The meme is also a false equivalence. Unless someone really likes medical/legal dramas, they are likely watching other things too. Game of thrones, black mirror, stranger things, the sandman, white lotus, severance, succession, ted lasso, euphoria. All of these were steaming hits. I don’t know what’s on tv now, but to act like it’s all of anime vs two types of western media is ridiculous off the bat. People talk about rewatching Futurama and Seinfeld or friends, which I think were all extremely popular traditional tv shows. You could easily remake it as “all American shows” vs “generic isekai/gundam” and it’d be equally as valid.
Realistically, I think cultural differences play a big role. Anime is often over the top from a western perspective and produced in a way western media isn’t. There’s also the fact it’s animated, but even live action media produced in Asia doesn’t resonate as well with average American audiences.
The meme is also a false equivalence. Unless someone really likes medical/legal dramas, they are likely watching other things too. Game of thrones, black mirror, stranger things, the sandman, white lotus, severance, succession, ted lasso, euphoria. All of these were steaming hits. I don’t know what’s on tv now, but to act like it’s all of anime vs two types of western media is ridiculous off the bat. People talk about rewatching Futurama and Seinfeld or friends, which I think were all extremely popular traditional tv shows. You could easily remake it as “all American shows” vs “generic isekai/gundam” and it’d be equally as valid.
Realistically, I think cultural differences play a big role. Anime is often over the top from a western perspective and produced in a way western media isn’t. There’s also the fact it’s animated, but even live action media produced in Asia doesn’t resonate as well with average American audiences.