The Big O

[TheBigOFan72]

So The Big O is one of those series, it did better in the west than in it's homeland. I'm wondering, why is it that it didn't do all that well there?

[drunkenwarrior]

Do I really have to say it??


























Because you touch yourself at night

[ALchemist81]

I could be wrong, but I think Gurren Lagann is also in the same boat.

In Japan it was just another once-ran daytime kids block anime (aired Saturday mornings at 9 AM or something like that) that happened to be by Gainax, but in America and Europe it was and is a cultural phenomenon! In it's THIRD airing on Syfy! Am I wrong or was it more popular in America than Japan?

While all that cannot be said about The Big O, it's a solid series that is like a bottomless pit of depth, and a 3rd season or at least an OVA/Movie would help to explain really what's going on! Gurren Lagann, on the other hand, begs for another arc with its ending but ended more conclusively than Big O by any stretch of the imagination. I think we're unlikely to see either, as Gainax and Sunrise have both moved on to other projects.

[Top_Gun]

I don't think that Gurren-Lagann is necessarily in the same boat at all, given that it was fully intended from the beginning as Gainax's loving homage to the super robot series of the past, which never really got all that much exposure in the US. In the case of Big O, I think it's far more likely that the show didn't do as well in Japan simply because it has a very Western aesthetic and sensibilities to it. Even the art style is much more akin to something you would have seen airing on Kids WB back in the day, as opposed to your standard anime series. The show itself is set in New York, and its background draws heavily from Western literature and philosophy. As a result of all that, I think it clicked much better with American/Western audiences. Cowboy Bebop and Trigun are two other series that generally did much better in the West than in Japan, for pretty much the same reasons.

[Ankelz]

I don't know the answer to this thread, but it is weird. I never really knew what the hell was going on within this show, but I always felt some sort of connection with it.

But does anyone actually know the story? That would be pleasant.

[nslay]

It sounds like you didn't see the first season. AS seems to be airing only the second season.

I only recently began watching it on AS and also found it weird and confusing until I bought the first season on DVD. Everything makes more sense!