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Me and my friend were arguing if a manga does not have a animated series dubbed in america, then its not popular. I feel that it dosent necessarily rely on its american fans for it to be popular. My example is Keroro Gunsou, its very popular in Japan but its barely making is dept in america.

So whats your opinion on this?

Obviously the overall revenue an anime or manga takes in can be greatly aided by an American release, but that doesn't necessarily reflect its popularity. A prime example (in the spirit of the one you mentioned): Gensomaden Saiyuki had and still has a great following in Japan. Here, its english dub was released right around the time Fruits Basket surfaced. Whereas nearly everyone has either heard of or seen Fruits Basket, few in comparison could accurately relate what Saiyuki is about.

Case in point: Hunter x Hunter has been a rather successful franchise in Japan, albeit an unfinished one. It aired years ago, and only now are we even getting hints of a possible American release. This deals, not with its popularity, but other factors.

I'd say you had the winning hand in that argument.

I think that it really depends on what kind of market the anime is directed towards. The majority of Anime released is for its Japanese audiences and most of it if you notice, centers itself on Japanese culture and customs. Most of it is intended to do well domestically first, then they try to venture out into overseas markets. If an anime bombs in your own country, how can you expect it to do well overseas? There are some exceptions to this, with Fruits Basket and other series doing very well over here when they tanked in Japan.

Some anime directors try to make anime more Westernized and appeal to their European and American markets. Some of it works, but to be honest...most of it tanks hard. It's hard for a Japanese anime director to truly capture the spirit of Western culture appropriately because they don't necessarily have the experience with our customs. So most of it comes out a little stereotypical and sometimes badly done because of lack of research or experience with Western Culture. The same can be said of Western made anime that is sent over to Japan for Japanese audiences.

Originally Posted by Udon

Me and my friend were arguing if a manga does not have a animated series dubbed in america, then its not popular.

Clarify. The way you're stating it here, your friend seems to be saying "only popular mangas are given animated series and are dubbed in America." Basically, an American release is a litmus test for popularity.

If so, yeah. They're not going to dub an unpopular series. And I imagine, capitalism being what it is, they're going to try and dub a series if it's even remotely popular.

However, if your friend is saying "a manga can't be popular until it has an American release," well...

Jingoism aside, that's complicated, and a few more questions need to be asked. What's the basis of comparison? Popular where? How many people need to like it for it to be popular?

"Popular" is a relative term. We could say "popular in Japan," "popular in America," "popular in both Japan and America," and even "popular worldwide." Which one does your friend mean?

And I've lost focus in writing this post. My point is in there somewhere.

Originally Posted by Nerdsy

Jingoism aside, that's complicated, and a few more questions need to be asked. What's the basis of comparison? Popular where? How many people need to like it for it to be popular?

"Popular" is a relative term. We could say "popular in Japan," "popular in America," "popular in both Japan and America," and even "popular worldwide." Which one does your friend mean?

You've got a point there Nerdsy. It is true that you need to know where it is that it has to be popular. Something in Japan could be popular like D- Gray Man but many here in America may not know that there was an anime to begin with.

You have to know whether it's popular or not and so forth. It doesn't have to have a lot of fans for it to become an anime and appear here in America since most of the anime is made in Japan then released here in the US.

Originally Posted by Udon

Me and my friend were arguing if a manga does not have a animated series dubbed in america, then its not popular. I feel that it dosent necessarily rely on its american fans for it to be popular. My example is Keroro Gunsou, its very popular in Japan but its barely making is dept in america.

So whats your opinion on this?

Objection!

Manga don't have dubs. They have translations!

Take That!

Okay, that's a dead end. Try this line.

Hold It!

So, according to your friend, an anime can only be popular once it has an American dub?
*grins* I'm sorry, but that's highly improbable.
*Slams desk* Going by numbers alone, Japan's population density is much higher than America's. Therefore, there is very little standing in the way of an anime becoming extremely popular just from one country. Also, many anime do not do well in translation due to cultural differences and Japanese puns. Our Crayon Shin Chan is basically not the same show as the Japanese version. Furthermore, anime dubs do not instantly make an anime popular. It really comes down to the quality of the dub and the appeal to the american audience.
*Slams desk, points finger* Clearly, your friend is very much mistaken on this subject!

Take That!

And now I know I really need Apollo Justice to come out soon before I embarrass myself any further like this.

Originally Posted by Udon

Me and my friend were arguing if a manga does not have a animated series dubbed in america, then its not popular. I feel that it dosent necessarily rely on its american fans for it to be popular. My example is Keroro Gunsou, its very popular in Japan but its barely making is dept in america.

So whats your opinion on this?

First I would like to say that Keroro_Gunsou has a huge following here in America, and is a personal favorite of mine.

Ofc many good shows that float under the radar and get dubbed. but why watch the dubbs anyway ? Blah ><

No; anime doesn't rely on American fans for success.

But the relationship between American & Japanese companies (profits, expectations, licensing fees and the whole shebang) is significantly more nuanced than that answer suggests. A fair number of anime from a few years ago would never have gotten off the ground without American funding. It was said during the height of the American anime bubble that Japanese companies really counted on licensing fees as a way to add to their income.

Now the American anime market is in the process of messily and painfully collapsing, and the Japanese market is also suffering. I don't think these two things are directly connected in a domino-effect sort of way, but it would be hard to argue that they're not exacerbating each other.

Plus, the fact that stocks in general are plummeting can't be helping too much in that department.

~Dagger~

I wouldn't say they depend on america for popularity, mangas that becom anime usaully become more popular because more people watch t.v than read.

I agree on the fact that it doesn't have to be dubbed in order to be popular. Sure, the dubbing of the anime would help the anime reach more American fans, but english dubbing or not, the anime will always be popular in Japan.