Ask John: Does a Title’s Merchandising Reflect its Popularity?

Question:
Is the quantity of collectibles and merchandise made for a series based on how popular it is? For example, Japan-made merchandise for Witch Hunter Robin seems to be nearly nonexistant beyond the DVD collections. Does that mean that it was unpopular or something?

Answer:
As a general rule of thumb, the amount of Japanese merchandise produced for a particular anime or manga is a reflection of its Japanese popularity. Although Witch Hunter Robin is a popular and highly respected anime series in America, so popular, in fact, that it was almost adapted into a live action American television series, the show came and went quietly in Japan. To my great disappointment, there are no Japanese artbooks or reference guides for the Witch Hunter Robin anime series. The show also has very little memorabilia, and even very few fan produced doujinshi.

Witch Hunter Robin aired late at night on Japanese television, and it wasn’t based on an earlier manga, so it didn’t have a lot of advance anticipation among fans and potential viewers, so not very many Japanese fans watched it. Wolf’s Rain was another original anime production. While Wolf’s Rain has been very successful and popular in America, it seems to have a very small fan following in Japan. The obscurity of Witch Hunter Robin and Wolf’s Rain in Japan is representative of the differences in the tastes of Japanese and American anime viewers. While American anime fans gravitate toward dark, serious and sophisticated anime, the majority of Japan’s anime viewers prefer cheerful, encouraging, family friendly anime. While there’s very little interest in Japan for titles like Witch Hunter Robin and Wolf’s Rain, programs like Pretty Cure and Keroro Gunso have a staggering amount of merchandise available right now because these brightly colored, lighthearted shows are smash hits among Japanese viewers.