Fansub popularity comparison
| Fansub popularity chart | ||
|---|---|---|
| Series | Downloads | |
| 1. | Code Geass R2 3 | 110,861 |
| 2. | Vampire Knight 3 | 91,779 |
| 3. | xxxHOLiC Kei 3 | 64,524 |
| 4. | Soul Eater 3 | 57,602 |
| 5. | Macross Frontier 3 | 48,045 |
| 6. | Kurenai 3 | 38,448 |
| 7. | Itazura na Kiss 3 | 27,772 |
| 8. | Kanokon 3 | 20,030 |
| 9. | Toshokan Sensou 3 | 14,647 |
| 10. | Kaiba 3 | 7,801 |
| Statistics context | ||
| 1 | Naruto Shippuuden 54 | 508,885 |
The impetus for this post was that, lately, I’ve noticed a lot of people talking about Kaiba. Or rather, a lot more people than expected. Just looking through the Anime Nano archives, I’m really pleased to see that, in little more than two months, Kaiba has already well surpassed the total level of attention (in terms of blogging, at least) Yuasa’s previous anime, Kemonozume, collected during a period of two whole years (it aired in 2006). I think that’s great, if just because it (supposedly) suggests that today’s anime fan has slightly better taste now than in 2006. Evolution in action, I guess?
With this in mind and using the hard facts provided by fansub trackers, I did a bit of research into how Kaiba’s popularity compares to some other spring anime; my findings are listed above. I used the third episode of each series because by that point most fans know which series they want to watch. Also, the download numbers come from the first fansub group to release that specific third episode (i.e. they don’t combine the popularity of every fansub ever released for that one specific episode in the series).
Kanokon being above Kaiba bothers me, but then, porn has always been popular amongst anime fans. Still, I wish its popularity was a little bit higher. Also, I’m shocked at how little interest Toshokan Sensou has attracted, given it’s a Production I.G. series and actually quite good. If you’re watching both Kaiba and Toshokan Sensou; good on you and keep spreading the word. I mean, if you’re in a position to recommend anime, just take a moment and think about it; you can bet that 100,00 other otaku are screaming about Code Geass R2, so add your voice to that white noise if you must, but just keep in mind, every recommendation for Kaiba and Toshokan Sensou is that much more important and if we don’t speak up for them, no-one will.
2 comments
The improved reception of Kaiba over its predecessor has a lot to the greater sophistication in storytelling, I think. Kemonozume had its moments, and I love it for many reasons, but its plot/story often felt secondary to the style and aesthetic flare.
Not that that’s a criticism, but it’s easy to appreciate why Kaiba is proving more appealing to a broader range of people. Thematically it’s deeper (without wanking itself blind ala Ergo Proxy), and I guess its art style isn’t so massively confrontational, either. It’s unconventional by way of one of the most familiar artistic styles in the industry.
I can’t disagree with those observations Hige, you’re spot on, though I’d be interested to gauge the reaction to the likes Kemonozume, Monster and Gankutsuou from today’s generation of anime bloggers, if just because compared with how things were two years ago, there definitely seems to be a lot more anime bloggers with better/more refined taste. Or may be we’re just better at listening to each other now? I know I struggle to take the recommendations of other anime fans seriously until I get a good grasp of where they are coming from (in terms of taste etc). The way people have embraced Kaiba is quite heartening.
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