Ask John: Could Differences in Japanese & American Tastes Reduce Anime Reaching America?

Question:
How much demand do you think there is for moe, harem, dating sim, and other more otaku focused anime in North America? These genres seem to be becoming more and more popular in Japan. Do you think there is a substantial portion of North American anime fans who enjoy these types of anime, or does this group remain a niche market within the already niche general anime market? If so, do you think the increase in these types of anime in Japan and increasing lack of less otaku oriented anime could mean trouble for anime in North America?

Answer:
While I don’t think that America is ever likely to face a future in which there’s an inadequate amount of anime that suits the tastes of American viewers, this is still a very insightful question with an answer that could probably be massaged into a lengthy dissertation. I don’t have access to the data necessary to compose a thoroughly researched response, nor do honestly have the inclination to write a book on this subject. So I’ll do my best to provide an efficient, brief response.

Like most people, I don’t have access to Nielsen VideoScan sales figures, so I can’t estimate the exact popularity of certain types of anime in America. Furthermore, VideoScan sales figures only reveal certain segments of American viewership. I’m not aware of any existing research that follows the popularity of particular anime genres in America, including both consumer sales, and influential fan interest. Personal observation and speculation, in conjunction with widely known facts, paints a picture of “moe” and “otaku” anime being more popular and viable in America now than it was just a few years ago, but still not the dominant variety of anime in America. Mainstream action and adventure anime like Naruto, Bleach, Dragon Ball Z, and Afro Samurai, along with Studio Ghibli films account for America’s consistently best selling and most popular anime. Shows like Fate/stay night, Air, and Shakugan no Shana are popular primarily within America’s core anime fan community, but don’t have remotely the mainstream appeal of titles like Naruto. However, I do perceive a slowly growing tolerance, and even appreciation for “moe” anime among American fans. While there are certainly other factors that contribute to the failure of Tenshi ni Narumon in America, a few years ago that cute show was such a commercial failure in America that its release was canceled after less than half of its planned release. Since then, shows including Tsukuyoki ~Moon Phase~, Bottle Fairy, Kamichu, Strawberry Marshmallow, and Kirameki Project have been fully released in America, and series including Di-Gi-Charat Nyo!, Kanon, Lucky Star, Negima!? and Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha have been deemed viable American acquisitions. While I don’t expect to ever see extremely “moe” anime series like Petopeto-san and Manabi Straight officially released in America, I do think that American fans are becoming more receptive to cute anime. While “harem” anime has been successful in America since the early 1990s, the domestic acquisition and release of titles like ToHeart, Rumbling Hearts, Air, and Kanon signify a growing American interest in love simulation anime.

In order to continue my explanation, it’s first necessary for me to explain the evolution and context of the “moe” phenomena. The culture of “moe,” and it must be called a culture because it exists as a combination of philosophy and physicality – referring to “moe” as a craze or fad mistakenly overlooks the phenomena’s long gestation – is a culmination of decades of simmering anime fandom. “Moe,” meaning an adoration or affectionate enthrallment with something, is a manifestation of obsession with pop culture artifacts. The personification of computer operating systems and Kentucky Fried Chicken biscuits, the explosive popularity of Hatsune Miku – a disembodied digital voice given a human personification – and the engrossing obsession with anime characters and characteristics are all “moe” and are all symptomatic of anime fans concentrating their amorphous love of anime onto singular objects. “Moe” is literally love of a particular type of visual and emotional stimulation condensed and concentrated into a physical form. Moe culture has been gradually evolving in Japan since the late 1970s when anime fandom itself first developed an identity as a social subculture. It’s taken Japan’s otaku community 30 years to become influential and powerful enough to solidify its collective spirit into a singular concept known as “moe.” The moe culture revolves around cute or emotionally fulfilling objects because it’s natural for the summation of affection for anime to focus on singular adorable things. Morose, morbid, dark, or philosophically complex objects, situations, characters or shows don’t feel like an appropriate representation satisfying, joyous obsession.

Although “moe” typically revolves around adorable things, and may be a natural evolution of the spirit of the anime fan community, I don’t think that Japan’s anime industry has developed and evolved for nearly 50 years just to reach its current status. I don’t believe that Japan’s anime industry has reached the plateau that it was always aiming for, and will now remain unchanging. I can’t predict how anime will continue to evolve, but I do firmly believe that it will continue to evolve. Lucky Star and Kanon may be enjoyable shows, but I don’t think that they are the ultimate, ideal product that the anime industry has spent decades striving toward. On the contrary, I don’t think that anime has a final, perfected form. All types of art have movements and stylistic periods. I believe that anime is no exception. The concept of “moe” as a crystallized, concentrated type of enthrallment may be a new and permanent addition to anime culture, but I think that “moe anime” and today’s prominent genres and styles of anime will eventually give way to new trends and new artistic styles.

Furthermore, if moe culture is a natural development of a communal interest in anime, it should be no surprise that America’s anime fan community is slowly becoming more interested in moe anime. I think that as anime fans mature and gain experience, they naturally become more interested in a larger variety of anime, and the adolescent obsession with angst, violence, rebellion, and death become tempered with an equal or greater interest in engaging, uplifting, and childlike anime.

The possibility of Japan creating more “moe” and “otaku” anime that doesn’t appeal to American viewers, resulting in Americans running out of anime to watch is a perceptive anxiety, but I don’t think it’s one to worry over. Japan’s anime industry will always create a variety of anime big enough to give everyone something to watch. Furthermore, I don’t think that Japan’s anime industry will continue to create contemporary style anime indefinitely. At the same time, I think that American viewers are very slowly developing tastes that resemble those of Japanese viewers. Favored artistic and anime genres and styles in Japan and America will never be identical as interests are influenced too heavily by local customs and circumstances. But I do think that some degree of interest in anime is influenced by experience and the natural evolution of anime fan communities. So it may be natural for the tastes of America’s anime fan community to evolve similarly to Japan’s fan community, just several years behind Japan’s fan community. So if Japan’s anime industry develops new anime styles and eventually moves beyond the present emphasis on cute and “moe” anime, and American viewers progressively, naturally expand their interest in anime, circumstances will naturally avoid a time when Japan overwhelmingly creates anime which Americans won’t watch.