WTF Wednesday: 12/17/08

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Not as popular as you think.

Normally I would save this for Listurday, but it's too weird, so it's our WTF Wednesday instead: Sankaku Complex has a really interesting piece in which 2channers have apparently compiled the top selling manga in five countries, including the United States-- generally to make fun of us all for our tastes, I gather. (I'm also not sure what method they use, so take these with a grain of salt.)

You may expect Naruto to top all the lists, but you'd be wrong: the US and France feel the Naru-love, but the ninja is nowhere to be seen for England, Germany, or China. Meanwhile Death Note isn't on the US list at all, which you can blame on Berserk (really?! Awesome!), Pokemon, Fruits Basket, and Vampire Knight.

Interestingly, how-to-draw books are among the top sellers in the UK, Germany, and China, although different titles for each. In fact, in Germany, four of the top five titles are how-to-draw-manga-related. (The fifth is Futari Ecchi, also known as Manga Sutra in the US). Pokemon is only on the US and UK lists, and the UK is apparently bigger on Ghibli than the US: The Art of Spirited Away and Nausicaa are on their lists.

Way cooler than you realize.

I'm going to suggest that France has the best tastes of any of these countries, largely due to the fact that City Hunter is on the list. (Then again, China loves CLAMP-- X tops theirs.)

For comparison: the top-selling manga in Japan for 2008 were One Piece, Nana, Nodame Cantabile, Naruto, and Fullmetal Alchemist, in that order. If you include this, I'd say Japan has the best taste...but they also have the best/easiest access to the stuff.

Make sure you read Sankaku Complex's article since they offer an alternative version of Germany's list that has no how-to-draw books in it and looks a lot more like what you'd expect the US's to look like.

So what do you think? Which list best represents your taste?

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