Ask John: Is Most Niche Anime Intended for Male Viewers?

Question:
There’s seems to be a common belief held by (I assume) some younger fans that Japanese animation is intended for boys. As ridiculous as that sounds to me, it did get me thinking about the typical target audiences of niche, fan-oriented anime vs. those of mainstream, casual viewer-oriented anime. Given what should be the relatively smaller audience for niche titles, would it be correct to think that those shows target primarily male viewers?

Answer:
Unfortunately, I don’t know of any scientific statistics that chart the viewership demographics of anime targeted at hardcore fans. So in the absence of any research that I can refer to, I’ll have to resort to personal observation. The difference between “niche” anime and mainstream anime really isn’t very difficult to distinguish. Massively successful anime that routinely land among the top most watched TV anime in Japan are obviously mainstream. Virtually everything else is anime targeted at hardcore fans and small audiences. To provide some examples, shows like Pocket Monster, Naruto, Bleach, Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro, Yes! Precure 5, Doraemon, Detective Conan, and Keroro Gunso are “mainstream.” Everything that doesn’t fall into this category of anime is relatively “niche.”

Mainstream anime have a large audience, meaning that they appeal to both male and female viewers. Anime made strictly for the otaku community, however, seems to skew more toward male than female viewers. 2007 anime series like Angelique and Saint Beast prove that there are anime created specifically for female otaku, but these few examples are far outnumbered by the larger number of programs obviously intended for male viewers. I think that anime series like Saint October, Shuffle! Memories, Kamichama Karin, Victorian Romance Emma, and Hayate no Gotoku may have cross-over appeal between both male and female viewers. But I can’t imagine that very many female viewers eagerly watch titles like Tokyo Majin Genpucho, Kissdum Engage Planet, Kotetsushin Jeeg, Skull Man, Ikkitousen Dragon Destiny, or Moonlight Mile.

When considering all anime, and including manga, I suspect that in Japan and America, the gender split between fans is probably close to even. But when considering exclusively anime targeted at small audiences of hardcore fans, there do seem to be many more “niche” anime created for male viewers than titles created for female otaku. I suspect that this uneven percentage might be partially explained by a greater number of male animators working in the anime industry than female animators. But I suspect that the more influential reason for the frequency of “otaku” anime for male viewers is the fact that male consumers are probably more inclined to collect DVDs and anime merchandise than female consumers. I don’t know for certain, but my guess is that niche anime created for male audiences are probably more profitable than anime made for relatively small female audiences.