and beyond to fix their miscalculation: they re-authored the DVDs; took back all the old DVDs; and sent out the new DVDs free of charge. Everyone was very grateful but did it really earn them any respect or gratitude? Bandai released a Gundam Zeta box set with spottily translated subs in a supposedly box set only set. Then then released individual DVDs with a better translation even though they said they would never release singles. Bandai refused to set up a exchange policy so the loyal fans could exchange their old DVDs to get the better DVDs.

People get mad but then they chill out and forget all about it. I don’t see too many people boycotting Bandai Gundam releases.

But did it really matter. Did anyone really remember the extra distance AnimEigo went but Bandai did not? I’m sure some people remember. I do. But how many others even care? How many peoples anger really stays after a discussion dies down on a message board. Should anyone really care past that point? Should people hold grudges and gratitude longer than that?

I feel like we are lucky any niche series gets released at all with all the complaining that goes on!

I remember when RightStuf picked up the second season of Super Gals. ADV licensed the first season but it did not do well enough for them to license the second season. Fans kept asking ADV but time and time again they said they were not sure it was a viable license. Then RightStuf announced that they took a risk and got the second season. The whole second season would be in an affordable box set, sub only. There were a lot of appreciative fans but it seemed that there were just as many people demanding they make a dub. There were people who refused to buy the box set unless it had a dub. RightStuf took a risky gamble and went out of there way to save the second season, and they got nothing but complaints. I mean in the end all RightStuf cared about was if they turned a profit on the show but a little appreciation could have been thrown their way.

Well, RightStuf also does the rare “we will only do this if X amount of people pre-order.” But it works for them and we see releases of small or obscure titles. I think it just comes down to a lot of people wanting it all, which isn’t wrong but seems slightly unrealistic. But I have to wonder, for all the complaining, are people actually not buying for those reasons? Some things seem too minor to flat-out refuse to buy for, especially the way things are done today. The only things that seem horrific enough would be major editing, like removal of scenes and/or plot points or completely changing names.

Well, one thing that pissed me off was Princess Tutu; a great niche title. Really an overlooked show that I feel could have gained a sizable fan-base like Utena. Not a break out hit that everybody has seen, like Bleach or Dragonball Z, but a cult classic. ADV decided to translate the main characters name from Ahiru to Duck. It’s not a name change because Ahiru means Duck. ADV felt that since Ahiru is not something one commonly names a child in Japan. It’s not a name word like Rose or Crystal; it’s like naming someone Pencil or Horse. ADV felt that the name would have more effect in English if translated.

Princess Tutu was a rare title indeed and one I had little hope in actually getting licensed. I hadn’t seen any of it but I had heard some good things and I remember Ask John had mentioned in his over view for that year of good titles. But there it was! I admit I was upset about the name change, until we really talked about it and I got the reasoning. I’m not sure, since sales figures aren’t released, how it performed against their expectations. However, I seem to remember some problems with the release schedule of the DVDs, like a loooong break in between.

People on the AnimeonDVD.com forums went ballistic. They whined that ADV was censoring the anime and destroying the artistic merit of the show. There were calls to boycott Princess Tutu and ADV products until they changed the translation. I consider this a major overreaction. It’s not like the made Princess Tutu the next Cardcaptors. I felt even if you thought the translation was not the way you would have translated it, it isn’t unwatchable or disrespectful to the original source material. People took a minor point on a struggling show and blew it out of proportion. The only thing all their protests did was push a niche show further into obscurity. They chased away people who might have otherwise bought the show due the buzz by reviewers.

Although I admit, fan objectives can be good, too. I am glad manga is not flipped! (Vertical get on the ball.) I was ecstatic that Princess Mononoke was released with the original Japanese track and therefore influenced the way all of Studio Ghibli’s works are released. Also, many small series wouldn’t be released without all the fan demand, such as Emma. I guess it is a question of drawing the line.

There has to be a happy medium, I just don’t see anyone taking it. I don’t want anime companies to just ignore the fans. I like the fact that, overall, the industry listens to what fans say. They might not be able to meet every whim but some of them are just impossible or not viable to cater to. On the other hand, many times anime fans have what I consider reasonable demands: good audio visual quality, limited to no editing whenever possible, quality translations, as many extra as possible are simple demands to be met. I wish anime fans were a little more accepting. It does not mean that they should roll over and accept any garbage that is put out there buy a little understanding would not hurt anyone.

Narutaki Currently!
Watching Rose of Versailles
Reading Story of Saiunkoku
Listening to Crescent album– Gackt

Hisu (Brainwasher Detective) Currently:
Watching Tsukihime, Lunar Legend
Reading Parasyte
Listening to Godot-The Fragrance of Dark Coffee

Top 5 dead licenses I would like to be restarted by someone
1. Kodocha
2. Fist of the North Star
3. Black Lagoon
4. When They Cry – Higurashi
5. Dirty Pair TV