Japan's Viewers Like the Anime?

[ramibas299]

So we know that a lot of people that play the game, or read the manga, don't actually like the anime.
Is it like that in Japan as well?

 

[weedle_mchairybug]

I'm pretty sure the Japanese might hate the current anime just as much, if we are to go by the bad ratings, the horrible box office receipts, heck, even the awful merchandising sale numbers.

 

[Hikamaru]

I'm pretty sure the Japanese might hate the current anime just as much, if we are to go by the bad ratings, the horrible box office receipts, heck, even the awful merchandising sale numbers.

Maybe the Japanese viewerbase are really falling out of the Pokemon anime... but I think the extremely low figures would likely be due to Pokemon being threatened for competition by Yo-Kai Watch, which has a way more Japanese feel to it from what I've seen of it and I figure that's why it's fast becoming a popular series given we've had like three Yo-Kai Watch games already released in Japan while so far only the first one had got an international release.

 

[weedle_mchairybug]

Maybe the Japanese viewerbase are really falling out of the Pokemon anime... but I think the extremely low figures would likely be due to Pokemon being threatened for competition by Yo-Kai Watch, which has a way more Japanese feel to it from what I've seen of it and I figure that's why it's fast becoming a popular series given we've had like three Yo-Kai Watch games already released in Japan while so far only the first one had got an international release.

Maybe, but I really wouldn't be so sure about that. Remember, the ratings for Pokémon XY and the merchandising were pretty bad even before Yokai Watch entered the picture (I know there were plenty of topics on the terrible ratings for Pokémon XY well before there was any talk about Yokai Watch. In fact, I'm doubtful we were even AWARE of a game series called Yokai Watch being made, and IrregularHunterZ had harped on about how XY's merchandising sales are terrible. Which reminds me, what happened to him anyways.), and the Diancie movie, although it did decently compared to the Hoopa movie (then again, even Pokémon Heroes did far better than Hoopa's movie regarding the box office), was really unimpressive at the box office. Dogasu even implied when discussing the writers changing hands with Hoopa (Sonoda got replaced by some other writer for the film screenwriting, which is the first time he didn't do a full screencap since... what? The Entei Movie way back in the original series?) that the reason for the change had to do with Diancie's unimpressive box office numbers ESPECIALLY for a debut movie of a new Pokémon anime series.

 

[Sheep]

The Pokémon anime has a pretty high level of popularity in Japan, actually. Although it hasn't been at its best since Yokai Watch entered the picture and ratings have fallen, on average it still does consistently stay in the 3.0 - 4.0 viewer mark depending on multiple other factors (holidays and exams decreasing views, etc). It used to hover around the bottom of the top 10 during the days of DP but has fallen considerably over the years and hardly makes the top 10 anymore. BW was one of its worst points, and while XY has picked up a bit it still isn't doing much better. TV anime views seem to be on the down as a whole though.

Keep in mind that despite these numbers it is still hugely popular and watched by a lot of young children in Japan. Being in the top 15 consistently is still a pretty decent cushion. I wouldn't even say it comes close to being as 'unpopular' as it is in other areas.

 

[weedle_mchairybug]

The Pokémon anime has a pretty high level of popularity in Japan, actually. Although it hasn't been at its best since Yokai Watch entered the picture and ratings have fallen, on average it still does consistently stay in the 3.0 - 4.0 viewer mark depending on multiple other factors (holidays and exams decreasing views, etc). It used to hover around the bottom of the top 10 during the days of DP but has fallen considerably over the years and hardly makes the top 10 anymore. BW was one of its worst points, and while XY has picked up a bit it still isn't doing much better. TV anime views seem to be on the down as a whole though.

Keep in mind that despite these numbers it is still hugely popular and watched by a lot of young children in Japan. Being in the top 15 consistently is still a pretty decent cushion. I wouldn't even say it comes close to being as 'unpopular' as it is in other areas.

If it were truly all that popular, it would be getting a LOT better ratings than 3s, 4s, maybe 5s if we're lucky (not to mention it would be firmly within the top 10, heck, forget top 10, it would need to be in the top 5, if not the number 1 ranking show). They'd need to be getting 15s, 12s, 10s, 9s, heck, even 7s would have been decent. And bear in mind, even BEFORE Yokai Watch entered the picture, its ratings were very much horrible, only getting 5s at most. I'd know because Pokecommunity often had topics specifically dedicated to the issue, and I know said topics were created well before we became even remotely knowledgable of Yokai Watch, like about the first half of 2015, maybe 2014 at the earliest.

And don't get me started on how poorly the Movies have been doing as of late (Diancie had gotten poor box office receipts ESPECIALLY for a debut movie of a new generation, and was the primary reason why Sonoda ended up replaced as movie screenwriter if Dogasu is to be believed, and the Hoopa movie... let's put it this way, if it managed to dethrone Pokémon Heroes as being the worst performing movie in Pokémon history, you don't even NEED to say it did horribly to know it did).

True popularity can only be measured with high ratings. That's how executives look at things. If a show is getting bad ratings it gets axed. That's ultimately how Love Hina, Heroes and the like got axed. And you can't even blame internet streaming services such as Hulu or Netflix because those things were utter bombs in Japan, so they don't even use that.

 

[Little hero]

The ratings of Pokémon

Here are the ratings of Pokémon XY&Z:

The first episode of XY&Z series is XY093

XY093 outside the top 10


XY094 outside the top 10


XY095 outside the top 10


XY096 4.2


XY097 4.4


XY098 3.7


XY099 4.2


XY100 outside the top 10


XY101 3.0


XY102 3.5


XY103 outside the top 10


XY104 outside the top 10


XY105 3.9


XY106 outside the top 10


XY107 outside the top 10


XY108 outside the top 10


XY109 outside the top 10


XY110 4.4


XY111 4.0


XY112 4.0


My calculations:
The range of the episodes inside the top ten is from 3.0 to 4.4. About 52.6% of the above 19 episodes are outside the top ten.

Source: anime news network

About the history of ratings:


Top for each Saga:
- Kanto: The Flame Pokemon-a-thon (the highest rated episode)
- Islands: Pokeball Peril
- Johto: (tie) For Crying Out Loud / Charizard's Burning Ambition
- Hoenn: Get The Show On The Road!!
- Kanto 2: Battling the Enemy Within
- Sinnoh: Following a Maiden Voyage!


- The only Kanto episode below 10.0 was Fire and Ice; a Pokemon League episode.


- Only one below a 10.0 in the Orange Islands: Pokemon Double Trouble. That was the last Gym Battle


About the highest rating in the history of Pokémon:
Kanto: The Flame Pokemon-a-thon (the highest rated episode)


About the lowest rating in the history of Pokémon:
Unova: Evolution by Fire! is currently the lowest rated episode in Japan. By a large margin.


The source is this serebii thread:
http://www.serebiiforums.com/showthread.php?604871-Pokemon-Ratings&

The source of the above thread deleted the ratings of the episodes few months ago:
Source: http://wiki.xn--rckteqa2e.com/wiki/アニメのサブタイトル一覧



About the movies:


The first Pokémon movie is the highest one in Japan and worldwide.
Source: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/franchises/chart/?id=pokemon.htm


The hoopa movie:
"The movie performed poorly at the box office, grossing only ¥24,040,078,200. It is the lowest-grossing movie of all Pokémon movies, performing worse than the previous lowest-grossing film, Pokémon Heroes: Latios & Latias".
Source: http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/M18

 

[Famon]

The Rating dropping because the Anime wasting time on Serena , Clemont and Boring ass filler.
Currently , It does even feel like a Battle anime anymore ! Not to mention , The Comedy sucks.
Honestly , The series should completely focus on Z-ark now.
Plus , The Anime should making filler if they doesn't know how to create Better "Slice of life" ! Even Digimon has better "Slice of Life" then Pokemon because its focus on Real people with real problem.

 

[Hikamaru]

Nice figures there Little Hero, but it is very terrible when you hear the episode where Ash's Tepig evolved into Pignite ended up being not just the lowest-rated episode for the Unova saga, but the entire series overall.

As Janna (Sheep) mentioned in her post, Pokemon is still a popular franchise with kids, and the games sell millions of copies. The anime's ratings figures these days may be nothing compared to what we had from OS, AG and DP but Pokemon is still in the Top 15 most watched anime shows in Japan and still shows consistent viewing figures.

While her post seems to point that the BW series' horrible pacing and non-existent character development (among other factors) was likely the reason the ratings went into decline, and seem to still be in decline as of XY, especially with both XY movies so far being box office flops (Hoopa & The Clash Of Ages overtaking Pokemon Heroes as the worst-performing Pokemon movie doesn't help either) makes me hope to believe the upcoming movie starring Volcanion & Magearna (the latter of whom seems to be a new Pokemon from the upcoming 7th Gen games Sun & Moon) will be able to redeem the XY series.

Also, like what Janna said sometimes kids may be doing other stuff like going on holidays or doing exams. Definitely wouldn't consider the Pokemon anime unpopular given how well Pokemon games sell.

 

[Pinkie-Dawn]

Also, like what Janna said sometimes kids may be doing other stuff like going on holidays or doing exams. Definitely wouldn't consider the Pokemon anime unpopular given how well Pokemon games sell.

I also heard it has something to due with Japan's declining population, as there's less children being produced since young adults are too busy spending time taking care of their aging relatives rather than going outside to hang around with friends or start a relationship. Kids are the primary target for the Pokémon anime, so less kids = decline in viewership ratings. Pretty soon, it'll only leave adult fans of the anime who do nothing but complain about its quality, as displayed by several users in this section, and the anime producers will struggle trying to meet those adult fans' expectations, even if it means destroying the anime's original purpose.

 

[Hikamaru]

I also heard it has something to due with Japan's declining population, as there's less children being produced since young adults are too busy spending time taking care of their aging relatives rather than going outside to hang around with friends or start a relationship. Kids are the primary target for the Pokémon anime, so less kids = decline in viewership ratings. Pretty soon, it'll only leave adult fans of the anime who do nothing but complain about its quality, as displayed by several users in this section, and the anime producers will struggle trying to meet those adult fans' expectations, even if it means destroying the anime's original purpose.

Ageing population being a factor seems reasonable. With less children in Japan, it appears Pokemon is struggling with getting to its target audience. If the writers can pick up on this issue, maybe it'll result in writing direction that might be able to get more viewers. With a series like Pokemon, it's often hard to draw in a mature audience without straying from the original purpose.

 

[weedle_mchairybug]

I also heard it has something to due with Japan's declining population, as there's less children being produced since young adults are too busy spending time taking care of their aging relatives rather than going outside to hang around with friends or start a relationship. Kids are the primary target for the Pokémon anime, so less kids = decline in viewership ratings. Pretty soon, it'll only leave adult fans of the anime who do nothing but complain about its quality, as displayed by several users in this section, and the anime producers will struggle trying to meet those adult fans' expectations, even if it means destroying the anime's original purpose.

I'm pretty doubtful about that. If that were the case, the ratings would actually be much HIGHER, not LOWER, since they also take into account percentages and fractions.

Okay, so it's not too down in the dumps, but it still would need a LOT higher ratings than it currently has (not to mention a much higher ranking than top 15) to really be considered doing decent. Did the guys at NBC care if Heroes was on the top 15? No, they cancelled it in Volume 4, and it took years before they decided to reboot the series.

Also, sales of the games doesn't mean the anime's doing well. Need I remind you that the various DiC shows largely acted as advertising vehicles to Mega Man, Mario, Zelda, and Sonic, yet once those got cancelled, it didn't do a thing to halt sales for those games in America? If they didn't stop there, the anime won't have much impact on the games even in Japan.

 

[weedle_mchairybug]

Hey, Little Hero? Can you give links to the ratings numbers for the Tepig episode? I need them for Bulbapedia.

 

[RegalSin]

IDk I think they should redo the G/S games and make them trade with the original Gen. Then reboot the failed G/S animation.

Digital Devil saga pretty much have a strong hold over people and the Persona games have gained a following..

Nintendo keeps losing fans because each new game cuts off the original players from the last generation. It is like they want us to hate the new series.

 

[Pinkie-Dawn]

IDk I think they should redo the G/S games and make them trade with the original Gen. Then reboot the failed G/S animation.

Why specifically G/S? Are you saying that the later gens were fine?

Nintendo keeps losing fans because each new game cuts off the original players from the last generation. It is like they want us to hate the new series.

Oh, that's why. Nintendo's not involved with the anime, it's TPCi that's in charge of it. And you do realize that new fans are just as important as old fans correct?

 

[RegalSin]

I would love to see a tv series featuring the Rocket executives ( Jessie and James ) along with Sliver at least. Not just more Ash and his new girlfriend

 

[weedle_mchairybug]

Oh, that's why. Nintendo's not involved with the anime, it's TPCi that's in charge of it. And you do realize that new fans are just as important as old fans correct?

They are, but in the case of the Anime at least, not only are they losing old fans, they aren't even replacing their numbers via new fans, there being even less new fans than before. In a few years time best case scenario, Pokémon the anime will die out, assuming it doesn't die out in a few months.

 

[Pinkie-Dawn]

They are, but in the case of the Anime at least, not only are they losing old fans, they aren't even replacing their numbers via new fans, there being even less new fans than before. In a few years time best case scenario, Pokémon the anime will die out, assuming it doesn't die out in a few months.

Haven't you always predict the downfall of the Pokémon anime since Gen 4 or something? I would not be surprised if you keep making these same claims once the Sun and Moon anime is announced.

 

[weedle_mchairybug]

Haven't you always predict the downfall of the Pokémon anime since Gen 4 or something? I would not be surprised if you keep making these same claims once the Sun and Moon anime is announced.

I showed the ratings to my aunt and uncle (who would know a thing or two about ratings since my uncle teaches advertising at UNC and my aunt actually works in the industry), and they actually did think it's more likely that the show will get cancelled, and that's just for DP. DP's practically a smash hit compared to now. And yes, when a show is in the 3s, not to mention has bad merchandising sales (IrregularHunterZ verified that was the case) and bad box office receipts (really, even Pokémon Heroes got better box office receipts compared to the Hoopa movie), logically that means it's on death's door in as blatant of a manner as possible.

 

[Pinkie-Dawn]

I showed the ratings to my aunt and uncle (who would know a thing or two about ratings since my uncle teaches advertising at UNC and my aunt actually works in the industry), and they actually did think it's more likely that the show will get cancelled, and that's just for DP. DP's practically a smash hit compared to now. And yes, when a show is in the 3s, not to mention has bad merchandising sales (IrregularHunterZ verified that was the case) and bad box office receipts (really, even Pokémon Heroes got better box office receipts compared to the Hoopa movie), logically that means it's on death's door in as blatant of a manner as possible.

I don't think basing your information on relatives is such a good source due to the possibility of confirmation bias and lack of understanding on the program in question. People have been predicting the cancellation of the anime since Gen 3, and that has proven to be wrong time and time again. Right now it's only facing serious competition with Yokai-Watch, and once that fad eventually fades, or if the Yokai-Watch anime ends, Pokémon will go back to healthy ratings again. It survived against Digimon, which is still ongoing, and it'll still survive against Yokai-Watch.