Famitsu Asks American Otaku What They Like

[John Funk]

Famitsu Asks American Otaku What They Like

Japanese gaming uber-mag Famitsu has polled a group of 800 American otaku about what their favorite things are from the glorious Land of the Rising Sun. The results are not surprising.

You know, we here in the West often like to look over at our friends in Japan, scratch our heads, and go "...what the hell are you guys doing over there?" Whether it's giving Pokemon Platinum an entirely different meaning [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/92322-Japan-Finishes-Life-Size-Gundam], we tend to treat things like "Oh, Japan. You silly little country."

But you know what? Maybe we're not so different. Perhaps for all we look at Japan in confusion, they're doing the same for us in the West. Maybe they're wondering what us Western gamers are up to, downloading their fansubbed episodes of Family Guy and Battlestar Galactica and eagerly awaiting their imported copy of Batman: Arkham Asylum. This might explain Famitsu's poll of 800 American otaku about their favorite Japanese entertainment - games, anime and manga, and their creators.

[blockquote]Favorite Game

1st Final Fantasy VII
2nd Kingdom Hearts
3rd Metal Gear Solid
4th Chrono Trigger
5th Final Fantasy
5th Final Fantasy IX
7th The Legend of Zelda
7th Shadow of the Colossus
7th Persona 4
10th The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time[/blockquote]

Nope, absolutely nothing surprising there. Wait, I take that back - it's surprising to see Final Fantasy 9 over Ocarina of Time, and I have a sneaking suspicion that whoever was in charge of the polling failed to ask those being polled whether they meant the series or just the game, since it's hard to imagine the first Final Fantasy being more beloved than its offspring.

[blockquote]Favorite Game Creator or Company
1st Square Enix
2nd Nintendo
3rd Capcom
4th Atlus
5th Hideo Kojima
6th KONAMI
7th Shigeru Miyamoto
8th Tetsuya Nomura
9th SEGA
10th Goichi Suda[/blockquote]

It's a bit surprising to see Atlus over Kojima, and there's plenty of doubling-up here (Nintendo/Miyamoto, Konami/Kojima, Squeenix/Nomura) but the interesting stand-out here is Goichi Suda - aka Suda51, the man behind Killer7 and No More Heroes.

And now, just for fun:

[blockquote]Favorite Anime
1st Cowboy Bebop
2nd Gurren Lagann
3rd Code Geass
4th FLCL
4th Evangelion
6th Full Metal Alchemist
7th BLEACH
7th NARUTO
9th Rurouni Kenshin
10th ONE PIECE[/blockquote]

Otaku really like giant robots and long, drawn-out shonen anime that should really have ended like 500 episodes ago. Who knew?

The full results (with some slightly embarrassing quotations) can be found at Umaguruma [http://www.umaguruma.com/?p=112].

Permalink

 

[Booze Zombie]

The Japanese One Piece was a masterpiece, actually.
Just saying.

 

[Skizle]

no Gundam? this is blasphemy!

 

[Armored Prayer]

None of these list really surprised me.

 

[Abedeus]

I find it sad that a Persona game is so far (and it's 4th one) and FMA is prefered over Evangelion... Or that Bleach or Naruto are better than Fate/Stay Night, GTO, Death Note and other BETTER animes.

Also, please don't compare people that like Batman to people that like Family Guy. Seriously, I find that offensive.

Unless you mean stereotypes. But then again, stereotypical otaku doesn't even read mangas - WURDZ ARE LAEM. 10-minute fights are leet.

 

[John Funk]

I find it sad that a Persona game is so far (and it's 4th one) and FMA is prefered over Evangelion... Or that Bleach or Naruto are better than Fate/Stay Night, GTO, Death Note and other BETTER animes.

Also, please don't compare people that like Batman to people that like Family Guy. Seriously, I find that offensive.

Unless you mean stereotypes. But then again, stereotypical otaku doesn't even read mangas - WURDZ ARE LAEM. 10-minute fights are leet.

...the joke was to compare stereotypical "otaku" (wanting to import the latest and greatest japanese games and download fansubs of his anime) to a hypothetical Japanese equivalent. Just FYI

 

[Kollega]

It'd be... peculiar if Japanese nerds liked all things Western. There's really not too much else to say about it.

And by the way,BEST-GIANT-ROBOT-SHOW-EVARR is Megas XLR,because it's not just about giant robot - it's about hot-rod giant robot with car for head.

 

[Abedeus]

I find it sad that a Persona game is so far (and it's 4th one) and FMA is prefered over Evangelion... Or that Bleach or Naruto are better than Fate/Stay Night, GTO, Death Note and other BETTER animes.

Also, please don't compare people that like Batman to people that like Family Guy. Seriously, I find that offensive.

Unless you mean stereotypes. But then again, stereotypical otaku doesn't even read mangas - WURDZ ARE LAEM. 10-minute fights are leet.

...the joke was to compare stereotypical "otaku" (wanting to import the latest and greatest japanese games and download fansubs of his anime) to a hypothetical Japanese equivalent. Just FYI

Oh, so it was about stereotypes. Okay then.

*cries himself to sleep after playing Batman while watching Futurama*

Wait, Shadow of the Colossus is a Japanese game?

Damn, I really wated to play that.

Yeah, but hey - it's got a lot of blood and action. And giant bosses.

 

[Eric the Orange]

well I like anime and Japanese games in general, but I'm confused by some of the choices here. For example yeah Cowboy Bebop is great and deserves the #1 spot (it's the only anime that EVERYONE whose seen at least like 5 episodes likes), I wasn't aware that Code Geass was so popular. Didn't seem all that great to me. And I was under the impression that the FF fanboys and girls loved 7 and 8 but treated 9 as a black sheep so to speak. Also I'd think that a true obsessed Japanophile like Otaku would like less syndicated anime so they could be like "you just like the stuff that's on American TV. I watch (insert obscure anime that's not on TV outside Japan)" and be all smug and superior about it.

The whole doubling up thing kinda messes up the list as well. People in gaming and companys should be 2 different category. And series should just be represented by the series (like only FF insted of having FFVII).

 

[Eric the Orange]

...FMA is prefered over Evangelion...

er...

1st Cowboy Bebop
2nd Gurren Lagann
3rd Code Geass
4th FLCL
4th Evangelion
6th Full Metal Alchemist
7th BLEACH
7th NARUTO
9th Rurouni Kenshin
10th ONE PIECE

 

[Abedeus]

...FMA is prefered over Evangelion...

er...

1st Cowboy Bebop
2nd Gurren Lagann
3rd Code Geass
4th FLCL
4th Evangelion
6th Full Metal Alchemist
7th BLEACH
7th NARUTO
9th Rurouni Kenshin
10th ONE PIECE

I know what I meant!!

...I meant that EVANGELION is above FMA. Yeah, my bad. Gotta edit that post to avoid ninja'ing your post.


edit: Oh, wait. We're talking about FMA or FMA:Brotherhood? FMA sucks, Brotherhood is good.

 

[Sixties Spidey]

As always. FFVII. Fucking Fan Zombie Tool chests.

 

[AboveUp]

Wow... That anime list really shows that the biggest anime fans usually don't bother watching the ones that are actually good.

 

[Irridium]

That FLCL show game me a headache. Granted it was probably my fault for not watching the episodes in order, but that show is fucking confusing. All I remember is a kid with something coming out his head. A girl who looked like she was on crack half the time. A hospital that looked like a clothes iron. And a jiant hand coming from the sky to grab said hospital.

Total mindfuck.

no Gundam? this is blasphemy!

This is mandness!

 

[More Fun To Compute]

I think that I actually filled out this survey as an online form. I can't remember exactly what I picked but I think I selected SotC, Suda51 and One Piece.

 

[AboveUp]

That FLCL show game me a headache. Granted it was probably my fault for not watching the episodes in order, but that show is fucking confusing. All I remember is a kid with something coming out his head. A girl who looked like she was on crack half the time. A hospital that looked like a clothes iron. And a jiant hand coming from the sky to grab said hospital.

Actually if you look past that you see a coming of age type show. The main character hates the adults and world around him for being too stupid and childish. The show is mostly about his struggle to accept the things he doesn't like in life and become an adult.
It's all hidden behind the giant robot battles and weird stuff.

Much like Evangelion hiding a deep psychological story behind a nonsensical robot anime.
People find those 2 shows confusing because they're looking for depth in the wrong parts of the story.

 

[Irridium]

Actually if you look past that you see a coming of age type show. The main character hates the adults and world around him for being too stupid and childish. The show is mostly about his struggle to accept the things he doesn't like in life and become an adult.
It's all hidden behind the giant robot battles and weird stuff.

Much like Evangelion hiding a deep psychological story behind a nonsensical robot anime.
People find those 2 shows confusing because they're looking for depth in the wrong parts of the story.

I wasn't looking for depth, I was just trying to make sense of the damn thing.

And I liked Evengelion

 

[AvsJoe]

I'm happy to see Fooly Cooly on the Anime list but I'm kinda disappointed to see that Erufen Rito is missing. Oh well.

As always. FFVII. Fucking Fan Zombie Tool chests.

Hey, that game changed a generation of people. The whole Aeris thing caught people completely off-guard. It wasn't the first playable character death out there, but it was the first for so many people (myself included). Looking back on that game, most people only see emo-Cloud and f-cked up hair, but when it came out it was legendary.

This is mandness!

Do you really want me to say the line? Really?? Fine.
This! Is! Spartaaa!!!
There. You happy?