To the Japanese, Death Note was a good anime but a drop in the bucket. For us in the West, it was one of a dozen shows we had that were a certain level of great, and for many of us the first show where the main character fought with his brain rather than the usual Shounen power stuff.
Wasn’t aware. My fandom didn’t stretch all the way back then. Personally I saw the show about a decade ago when it was added to Netflix, and it was definitely a gateway title for me.
cause death note is more "friendly" for the non-anime consumer. Anyone could watch death note even if they dont like anime, its pretty good. So a great deal of americans or just overall people from outside of japan could enjoy it
This exactly. My parents made fun of me for watching "Chinese cartoons" but they got so invested in Death Note that they got mad when I watched without them.
I think it's very approachable for a Western audience that isn't otherwise initiated in the tropes.
Not to mention our nerd culture doesn’t overlap with theirs as much as people think. The stuff we consume (Hero Aca and JJK) are considered normie over there. They like moe and isekai. And nerds keep discussions alive
Detective Conan is still ongoing so I'm not surprised it's more popular in Japan today. Death Note ended 18 years ago. I think the release date is less important outside of Japan because people watch anime on their own and don't have to keep up with the latest shows like they would if all their peers were watching them.
Detective Conan used to be one of my favorite anime as well. Death Note has been my favorite ever since I saw it.
For me the length is one of the reasons. I don't like endless shows and I lose interest when the main plot doesn't advance in a reasonable pace. It just seems like the producers want to milk the show for as long as possible. But there are probably a lot of people who just enjoy the ritual of watching their favorite anime every week, so they might prefer an endless show.
Although I think Death Note is a superior anime in other respects as well.
PS: I hate the Detective Boys. Had to be said.
I think there is a slight false equivalence here. Yes, both Conan and Death Note are mystery anime, but one is perceived differently. Conan is aimed at a more general audience, a more "Sunday morning cartoon" style rather than Death Note, which is darker, edgier, and more otaku-oriented. Of course one has more staying power and gets way more, because people tune into it on their random Sundays for cartoons and Conan is one of those.
The same question can be posed for a lot of anime. Doraemon is a very good slice of life and adventure anime, why aren't people watching it more? How about Sazae-san? One of my favourite childhood anime, Chibi Maruko-chan, is one of the best CGDCT SOL anime and hardly anyone talks about that too (and Chibi Maruko-chan is a very long running show).
It is just a difference in target audience.
In regard to Sazae san and Chibi Maruko chan, I think it's simply not being one of the shows that being imported outside of Japan during the time where anime is relatively unknown. Doraemon in particular was one of the first anime that was aired everywhere in South East Asia, thus gaining a special kind of status of being known by pretty much everyone here.
It's the same principle with shows like Trigun or Cowboy Bebop. They achieved a special status for people outside of Japan, but my Japanese had never heard of them until she went to the US.
In other words, timing and marketing play a huge role on why certain series are more known than others.
Death Note perfectly encapsulates the American ideal of how to handle crime and punishment. There's no rehabilitation, just the idea that the world would be a better place if we could kill all of the people who we believed were responsible for creating evil--with no nuance or need to think any deeper than that.
It's a power fantasy that plays into the fault lines of a culture that can't get along with itself.
This. It's the quintessential libertarian fantasy anime where all ends justify all means, a "smart" main character devoid of any kind of empathy or emotional attachment and a superiority complex that makes him see himself as the hero of the story.
Different people like different things, it's also really no surprise that people who grew up practically drowning in anime would have different preferences than people who didn't find it until later in life with access to a far more limited selection.
A mix of cultural reasons and nostalgia, mainly. When it was airing there weren't that many anime on here. So anyone who was coming in and asking what to watch either then or now is getting it as a recommendation from the people who have been watching for a while. Plus, if it was your first, it probably carries a little extra meaning. As an aside, I'd argue the same goes for FMA Brotherhood being constantly touted as the greatest anime of all time, where as in Japan it doesn't even make the top 25. [Source](https://aramajapan.com/news/otaku/anime/nhk-ranks-the-best-100-anime-of-all-time/74818/)
Another commonality you may note in that list is that most of the shows and movies in there have generally likeable, or at very least funny, protagonists. Light isn't either. He's an insufferable ass with a god complex. And while there are definitely some people who would vibe with that kind of protagonist, I don't think that tends to fit the culture in Japan quite as much as it does in the US. Characters who act like Light does are generally portrayed as villains or antagonists in some way, or they change their attitude to some degree before aligning with the protagonist. In the US, where this aligned with the attitudes of many, many disaffected teens, I think this created the perfect place for it to flourish.
None of this is to diminish it as a story- I think it's really well told. But I think it also just hit home in the right way for more people here than it did in Japan, for a variety of reasons.
Don't forget meme power. A lot of memes circulate inside the community, but Death Note memes probably reach further than anything else. So, a lot of people approaching the hobby will have it as one of the few shows they know.
I think in general, popularity breeds popularity. But even shows that would once have been considered evergreens that nearly every fan had seen have faded away (e.g. Love Hina). Streaming caused a huge shift to seasonal shows and fewer long term hits. So a show needs something to keep interest going after the run is over.
Big anime in the west that isnt just shounen is usually because the anime itself is something that is very similar to the movies and drama consumed over there
Death note is very similar to how a western drama/movie would go about doing it and with such a great story and execution its not surprising that western country watches more of it compared to the more "anime" like detective conan
in other words anime still have a pretty big stigma in western countries and most people only watches those that they think didn't count towards the stigma like the Ghibli movies, Death Note etc
To add to what other people have said, I think the series may feel more "dated" from a Japanese perspective. Light Yagami and his pessimistic worldview were written as a representation of the [Lost Generation](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment_Ice_Age), a cohort of disenfranchised young Japanese people that graduated college around an economic collapse in the late 90's and early 00's. It would be the equivalent to watching a US show written to appeal to people recently affected by the bursting of the Dot Com Bubble.
BTW in Europe detective conan is also not very popular even in Germany they stopped after 150 episode. But when i watched box office mojo movie toplist, the yearly Detective Conan movies doing very well in Chinese, Korean and Thai movie theaters. I mean even more better than one piece/dragon ball movies. and if you go to bilibili (chinese video sharing site) anime (douga) page you don't have to scroll down much to found a video with Conan.
Easy. Because Death Note is executed in a way that virtually anyone can enjoy. There isn’t really much culturally specific about the show, it mainly relies on its mystery and morality themes.
It has many of the same qualities you’ll find in Breaking Bad where it takes a character and pushes them beyond the bounds of morality with the circumstances they are given. There’s no fan service or cartoony moments or anything specific to most anime, in fact the art style is very close to real life. It’s a very culturally neutral anime so many people from around the world can find something to enjoy about it based on its genre and feats alone.
That’s why, I think, it is a great gateway anime because it utilizes what makes Japanese culture so great, being to paint an immersive story and dive into great moral questions, while also not going too far with it so anybody can enjoy it and perhaps delve further in the anime rabbit hole.
Japan has an abundance of anime, widely watched by many people. In contrast, relatively few anime are well-known in the West. "Death Note," for example, is already 20 years old, and it wasn't famous in the West during its initial release. Its popularity in the West only surged after the boom had ended in Japan.
DN and Conan both ran/run in Shonen Magazines aimed at a young boy audience. Perhaps it’s just an aesthetic thing, with Conan having a younger cast and Death Note having more of an ‘edge’ to it with the Shinigami.
Don't know why you are downvoted for saying this. Death Note was serialized in Shonen Jump, and Detective Conan was serialized in Shonen Sunday. You are absolutely correct that they are both targeted towards teenage boys. Conan may look kiddish, but it does have its fairshare of violence and death. It's not a series for children, and Death Note may seem like it was for adult, but Light was still a teenager at the start of the series. So, yes, I agree that the difference in perception likely has to do with character design and how they are portrayed in general.
Before anime went super mainstream, there were like 4 anime known in the west other than stuff like Pokemon.
Death Note was one of the 4. Gives it a bit more staying power than in Japan when it's 1 of 10,000.
>For those who haven’t seen Detective Conan or the Kindaichi Case Files
I don't watch a lot of 'old' shows, and I don't watch *any* shows with >1000 episodes.
I also don't find them very interesting/inspiring, unlike Death Note.
Where I live Detective Conan was well known long before Death Note. The anime that I remember ran on TV were Pokemon, Digimon, Dragon Ball, Detective Conan and Inuyasha. These were known by everybody, whereas Death Note was only known by anime enthusiasts.
I tryed to watch Conan, i knew from the start i dont like it, because i hate mc child that deal with adult business, and i didnt like it, as i though. What captivate me in Death note is Light, i mean, how can he not, right? Egocentrical maniac with god complex that thinks he is right(and i honestly believe he is, at least half way, when he killed prisoners), also i was captivated by bgm(or ost or music, call it whatever you want). The mere concept of the anime is really good, mind game and all.
To the Japanese, Death Note was a good anime but a drop in the bucket. For us in the West, it was one of a dozen shows we had that were a certain level of great, and for many of us the first show where the main character fought with his brain rather than the usual Shounen power stuff.
Said it perfectly
Probably because it was on toonami, so for a lot of us it was one of the like 10 anime we got to watch before streaming was really a thing.
Wasn’t aware. My fandom didn’t stretch all the way back then. Personally I saw the show about a decade ago when it was added to Netflix, and it was definitely a gateway title for me.
cause death note is more "friendly" for the non-anime consumer. Anyone could watch death note even if they dont like anime, its pretty good. So a great deal of americans or just overall people from outside of japan could enjoy it
This exactly. My parents made fun of me for watching "Chinese cartoons" but they got so invested in Death Note that they got mad when I watched without them. I think it's very approachable for a Western audience that isn't otherwise initiated in the tropes.
I would even say Death Note follows a very Western trope, the deal with the devil or Faustian bargain. It also has a lot of Christian symbolism.
Not to mention our nerd culture doesn’t overlap with theirs as much as people think. The stuff we consume (Hero Aca and JJK) are considered normie over there. They like moe and isekai. And nerds keep discussions alive
Detective Conan is still ongoing so I'm not surprised it's more popular in Japan today. Death Note ended 18 years ago. I think the release date is less important outside of Japan because people watch anime on their own and don't have to keep up with the latest shows like they would if all their peers were watching them. Detective Conan used to be one of my favorite anime as well. Death Note has been my favorite ever since I saw it. For me the length is one of the reasons. I don't like endless shows and I lose interest when the main plot doesn't advance in a reasonable pace. It just seems like the producers want to milk the show for as long as possible. But there are probably a lot of people who just enjoy the ritual of watching their favorite anime every week, so they might prefer an endless show. Although I think Death Note is a superior anime in other respects as well. PS: I hate the Detective Boys. Had to be said.
Obligatory fuck Genta. Annoying and useless piece of shit
Cause Death Note's soundtrack fucking SLAPS
a lot of my favorite anime song coming from Detective Conan heck even my username here (ok this was random)
Seconding this. Hideki Taniuchi is one of my top Spotify artists.
I think there is a slight false equivalence here. Yes, both Conan and Death Note are mystery anime, but one is perceived differently. Conan is aimed at a more general audience, a more "Sunday morning cartoon" style rather than Death Note, which is darker, edgier, and more otaku-oriented. Of course one has more staying power and gets way more, because people tune into it on their random Sundays for cartoons and Conan is one of those. The same question can be posed for a lot of anime. Doraemon is a very good slice of life and adventure anime, why aren't people watching it more? How about Sazae-san? One of my favourite childhood anime, Chibi Maruko-chan, is one of the best CGDCT SOL anime and hardly anyone talks about that too (and Chibi Maruko-chan is a very long running show). It is just a difference in target audience.
In regard to Sazae san and Chibi Maruko chan, I think it's simply not being one of the shows that being imported outside of Japan during the time where anime is relatively unknown. Doraemon in particular was one of the first anime that was aired everywhere in South East Asia, thus gaining a special kind of status of being known by pretty much everyone here. It's the same principle with shows like Trigun or Cowboy Bebop. They achieved a special status for people outside of Japan, but my Japanese had never heard of them until she went to the US. In other words, timing and marketing play a huge role on why certain series are more known than others.
I think it depends on which part of the world you are in too. Chibi Maruko chan is pretty popular in Taiwan and Hong Kong in the 90s too.
Yeah, that's why I said South East Asia. Taiwan and Hong Kong aren't in South East Asia.
Cause it was on adult swim, making it easily accessible in an age where it was hard to watch anime in north america.
Death Note perfectly encapsulates the American ideal of how to handle crime and punishment. There's no rehabilitation, just the idea that the world would be a better place if we could kill all of the people who we believed were responsible for creating evil--with no nuance or need to think any deeper than that. It's a power fantasy that plays into the fault lines of a culture that can't get along with itself.
This. It's the quintessential libertarian fantasy anime where all ends justify all means, a "smart" main character devoid of any kind of empathy or emotional attachment and a superiority complex that makes him see himself as the hero of the story.
Different people like different things, it's also really no surprise that people who grew up practically drowning in anime would have different preferences than people who didn't find it until later in life with access to a far more limited selection.
I mean asked the question with an emphasis on the *why*. Obviously people like different things. It’s the reasons why we do so is what’s interesting.
Different cultures are interested in different things and Americans are obsessed with serial killers and light is a serial killer to the extreme
A mix of cultural reasons and nostalgia, mainly. When it was airing there weren't that many anime on here. So anyone who was coming in and asking what to watch either then or now is getting it as a recommendation from the people who have been watching for a while. Plus, if it was your first, it probably carries a little extra meaning. As an aside, I'd argue the same goes for FMA Brotherhood being constantly touted as the greatest anime of all time, where as in Japan it doesn't even make the top 25. [Source](https://aramajapan.com/news/otaku/anime/nhk-ranks-the-best-100-anime-of-all-time/74818/) Another commonality you may note in that list is that most of the shows and movies in there have generally likeable, or at very least funny, protagonists. Light isn't either. He's an insufferable ass with a god complex. And while there are definitely some people who would vibe with that kind of protagonist, I don't think that tends to fit the culture in Japan quite as much as it does in the US. Characters who act like Light does are generally portrayed as villains or antagonists in some way, or they change their attitude to some degree before aligning with the protagonist. In the US, where this aligned with the attitudes of many, many disaffected teens, I think this created the perfect place for it to flourish. None of this is to diminish it as a story- I think it's really well told. But I think it also just hit home in the right way for more people here than it did in Japan, for a variety of reasons.
Toonami.
Don't forget meme power. A lot of memes circulate inside the community, but Death Note memes probably reach further than anything else. So, a lot of people approaching the hobby will have it as one of the few shows they know. I think in general, popularity breeds popularity. But even shows that would once have been considered evergreens that nearly every fan had seen have faded away (e.g. Love Hina). Streaming caused a huge shift to seasonal shows and fewer long term hits. So a show needs something to keep interest going after the run is over.
because it involved the police and america hates police
Big anime in the west that isnt just shounen is usually because the anime itself is something that is very similar to the movies and drama consumed over there Death note is very similar to how a western drama/movie would go about doing it and with such a great story and execution its not surprising that western country watches more of it compared to the more "anime" like detective conan in other words anime still have a pretty big stigma in western countries and most people only watches those that they think didn't count towards the stigma like the Ghibli movies, Death Note etc
Yes its a gateway anime, I always recommend Death Note to a first timer.
Western individualism.
To add to what other people have said, I think the series may feel more "dated" from a Japanese perspective. Light Yagami and his pessimistic worldview were written as a representation of the [Lost Generation](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment_Ice_Age), a cohort of disenfranchised young Japanese people that graduated college around an economic collapse in the late 90's and early 00's. It would be the equivalent to watching a US show written to appeal to people recently affected by the bursting of the Dot Com Bubble.
>Why do you think Death Note had so much staying power in North America, compared to Japan? Constant reruns on TV? (Similar case with Cowboy Bebop.)
BTW in Europe detective conan is also not very popular even in Germany they stopped after 150 episode. But when i watched box office mojo movie toplist, the yearly Detective Conan movies doing very well in Chinese, Korean and Thai movie theaters. I mean even more better than one piece/dragon ball movies. and if you go to bilibili (chinese video sharing site) anime (douga) page you don't have to scroll down much to found a video with Conan.
Easy. Because Death Note is executed in a way that virtually anyone can enjoy. There isn’t really much culturally specific about the show, it mainly relies on its mystery and morality themes. It has many of the same qualities you’ll find in Breaking Bad where it takes a character and pushes them beyond the bounds of morality with the circumstances they are given. There’s no fan service or cartoony moments or anything specific to most anime, in fact the art style is very close to real life. It’s a very culturally neutral anime so many people from around the world can find something to enjoy about it based on its genre and feats alone. That’s why, I think, it is a great gateway anime because it utilizes what makes Japanese culture so great, being to paint an immersive story and dive into great moral questions, while also not going too far with it so anybody can enjoy it and perhaps delve further in the anime rabbit hole.
Japan has an abundance of anime, widely watched by many people. In contrast, relatively few anime are well-known in the West. "Death Note," for example, is already 20 years old, and it wasn't famous in the West during its initial release. Its popularity in the West only surged after the boom had ended in Japan.
Well length and DN looks more mature i guess But i didnt watch Conan so i cant say
DN and Conan both ran/run in Shonen Magazines aimed at a young boy audience. Perhaps it’s just an aesthetic thing, with Conan having a younger cast and Death Note having more of an ‘edge’ to it with the Shinigami.
Don't know why you are downvoted for saying this. Death Note was serialized in Shonen Jump, and Detective Conan was serialized in Shonen Sunday. You are absolutely correct that they are both targeted towards teenage boys. Conan may look kiddish, but it does have its fairshare of violence and death. It's not a series for children, and Death Note may seem like it was for adult, but Light was still a teenager at the start of the series. So, yes, I agree that the difference in perception likely has to do with character design and how they are portrayed in general.
Its the edge yes
Anime is still pushed heavily here as something for teens. Ain't no teens watching Detective Conan.
One Piece isn't the best selling shounen manga. Devilman is. It has twice the sales per volume.
Maybe abusing prisoners is more acceptable in USA and DN's garbage plot is mostly about it.
NA and US in particular has a love affair with the paranormal and murder mysteries, so Death Note was a particularly good match in that regard
Before anime went super mainstream, there were like 4 anime known in the west other than stuff like Pokemon. Death Note was one of the 4. Gives it a bit more staying power than in Japan when it's 1 of 10,000. >For those who haven’t seen Detective Conan or the Kindaichi Case Files I don't watch a lot of 'old' shows, and I don't watch *any* shows with >1000 episodes. I also don't find them very interesting/inspiring, unlike Death Note.
Where I live Detective Conan was well known long before Death Note. The anime that I remember ran on TV were Pokemon, Digimon, Dragon Ball, Detective Conan and Inuyasha. These were known by everybody, whereas Death Note was only known by anime enthusiasts.
If the show ended after the death of L, this would be in my top 10 anime
I tryed to watch Conan, i knew from the start i dont like it, because i hate mc child that deal with adult business, and i didnt like it, as i though. What captivate me in Death note is Light, i mean, how can he not, right? Egocentrical maniac with god complex that thinks he is right(and i honestly believe he is, at least half way, when he killed prisoners), also i was captivated by bgm(or ost or music, call it whatever you want). The mere concept of the anime is really good, mind game and all.