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Answerman - Why Isn't More Anime Made For Americans?

Depends on what facet of Japan you mean. If you mean Japanese government, there are plenty. If you mean Japanese food, there are plenty too. The thing is that, from what I can gather, most western anime fans skew pretty young and probably aren't as well-informed of Japan as a country besides its otaku output as your grandfather is with the United States.

ParaChomp wrote:

Most importantly, Japan just doesn't get us. At all. There are things American culture should learn from Japanese culture and things Japanese culture should learn from American culture but neither of us are eager or willing to do so.

Mostly this. Maybe if the general mainstream of both audiences are more open of anything outside their comfort zones, anime and any other avante-garde media can strike gold.

And no. Anime does NOT need to be "Westernized." There are aspects of anime the West can't and are unwilling to embrace as a whole. The concept of "moe" for example is something Japan for the most part perfected. Only MLP comes to mind that even comes close without the ape effect faux anime cartoons have suffered. Certain archetypes would never flourish as it is noe because Westerners would see it as sexist or emasculating.The West's (America) clashing views of sexuality and its obsession with the politically correct will never appreciate harems, idols or "cute girls doing cute things ." I dare anyone to create a mahou shoujo comic series and it won't even jump off the ground. All this would probably sound like good things to a few peeps, but the majority of anime fans do not want to lose any of these.

Even back in the 60's when anime was mainly children tales' adaptation, it still manages to stand out through it's local style and aesthetic. Losing Japan's animation identity will only bring it more harm than good at the end of this Western white washing. The people who even assume it would get slightly better by becoming HBO dramas with anime art painted all over are living in their own fantasy world.

leafy sea dragon wrote:

whereas long-running comic book series are meant for readers to jump into or out from at any time they'd like.

If only that bold part were completely true. It's why DC rebooted, and probably why Marvel are giving that a shot...so people have a jumping on point.

CandisWhite wrote:

I've heard this before about comics, specifically on Jem forums, and my response is a big "Huh????". 5 minutes of inquiry, and pre-ordering a copy to make sure you get one, and everyone's problems are solved.

Sounds to me like someone has a good comic store. When I was buying from a LCS (stopped due to them moving too far for me to justify the trip), I never saw a previews catalog.

For people new to comics, you'd have to hope that they either know about Previews...or have walked into an LCS with helpful staff. Sadly, I'm unsure which of those two would be the harder to come by...

As for catering to an audience, which is the original topic, I'd like to know what that feels like (in a production with good acting, script/scenario, and budget). As an Australian, not really catered to. And, I must mention, beyond the news, I don't watch anything produced by the Australian TV/movie industry.

The last thing I watched, and enjoyed, was Tomorrow When the War Began...and I don't think that movie will be getting a sequel.

So true about the girl thing. People in Japan see a cute girl doing something cute might say, "Oh that's cute!" but in America, it's "A cute girl doing cute things? How sexist!"

Zoids Fuzors and D.I.C.E. (Bandai) were animes made and aimed at the US audience before they went back to Japan. Can anyone say either of them were really successful? The only successful series I can think of being aimed at an American audience that was made as an anime for American audiences is Transformers (Transformers: Armada, Transformers: Energon, & Transformers: Cyberton).

We already have anime made in the US, or series which closely resemble it, like Avatar and Korra, The Boondocks (as much as some people would like to deny) and even Afro Samurai which is pretty high quality for an anime.

Zumie wrote:

We already have anime made in the US, or series which closely resemble it, like Avatar and Korra, The Boondocks (as much as some people would like to deny) and even Afro Samurai which is pretty high quality for an anime.

Afro Samurai is definitely anime. The series was mostly produced in Japan and was based on a Japanese manga series. Probably the most successful adult "this is made for the west" anime.

And the next thing I hate about American entertainment media is "let's cancel this series and leave it on a cliffhanger forever".

In America, you can watch any danged cartoon you want, and people will respect you for it...

EricJ2 wrote:

In America, you can watch any danged cartoon you want, and people will respect you for it...

Unless those people happen to be also be cartoon fans who'll wonder what drugs your mother was smoking while pregnant with you, that could possibly explain why you would watch and enjoy a show like Teen Titans Go.

The West's (America) clashing views of sexuality and its obsession with the politically correct will never appreciate harems, idols or "cute girls doing cute things ." I dare anyone to create a mahou shoujo comic series and it won't even jump off the ground.