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Forum - View topicAnswerman - Why Do Sports Anime Bomb In North America?
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LagannImpact
 Posts: 574 |
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Viz seems to be taking a chance on Megalobox, and knowing them it will probably be making its way to Toonami soon-ish. But that's more "altered sports/action" than true sports.
Of course, Toonami has become a confusing platform these days because a lot of shows that are considered "hits" are bombing by standards of 2-3 years ago. But if Megalobox is put back-to-back with Dragon Ball Super and can buck the trend, that will just cement its status as a "hit" among the bevy of bombs that is sports anime. |
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3670 |
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I find that anime about sports I understand are basically unwatchable because of how off they are relative to my understanding. Meanwhile, shows about sports I know nothing about (e.g. Chihayafuru) or that don't exist (e.g. Girls and Panzer) can be way more compelling, because I lack the knowledge to nitpick or compare to reality. |
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Watanabefan
 Posts: 152 |
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The other thing with sports narratives is that they tend to be really formulaic, which I think is part of the reason for the general downturn in popularity. Creed was the first really great sports movie I've seen in quite a long time, and aside from the acting and directing, a lot of that can be attributed to it actually having a compelling story about family legacy that you don't see in a lot of sports flicks.
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Merxamers
 Posts: 720 |
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Megalobox will definitely sell, and it is absolutely a sports series, but yeah, you don't see a ton of sports series licensed for US release. All the more surprising when you see the flood of mediocre shows that DO get licensed for release over here...
On a related note, I've recently discovered that one of my favorite, ultra-niche genres of anime is "girls playing baseball," but unfortunately i think only 2 have ever been made (Princess Nine, and Taisho Baseball Girls). I need more teams of scrappy girl underdogs, dang it! |
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16963 |
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I would agree, but I would point out that Shonen titles tend to be very formulaic as well. Yet they remain popular. I think another part of it is sports are often more fun when you're a part of it, as opposed to simply watching. Plus here in the US at least we have sports on tv all the time already. Between basketball, football, baseball, and the increasing popularity of hockey there is never a period of time without sports on tv. Not to mention a lot of fans turn to anime for the more unrealistic and fictional stories. |
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FireChick
 Subscriber Posts: 2476 Location: United States |
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I've heard that sports anime tend to fail because anime fans, who are typically seen as nerds, and people who play sports don't necessarily get along. You know, the whole nerd vs jock thing. But I know it's different for everyone. That's just what I've heard, at least.
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Beatdigga
 Posts: 4592 Location: New York |
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Combat sports are one thing. Two principles, hand to hand, easy to exaggerate violence, etc. It doesn’t work as well when it’s tennis or golf.
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Shiflan
 Posts: 418 |
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I can't speak for everyone of course, but that's been my experience too. I have friends who are into sports and I have friends who are into anime but there is pretty much zero crossover between the two. None of my anime fan friends were into sports anime. And FWIW the sports fans don't really care about live-action sports movies either. They either want to play sports themselves, or they watch pro sports on TV. Speaking for myself, I enjoy playing some sports but I don't understand the concept of watching other people play, except perhaps if you were using it as a training tool to improve your own performance. Sports-themed anime do not appeal to me in the slightest, though I must admit I can see some crossover appeal if the show had other things I found interesting but just so happened to involve sports. In fact, sports anime is one of the few genres of anime that don't appeal to me. |
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LegitPancake
 Posts: 1311 Location: Texas, USA |
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I definitely would buy Hajime no Ippo if it were ever released here on bluray, but I can understand why today's licencors are hesitant.
I've heard good things about the new Captain Tsubasa, and it really puzzles me why someone couldn't have gotten the simulcast license, since Viz only got dubbing/TV distribution (and probably home video) rights. |
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Lord Geo
Posts: 2665 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
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Seeing some of the responses here really makes me feel like some bizarre weirdo, because I tend to really enjoy sports anime... Because I don't care about sports that much in real life; the only exception would be pro wrestling, but some don't even consider that a "sport". I find watching actual baseball games intensely boring, but I'll have no problem watching an anime about people who play baseball. Similarly, I couldn't care less about something like the Super Bowl or the World Cup in real life, but I've really enjoyed what I saw of Eyeshield 21 or read what I did of Captain Tsubasa years ago. Also, I have no interest in watching an actual boxing match, but Ashita no Joe, Hajime no Ippo, & Ring ni Kakero are three of my all-time favorite anime ever.
This also stretches outside of anime, too, as I've enjoyed or even loved movies like the Rocky franchise, The Replacements, Miracle, D2: The Mighty Ducks, & even Cool Runnings, yet I have no real interest in boxing, football, hockey, or even bobsled racing. Personally, simply watching the real games, or even playing them myself, does nothing for me, but the games themselves can make for some really cool drama & action, and I have way more interest in the story of fictional characters playing these games than I would of the real-life players themselves. But, again, going off of the reactions in this thread already it seems like I'm the outlier when it comes to sports anime. |
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TheAncientOne
 Posts: 1892 Location: USA (mid-south) |
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Per animenewsnetwork.com/news/2018-01-10/viz-media-licenses-new-captain-tsubasa-anime/.126278 :
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BlueOla
Posts: 161 |
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I wish we could stop the subtle misogyny of referring to all female anime fans as "fujoshi". This ESPECIALLY sucks when talking about Haikyuu - a SHOUNEN anime based on a SHOUNEN manga, the "fujoshi appeal" of which begins and ends on the characters being male - they're not ripped athletes like in Kuroko no Basket or Free! they're actually realistic high school boy bodies. It's silly to say that Haikyuu is popular because "girls like hot boys" when that's not even slightly why Haikyuu is as big as it is.
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Shiflan
Posts: 418 |
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Where is that coming from? I always assumed "fujoshi" referred to female fans who enjoy male-on-male homoerotic themes in anime or manga (where the homoeroticism may be overt or perhaps just hinted at, i.e. boy's love or shonen ai). Where is the implication that the term applies to all female fans rather than a specific subgroup of them? And I'm not sure if it matters whether or not the characters are drawn realistically or hyper-athletic and "ripped". After all, different people have different tastes in body types. |
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meiam
Posts: 3447 |
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It's nice to hear Keijo!!!!!!! did well enough, it was obviously made with a lot care and self aware and is a nice example of fan service done right.
As for sport anime, I dunno, I tend to ignore them because I don't really care about most sports but that's just me. The few sports that I tend to like usually don't turn out very good for me, often the sports aspect suffer for the sake of the drama which always lose me. As for fujoshi, isn't Prince of tennis very clearly aimed at them and still failed here? |
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rizuchan
 Posts: 980 Location: Kansas |
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While "nerds don't like sports" is always the most obvious answer, it begs a question that I never see anyone else asking...
If 'nerds' don't like sports, what makes Japanese otaku different? I know that a lot of sports manga is serialized in Jump stuff (therefore, is closer to mainstream) but there are so many sports anime in Japan yet they do so abysmally poor in the west, that it makes me wonder what the difference is. As far as I can tell, the cultural clash between geeks and sports exists in Japan, too. But I wonder if athleticism is still somewhat idealized among otaku instead of downright hated? For example, I always found it interesting that female anime characters that are otaku tend to be athletic, but without trying - like otaku want a girl who can somehow be fit and coordinated without having to forgo precious anime-watching time to practice. Whereas I can't imagine western geeks caring the least bit whether Manic Pixie Dream Girl can hit a ball off a tee. |
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