Journal Entry – Week 10

Prompt 2

What is today’s most popular (in term of audience) Japanese animated TV show in the US? What genre does it belong to? What is the general storyline? On what platform is it distributed? Why do you think it resonates with American audiences? Is it as popular in Japan?

One of the most popular Japanese animated TV shows in the US would be Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, it is highly regarded by both fans of the series and anime enjoyers alike because of how the show is able to remain consistent with its pacing, the quality of animation, being faithful to the source material and how it explores its themes in a satisfying manner. The animated show’s genre is a mixture of steampunk, action/adventure, fantasy, drama but is able to capture an adolescent audience or Shonen. The series would be distributed and broadcasted by Adult Swim on its Toonami block from May 2012 through December 2014, it can still be watched in other platforms such as Crunchyroll, FUNimation, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video.

The story of Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood follows the Elric brothers, Edward and Alphonse, who attempt to resurrect their diseased mother which results in the experiment going horribly wrong; with Edward losing his arm and leg while Alphonse became a walking suit of armor as his actual body disintegrated. After years passed, the two went on a quest to find a sorcerers stone, which can potentially restore them back to their original selves again.

I believe that the reason why American audiences seem to resonate with the series has to do with the way they see the growth of the main protagonist and his brother throughout their journey, how they continue to push through even when they’re going through hardship and suffering, as well as how well-written the antagonists and side-characters which can make audiences be more immersed with the world itself. While FMA:B has some popularity in Japan, it isn’t as big as the western audience and it possibly has to do with the creator, Hiromu Arakawa, being heavily influenced by the industrial revolution of Europe, which can possibly be a factor for why western audiences enjoy the series.

One anime that had gained considerable popularity is “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.” “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba” falls under the action, dark fantasy, and adventure genres. The story follows Tanjiro Kamado, a young boy who becomes a demon slayer after his family is slaughtered by demons, and his sister Nezuko is turned into one. The series explores Tanjiro’s journey as he seeks revenge, battles demons, and strives to find a cure for his sister. During my last update, “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba” was available for streaming on platforms like Crunchyroll and Funimation. Streaming services have been a major factor in the global popularity of anime, making it more accessible to audiences outside Japan. The compelling narrative and well-developed characters have resonated with a broad audience. The series is known for its high-quality animation, particularly in its action sequences, which has attracted attention from both anime enthusiasts and casual viewers. Availability on popular streaming platforms such as crunchyroll and netflix has made it easy for a wide audience to access the show. Strong reviews, recommendations, and social media discussions have contributed to the series’ popularity. “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba” was exceptionally popular in Japan, both in terms of TV ratings and merchandise sales. It became a cultural phenomenon and broke several records. The anime’s success in its home country contributed significantly to its international popularity. Keep in mind that the popularity of anime can be fluid, with new releases and trends emerging over time. For the most up-to-date information on the current most popular Japanese animated TV shows in the US, I recommend checking recent sources and streaming platform rankings.

Prompt 1

Product-driven shows became a hallmark of American TV animated productions in the 1980s. Can you think of any contemporary/recent examples of product placement in animated tv shows today? If not on TV, how is product placement used in today’s media?

My example of product placement is actually a combination of the products appearing on TV and the reverse of that. In August of this year, McDonald’s launched a new promotional video associated with the words “as seen in” that featured clips from a vast array of TV shows, movies, and even an anime, that in turn featured McDonald’s directly or even featured comedic knockoff’s of McDonald’s (ex. “MgRonalds” from the anime ‘Hataraku Maou-sama!’, otherwise known in English as “The Devil is a Part-Timer!”). The clips featured were all scenes in which Mcdonald’s was mentioned and/or shown, whether is was the location (exterior or interior of the restaurant), the employees (we can see the Devil from “The Devil is a Part Timer!” saying “What can I get for you today”? — with subtitles of course), or the food itself (some of the clips visibly show actors eating food from McDonald’s). A continuous music track plays over the entirety of the reel — as the whole video could be considered a reel — and it is a catchy and upbeat track at that, designed to entice or excite consumers. McDonald’s actually REVERSE-ENGINEERS clips from popular shows that feature McDonald’s itself (or knockoff McDonald’s for copyright purposes) in order to promote it’s business further by showing people outside media that they are familiar with, are fans of, and enjoy, and showing that these shows themselves directly support and have a relationship with McDonald’s. The marketing technique of “My favorite celebrity or character does this or likes this or has something to say about this, so it makes me like this and want to check this out sometime too!” has existed for ages, and began to blow up specifically in the 1900’s. As it continues today, we can see it expand from not only celebrities to actors, and then to the actual shows that the actors appear in, which therefore even bleeds into things like anime and animated cartoons. This is a spectacular evolution of promotional advertising through collaboration since anime and cartoons do not feature live celebrities or actors which people have tended to worship, but instead, they are useful sources of publicity because they are liked so much as entertainment that the same effect as celebrity advertising is produced through fandom and fan solidarity. Reverse engineering this is an ingenious move by McDonald’s: we can see that some of the clips shown feature BOOTLEG McDonald’s which imply that the source material was created without receiving copyright privileges from McDonald’s, but McDonalds snatches up the clips anyway. McDonalds’s knows what they are doing. Their popularity inspires shows and animations to feature them, or a parody of them, and then McDonald’s collects that creative output and uses it for their own ends, as if collecting the revenue that their own popularity has created as a sort of profit that they can re-use over and over again.

Here is the promotional video that I was talking about, if anyone wishes to see it:

What is today’s most popular (in term of audience) Japanese animated TV show in the US? What genre does it belong to? What is the general storyline? On what platform is it distributed? Why do you think it resonates with American audiences? Is it as popular in Japan?

A Japanese TV show that is popular here in the US is Naruto, with a wide audience and up to 1,970,000 searches monthly is a top favorite for a lot of people. its genre is Adventure Fiction, Comic Fantasy, Martial Arts. Naruto tells the story of a young orphan who, despite being humiliated and treated like trash, follows his ninja path, while overcoming obstacles with his friends and a beast that lives inside of him. Naruto is mainly distributed on Funimation, Crunchyroll, and the first season on Netflix. I feel this resonated with a lot of American audiences as it had an interesting plotline compared to the old and the same genre being repeated over and over again (comedy), this show gave fans a lot to look for. it also resonated with the American audience as the main character overcame his struggles and inspired everyone to never give up on their dreams and no matter how hard that path may be you must persevere. Naruto (protagonist) is now a loved character by thousands of people here in the US, however in Japan, Naruto is not as popular as it used to be, with thousands of anime coming out in a saturated industry people are changing anime and are interested in the most recent trends, for example, a very popular genre in Japan is lolita or “kawaii”, they are animes based on very exaggerated characters and with a somewhat young look, it brings tons of money as it targets men the most, with that being said, naruto has lost popularity in Japan yet it does not mean it has been forgotten as it has a themed park, Naruto, city, Tokushima ken (prefecture), eastern Shikoku, Japan and it also gave popularity to a Japanese dish, Ramen.