Category: Ask John

Question: Why is Naruto so popular? At anime conventions there are tons and tons of Naruto cosplayers. Also there seems to be a lot of merchandise. What exactly

Question: To what extent do you think piracy hurts the anime and manga market, as it exists in North America? I am referring to “fans” downloading/burning commercially released

Question: Do you think that some anime creators make some anime for Americans, or maybe they might think it could be popular in America or other parts of

Question: What is Moetan? The new Moetan banner looks really cute on AnimeNation’s website, but I can’t figure out if Moetan is a graphic novel or something else.

Question: In several columns you have mentioned increasing licensing costs as a key factor in the decreased size of the American anime market. Do you see a shift

Question: What are John’s thoughts about independent animators/creators such as Makoto Shinkai, Yamato Works and US’ own Terrence Walker – advocates of indie anime production not bound by

Question: I’ve noticed throughout lots of anime that many characters run without using their arms, such as in Inuyusha, Naruto, and Bleach, for example. Is there a reason

Question: What’s with Viz and One Piece? Won’t they sell more DVDs if they release it unedited with the edited version? It doesn’t really make sense.

Question: Do you think the popularity of anime and manga in North America is in any way correlated to a “failure” of the domestic comic and cartoon market?

Question: What’s the big deal with Gantz? I’m sorry, but I just don’t get it. Everywhere I looked there were reports that Gantz was this highly controversial show

Question: Why can’t licensing companies release all the DVDs or episodes of an anime all at once? Is it because the dubbing of the series is still being

Question: I am not very familar with Japanese television, so therefore forgive my ignorance if I sound stupid. I was just wondering if older, more successful, anime are

Question: Why do people get irked about dubs and hope there isn’t one on a DVD? For me, if I don’t like the dub track I go over

Question: I have a question concerning a Japanese movie, but it’s not anime. The movie is called Train Man. I’ve heard that it was being made into a

Question: Now that we in the west have a third installment of Banner Of The Stars to eventually look forward to, do you suppose that this particular anime