Forum - View topicDo adults in Japan *not* watch anime?
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ifrit89
 Posts: 4 |
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Hi. So, I stumbled upon this particular thread in japan-guide.com, a site where native Japanese speakers are free to help answer questions about Japan. Among the responses to the thread-starter's question of whether or not anime is a "kid thing":
http://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+55389
And in regards to adults watching anime like Elfen Lied:
Granted the responses there are quite miniscule, and it's possible that the responders were exaggerating. But it is a little surprising to think that (non-otaku) adults in Japan wouldn't consider watching intelligent shows like Ghost in the Shell or Neon Genesis Evangelion. I've always thought that anime encompassed the tastes of everybody living in Japan, both old and young. Your thoughts or experiences on this? |
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hissatsu01
 Posts: 963 Location: NYC |
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They weren't exaggerating, and the percentage of Japanese adults that watch anime on a regular basis is extremely low.
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ifrit089
 Posts: 6 |
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Hmm. Then I suppose I wonder how low that percentage is. It's hard to think that the shows I mentioned wouldn't at least be recognized among adults, or that those would be among only a few shows that were seen by people who don't normally watch it on a regular basis. (BTW, admins: I apologize for creating another account here - I had thought that since this thread didn't show up when I posted hours ago, there was something wrong with my first registration. I will post under 'ifrit089' from now on.) |
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TatsuGero23
 Posts: 1277 Location: Sniper Island, USA (It's in your heart!) |
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Hmm... Elfen Lied was probably a bad choice as an example. No offense to the series but definitely a select audience. Probably would have been better off using Evangelion, Full Metal Alchemist or series that recieved live action adaptations like Death Note, Nodame Cantible, or ones linked to popular manga series like Inuyasha, One Piece (not mature obviously but reaches a wider audience), Lupin or Conan.
I was always under the impression that while more diverse, Anime was on a similar level to cartoons in the US but just more engrained and diverse. Where the Japanese are more willing to accept a Anime that is a drama, comedy, romance, or action series where as in the US, cartoons are religated to comedy and adult humor. Even then, only the more exceptional, universal or appealling series reach a wider audience beyond its demographic or general audience; similar to US cartoons. Or similar to how Disney movies are always popular to a general audience in the US, Ghilibi movies are the same in Japan; rarities that reach all ages. Manga on the other hand seems more generally acceptable and less "otaku" to the Japanese I believe. Probably because of how easy and casually the Japanese read their manga; similar to how we treat the average newspaper. At least that the impression I've gotten. skankfish215 Thread here in the forum might be an interesting counter to the thread you visited. Or at least a more mindful/less snarky/more considerate one. He might have a more rounded idea about Japan's general opinion about more adult series and Anime in general. It felt like the people in that other thread already have an opinion about anime and maybe less open to give it a chance. Similar to how most people in the US won't give a cartoon series a chance unless it's a comedy. |
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Hypeathon
Posts: 1176 |
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I don't even live in Japan, nor have I ever lived there and yet I can confirm that this is definitely true. Since that Shankfish215 guy mentioned in that separate thread about how we take anime more seriously than your average Japanese would, it made me wonder what times of the day is anime usually on. So I've looked at several official Japanese websites of anime shows in recently past seasons, including this fall's season translated what I could from them (using Microsoft translator since I know very little Japanese) and with the exception of Bakuman from NHK, Fairy Tail, Naruto Shippuden, Hitman Reborn & Bleach from TV Tokyo, I think Star Driver on MBS, and Dragonball Kai and One Piece on Fuji TV, most shows from this season seem to be on pretty late at night. I think the reason many of us fail to realize how the Japanese would actually view anime on television is because we all watch anime different from how they watch it. As I've mentioned before in the Enough Tsundere Already thread, we watch the latest shows by looking at a seasonal chart in advance and picking what shows to watch and make to most, if not all of them on any streaming site, legal or otherwise. The Japanese I think see it as passive entertainment and if it happens to air on a channel that person usually watches and they happen to be watching on that certain time and it's interesting to them, then they'll watch it. If we were to use Panty & Stocking as an example, us anime fans would either think of it as the most edgy thing out there or utter garbage. To much of the Japanese, since it airs late at night, they probably think of it as the equivalent to how many of us think of Squidbillies on Adult Swim. When I think about it, that certainly explains why the same 11-12 shows are usually on the top 10 in Japan's Animation TV rankings every week. They all probably have good time slots, have been on air for years, kids and teens don't care if they're as sophisticated as Ghost in the Shell or Eden of the East as long as they're fun to watch. Other than a few differences, Japanese animated shows don't seem to be treated much differently from American cartoons in tems of the age demographic that show would target and their timeslots. |
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ifrit089
Posts: 6 |
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Thank you for the responses so far. If only I had seen skankfish215's thread earlier and realized he lives/works in Japan, I would have probably just asked there.
But I'll just reserve this thread for your general input or personal experiences. Hopefully he can pitch in here and become our authority on this topic. 
I think you might have the gist of it, but in my case it goes a lot deeper. Like TatsuGero23, I've always seemed to be under the impression that anime to the Japanese is like how cartoons is for westerners--we have our kids shows and our own late-night cartoons, and they have theirs. But what I'm starting to see is that the Japanese acceptance of their own animation is a lot narrower than what I originally thought, in that not all of the "complex" anime isn't aimed towards everyday adults, but rather to hardcore anime fans who happen to be adults. So yeah... I might be still be wrong, but it'd be nice to have some thoughtful input on this question, rather than the responses that other thread received. |
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Nerv1
 Posts: 601 |
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I know this might be a bit off topic to say, but I know that there are lots of adults in Taiwan who watch anime on a somewhat regular basis. As might already know, a vast majority of other countries in Asia(particularly Taiwan) have a large population who are in fact anime fans. When I went back there a few years ago, almost every major station showed anime in the morning, afternoon and nighttime. I have a cousin who is in his 30s and watched Initial D whenever it was on TV. As for Japanese adults, I think that the numbers somewhat vary, and from Skankfish's posts, he said a lot of people watch anime but it only becomes frowned upon when individuals become too obsessed over it
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BeanBandit
Posts: 303 Location: Canada |
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I think a lot of Westerners get confused regarding views on anime and pop-culture in general in Japan. Having been there twice now I really think anime to them is like what other "geek" culture things like superhero comic book's and sci-fi stuff like Star Trek and Star Wars are to us.
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ArsenicSteel
 Posts: 2370 |
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Some adults in Japan watch anime and some don't. The person that is quoted by the OP seems too defensive about it.
Then again maybe the defensiveness is right since whenever a fan likes something they obtain some kind of new label from the masses0 Last edited by ArsenicSteel on Sat Dec 04, 2010 1:31 am; edited 1 time in total |
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bravetailor
Posts: 817 |
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They generally don't. It's either kids or geeks who watch it.
That doesn't mean that some anime won't sometimes have crossover appeal that attracts some audiences outside of just the typical anime audience--Detective Conan for example has a nice, modest following of adult casual viewers--but in general adults don't watch anime. That doesn't diminish whether or not they are good or bad or mature or immature entertainment though. Most adults in America would rather watch Transformers 2 than Carlos but that doesn't say anything definitive about the quality of the products. |
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ArsenicSteel
Posts: 2370 |
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Anime fandom is really a carnivorous one.
I change my mind and agree with the OP's snips; I don't watch anime either. |
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wanderlustking
 Posts: 449 Location: Bozeman, Montana |
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I get a lot of flack from my friends in Japan for watching as much anime as I do. It's basically seen as a 21 and under sort of thing, and that may even be stretching it.
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EireformContinent
 Posts: 977 Location: Łódź/Poland (The Promised Land) |
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I've asked everyone from my Japanese pen pals and answers were always similar: Ghibi feature films are hits for everyone (like Disney's), but TV series are targeted mostly to teenagers. Some series are popular among people interested in it's threads (eg. LOGH among SF fans) but people who watch everything are really rare.
Long running series like Detective Conan, Doraemon or Sazae San are watched "casually" by everyone-people get used to it as children and as adult watch it still. |
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ifrit089
Posts: 6 |
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Yeah. I think it's kind of a given the Ghibli films have such a wide-appeal over in Japan (if not everywhere else). Though I'm not sure if that means adults don't also have an appreciation for other theatrical movies like Evangelion or 5 Centimeters Per Second. But so far, based on the responses I'm kind of getting the impression that in Japan, anime is primarily a kids/teens/geek thing, and that older adults generally watch anime for nostalgia. |
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catstigereye
Posts: 341 |
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Just a side note: some folks watch the raws that are posted so as to not have to watch the odd time slotted shows. I have seen this in enough threads to think its true.
also anyone notice the large numbers of people who one go to the con's in japan? Also note the large numbers of people who go to the con's here. Then notice the number of people who dress up in japan. Notice the area's for manga and the people who read manga. When all that and the real numbers and taken in then you could say it's popular over there than might be said here or else where. This would be much like Glen becks rally where they had to use other footage to say a lot of people showed up for it! media bs. |
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