You are welcome to look at the talkback but please consider that this article is over 6 years old before posting.
Forum - View topicAnswerman - Are American Comics Popular In Japan?
|
Goto page 1, 2, 3, 4 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Vaisaga
 Posts: 13239 |
|
|||||
So basically it's the same as how anime/manga is over here in America. Makes sense. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Sahmbahdeh
Posts: 713 |
|
|||||
It doesn't sound like that at all. American comic book movies get wide, regular film releases in Japan, while in the US, anime films are pretty much exclusively the domain of small scale, limited releases. The article is pretty clear that American comic book properties are mainstream, just not the box office topping juggernauts they are here. There is a world of difference between that and the state of anime in America, which is on the periphery of mainstream cultural consciousness. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Theodore Relic
Posts: 65 |
|
|||||
|
I remember some manga in the 80s frequently had references to not only American cartoons and movies but American comics as well. One really good example was a chapter of Takahashi Rumiko's Urusei Yatsura. It was a late chapter, where everyone was at a school festival, and there were various characters dressed up as American heroes.
I recall one of the girls dressed as Supergirl, Shinobu as Wonder Woman, at least one character as Spider-Man...oh, and Lum dressed as Vampirella  I still have all the wideban volumes I bought in the very early 90s so I could look it up later when I am able to.
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
Vaisaga
Posts: 13239 |
|
|||||
That was just for the Hollywood movies. Japan doesn't really make huge budget stuff like that in the first place to bring over. Older Ghibli movies are comparable, though, and those saw wide releases to decent receptions. Everything else like smaller fanbases and creators citing it as influences is exactly the same. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Lord Oink
Posts: 876 |
|
|||||
Manga is more popular in America than American comics are in America |
||||||
|
||||||
R. Kasahara
 Posts: 704 |
|
|||||
|
I remember seeing a dedicated section for superhero graphic novels (translated into Japanese) in Akihabara's Toranoana when I went to Japan, so that stuff certainly exists over there! If I recall correctly, it was a small section, taking up one side of a freestanding, single short bookcase and it featured well-known Batman books, Watchmen, and some others.
Yup. It's more like how manga was in the US twenty years ago, or European comics in the US now (arguably). |
||||||
|
||||||
Shay Guy
 Posts: 2288 |
|
|||||
Two more examples: Dr. Slump had the Superman parody "Suppaman", and Project A-ko had cameo appearances from Superman and Wonder Woman. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Vaisaga
Posts: 13239 |
|
|||||
And you base this on what, exactly? American superheroes have never been more popular since Marvel took over the box office. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
LouieKablouie
Posts: 6 |
|
|||||
I suppose if we consider physical sales of single issues and volumes then neither have ever sold crazy at least recently. Diamond Publishing has the top 10 books of January sales between the ranges of 50,000 and 150,000 issues. I don't have any manga numbers to compare but if anyone finds any that'd be helpful. The most popular manga I've seen are those of the bigger shonen, but we don't get them published simultaneously. Which of course leads to people taking more convenient alternatives. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Calico
Posts: 383 |
|
|||||
Honestly, this seems pretty accurate to me. I've checked out plenty of mangaka's twitters, and a not small portion of them seem to be really enthusiastic about western superheroes, especially the movies. And I know that at least one mangaka (Kamome Shirahama) has done alternate covers for some western comics (though I think that she drew most of her covers before she started her current, most successful work). Anyway, neat! I've been wondering about this for a while. |
||||||
|
||||||
thenix
 Posts: 265 |
|
|||||
I think this is a bad comparison because Japan regularly has major releases of foreign films, whereas America doesn't. About 99% of major release films are American films, or at least English language films. |
||||||
|
||||||
Stuart Smith
 Posts: 1298 |
|
|||||
Correction: American superhero movies have never been more popular. The comic books themselves have been on a steady decline for years now. The average superhero comic sells around 30,000 copies these days. A lot of Marvel comic book artists and writers have second jobs, or live in poverty because of how little they make. Marvel has actually stopped using a number of comic pros and instead resorted to 'alternative talent', such as artists on Tumblr and bloggers or YA writers to cut costs. The success of the movies have had zero impact on comics themselves. I don't know what manga here sells, but it'd be hard to do worse than what comics are doing. -Stuart Smith |
||||||
|
||||||
|
johnnysasaki
Posts: 946 |
|
|||||
|
Nobuhiro Watsuki was also heavily influenced by American comicsbon Rurouni Watsuki.It's strange he wasn't even mentioned in this topic...kinda feels like it was on purpose...
|
||||||
|
||||||
residentgrigo
 Posts: 2577 Location: Germany |
|
|||||
|
That aborted 70s Spider-man manga is one for the ages! Not quite as bad as Sins Past and One more Day but certainly in the top 10 of the worst Spidey stories. So hunt it down right now, the whole thing is scanlated.
I would have also preferred seeing some data on the sales of US comics in Japan in the article itself. I couldn´t fine any either, as Comichron and co only feature domestic data, but official Japanese translations of US comics have been ripped nearly day and date on manga raw sites since the start of the decade. Meaning that getting (legal) digital copies of at least DC and Marvel books is as easy as it get´s in Japan. I wonder if Japanese collectors also support the re-emerged and utterly out of control variant cover gimmicks that basically all publishers pull these days. Or is the market just too different to care about such nonsense. I lastly don´t agree with Jason´s assessment that comic blockbusters are middle of the pack performers in Japanese cinemas. Let´s pick Wonder Woman (No.38) out of a hat. It made $12,200,000 in Japan. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=wonderwoman.htm That´s 3 more millions than it did in Germany and the film was considered a success here. The R15+ Deadpool also walked away with $18,916,494. Quite an achievement for an age restricted film. Last edited by residentgrigo on Wed Feb 14, 2018 4:07 pm; edited 1 time in total |
||||||
|
||||||
Gurren Rodan
 Posts: 266 |
|
|||||
|
It sounds to me like one could compare Marvel's niche in Japan to Godzilla's niche here in the States: generally known to the public, but not particularly mainstream-popular.
|
||||||
|
||||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group