I often hear Western fans say that Akira was more popular in North America than in Japan. I think the recent Otomo retrospectives and these giant public murals prove otherwise. https://twitter.com/blauereiter/status/1381340633818755073

I often hear variations on this:

"Akira/Akira Kurosawa Movies/Cowboy Bebop/etc" weren't popular in Japan!

It's not that they weren't popular, it's that they're not the face of Japanese media in Japan, where people have an order of magnitude more Japanese stuff to watch.

"Akira is more popular in America"

"Cowboy Bebop wasn't popular in Japan" https://twitter.com/Richmond_Lee/status/1322449913666437120?s=20

"Kurosawa isn't popular in Japan"
https://twitter.com/Richmond_Lee/status/1322450780490616833?s=20

(This is a weird one! But a lot of people believe this!)

What are some other weird claims of "more popular in the West" that you've heard? I think at some point I've seen people try to claim that DBZ is more popular in North America!

I appreciate the enthusiasm that people have for their favorite series. But I'm disturbed by the sense of ownership. The desire to say "this belongs to US now!" I think that's an unhealthy outlook. You can enjoy things from other cultures without such weirdness! It's OK!

"But Richmond my friend lives in Japan and says young people don't know what Akira is!" Yes and your average young person in America hasn't watched Citizen Kane or read any Jack Kirby. Media keeps being created. Your average person tends to favor current things.

I lived in Atlanta 12 years ago. I remember one day a client came in to our office with his 9 year old kid. He was bored so we asked him if he wanted to watch Space Jam. This kid, over a decade ago, didn't know who Michael Jordan or Bugs Bunny was.

Pop culture moves fast!

I'm certain that kid knows who those icons are now though. Michael Jordan is that guy from the crying meme and Bugs Bunny is Big Chungus!

Cowboy Bebop was well received after it aired in Japan. In Animage's 21st Anime Grand Prix, Cowboy Bebop won the following awards:

Most popular anime: 2nd place
Best songs: 2nd, 8th, 18th, 20th place
Most popular Male character: Spike

Source:
https://web.archive.org/web/20101112183628/http://animage.jp/old/gp/gp_1999.html

The following year (2000) Cowboy Bebop remained popular in the annual Animage Grand Prix winning the following:

Most Popular Anime: 2nd place
Best Song: 3rd, 17th place
Most Popular Male character: 1st place, Spike (again!)

source:
https://web.archive.org/web/20101111172721/http://animage.jp/old/gp/gp_2000.html

Now of course Animage is targeted at hardcore Otaku. According to Animage polls, Cowboy Bebop was ranked higher than One Piece, Detective Conan and Hunter x Hunter. Obviously it wasn't BIGGER than all of those with the mainstream crowd. But for hardcore fans it was very popular!

In terms of lasting cultural impact, Cowboy Bebop was even bigger in American than Japan. You could argue it was actually more popular in the West. But it's false to say it was never popular in Japan.

By saying "X" (which was actually popular in Japan) WASN'T popular in Japan, it's erasure. It's a strange form of cultural appropriation, saying "the culture that originated this doesn't deserve it! It's MINE now!"

Am I being dramatic? Yes. But people do actually feel this way in their hearts and it's weird. I've seen this attitude expressed a lot online and I think people should take care not to fall into it too easily.