Ask John: Will Avatar be a hit in Japan?

Question:
Would the series “Avatar – The Last Airbender” be a hit in Japan? I heard there are plans to launch this show there in December. Many have compared its action to shows like Naruto, and the concept of “bending” of elements is not unlike the “alchemy” anime fans have seen in Fullmetal Alchemist. And like in anime, it also has many dramatic themes running through it, and the characters are drawn with typically manga/anime features, so will look familiar to Japanese audiences.

Answer:
Nickelodeon Japan has formally announced plans to air the American “Avatar: The Last Airbender” animated series beginning this December under the title “Avatar: Densetsu no Shonen An” (“Avatar: Legendary Boy Aang”). While there’s always a possibility that Avatar will become a break-out hit when it airs on Japanese television, I have a two primary reasons to expect that the show will largely go unnoticed during its Japanese broadcast. First, it’s scheduled to air on a network that has limited Japanese exposure. Second, very few American animated works have ever achieved significant popularity in Japan.

Japanese versions of American specialty networks like The Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon reach a limited audience in Japan. Nickelodeon Japan currently airs American animated series including Spongebob Squarepants, Rugrats, Catdog, and Invader Zim. The Japanese arm of The Cartoon Network airs a mixture of American and Japanese animation including Batman, Ben 10, Teen Titans, Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Tensai Bakabon, Licca-chan, Transformers 2010, Goku no Daibouken, and Meiken Jolie. Yet anime inspired American cartoons such as Ben 10, Teen Titans, and Samurai Jack don’t appear to be especially well know among Japanese audiences, possibly because they’re not broadcast on the major television networks that Japanese viewers typically watch. Avatar will be broadcast on Nickelodeon Japan, meaning that its Japanese audience will be limited. So its potential for break-out success will also be limited.

The Simpsons is reasonably popular in Japan. Japanese television viewers have nominated Tom & Jerry as one of their favorite all-time animated series. I recall that Hanna-Barbera’s Pirates of Dark Water cartoon achieved a small degree of recognition within Japan’s anime fan community in the early 1990s. But typically traditional American animation doesn’t tend to be especially successful or popular in Japan, especially within Japan’s anime fan community. The fact that Avatar may superficially resemble Japanese animation, and may have common narrative or thematic characteristics with Japanese animation doesn’t necessarily mean that it is Japanese animation, and doesn’t necessarily mean that Japanese anime fans will appreciate or enjoy it. Consider, for example, the Pata Pata Hikousen no Bouken anime television series is based on novels by Jules Verne and has a striking visual resemblance to American animation, yet the show failed to catch on among American anime fans. Likewise, Crayon Shin-chan is frequently called Japan’s version of The Simpsons. While “Shin-chan” was fairly well received in America, it certainly hasn’t become a break-out hit. (Similarly, Crayon Shin-chan didn’t achieve tremendous success when it aired on Fox Kids UK in 2002.)

Like many other anime influenced American cartoons broadcast on Japanese television, I suspect that Avatar will sustain itself during its Japanese broadcast. Avatar is unlikely to receive enough exposure in Japan to become especially well known. And even if the show does get broadcast on a major network, there’s no guarantee that Japanese viewers will respond to its American take on Japanese anime characteristics.