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 building a giant robot, plastering fake boobs in an alleyway to sell a game, or giving Pokemon Platinum an entirely different meaning, 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.

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

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.

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

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:

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

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.