Is Girls Band Cry stalling in the West? Can we jump-start it?

Nov 13, 3:35 PM

Offline

Dec 2017

317

Hello,
It seems to me Girls Band Cry (GBC) failed to break through in the USA and rest of the western cultural sphere, despite all of our great expectations.

Originally there was no legal availability, just super enthusiastic fans and fansubs sailing the 7 sees, so few people heard of it or saw it - despite the best efforts of Reddit posse to evangelize for GBC with daily meme uploads and subbing wars. Then came digital rent/buy availability on Amazon, Microsoft, Fandango etc. Those online venues were considered highly unusual and inconvenient for the majority of potential viewers, who enjoy simplicity of streaming. Thus few people heard of or watched GBC even after August 2024.

But now GBC is up on Crunchyroll globally, potentially reaching millions of eyes, yet it has just 1300 viewer ratings in total after a whole week (and I assume anyone who sees GBC either hates it or loves it, so they would leave a rating, be it 1-star or 5-star). I also see just 70-80 comments in the daily GBC rewatch / CR watch threads on Reddit, versus the several hundreds hoped for. It feels like those mere 103 views

Something just doesn't click in real life as well. My theory is there are several factors at play:

The rebellious nature of GBC is not as revolutionary in North America, Europe and the western cultural sphere in general, compared to socially conservative Japan and Asia. (France an exception of course, with their zero-day ADN simulcast but they had always been the revolutionary nation.) Should GBC's storyboard be perceived as relatively uncontroversial, that removes a lot of bite from the series.
GBC's visuals are not as revolutionary in the eye of western audiences (who likely compare it to movie-budget animated productions from Hollywood, rather than the quasi sweatshop anime/manga ecosystem). The exaggerated, even ham-fisted movements and facial gestures of the characters, which remind me of old silent movies, are possibly seen as unfashionable or not trendy - but those are crucial for the series' great comedy to function.
The "unbearable" and "unreasonable" nature of MC Iseri Nina is paradoxically less amenable to western audiences than japanese domestic one. On home turf she can at least be related to as a quasi-ronin, but in the West she's simply seen as not business-like, therefore undeserving of sympathy (or even gets hated). Furthermore, problem kids like Nina are routinely medicated in the West for various psychiatric diagnoses like ADHD - thus viewers can't grasp why there is a maniac on the floor, running amok when a pill a day could keep the gremlin at bay...
Crunchy release was timed unfortunately right around the elections and US people can now look forward to an even bigger and real-life brat from January, so they want to spare themselves the emotional exhaustion caused by GBC's orange red-haired buffoon.
I don't think lack of dubbing or the chosen music genre hurt GBC much. The 5 real-life TogeToge rocker girls are super talented voice actors, despite not being professional seiyuu. Ever since the 1960s, each decade had seen japanese rock musicians occasionally make it to US billboard, so that's not an absolute barrier either.

- Do you agree that we already have reason to worry about GBC's worldwide prospects?
- Can you think of more roadblocks to conquering the West, other than those listed above?
- Did Studio Toei maybe foresaw the potential barriers to western acceptance and that's why they were reluctant to export license GBC in any form for almost half a year?
- If there is a slump or even a crisis, what can we do to kick-start GBC frenzy in the West? Even if people can't stand Nina, nobody's life can be full without Momoka and Subaru!

Tacsk0Nov 15, 12:11 PM

Nov 13, 3:58 PM

WestOnAndrewAve

Offline

Jul 2022

301

Official sub took way too long to come out that's pretty much it. Anyone who was interested already watched it unless they either didn't know how/want to/couldn't watch by unofficial means or didn't care about watching within a reasonable time frame of initial release.

Nov 13, 7:20 PM

Rathifiend99

Offline

Aug 2022

I watched it as it was releasing and loved it. When I get caught up on my current anime, I will rewatch it on CR. It was easily in my top 5 anime this year.

Nov 13, 8:23 PM

wizdom224

Offline

Jul 2021

1630

I feel like you're missing the point. It's probably more like this:

For mainstream audiences, it just looks like another girls in a band CGDCT anime (which doesn't interest them) and it's old enough that it won't be anyone's priority.

For anime fans, they're probably using less than official methods to watch it.

You could also point out that many people nowadays are under the impression that CGI is always bad and just won't give it a try on that basis.

Tacsk0 said:
Crunchy release was timed unfortunately right around the elections and US people can now look forward to an even bigger and real-life brat from January, so they want to spare themselves the emotional exhaustion caused by GBC's orange red-haired buffoon.

^ This is absolutely just mental gymnastics for the sake of hating on the orange man. Completely unnecessary and nonsensical.

Nov 15, 12:07 PM

Tacsk0

Offline

Dec 2017

317

Hello,
It just dawned on me there is one more factor which badly hurts Girls Band Cry's foreign popularity:
The absolutely toxic nature of its western fandom (or more precisely, the self-designated leaders of said fandom). Extremely vain and juvenile admins have taken over both Reddit and Discord locales, banning people left and right and so the content found there becomes ever more imbecile and inbred.
This is an expected development from "similis simili gaudet" and Nina was easily the most toxic substance in the universe, so fans become like her. Still the situation got out of hand and the rabid ones are now literally killing the fandom from the inside!

See All Discussions

» Expelled from Girls Band Cry? Tacsk0 - 2 hours ago	0	by Tacsk0 »» 2 hours ago
Poll: » Girls Band Cry Episode 13 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) KANLen09 - Jun 28	166	by agunZagun »» Nov 20, 2:31 PM
Poll: » Girls Band Cry Episode 9 Discussion ( 1 2 ) IzanaSolos - May 31	57	by Uguu_Tsukimiya »» Nov 20, 10:41 AM
Poll: » Girls Band Cry Episode 6 Discussion IzanaSolos - May 10	43	by Uguu_Tsukimiya »» Nov 19, 8:14 AM
Poll: » Girls Band Cry Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 ) IzanaSolos - Apr 19	72	by Uguu_Tsukimiya »» Nov 18, 10:12 AM

Is Girls Band Cry stalling in the West? Can we jump-start it?

More topics from this board

» Expelled from Girls Band Cry?

Poll: » Girls Band Cry Episode 13 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 )

Poll: » Girls Band Cry Episode 9 Discussion ( 1 2 )

Poll: » Girls Band Cry Episode 6 Discussion

Poll: » Girls Band Cry Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 )

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters