New Anime Report Compares U.S. Ratings to Japan’s Top Series

The anime industry is ramping up in popularity in both North America and Japan. The medium has seen a major uptick thanks in part to the coronavirus pandemic and the easy accessibility of anime episodes and movies that arrive regularly on streaming services. While the medium has seen major leaps in the West, North American anime fans still have a long way to go before they hit the same levels as Japanese fans. In a new report, a consulting firm has broken down some of the biggest aspects of anime’s popularity and which series see the most popularity in Japan and North America.

The study was performed by White Box Entertainment, a consulting company that works with anime distributor REMOW. In breaking down the estimates of the popularity of the anime industry in North America and Japan, the company notes that they do not have access to streaming numbers from the likes of Crunchyroll and Netflix. Instead, the company monitors “bootleg” and “pirate” websites that do have metrics readily available. In monitoring the viewing numbers, White Box was able to determine that Demon Slayer is so popular, that the Ufotable anime adaptation is able to skew the numbers on its own. 

America Vs Japan: The Anime Industry

The consulting firm did release a worthwhile chart that breaks down which anime series are more popular in North America versus Japan, which you can see below. For example, Wind Breaker and Kaiju No. 8 have been far more accepted in North America than Japan, while on the flip side, series such as Konosuba, The Irregular Magic High School, Laid-Back Camp, and more are preferred in Japan versus the West. In studying these figures, it appears that North America tends to focus on the “bigger”, “higher stakes” anime franchises while Japan will lean far more into “slice of life” and smaller stakes series.

On top of these facts, White Box notes that “character drama” series are finding more success in Japan than in the United States of America. Such series including Bartender: Glass of God, Train To The End of The World, and Whisper Me a Love Song are gaining far more attention in the East than in the West. Ironically enough, the baseball sports anime Oblivion Battery has gained far more popularity in Japan than in North America, despite baseball originating in the West.

Want to stay up to date on the “anime wars” between North America and Japan? Follow along with Team Anime on ComicBook for all the latest on the anime industry.

Via ANN