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Last night I quickly put together a list of the anime franchises I consider the most important and relevant in North America right now. I struggled a bit to include DBZ on my top 5, but it is still a very important title for Funimation, and it apparently continues to remain a strong seller for them. Rounding the top 10 are three new comers, Madoka Magica, Attack on Titan and SAO.

Vote in the poll for the anime franchise you think is the number 1, most important, relevant in North America right now in 2014. For simplicity I only wrote in the poll the general names of the franchises (e.g. Fullmetal Alchemist, Evangelion), but I am including reboots, movies, specials and all other anime associated with them.

I do not know why you posted two very similar but slightly different polls, but I voted in both of them.
It looks to me like there are only 20 shows in each list. Are you not able to make a poll with more than 20 choices?

EDIT: And it was too late for me to ignore the other one.

Touma wrote:

I do not know why you posted two very similar but slightly different polls, but I voted in both of them.
It looks to me like there are only 20 shows in each list. Are you not able to make a poll with more than 20 choices?

EDIT: And it was too late for me to ignore the other one.

Sorry. I created two polls by mistake, but this one is the real one. And yes, I could only add 20 choices.

Although I voted for Attack on Titan, my #1 pick would have been Pokemon, simply for the fact that no other anime series has made it into the mainstream quite so successfully.

st_owly wrote:

Although I voted for Attack on Titan, my #1 pick would have been Pokemon, simply for the fact that no other anime series has made it into the mainstream quite so successfully.

I totally forgot about Pokemon. I have no idea how relevant/important it is right now, but it should have been in the poll.

Interesting choices.

I think this would more properly be listed as top anime series. I think the word franchise would imply more than one version of a series with at a minimum a difference in continuity, director, studio etc. For instance I would consider Dragon Ball in all its variations a franchise, Dragon Ball Z is a series, albeit a long one with multiple releases.

Ghost in the Shell or the Fate series are franchises. Monogatari though it has multiple seasons is a single story with a single studio, director and writer.

Of course, if you want to consider other aspects such as manga, merchandise etc. I suppose all anime are also a franchise.

Alan45 wrote:

Of course, if you want to consider other aspects such as manga, merchandise etc. I suppose all anime are also a franchise.

Some more than others though, Alan. As far as franchises go, Nodame Cantabile is a strong contender. It began as an manga with two sequels. The original was adapted as a live-action television series and an anime series. The sequels spawned two more anime series, and two live-action movies. Along with the soundtrack album, there are a variety of other classical compilation CDs by the "Nodame Cantabile orchestra." As for merchandise, I know you can buy Nodame's piano bag and a stuffed mongoose. I've not seen the pocket watch.

Of course not all of that merchandise makes it to this side of the pond. Items like figures often do but not in the variety seen in Japan. A lot of other stuff only shows in a couple of online stores if at all. In some ways we don't get as much as we used to. Posters and trading cards for instance have almost disappeared.

Alan45 wrote:

I think this would more properly be listed as top anime series. I think the word franchise would imply more than one version of a series with at a minimum a difference in continuity, director, studio etc. For instance I would consider Dragon Ball in all its variations a franchise, Dragon Ball Z is a series, albeit a long one with multiple releases

With the exceptions of Attack on Titan, Gurren Lagann and Toradora! (I do not count compilation films and OVA's), the rest of the choices have produced at least two separate anime productions under those names. Therefore, I consider them anime franchises.

Also, the reason why I want to focus on franchises, rather than specific individual series, is because I am interested in the brand power that those names have in North America. And I was tempted to go with Dragon Ball rather than specifically DBZ, but to me the wealth of content from Z makes it its own franchise.

yuna49 wrote:

As far as franchises go, Nodame Cantabile is a strong contender.

I did not consider that franchise in this poll because I want properties that have resonated with a significant portion of the N.A. fandom. And unless I am seriously underestimating Nodame Cantabile, it is not big over here.

That being said, I would nominate the Fate franchise as a contender. In addition to the original TV series we have a prequel TV series, a movie and a spinoff magical girl series. In addition there is already more in the pipeline with an additional TV series and movie to come and two additional seasons of the magical girl series.

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