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Which Summer 2024 Anime are Popular in the U.S. Compared to Japan?

Quote:

This isn't an issue for most other shows, as the audience that strongly prefers dubs in the U.S. is typically only 10%-20% of total viewership per piracy data and survey responses. However, the MHA dub is particularly beloved by fans and accounts for nearly half of all viewership by our measures. Once someone begins watching a show in one language, they prefer to keep it consistent.

I had wondered about this since it seemed like growing up with anime in the 90s and early 2000s dubs was the most popular option of watching anime and it's often been said that dubs are important in promoting shows and if a show fails to catch on in the West fans will blame it on the lack of a dub.

Why it matters: TikTok helped normalize captions for young media consumers, who are turning regularly to subtitles as part of their streaming habits.

• More than half of Gen Z and millennial media consumers prefer subtitles, according to new survey results from YPulse.
  
• While subtitles haven't always been seen as a first choice, they've grown in ubiquity — especially with the rise of online videos that include automatic captioning.
  

By the numbers: 59% of Gen Z survey respondents and 52% of millennials said they use subtitles.

• Gen Z males, especially, are watching with subtitles — 61% said they like to use them.
  
• Millennials are using subtitles while watching with their children, per YPulse.
  

Between the lines: Captions help watchers keep up with murmuring dialogue, distinguish thick accents and get a head start on a scene, the survey found.

• "Watching content with closed captions can reportedly improve literacy, vocabulary, and the speed of reading," YPulse said.
  

What they're saying: "I have two chances of being able to tell what they said in a scene," Natalie Cummings, 19, told Axios.

• While her mom doesn't totally get the practice, the junior at Ohio University turns them on for everything she watches, saying it helps improve focus.
  

Subtitles are a lifeline for Erika Gesualdo, 41, while watching TV. With ADHD and auditory processing disorder, she gets easily distracted otherwise.

• Over the past two decades, the dialogue has gotten more accurate, and text to describe sounds has become more specific, said Gesualdo, who lives in Maryland.
  
• Deaf and hard of hearing content creators advocated for automatic caption tools.
  

Of note: Watching foreign-language TV shows and movies with English subtitles made the feature mainstream for young watchers.

• "These gens are interested in entertainment from around the world, thanks to the global platforms they've grown up with access to," YPulse said.
  
• But young people are using captions even for content in English.
  
• Companies are now putting resources into making them descriptive, YPulse said.
  

Meanwhile: maintaining quality sound has been a challenge in the streaming era, the New York Times reported.

• Watchers could be turning to subtitles because they are simply not catching dialogue.
  

MagicConan14 wrote:

Blue Lock is not from WSJ. It's from Weekly Shonen Magazine.

If you quoted my full statement you'd know I never said it was from wsj.

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When it comes to WSJ or really broadly shonen manga getting anime adaptations,...

I missed this bolded bit when I read your comment the first time and apologise for that.

"Americans prefer subtitles to dubbing for foreign-language content"

Even the Japanese prefer dubs more than Americans now!

He is best known for dubbing over Brad Pitt (Horiuchi met Pitt at Japan's Premiere of Bullet Train[1][2][3][4][5][6]), Charlie Sheen, Ben Stiller, Ben Affleck, Ian Ziering, Brendan Fraser and John Stamos (especially for Jesse Katsopolis in the ABC sitcom Full House) and many more

He is the current official dub-over artist of Ewan McGregor, Tom Cruise, Adam Sandler, Martin Freeman, Keanu Reeves, Jude Law, Chris O'Donnell, Colin Farrell, Brendan Fraser, Mark Wahlberg and Owen Wilson

Cardcaptor Takato wrote:

Quote: This isn't an issue for most other shows, as the audience that strongly prefers dubs in the U.S. is typically only 10%-20% of total viewership per piracy data and survey responses. However, the MHA dub is particularly beloved by fans and accounts for nearly half of all viewership by our measures. Once someone begins watching a show in one language, they prefer to keep it consistent. I had wondered about this since it seemed like growing up with anime in the 90s and early 2000s dubs was the most popular option of watching anime and it's often been said that dubs are important in promoting shows and if a show fails to catch on in the West fans will blame it on the lack of a dub.

Gen Z and Millennials have changed that - subtitles are no longer a barrier preventing a show from catching on. They even watch English language shows with English subtitles on!

"Why young people can't get enough of subtitles"


Even the Japanese prefer dubs more than Americans now!

"Americans prefer subtitles to dubbing for foreign-language content"

I feel like Japan preferring dubs makes sense given how robust the voice acting industry is over there compared to the voice actor industry in America. In japan its practically its own subsection of celebrity meanwhile every major animated film in america usually casts the latest hot hollywood actor like how Chris Pratt was in every other animated film for a while. Outside of seiyuu regularly making appearances and participating in promotion for anime they voice in, there are official jp voice actors who act as the official dub voices of major hollywood stars for all films they're in.

Teaching kids to learn to read subtitles is fine. However, so is teaching them to watch Eng. dubs. Kids can benefit from both forms.

In spite of people complaining about Disney dubs of Ghibli using celebrity actors, Ghibli also uses mainly Japanese celebrity actors in their films

Considering that it was so unpopular with ANN readers that it didn't even make the summer ranking lists (likely due to a first episode that was admittedly off-putting if you're unfamiliar with the manga), I was surprised not to see My Wife Has No Emotion in the bottom quartile unless it was just so unpopular that getting accurate viewer data was impossible.

I know I'm in the small minority here who watched the whole series but I was already a big fan of the manga, which I find both charming as a comfy slice-of-life manga and thought-provoking as a near-future sci-fi title about emerging sentience in artificial intelligence. Maybe it's a manga that just resonates more with older readers like myself due to the main human character being a salaryman instead of a high school student.

KrisPNatz wrote:

Mikan-box Glasses-kun wrote: One minor technical quibble I have is just that the image quality on those graphs is so low I have trouble reading most of the titles (both on desktop and mobile), and some are entirely impossible to read. seconding this, even for the zoomed in version some things are hard to make out

Personally, I had to open the image in a separate tag and then zoom in with Chrome's zoom function a few times to be able to almost read a couple of those titles.

Also I would like to add that English subtitles seem to have a educational and literate benefit for young kids when it comes to enhance and increase their reading skills even in the US. There's already enough studies to say that "yes, subtitles and closed captioning can help kids with their reading skills and levels".