8 Anime Popular in Japan That Never Made it Overseas

Japan makes a lot of anime, and while the most popular ones tend to also make it big overseas, a lot of them never reach the same levels of popularity as they do in Japan. There are a lot of reasons for this, but it's also a pity because some of these anime are genuinely great and give a lot of insight into Japanese home life and culture.

Most of these anime aren't shounen anime with flashy battles and exuberant characters, or even slice of life with devastated protagonists. They depict normal people just living their lives, are comedies with an emphasis on Japanese humor, or are simply too culturally niche to connect with overseas audiences unless they go out of their way to research the topics the anime covers.

8 Crayon Shin-chan

A Staple for 30 Years

Crayon Shin-chan is a comedy anime based on a manga. It has over 1,000 episodes and has aired since 1992. Crayon Shin-chan can be found all over Japan thanks to merchandising and advertising, to the point that he's just a normal part of the landscape.

The anime is more popular outside of Japan than some on this list because of dubbing and accessibility, but hasn't quite broken into the English markets because of broadcasting decisions. Even with its popularity considered in certain countries, its status as a household name and staple for children in Japan has yet to be rivaled overseas.

7 Sazae-san

Over 9,000 Episodes

Sazae-san is one of the bestselling manga of all time, and its anime has been airing in Japan since the 1960s, and is the longest-running scripted TV series in history, and the longest-running animated TV show. Sazae-san is the classic anime that every family in Japan watches together, making it a cultural icon and household staple, but one that has barely made itself known overseas.

Children's anime like Doraemon and Anpanman are popular in Europe and other Asian countries, but even Sazae-san hasn't broken into these markets. It's a very distinctly Japanese show that could alienate foreign audiences due to niche references and cultural differences. Nevertheless, it's these aspects that make it a household name in Japan, and it doesn't need more than that.

6 Pretty Cure

The Unknown Popular Magical Girl Show

One of the most popular genres of anime is the magical girl, and there are a lot of them out there. Invariably, not all magical girl anime will be popular, but Pretty Cure is one of the few that's achieved a cult following in Japan, while remaining relatively unknown outside of it.

Pretty Cure follows a group of teenage girls who become magical girls. It has over 1,000 episodes that have aired since 2004, and every season release is accompanied by massive merchandise campaigns with the fifth-highest merchandising sales in Japan. In a country with countless merchandising campaigns, this is an incredible show of its popularity, all while it's received virtually no attention outside of Japan.

5 Silver Spoon

A Snapshot of the Inaka

A lot of Japan is rural countryside comprised of farmland and agriculture, and so an anime like Silver Spoon is distinctly Japanese. Based in rural Hokkaido, Silver Spoon depicts the reality of many Japanese high school students and residents whose present and future involve farming, and so it took off in Japan in a way that far surpassed its popularity overseas.

Silver Spoon is also the adaptation of the manga written and drawn by Hiromu Arakawa, the mangaka behind Fullmetal Alchemist. Such a prestigious name behind a very different manga may sound like strange change in career, but a lot of Silver Spoon is based on her own experiences growing up in rural Hokkaido.

4 Touch

Lightning in a Bottle

Anime fans tend to be familiar with the highest-rated anime ever made, but many overseas fans will have never heard of Touch. Based on a manga, Touch is a sports anime about baseball and was massive in Japan when it released. Nearly every episode received a 30+ rating while it was airing, a number that individual episodes rarely receive today, let alone close to all 100 episodes of a series.

Baseball is one of the most popular sports in Japan, and Touch's wholesome themes and family-friendly story made it a household staple across Japan. Despite this, it's virtually unheard of outside of Japan, likely because of broadcasting reasons and its theme around baseball, a sport that many countries are unfamiliar with.

3 March Comes in Like a Lion

Popular But Doesn't Reach the Heights

Shogi is a board game very closely associated with Japan, and is almost unheard of in the West unless you take a particular interest in Japanese media or culture. It's known as Japanese chess, and is incredibly popular there across all ages.

March Comes in Like a Lion is an anime all about shogi, and was a huge hit in Japan when it aired in 2016. Its focus on relationships and shogi make it less of a cultural phenomenon that anime like Attack on Titan or Demon Slayer have overseas, but its manga's popularity and real-world setting based on Tokyo and the Japanese Shogi Association make it a beloved anime in Japan.

2 Natsume's Book of Friends

A Niche Yokai Story

Natsume's Book of Friends is well-regarded in certain circles outside of Japan, but it's nowhere near as massive as it is in Japan. It's been aired over seven seasons, has several OVAs, and tourism to the region of Japan it's set in is one of the area's biggest sources of income, all from Japanese tourists.

Natsume's Book of Friends follows a high school student and Nyanko-sensei, a yokai, as they interact with the yokai that live in the mountains surrounding a small Japanese village in Kyushu. It's based on the real world location of Hitoyoshi in Kumamoto, and has a slow, peaceful pace that makes it a perfect comfort show.

1 Osomatsu-san

A Phenomenon in Japan

Osomatsu-san was a cultural phenomenon in Japan in 2015-2016. Doujinshi events such as Comiket experienced lines to get in that were so massive that they looked like a live concert event just trying to get into the venue. Osomatsu-san is something of a reboot of a children's show from the 1960s about identical sextuplet boys called Osomatsu-kun. Osomatsu-san follows the sextuplets in their early 20s.

Osomatsu-san proved to be a hit because of its clever comedy, its commentary on contemporary problems that young Japanese adults face. It also includes some of the biggest voice actors in Japan, including the voice actors for Levi and Erwin of Attack on Titan fame. Its hilarious first episode had so many references to other anime that it was taken off official sites for copyright reasons. It's peak Japanese comedy, with surprisingly warm and emotional moments that make it so much more than a silly gag show.