'Love Live! Nijigasaki Gakuen School Idol Doukoukai' Gets OVA in Summer 2023

RobertBobert said:
I wanted to write about popularity and I suddenly realized that the top 100 most popular MAL characters do not include any of the idols or even any waifu or hasubendo bait franchises characters. Why?

AkeZZZ said:


Because the main targets of this kind of show are in Japan. They mainly made them for their domestic market only, and the majority of Japanese don't use MAL. MAL is not everything in the anime industry.
Also, the majority of people in the Love Live fandom that I know also don't use MAL. Yes, they also watched anime too but not watching them as a daily routine like users here in MAL.

RobertBobert said:


But to no one? It's hard for me to believe this. Especially given the obsession people have with franchises like this on twitter or tiktok.

AkeZZZ said:


You can look here for an example.
The Twitter trend in Japan during the announcement 6hours ago. Love Live is always on the top Twitter trend during their concerts, announcements or live broadcasting.


Or at Aqours 6th Live Windy stage where they can filled up Tokyo Dome which is one of the largest domes in Japan.

RobertBobert said:


By proving the popularity of the brand, you further confirm my idea that the absence of LL characters among the most popular looks very strange.

AkeZZZ said:


It's not that strange because like I said before the majority of the Love Live fan clubs did not use MAL. They can filled up 45000+ Tokyo Dome with only Japanese audiences.
And there are also a bunch of Love Live main characters(40 main characters form the entire franchise as of now), so the popularities of them are also spread as well.

RobertBobert said:


So you mean that with such huge popularity, including in the western anime community, this did not affect the largest anime library outside of Japan?

AkeZZZ said:


MAL is can be a good indicator, especially in an international market. However, MAL is not everything in the anime industry. The majority of people in the international Love Live fandom that I know also did not use MAL at all.

Idol franchises are mainly focused on their domestic market. That is also the reason that they looking into the Japanese market more than international fan bases.

RobertBobert said:


I doubt that there are not enough Love Live or Idolmaster fans outside of Japan because of this, for the characters to be able to get even 10-15 thousand fans who will add them to favorites.

Huh, I constantly meet fans who believe that the attention that Bushi or *insert brand name* gives to the western market and global versions of applications means that they really care about western fans and even change games for them. For example, I read how people were not ironically trying to prove that the new D4DJ rival unit or the token yuri couple in the new update were added in response to the popularity of the game and the number of queer audiences in the west, and not because Abyssmare is copying the rival unit in another project Bushi or that yuri has always been popular in waifu games even without the queer fans in the west.

AkeZZZ said:



It's like what I said before many times. MAL is not everything. MAL can be a good indicator but you cannot use it to reference everything. There are a lot of anime watchers who did not use MAL. The majority of people in the international Love Live fandom that I know also did not use MAL at all. Those people are even into Love Live more than me.

They do still care about international markets. However, their main fanbases and incomes are still from the domestic market + some East Asia countries.

RobertBobert said:


Even with such a huge fan base even outside of Japan? And how do you explain why so many people don't use MAL?

Tell that to people who think that any ship tease in these franchises exists because of the lesbian fanbase in the US, not because yuri bait has always been part of the fanservice in these franchises to some extent.

AkeZZZ said:


Well, they could think that MAL is unnecessary for them. They watched anime, but casually watched them and not watched as a daily routine as MAL users.
And, why do they need to use MAL? People mainly use MAL because they want to make a list of their watched anime or discussion about anime. If they did not want to do those things, then they don't have any reason to use this website.

thehornedrat said:
How thick can this user be?
The anime industry does not revolve around MAL ffs.