Germans Love David Hasselhoff - Television Tropes & Idioms

Escaflowne recieved fairly bad ratings when broadcast in Japan but was relatively successful in the US.
- In Japan, it followed up on the earlier Fushigi Yuugi, which didn't get a TV deal in the States.
Back then, Yamato Nadeshiko characters would be the most popular characters with Japanese audiences, while on the West, tsundere and tomboys often do better. However, recently Japan is a tsundere-loving craze, possibly even more so than the West. Cyclic Trope?
- Back in the day, American anime fan magazine Animag did a favorite character survey. Kei and Yuri from Dirty Pair finished first and second, respectively. Every Japanese poll (Newtype has the most famous) had them placed in reverse order. Their near-counterparts Natsumi and Miyuki from You're Under Arrest have also ranked similarly in Newtype's polls (Miyuki much higher than Natsumi).
- In Japan, Neon Genesis Evangelion's Rei Ayanami's lead over Asuka (which shrank a bit after the movies, but was still a gap) was such a given that they Hung a Lampshade on it several times in Radio Dramas made post-series. Naturally, in America, Asuka is more popular.
  - Strangely enough, this seems to have changed — Rei isn't on that list at all.
  - As well as this, where Asuka grabs the top spot while Rei succumbs to the might of K-On!.
- Somewhat inverted in Naruto's Western fandom where the Shrinking Violet and Yamato Nadeshiko Hinata is more popular than the lead Tsundere Sakura. More amazing when you consider Hinata plays a somewhat small role in the story. On the other hand, characters like Temari, Ino, and Anko seem far more popular in places like North America, Latin America, and Europe than they do back home in Japan.
  - Hinata's no slouch in Japan either. Among female characters, she's second only to Sakura in the polls (and this with a fraction of the screentime).
  - Temari might be an exception: she's placed something like tenth in a past Japanese character poll, and that is pretty good indeed.
The manga of Naruto itself may be an example; in Japan One Piece sells a lot more, with Naruto being the 4th most popular series in Japan behind One Piece, Nana, and Fullmetal Alchemist. In America, Naruto is by far the most popular manga series and when Viz was releasing the volumes rapdily it would make most of the top ten list.
Thanks mostly to Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series, "Bandit Keith" Howard, the Evil Foreigner American duelist from Yu-Gi-Oh!, is a source of much amusement to actual Americans for his exaggerated ways... in America.
Likewise, America of Axis Powers Hetalia is Number 2 favorite character in a poll on the American side, whereas in the Japanese poll he's like the 15th. Americans like making fun of themselves?
- Unlike Bandit Keith, most Americans do genuinely like Alfred F. Jones because even though he has his flaws, he does appear to be a more serious form of Love Freak.
Ask any Mexican born between 1985 and 1995 what they used to watch when they were young, and they will most likely answer with something like Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, Saint Seiya (a.k.a. Caballeros del Zodíaco), Magic Knight Rayearth (a.k.a. Guerreras Mágicas), Ranma ½, Doctor Slump (a.k.a. Arale), Captain Tsubasa (a.k.a. Super Campeones), Slam Dunk, Pokémon, or if they managed to get a satellite TV subscription, Neon Genesis Evangelion. For some obscure reason, anime suddenly became the most successful genre in Mexico during The Nineties and the early 2000s, and is still one of the most successful genres as of 2008, with a popularity even rivalling that of shows like Friends in the USA. It certainly does helps that Mexican dubs are usually really, really good. As of right now, you can even find the Mexican dub of Dragon Ball Z in most Bittorrent trackers.
- A similar phenomenon happened in Chile and Brazil.
- Also happened in Italy, where Lupin III was also a huge success. Subsequently this bled to Malta, where most of the Italian channels could be viewed via regular TV areal for free. France also had its generous share of Edgar le Détective Cambrioleur.
- The nigh-mythical back then Dragon Ball Evolution was filmed... in Mexico.
- This was the result of the foundation of TV Azteca. When they started they didn't have any shows of their own so they imported many shows from different countries, including Japan. It doesn't hurt either that those shows were made of awesome, and are still pretty popular in Japan even today.
- Argentina had a similar phenomenon, specially with Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, Caballeros del Zodíaco, and Super Campeones (a very funny show in a country where soccer is the main sport). It was rooted in the previous success of Robotech, Meteoro, Voltron, Mazinger Z, and maybe Astro Boy.
  - To the point that when "Magic Kids" (a local animation cable station) airs for the first time the episode of "Dragon Ball Z" when Goku finally turns to a Super Saiyan, there was not a person below the age of 30 in the streets. And all the comic and videogame stores where closed.
- And if you ask any Mexican born between 1975 and 1985 what they watched, they'll rattle off World Masterpiece Theater and Tatsunoko's production, including Magical Princess Minky Momo (La Pequeña Gigi), Meiken Jolie (Belle & Sebastian), Heidi, Girl of the Alps, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Swiss Family Robinson, Remi, Nobody's Boy, Cuore, and the legendary Adventures of the Little Cid (Ruy, el Pequeño Cid). Moomin, Maya the Bee, and Captain Harlock still saw healthy rerun schedules well into the turn of the millenium.
- It also happened in Costa Rica, you can ask anybody born in those years about "the Last 5 minutes of Namekusei". In a lesser extent it happened with Sailor Moon, Saint Seiya Ranma ½, Captain Tsubasa and Pokémon, and even some of the older ones like Heidi, Girl of the Alps and Candy Candy.
In Japan, Go Lion and Dairugger XV are obscure, stereotypical early 80's Super Robot series. In America, Voltron, its heavily edited combined counterpart, became a smash hit, and is still popular. Media Blasters, the company releasing the DVDs, has mentioned it as its most popular title, by far, and the only thing currently holding back a live-action movie is a minor legal dispute between World Events Productions and Toei, while World Events continues to expand the franchise via comics and whatnot.
World Events actually pulled this off twice; nobody remembers Sei Juushi Bismarck in Japan, but most kids of the 80s will at least remember the name Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs, and probably have a few nice memories of the show (not to mention having that damn theme song stuck in their head). Due to some Gag Dubbing, Saber Rider is fondly remembered in Germany and some other European countries as well.
- Probably due in part to Peter Cullen voicing Ramrod.
Sport animes in general, but especially soccer based ones like Captain Tsubasa, tend to be quite popular in Europe, especially in Spain. It helps Tsubasa himself ends playing on a Spanish team. And it helps even more if you consider it's from Catalonia, home of one of the most successful teams in Spain: the FC Barcelona "Barça".
- Captain Tsubasa seems to be very popular in South America as well. Some professional players even cited the show as the reason why they started playing soccer in the first place.
For some reason, Go Nagai's Super Robot anime, particularly UFO Robo Grendizer are hugely popular in Spanish-speaking countries and also Italy. There is even a life-sized replica of Mazinger Z in an abandoned estate near Tarragona, Spain.
- That's because of the older fans (generally in their 20s or 30s) who basically grew up watching them.
- Grendizer is also incredibly popular in French-speaking countries, where it's known as Goldorak, for pretty much the same reasons. I still have fond memories of the show, even though it was over 25 years ago (I was 3 or 4).
- ... and then there's the Arabian fans of Grendizer...
Combining Mecha Voltes V, while notable for featuring more serious storylines than the typical Super Robot show of its day (this was a few years before Mobile Suit Gundam, whose forte is the more detailed Character Development aside of the Real Robot stuff), is largely overlooked in its native Japan today. However, it has become an adopted cultural icon in the Philippines. This is partly due to the fact that it was banned during the reign of the hated Ferdinand Marcos, allegedly due to the fact that the show's Big Bad reminded the dictator too much of himself.
- Voltes is overlooked in Japan? Since when? Sure it's not getting updates/remakes like all of Go Nagai's classics are, but as far as '70s Super Robots go, it's one of the biggest, being part of the Robot Romance Trilogy.
Major example in Japanese animation is Ginga Nagareboshi Gin (known also as Silver Fang, which may be considered sort of unofficial English title), which was released in most Nordic countries and Hungary in the 80's. While this release was dubbed and heavily edited, the series gained notable popularity at least in Finland (and probably at least in Denmark and Sweden as well). Eventually the popularity resulted in uncut DVD releases in Finland and Sweden in 2003 and in Denmark in 2006. In addition to this the animated adaption of the sequel, Ginga Densetsu Weed was released in both Finland and Sweden in 2006 just months after the series had reached its conclusion in Japan. While both series have been fansubbed in English, neither of them has had any official English release.
The English dub of Rurouni Kenshin, is apparently a popular source for MADs in Japan, many featured on Nico Nico Douga. FUTAE NO KIWAMI AAAAAAAAH!!!!, indeed.
- Possibly because the way the English voice actors pronounce it is entertaining in the same way Gratuitous English is to English-speakers.
The anime series Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross and Genesis Climber MOSPEADA are very obscure in Japan; however, they are both far more recognized in the US, due to their inclusion in Robotech. The US DVD releases of both series in their untranslated form was subsequently imported into Japan for local re-release there.
The anime adapation of Captain Future was really loved by German (and French) viewers back in the days.
- Heck Captain Future is a double-example. Started out as a series of American pulp novels that basically nobody today remembers (and which cost an arm and a leg to get anymore), was adapted into an anime which was then dubbed and broadcasted in France and Germany where it became extremely popular.
The Hellsing TV series was so popular in America that they're the primary reason Geneon produced the Hellsing Ultimate OVAs, a more faithful adaptation of the Hellsing manga.
Kyatto Ninden Teyande flopped, but its Gag Dubbed English dub Samurai Pizza Cats was a huge hit in the U.S., and was broadcast around the world.
- In the case of Pizza Cats, there's a reason for this. They completely changed the nature of the show when redubbing it, making it a self-critical show with No Fourth Wall, lampshading the repetitive plots, and even mocking the visible Japanese characters that appeared on signs as incomprehensible to the characters, some of whom didn't realize that it was a Japanese cartoon.
- In fact, legend has it that the show's dub team didn't even know Japanese. Apparently, the people who were supposed to translate it found the original plot so perplexing they said "to hell with it" and handed to the project off to someone else.
- Another legend was that the dubbers didn't have the original scripts and had to make up their own dialogue entirely.
- The trope's effect on that show is such that Tatsunoko vs. Capcom producer Ryota Niitsuma was shocked to hear that American players really wanted the Cats to appear in Ultimate All-Stars; of course, by the time he heard that, it was too late in development (and consider the fact that he practically banked on the Capcom side of the game for the American release ^*
  ^{Hell, the two new Capcom characters, Frank West and Zero, were pratically made to scream "Hey Americans, look at this game!"}
  , knowing how few Westerners ever heard of Tatsunoko).
Kinnikuman Nisei / Ultimate Muscle in North America, so much so that 4Kids bought another season.
Lupin III is so beloved in Italy that the Italians have forgotten he's French/Japanese. He's got localized comics, a live action film and smoking a cigarette downward is called "Jigen-style".
The Big O did poorly in Japan and ended up only making 13 of a planned 26 episodes. However, it's overseas popularity was enough that it was Un Cancelled four years later for another 13 episodes co-produced by Sunrise, Bandai Visual, and Cartoon Network. Keiichi Sato, the show's designer, said this was exactly what he expected.
- It certainly helped that its animation style was similar to popular American Saturday morning cartoons like Batman: The Animated Series.
The Cyberpunk manga Blame!, despite receiving a mostly lukewarm reception in Japan, maintains a strong cult following in western countries, notably France and Germany. Tsutomu Nihei (the creator) admits to having been heavily influenced by western styles in the creation of his Manga.
- The series has even inspired a German Industrial/Electronica band of the same name.
In The US at least, Dragon Ball Z was released first, and aired in its entirety (it took more than half a decade, but did) and Dragon Ball later. As a result, characters that had bigger roles in the first series, but little-to-no role in the second, weren't as popular as, say, Vegeta, who appeared in nearly all the US merchandise, and wasn't in Dragon Ball at all.
- Dragon Ball was released first in America with 13 episodes and Curse of the Blood Rubies being dubbed. Due to it being a complete flop, Funimation moved on to the more action-heavy Dragon Ball Z which was more succesful, before becoming a hit once Cartoon Network began showing it.
In Bleach, Toshiro Hitsugaya is consistently #1 in character and sword popularity polls in Japan, while in American he's overall less popular and a sizable portion absolutely hate him. Conversely, Kenpachi Zaraki is extremely popular with many American fans, but didn't even place in the top 10 characters in the Japanese Polls.
- And guess which character is Mexico's favorite? Chad, half-Japanese and half-Mexican, has a big fanbase over there and some of Latin America. In fact, most of the Arrancar are loved in Spanish-speaking countries.
- In Brazil, the most popular character is possibly Kisuke Urahara. People make Urahara-themed hats to sell in the events, and boy, they do sell well.
  - Maybe due to some similarities with Santos Dumont◊?
It isn't much of a surprise that Japan is much more popular in the Axis Powers Hetalia Japanese fandom than in Western fandom, and vice versa with America (and Canada, to a lesser extent). This extends to Shipping: England×Japan is one of the most popular pairings in the Japanese fandom (if I heard correctly), but you have to look hard to find fanworks of it in the West. On the flip side, Russia×America is a very popular pairing on the Western side but is almost nonexistent in Japan, and America×England has a huge fanbase in both the Japanese and English-speaking fandom (yes, England is popular with both sides; whatever gave you that idea?).
While Mahou Sensei Negima! is fairly popular in Japan, it's one of the best selling mangas in America and one of the few that can put a dent in Naruto's numbers.
In Japan, the Fullmetal Alchemist manga is much more popular than the first anime based upon it (though the latter still had a good deal of success). Compare Western countries, where the opposite is true.
Bakugan Battle Brawlers as a whole caught on more in North America than it did in Japan, resulting in the creation of Sequel Series Bakugan: New Vestroia, which only airs in Canada and the US.
Crayon Shin Chan is an cultural staple in Japan, but in Spain, thanks to an incredible work of adaptation, Shin-chan is big. Really big. Its late author, Yoshito Usui, was invited several times to visit for Anime conventions, and was so overwhelmed with the positive response he even drew a chapter where the Noharas traveled to Spain, with the official translator and his wife as characters, as a form of gratitude. Meanwhile, the rest of the western world just can't connect with Shin-chan and his family's antics. USA has seen at least 3 different dubs of the series, none of them had been successful (besides the cult following the of FUNimation Gag Dub).
- It's in fact so big, that videogames of this series, beginning with Game Boy Advance, were translated for official releases in Spain!
- Actually, it has to do with the dub of Shinosuke, performed by a Spanish, yet Galician-speaking voice actor who gives Shin-Chan his characteristic playful tone. Oh, and the fact that it is aired in the morning, before the kids go to school, has to do as well, since the funniest parts of Shin-Chan are NOT so for kids, and that spawned some polemics in the country as to "Why are kids seeing a kid showing his... trunk at 7 AM?"
In the American Strawberry Panic fandom, there is a good deal more fanart of Shizuma Hanazono than in Japan.
The localized versions of the Ai Shite Knight anime were quite successful in some European countries; especially in Italy, where it spawned a live action sequel that lasted four seasons, had some of the characters' dubbers take the roles of the characters themselves, and the singer of the Italian theme song played the main character — they made her join Bee Hive (her boyfriend's band) as a singer in the show.
For English-speaking fans of the Sketchbook Full Colors anime, the popularity of Kate completely eclipses that of every other character — so much so that people who have never even seen it know who she is. This may have something to do with Self Deprecation.
According to commentary in theKeroro Gunsou manga, Kululu was very unpopular in Japan due to being a Jerkass, a Mad Scientist who kept tricking people into being test subjects, and being yellow. However, countries like America love Jerkass characters, making Kululu a lot more popular overseas. This is lampshaded in one chapter where Keron sells merchandise of Keroro's Platoon and Kululu's merchandise goes virtually unsold.
The Vampire Knight manga is fairly popular in Japan, occasionally getting in the top 10 seller list, but it has become a heavyweight in US manga sales, consistently being in the top 5 and is the most popular shojo title by a significant margin.

The game Reversi or Othello was invented in England, but its modern reinvention was in Japan, and as seen in the link, a number of World Champions in the game have been Japanese. This might be attributed to its similarity with the Asian game Go.
Mahjong is originally a Chinese game, but in America has most of its association with (now) old Jews.
- This is very likely due to the fondness for gambling that is so strong in both Chinese and Jewish (at least Ashkenazi) culture; Mahjong being predominatly a gambling game, like Poker or Blackjack.

As a general note, America is the only place where Super Hero comics are the "standard". And only recent America at that. For most of American comics' history, the superhero genre existed alongside many other genres — romance, Funny Animals, teen humor, science fiction, etc. — which the two dominant companies, DC and Marvel, used to publish but have now all but left for dead (with even reprints or revivals of such material extremely rare or non-existent). However, other American companies (such as Archie Comics or various manga and independent publishers) seem to have found success publishing such genres.
Snoopy, of Peanuts fame, is a popular and well-loved mascot character in Japan, thanks in part to being a cute dog who happens to be marketed by Sanrio. Unfortunately, most Japanese seem unaware that the main character of the series is his owner, despite the strip's long-running and faithful translation, which gets printed daily in Japanese newspapers and has numerous compilation books in both English and Japanese...
- In Sweden, Peanuts is called Snobben — which is the Swedish name of Snoopy.
- Same thing in France, were Snoopy is the title of the comic.
The Phantom is incredibly popular in Scandinavia, easily outselling the Marvel and DC comic books. (The only real competitor is... Donald Duck)
- Which is not really difficult (outselling Marvel and DC); in Sweden, there are only two Marvel books sold, and none from DC — perhaps a reverse of this trope...
  - In the 1960s, DC and Marvel comics were quite popular in Sweden, but the Superman and Spider-Man weekly magazines never managed to reach the sales of The Phantom.
- The Phantom is pretty much the most popular costumed hero in the world, except in America. He's kinda like ~~soccer~~ ~~football~~ soccer (and not the real game of football) that way.
- Likewise, The Phantom is incredibly popular in Austraia, in fact it has had the longest constant publishing run there. Also a great way for Australian men to strike up conversations with Scandanavian women.
Malaysian cartoonists Reggie Lee and Mohammad Nor Khalid (Lat) are popular overseas. For the latter, his most famous work Kampung Boy won many prestigious awards, including the American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults.
Kuso High School by another Malaysian artist Keith is gaining popularity in China. Even the artist himself is surprised by the huge turnout during an autograph-signing session at the 2nd China International Comics Festival.
A famous example are the Disney Comics. Largely faded out of American culture (especially once WDC&S went into the prestige format, and it started to be marketed to collectors rather than children, in general making it really hard to get besides actually subscribing), these continue to be produced in most other areas of the world, especially Europe, where they continue to outsell Super Hero comics. More specifically, relatively obscure characters can get their own books (such as Italy's love for Clarabelle Cow), or familiar ones can get very different interpretations; Mickey as a gritty detective, Donald as a Gentleman Thief (see Paperinik New Adventures), Goofy as a Superman parody, etc. This may be related to their look, which is closer to old Franco-Belgian comics than to American comics.
- As a subtrope of this, the relative popularity of Disney characters vary between countries as well. Most prominently, whereas Mickey Mouse is the star (and title-billed character of the local Disney magazine) in most countries, Donald Duck outshines him in other territories, particularly in Scandinavia. In Norway, Donald is so popular he's more recognizable then Mickey. Same goes for Sweden, where Donald is so popular that the Disney Christmas special From All of Us to All of You, a Very Merry Christmas (which airs on Christmas Eve and is always the king of Swedish ratings) is simply referred to as Donald Duck (or in some cases Donald Duck and his Friends Wishes Everyone a Merry Christmas). Even though Donald barely appears, and Mickey co-hosts. In Finland, Donald is the Disney comic character. In fact, the character's weekly magazine once ran an ad campaign with street signs bearing the legend "Have you ever met a person who has never read Donald Duck?", with a panel from a Donald Duck comic where Donald says "Fascinating, how did you come to know them?" And this is not much of an exaggeration, as the magazine sells 320,000 copies and is approximated to be read by over a million. A. Week. Finland having population of 5.8 million.
- To elaborate, here's a list of Disney characters more popular (and prolific) in the Netherlands than Mickey Mouse: Hiawatha, Horace Horseshoe, Big Bad and Lil' Bad, Bre'r Rabbit, Dumbo, Basil The Great Mouse Detective, Jose Carioca, Panchito, Timon & Pumbaa, April & May & June, Madam Mim, Flounder, Mushu, Genie, Gyro Gearloose, and Clara Cluck. At least three of the above can be expected to show up in the comics each week, almost always as main characters.
  - And as a result, Kingdom Hearts was not so much a nostalgia party in the Netherlands, but more like a seamless transition from the weekly Donald Duck magazine (which features quite a few AU storylines anyway.)
- Memetic Mutation has also caused many of the above characters to become completely integrated into Dutch culture. There's a Dutch rapper who named himself after Gyro Gearloose. That should tell you something.
- A Carl Barks collection can easily sell two million copies in Finland... which has a population of five million. When Carl Barks visited Finland in the 90s, a minister of the that-time government was there to greet him.
  - In Stockholm, Sweden, there is a Carl Barks Väg (Carl Barks Road) and in Gothenburg, Sweden, there is a Karl Ankas Väg (Donald Duck Road).
  - Don Rosa also enjoys huge popularity. Seriously, back when he still made comics, his stories were hugely advertised in the front cover and it seems there's no story he's written that isn't in some compilation. Of which there are many.
  - Don Rosa became the Moses of Disney comics in Finland, eventually leading to him drawing a Scrooge McDuck adventure set in the country.
- Fethry Duck, Donald's slacker cousin, enjoys such popularity in Brazil that he got his own comic for a while, complete with Distaff Counterpart and clone nephews.
Donald's alter ego in some Italian comics isn't a gentleman thief but a Batman-like superhero (although his name and appearance are based on a gentlemen thief whose old run-down mansion ends up in the possession of Donald after he receives a contest prize meant for Gladstone by mistake). Eventually it got to the point where about 90 percent of Disney characters had their own superhero alterego. Some of these include Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Fethry Duck (whose identity, the "Red Bat", was an even more explicit parody of the Silver Age Batman) his girlfriend Gloria, Goofy, Gilbert, Huey, Lewey and Dewey (all pretending to be the same person) Zé Carioca (whose identity, the "Green Bat" was yet another Batman spoof, in this case of the gritty modern Batman) and his nephews. In fact, the first five at one point had their own Justice League.
- This concept was used again in 2008, in an Italian story arc called Ultraheroes, which saw even more characters taking a costumed secret identity, along with the already-established ones: John D. Rockerduck and Peg Leg Pete (wearing a Doc Ock-like costume) on the villains' side, Gladstone and Gus Goose with the good guys, the latter as an Iron Man parody.
- Denmark for a time had a high-quality comic book with Stålanden ("The Steel Duck"), Donald's Batman-esque superheroic alter ego.
  - That would be Danish translation of the Paperinik New Adventures mentioned above. Goddamnn, I miss that series.
Regarding John D. Rockerduck, this character was created by Carl Barks in 1961, and very rarely used in American stories. In Italy, Rockerduck has been long since established as the true rival to Scrooge McDuck, and he's popular on his own (he even was the titular character of a few stories), while Flintheart Glomgold (of Duck Tales fame) is practically unknown and never used. To the point where a celebration of Scrooge's 40th anniversary (1987) in the Italian weekly Mickey Mouse magazine described Glomgold as the character who later evolved into Rockerduck.
In German-speaking countries, the work of Disney-translator Dr. Erika Fuchs became influential to such an extent that grammatical terms were named after her.
- During the 1950s, the Swedish Donald Duck translators created several neologisms that have become accepted as a part of the well-educated vernacular, e.g. läskeblask ("soda popsicle"), rosenrasande (a red-faced rage) and skinntorr (approximately "an old, dry and scruffy demeanour").
José Carioca the Brazilian Parrot. You might remember him from Saludos Amigos, or The Three Caballeros, but he hasn't made many appearances since then, and remains a somewhat obscure character over here. Apparently Disney got this caricature of Brazilian culture just right (and certainly got the marketing of it even righter), because Brazil fell in love with him. He started off in bi-weekly comics as an off-shoot of Donald Duck comics, but now exists in his own Monthly comic book series that's still ongoing to this day.
- Incidentally, while the Brazilian series is currently in nothing but reprints, the Dutch of all people still write new strips featuring José and Panchito. Donny is the head of a WEEKLY magazine with artists constantly making new stories, and an extra MONTHLY mag on the side, with mostly foreign writers (translated into freaky geeky Dutch) doing the work, even DAISY had a bi-weekly mag for a while called Katrien (her Dutch name), which was specifically aimed towards girls. On top of that every couple of months (or a half) they're putting out Donald Duck Pockets which are like small novel sized comicbooks with mainly the Italian stories (evidenced by the Papernik things and the abundance of Rockerduck being called Glumgold in most stories until later on people realized he was different.) This year (2009, represent) there was even the start of a glossy mag a la the latest trend in Hollanda where a celeb puts out a monthly magazine interviewing other celebs and commenting on lifestyle pretending Donald was a real life person, err, Duck, who just started his new magazine by having Daisy and her Housewife Club of Duckburgh collecting money.
  - There are people who have had a subscribtion to the magazine for their entire lives (it started in 1952) or pass it on to their kids.
  - Dutch fraternities and sororities often subscribe as well.
  - Most of that, excluding the glossy mag, has been translated and released in Finland. Finland also has an OTHER monthly series, named after Scrooge, a bigger yearly pocket book, a series with time travel theme, a series with stories from different authors in each one, a skate show with people in costumes, and of course, pretty much every Don Rosa story has been released in a hard-cover A4 collection. Any more doubts that Finland doesn't like Donald?
More specifically, while american comics-fans have usually heard of Carl Barks and possibly Don Rosa, few have ever heard of Romano Scarpa, who is definitively one of the more important duck-scribes.
While Hex never sold particularly well in America, it was a great success in the UK, Spain, Italy, and Japan.
Super Hero comics made their first apperance in Poland in The Nineties, thanks to TM-Semic publisher, which seems to have influence on popularity of certain heroes – three mayor TM-Semic's titles – Spider-man, X-Men and The Punisher have much larger fanbase than rest of Marvel Comics heroes or teams (actually, our biggest Marvel fansite evolved from strict X-Men website, than ran out of material). And because only three DC titles TM-Semic was trying to sell were Superman, Batman and Green Lantern, while later they brought few Image comics, much more people will recognize Spawn than Wonder Woman (who, as I recall, could even never appear in any TM-Semic comics). However, Super Hero is very small market, Vertigo titles and European Comics are much more popular.

Certain Disney films in Japan have been more prominent over the years. For example, Lilo and Stitch (a film the creators admitted was inspired by the works of Studio Ghibli), has an anime adaptation which, over the course of December 2009, outperformed the Pokémon anime.
- This really cannot be understated, there's Stitch merchandise just about everywhere in Japan. What's with the Japanese and their love for creatures capable of undoing civilization in minutes?.
The Nightmare Before Christmas is also a prominent Disney film in Japan instead of the cult-classic, Touchstone production in its home country, where it is usually presented as a Tim Burton film (despite the fact that he only produced and co-wrote it and designed the characters on paper) instead. Because of the movie's massive fanbase in Japan, Halloween Town is a recurring world in the Kingdom Hearts series.
- The Japanese are well-aware of the movie's status in the United States, and the Japanese arm of Square (this was pre-merger) was rather surprised that the American arm wanted to promote the Halloween Town levels here, not realizing it would go over well in part because the American fandom for the movie overlaps well with video gaming fandom. Also, American Kirby Is Hardcore came into effect.
The Swedish movie Gnomes and Trolls: The Secret Chamber has been almost universally panned in Sweden. In Turkey, however, it's still playing in theaters half a year after it's initial release.
3D animated features tend to gross ridiculous amounts of money in Russia. Ice Age 3 is currently (January '09) the second highest-grossing foreign release OF ALL TIME, closely followed by Madagascar 2.
In China, Garfield 2: A tale of Two Kitties is the highest grossing animated film of all time. It beat out the previous record holder THE FREAKIN' LION KING.

The French are quite enamored of Jerry Lewis, or at least they were in the 60's. Nowadays, it's hard to find anyone under 50 who has seen one of his movies. In 2006, the French Ministry of Culture awarded him the Legion of Honor medal; pictures and a clip of the ceremony can be found here.
Being as Central Asia is the furthest region on the Earth from the ocean, Ocean themed films and televison programs do well with citizens of the the Asian steppes as they're considered "exotic".
- The movie Titanic is wildly popular in Kyrgyzstan. The movie plays about 5 times a day on TV. There are radio plays, novelization, comics, and basically everything in the markets has the image of one the movie's characters on it. There's also the whole class conflict thing that might strike a chord in a ex-communist third world country. Plus it's a love story, and that's allways popular.
- Similarly Bay Watch is very popular
- In neighboring Kazakhstan, The film version of Master and Commander is popular, as is The Perfect Storm.
Woody Allen's movies have sometimes been more popular in Europe (and particularly France) than in the United States. Woody Allen himself parodied this phenomenon with Hollywood Ending, in which a film-maker has to shoot a movie while suffering from stress-induced blindness. It totally bombs in the US... but turns out to be a surprise hit overseas.
This Is Spinal Tap ends with the title band, largely washed up in America, becoming spectacularly successful in Japan.
- That was a parody/reference of the real-life example of the band Cheap Trick becoming a Japanese fave after their American audience dwindled.
  - Cheap Trick have always been huge in Japan, so much so that the Japanese media dubbed them "The American Beatles".
Epics of both the historical and fantasy varieties tend to fare much better overseas. Thus, you have movies like Troy, Kingdom of Heaven, and The Golden Compass doing phenomenal business abroad while underperforming in the US.
- Lampshaded by recent commercials touting The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor as the number one movie in the world. True, if you look at international box office and not North America (where The Dark Knight's domestic gross doubles up The Mummys international one).
On the other hand, superhero movies tend not to be automatic hits overseas, especially ones with low star wattage. The Batman movies gross much less than they do in the U.S, and while the X-Men films are by no means flops, they still lag behind internationally. Superman Returns is an exception, one of the few bright spots in the film's lackluster box office.
- This is lampshaded somewhat in The Dark Knight, where a foreign ballerina doesn't understand why a vigilante like Batman has so much popular support.
- Superheroes are a very American genre, even if they exist elsewhere.
This can happen to an entire genre; for instance, the term "spaghetti western" comes from the large quantity of cowboy movies made in Italy, of all places — despite the fact that the Western genre is firmly rooted in American history.
- They're known as "macaroni Westerns" in Japan, because, of course, to the Japanese, spaghetti are just noodles.
- And "curry westerns" in India, where Bollywood movies set in mid-Rajasthan and other dry desert-like areas of the north capture a slight (only slight, though) western feel. The most famous example would be Sholay.
- One of Italy's most famous and loved comic series is Tex, featuring the eponymous hero Tex Willer as a ranger in a typical western setting. It has been running uninterrupted since 1948.
- In a creepier aspect, westerns were very popular in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, and both produced films of the genre as propaganda devices. Apparently, these movies had Native Americans as good guys more often than US westerns, Or So I Heard.
  - The Germans' fascination with the Old West predates the Third Reich, starting around 1890 when Buffalo Bill's show visited Berlin and Anne Oakley shot a cigar out of the mouth of the young Kaiser Wilhelm II (he jumped on the stage as a volunteer), Or So I Heard. Karl May's immensely popular books about Old Shatterhand began to be published at the same time.
- "Spaghetti" westerns were so named because they were produced by Italian studios, but were mostly filmed in Spain.
The 1980s Flash Gordon movie is still very well-loved in Britain. Several of its stars are British and the film itself was shot in Britain. It also possesses a certain sense of irony that went over the heads of many Americans when it was first released.
- Not so much went over our heads as Mis Aimed Marketing. Keep in mind, when it came out we were looking for another Star Wars. Flash is fun as camp/kisch, but it's no great shakes as a space opera/adventure.
  - The director of Flash also directed the cult British gangster film Get Carter. G4 suspects this connection as being a reason for the popularity.
The films of Mr Bean are usually relatively ignored in Britain, where they are made, and yet they enjoy popular success (as opposed to the other kind of success) in mainland Europe. It helps that there is very little dialogue to translate.
- Mr. Bean is also very popular in Iran (where he is known as Aga Nokhod, lit. "Mr. Pea").
Donnie Darko in the United Kingdom.
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon received rave reviews in America, and won four Academy Awards. It launched an interest in the Wuxia genre and singlehandedly jumpstarted Zhang Ziyi's career. In China and Hong Kong, however, the film was seen as "just another action flick." With bad accents, no less.
- It did well enough in Taiwan to merit a TV wuxia-drama based on the movie. But that could be partly because the director, Ang Lee, was from Taiwan.
Brian De Palma's early film Phantom of the Paradise (1974) was a flop on its initial release but was extremely popular in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and still is to this day.
Any Hollywood movie starring Jackie Chan and Jet Li are popular in Asia, flop or not.
- The Medallion and Around The World in 80 Days are major box-office flops in the States, but did very well in Asia.
- Shanghai Knights is considered a failure compared to Shanghai Noon, but it stayed at No. 1 in most Asian countries during the Chinese New Year period. Having a Singaporean actress (Fann Wong) helps.
- Danny the Dog didn't do well in America, but the movie, under the name Unleashed, has a cult following in Asia.
  - You could make the case that it failed in America because it was promoted under both titles.
- The Forbidden Kingdom, starring both Jackie and Li, a sleeper hit in the U.S., is a BLOCKBUSTER in Asia.
- One instalment of Jet Li's Once Upon a Time in China movie series plays with this trope — the national hero Wong Feihong and all his disciples are well-known all over China — all except for Leung Foon, who's only recognised by people from his hometown.
The film version of Mamma Mia! was only fairly successful in North America, but nearly everywhere else it was an enormous blockbuster hit, mainly due to its appeal to older women. In Britain it actually out performed The Dark Knight.
- According to IM Db, it surpassed even Titanic.
- Wasn't this also because ABBA themselves were never as big in the US as they were elsewhere?
Transformers is the highest-grossing movie of all time, IN MALAYSIA! No, seriously.
- And the sequel is the highest-grossing movie of all time, IN CHINA!
  - Possibly ironic given that there was a bit of contention in regards to the Shanghai sequence, namely the factory portion.
The 1940 film Waterloo Bridge starring Vivien Leigh is one of the most popular Western films in China.
Kenneth Branagh's Shakespeare films were negatively received in Britain, but very popular in America.
- This appears to be more of just the opinions of stubborn critics. Branagh's films have relatively low ratings on sites like Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, while they are considerably higher on IM Db.
Bollywood films. Some of which actually achieved bigger success outside of India.
- Its success overseas was taken into ridiculous levels when Shah Rukh Khan got knighted (or in local terms, getting "Datukship") in Malaysia. No, seriously.
- They used to be wildly popular in '60s-'80s Soviet Union, being *MUCH* more easily available than Hollywood blockbusters and given wide releases. Even in modern Russian pop culture, the Luke I Am Your Father trope is more closely associated with Indian cinema (where sudden "I am your brother/sister/aunt/etc." revelations were all too common) than with Star Wars. And up to this day, there are separate sections of Indian films in large media stores.
While Avatar seems to be a fairly popular movie just about everywhere, Russia deserves a special mention. In just about two weeks, the film literally shredded all of the country's box-office records, with IMAX theaters being sold out for days in advance, huge queues in regular cinemas not seen since the days of Titanic and enormously positive popular acclaim.
- This might also apply to Czech Republic... After 40 days since the premiere the iMAX version is still hopelesly sold out for a few days in advance. The other versions (both 3D and 2D) are relatively easy to get a seat to, but there still is the figure of 120k people (from a 10M country, mind you!) per week after 40 days and the fact that the second best movie only has 10k. In fact, Avatar consistently has more viewers per week than all the other movies combined. Don't even let me think about the amount of people who watched it out of a cinema. So Yeah.
French movie District13, while not being very succesful in the US (it was released in only 151 theatres), was critically acclaimed there. To say this was not the case in France would be quite the understatement.
The work of Norman Wisdom was the only Western films allowed in Albania under Hoxha, resulting in him becoming an epic cult figure there. British comedian Tony Hawks borrowed him for his quest to reach the top twenty of the music charts somewhere in the world; Big In Albania by Tony Hawks, Norman Wisdom and Tim Rice reached number 18.

This phenomenon occurs with holidays too: while Cinco De Mayo is rather popular and well celebrated in the US, it has only limited recognition within its own country of origin. Although very few Americans actually know what Cinco De Mayo is all about. It's not Mexico's Independence Day.
- That is September 16. I think.
  - Cinco De Mayo's popularity in America centers around American's love of Margaritas, Jose Cuervo and Tex-Mex
Likewise, St. Patrick's Day in Ireland is a religious holiday — which doesn't stop it from being boisterous.
- St. Patrick's Day is also far more widely celebrated in England than St. George's Day, though mostly as an excuse for drinking. (The English don't need much to find an excuse for drinking.) This can be largely attributed to the Guinness Corporation.
  - Notice the pattern of adopting other countries holidays so long as it gives everyone an excuse to drink.
Also, Halloween is more popular in the US as well, despite its Irish origins as Oíche Shamhna, the ancient New Year's Day; the bridging of the boundary between years is mirrored by the weakened of the gap between the world of the living and that of the dead. Bonfire is a calque of the Irish tine cnámh, "bone fire". Irish celebrations are now mostly American influenced; the pumpkin has replaced the turnip, and the divining game púicíní (featured in James Joyce's Dubliners) has also vanished.
- It's getting more and more popular in Germany too. At least in the media, try going round for sweets and you will come home with empty bags.
- Celebrating Halloween is becoming popular in Sweden too, but going round for sweets is still reserved for Easter with its easter-witches.
Arguably, Chanukah/Hanukkah is more popular, proportionately, in the West than in Israel. Being the least important and most recently ordained holiday on the Jewish calendar, in Israel (where most of the population is Jewish and a significant number are Orthodox), it tends to be overshadowed by more serious holidays like Passover and Sukkot. In America, where most Jews are irreligious and Christmas is widely celebrated, Chanukah is seen as the quintessential Jewish holiday. (Besides the Macy's 50% off sale)
This happened with Christmas In Japan. So popular is this holiday, it actually replaced the original Japanese holiday that took place around the same time as Christmas. This is in spite of the fact that Christians make up less than one percent of Japan's population. Not surprisingly, the holiday in Japan is extremely secular and is treated as a romantic holiday. The most unique aspect is the eating of Christmas cake, a white whipped cream cake with strawberries. It is also used in a common expression about the marriageable age of women.
This can even occur within a single country. Columbus Day, which celebrates a Genoan's "discovery" of America, is infinitely more popular in New England and northern states. It is basically forgotten and unremarkable in other areas of the U.S., where Native American groups, due to some fairly justified grievances that they have with Columbus, have been very successful in limiting its recognition. Unless you're trying to mail something, of course.
- Although in Ohio it may have increased popularity thanks to its capital city...
- Or living in Spain. They make a pretty big deal about it since it was their money that sent Christopher Columbus (to them, Cristobal Cólon) out in the first place.
  - October 12th (the day of Columbus' arrival to Guanahani) is the Día de la Hispanidad, one of the Spanish national holidays.
Likewise, Mardi Gras is only celebrated in South Louisiana, while in Europe, it is a more common holiday. This is due to the fact that most American Christians are Protestants (one of the few Christian nations in which that is the case) and Mardi Gras is supposed to commemorate Fat Tuesday, the very last day before Lent fasting begins for Catholics.
- Mardi Gras is not unique to Louisiana. In fact, there are celebrations in many other US cities. None of them even come close to New Orleans' huge production, of course; but they do exist.
- Here in Germany it's big in 3 regions: southwest germany (near Switzerland, on another date to boot), Mainz and Cologne. In Cologne nobody looks twice if somebody is hung over at work in the week it's celebrated, and many stores close completely
Even the Fourth of July is not immune to this trope. After the American Civil War, the people of Vicksburg, Mississippi did not celebrate the holiday until it was made a federal holiday in 1931, as that day marked the surrender of the town to Union forces.
Casimir Pulaski Day (first Monday in March) is another probably less well known version of this trope — less well known because it's only observed by Illinois, and to a lesser extent Wisconsin and Indiana. It seems a little strange at first for a state to have a full holiday (schools, libraries, and government offices closed) for a guy who never even set foot there, but given the large Polish population in Chicago, it does make some sense. Outside of this area, the only people who are likely to know of the holiday are fans of Sufjan Stevens.
- It's not a holiday celebrated in Poland though.
Apparently, Easter is more popular in Catholic countries than in other Christian countries.
Lucia, 13th December. Sweden, a Protestantic country, celebrating the Catholic St. Lucy.
The United Kingdom has no national day equivalent to Bastille day or the 4th of July. That has not stopped Hamburg from celebrating British Day every 5th and 6th of September.
In Maine and Massachusetts, anybody will tell you that Patriots' Day is the third Monday of April, commemorating the Battle of Lexington and Concord- you know, the first battle of the American Revolution? Outside of there, people seem to think it's September 11th.

The series of children's novels A Series of Unfortunate Events became popular in Canada long before they were in the U.S., and they were significantly more popular there.
In an interesting historical usage of this trope, while Edgar Allan Poe is considered to be a great writer today in the US (or at least acknowledged for his poetic merit and his creation of the mystery genre), during his lifetime he was much more popular in Europe than he ever was in America.
Another historical use would be the immense popularity of the Arabian Nights in Europe and America after they were first translated. While not hugely unpopular in the Middle East, the tales that came into Western knowledge were often not of massive importance and were actually looked down upon in several points in history. The popularity of translations, however, soared through the roof, having a huge influence on European and American writers and accumulating devoted fans and even fan societies.
France was pretty much the only place where Philip K. Dick achieved much fame as something more than a cult writer, until the last few years of his life. Possibly because the themes of his stories tended to dovetail with the ideas of then-current French postmodernist philosophy.
Jennings, a series of humorous English children's books set to a boarding school, became hugely popular in Norway under the name Stompa. The Norwegian translations of the books spawned four feature films and a radio sitcom series in the fifties and sixties. Reruns of the radio episodes are still being broadcasted regularly, by popular demand.
Given that there's been Japan-exclusive manga, anime and video game adaptations of the Australian fantasy book series Deltora Quest, it must be mighty popular over there.
The Lord of the Rings became so extremely popular in Sweden in the 1970s that our national non-commercial TV made a film of the first half of Fellowship of the Ring (it was pretty bad, suffering from too much cheap blue-screen technology). Interestingly, the trilogy was translated already in 1958 but spent the 1960s in relative obscurity.
The Canadian novel Anne of Green Gables is very popular in Japan. There's even an anime based off of it. The touristy areas of the real province of Prince Edward Island tend to have signs written in Japanese underneath English ones, also.
According to That Other Wiki, the Where's Waldo? series of books enjoyed much more success in the US than in its home country of the UK, where the franchise is known as Where's Wally?
- Not sure about that... Where's Wally is very popular in Britain. Everyone knows it.
The Irish novelist Darren Shan's horror works are apparently popular amongst female Japanese teenagers. Go figure.
- He's also popular with Сanadian teenage boys. Whenever a new book of his comes out this tropes will have to comb every library and bookstore in a three town radius for a copy.
- He's pretty much unknown here in Ireland. Same with Eoin Colfer. Fantasy novels just aren't that popular here I guess.
- They're both pretty big in the US. Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series probably moreso than Darren Shan, but Cirque du Freak is pretty big among a certain age of a horror fans.
How Steel Was Tempered, a classic example of Socialist Realism, was removed from school syllabi as soon as the USSR kicked the bucket and quickly became Deader Than Disco in Russia. In China, it is still popular enough to warrant a miniseries (!). This troper was repeatedly asked by Chinese students whether the story in the book was true.
Frances Gordon (calling herself 'Bridget Wood') wrote a series of fantasy novels about psychic Celts and animal rape. It's mostly porn, gore and Gorn with a generous helping of bestiality. In the Netherlands, the (badly) translated books were marketed as YA and became one of the most popular fantasy series for teens for a while. Gordon even dedicated one of the books to her teenaged Dutch readers at one point. So Yeah.

American talk-show host Conan O'Brien was so popular in Finland, allegedly due to a passing resemblance to the (female) Finnish president, he toured there to huge crowds.
- Perhaps it is because he had almost the same haircut as Aki Kaurismaki's Leningrad Cowboys when they toured the US...
Mexican comedian Chespirito's El Chavo Del Ocho is absurdly popular in Brazil, nearly thirty years after its run in Mexico ended. Reruns are played on a particular TV channel before the afternoon's soap operas, and they often outdo the soapies in terms of audience.
- Same in Argentina. There was a time that can bee seen in three TV stations... at the same time.
Relatedly, Mexican telenovelas make up most of the telenovelas shown in Latin America and the United States, despite often being extremely regional in their tropes, premises and conventions.
The over-the-top dubbing used for Knight Rider and The A Team in Brazil has given them quite a reputation as unintentional comedies. Several people were very disappointed when modern reruns of the show were subtitled instead.
- To such a degree that in Portugal, the Brazilian dubs that aired only ONCE on ONE channel about 15 years ago are still regularly quoted for laughs.
Hogans Heroes is popular in Germany, mainly thanks to Macekre'd dialogue, due to German No Swastikas laws requiring replacement gags for all the references to Nazis (which, given the show's premise, is a lot)
- This refers to the first dub of only a few episodes (Stacheldraht & Fersengeld). The second dub (Ein Käfig voller Helden), which is now commonly shown in Germany, does mention the war, Hitler and all.
- Apparently Hogan's popularity in Germany comes from massive Woolseyism in its treatment of the German characters, giving them different regional accents & adding various other cultural references which were played for comedy.
The King of Queens is another sitcom wildly popular in Germany. It's running several times a days for years now and still manages to catch new viewers. It's safe to say that it's the most succesful sitcom from the US here. Same goes for the main actor of the series, Kevin James, who gets invited to prime-time talk shows and draws a huge crowd to the cinema when he's in a movie.
Starsky and Hutch is more popular in France, for reasons similar to The Persuaders!: a better dub.
In the early 1970s The Persuaders, in a sub-titled version, was immensely popular in Sweden, so the producers let one episode partially take place there (episode 19). But they failed to do their research properly, making it odd to watch for us. Roger Moore had become a great TV-star in Sweden some years previously thanks to The Saint, which may explain the success.
- This is also the reason that we in Sweden often sees him as the greatest Bond. The Man with the Golden Gun and Octopussy are often considered to be some of the lesser films in the series (TMWTG often considered to one of the worst) but remain famous here, since both of them features two Swedes (Maud Adams being one and starring in both!).
The American TV series JAG which was pitched to the networks as Top Gun meets A Few Good Men was going to be scrapped after only one season due to poor ratings in the US but when the networks found that JAG was a huge hit overseas especially in Australia, they Un Canceled it. This Hasselhoff trope was later averted on the series when the show suddenly became popular in the US, in part due to the September 11 attacks and The War On Terror.
Santa Barbara is a somewhat obscure soap now in America, but was extremely popular in Russia. In Croatia, it reigned over the airwaves in the early 90s, and despite the flood of telenovelas and a thriving domestic TV industry, is still often thought of as the archetypal Soap.
- In France, Santa Barbara was at least as famous as Dallas.
The mostly-forgotten American game show Blockbusters spawned a long-running British version.
Supernatural is extremely popular in Australia, whereas it's just a cult hit in the U. S. (this may have something to do with the fact that the show uses a lot of classic rock in its soundtrack, including AC/DC, the biggest band to come out of Australia—the members of AC/DC watch and enjoy the show, apparently). Or So I Heard.
Dinner for One. A British 18 minute sketch is a staple in every German new years celebration, aired every year since 1963 and the most frequently repeated TV programme ever, always shown in the original English without subtitles. But not once on British television.
- EVERY channel shows it at least once on New Year's Eve. Even today, if the family celebrates together, it's not uncommon to switch channels to the next airing, seeing it a dozen times in one night.
- Similarly popular in Norway, where it airs every December 23rd as "Grevinnen og Hovmesteren" ("The Countess and the Butler").
- In Sweden it has aired every New Year's Eve (2004 excepted) since 1976.
- An Australian specialty channel is showing signs of following this example.
- Just for the hell of it: here. I dare you not to find it funny.
Many, many one-season or two-season shows have cult followings in South-East Asia.
Long Runner Power Rangers is based on the Japanese Super Sentai series, but Sentai is still popular in its home country so it's not an example of this trope. What is an example is that the Japanese dub of Power Rangers Lost Galaxy actually outperformed its source material (Seijuu Sentai Gingaman)!
- On another sentai note, Choudenshi Bioman, while just another sentai in Japan, is extremely popular in France and the Phillipines.
You Can't Do That on Television was at its peak of popularity in the United States from about 1984-87; for much of that time it was actually off the air in Canada, having been cancelled by CTV in 1984. New episodes were produced for Nickelodeon after that, which were unseen in Canada until YTV was created in the late '80s.
When reruns of American Gladiators were run in Great Britain, the Brits liked it so much they made their own... and their version impressed the original's producers enough that they incorporated many of their ideas into the original (even more in the Revival.)
Beakmans World was a popular kids' science show in America... but it's even moreso in Brazil and Mexico.
Father Ted is popular enough in the UK, but an absolute monster hit in Ireland where is endlessly re-run even a decade after it finished, occupying roughly the equivalent spot that Only Fools and Horses has in Britain. Debatably it doesn't count — after all it was created by Irish writers, an Irish cast and was actually set in Ireland. On the other hand it was specifically created for British audiences so its popularity in Ireland wasn't intended, or at least wasn't the main aim.
Australian Soap Operas like Neighbours are very popular in the UK. There was a period in the late 80's/early 90's where the viewing figures for Neighbours were bigger than the population of Australia.
- It's been suggested that the popularity springs from the "space-porn" of the (increasingly anachronistic) "everyone has a big backyard they barbequeue in" features of the show.
In Brazil, during 80s/early 90s, Japanese Metal Heroes were incredibly popular. Any Brazilian who had his childhood at that time would know about Jaspion or Jiraia. Arguably, it was their popularity that allowed the Anime Invasion of mid-90s.
If you read Swedish media, you are excused if you initially thought that Alexander Skarsgard was the star of True Blood, since every article either called it "Alexander Skarsgards new show" or commented on that Stellan Skarsgard's (one of Sweden's few international mega-star) son has striked it big.
Done for humorous effect in the Kids in the Hall sketch "La Poupée", where, during a press conference, nobody notices cast member Kevin McDonald even though he's talking and trying to get their attention. He ends it with "They love me in France", at which point it launches into another bit about he's the most beloved comedian in the world in France, getting huge laughs for speaking in French with spaghetti on his head.
Gunther from Friends was popular abroad despite being only a minor character.
In the nineties, the sitcom ALF was (and, by the way, still is) very popular in Ukraine.
As John C McGinley can attest, Scrubs is far more popular in Ireland then America. In Ireland it's regular for Radio D Js to mention it, friends to mention it as their favourite sitcom, and at a time, for people with digital TV it was common for a Scrubs episode to play on more then one station at the same time. It's also ridiculously popular in Australia as well.
While The Goodies were never repeated on the BBC after the series ended, simply because the BBC's main controller of the eighties didn't like them, the ABC in Australia repeated them extensively throughout the eighties and nineties, giving them a continuous Australian fan base since the show originally aired.
According to the accompanying DVD booklet, the short-lived Fox show Profit was apparently a much bigger hit in France.
The Crocodile Hunter, while inexplicably popular in the US and England, is almost universally reviled in its native Australia as being exactly the image of Australians that we are working hard to dispel.
New Zealand's The Tribe was hugely popular in Sweden, to the point where school kids painted their faces with the tribal face markings that featured in the show.
South Korea's historical/fantasy drama Jumong was very successful in its home country, reaching ratings of 50% for its final episodes. However, in Iran for some strange reason, it was seen by 70% of the population. One Iranian teenager reportedly attempted suicide when he couldn't meet an actress from that series and there is a documentary being made regarding the negative effects of the show on the Iranian society.
Married with Children is still popular in Germany and Eastern Europe, 10 or so years after it finished. Poland had a spinoff version that was as well received (maybe more) than the original.
- Argentina have their own version of the show running several years [1], as well with "The Nanny".
Most Americans today are unfamiliar with The Phil Silvers Show, or remember it vaguely. It's still extremely popular in the UK, thanks to reruns being constantly broadcast on the BBC.
- The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is also wildly popular in the UK for similar reasons, though it's still pretty popular in the US too.
The British TV standby University Challenge is a direct borrowing from the US College Bowl series. The American one disappeared from TV long ago, while the British version remains a national icon.
According to this article, American TV dramas are very popular in Japan, but not in America itself. Partly because American shows tend to be about characters who aren't students or salarymen.
American comedian and Saturday Night Live alum Rich Hall has, for some reason, always been infinitely more popular in the UK, even before turning up on QI.
In the '60s series The Green Hornet, Bruce Lee played the role of Kato, and was so popular in Hong Kong, the show was called "The Kato Show", which eventually led to Bruce Lee becoming a movie star in Asia before the US.
British example: Benny Hill was (and probably still is) much more popular among French and American audiences than in his native Britain, where the non-PC nature of his humor is poorly tolerated.

Tom Waits and Alphaville both have entirely different songs titled "Big in Japan" reflecting this trope. (The page quote is from the latter.)
In addition to being a pastiche of Frank Zappa, Weird Al Yankovic's "Genius in France" is likely a poke at this along with Jerry Lewis.
Despite being from California, only one of the American rock band We Are Scientists' songs has ever reached chart status in the USA (and it was on the Modern Rock chart). On the other hand, all of their songs have become hits in Europe. As a result, the band do almost all their touring in the UK, and all their material is released in the UK many months before the USA (their last album was never even released in the US).
- In fact this is true for many American indie rock bands, since the national singles charts of most European countries (especially the indie rock-crazy UK) is much more tolerant of the genre than the US' Billboard Hot 100, where bands in the genre have a hard time getting anywhere close to the Top 40. For example, the bands The Gossip and Orson are virtually unknown in their home country outside of fans of the alternative rock genre, but they're both famous throughout Europe.
One of the more bizarre examples is the story of the album Pawn Hearts, recorded in 1971 by the UK progressive rock group Van Der Graaf Generator. While its often dark and avant-garde nature kept it obscure in the UK and US, it proved to be an unlikely hit in Italy, of all places, where it occupied the number one spot on the album charts for 12 weeks. Bandleader Peter Hammill has since remarked that its "operatic and dramatic" music "chimed with the scene in Italy at the time".
- Genesis also enjoyed considerable success in continental Europe (particularly Italy and Belgium) before reaching any significant success in the UK or US.
Even though The Smiths were never very popular in the United States outside of their cult following, Morrissey as a solo artist gained a large following among American Latinos in the nineties. Moz even lived in Los Angeles for a time, and stated once during a tour, "I wish I was born Mexican." His Latino popularity has been attributed to his crooning vocals and penchant for melodrama that is also found in traditional ranchera music.
Electro-synth band Datarock tours so often in Australia one can only assume they're more popular there then elsewhere.
Jimi Hendrix was largely unappreciated in America early in his career, and indeed didn't get his big break until, at the urging of some acquaintances, he moved to England and hit the London electric blues scene. When he finally managed to get a US tour (with two Brits as his backing band), it was as an opening act for the Monkees, whose fans didn't care for his style and booed him offstage on at least one occasion.
Blue Oyster Cult has remained perennially popular in Japan largely thanks to their song about Godzilla, whereas in the US the group has largely faded into obscurity. The divide is illustrated by their 1999 tour, wherein they sold out sports arenas and stadiums in Japan, then came back to America to play casinos and state fairs. They probably get more cowbell at the fairs though.
The British progressive rock band the Alan Parsons Project was a big hit in North America and in mainland Europe, but largely forgotten in the UK.
Alternative rock musician Matthew Sweet is not well-remembered in the United States, and most people can only name the song of his ("Girlfriend") that appeared in Guitar Hero II. He's positively huge in Japan (possibly because he licensed two anime, Urusei Yatsura and Space Adventure Cobra, to make a Fan Vid for two of his own songs), and has even had a couple of his own one-shot Manga.
As mentioned when she sang during the 2008 Olympic opening ceremony, Sarah Brightman, known for playing Christine in the original cast of The Phantom Of The Opera, is very popular in China.
This is very common in the Death Metal genre. Bands like Arch Enemy, while somewhat popular in their native Europe, are just plain massive in Japan.
- Japan seems equally fascinated with Power Metal, to the point where some bands' releases and touring are heavily concentrated there despite being European (Heavenly being one of the most striking examples — their music is released first there, has in some cases been translated into Japanese to suit their fanbase, and are on an East Asian record label despite being from France).
- Metal in general is huge in Japan. It seems that while it's largely marginalized in North America and somewhat tolerated in in Europe (with some exceptions, like Finland, who recently had a metal singer win their national Idol contest), it's regarded as no more dangerous than any other style of music in Japan. It's no surprise that before they got even remotely popular in the west, In Flames and Children Of Bodom had recorded live concerts in Tokyo with wildly enthusiastic crowds.
  - While hinted at in the Dave Mustaine quote, this rule applies (to a lesser extent) to Brazil.
NY-based band Scissor Sisters has a small cult following in the United States, but frequently tops the charts in the UK, to the point that only three of their eleven singles have even been released as such stateside.
- They even had a pair of Irish murderess sisters named after them. The women in question killed their mother's Kenyan boyfriend, sliced up his body (but not with scissors) and hid the pieces. His head was never recovered. The band were horrified by the association.
Tennessee rockers Kings of Leon are massively popular in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, but only became well known in the U.S. and Canada in 2007 or so. Their 2004 album was #3 in Ireland and the UK, but #55 in the USA.
The Super Eurobeat series has more popularity in Japan than in its native country of Italy.
L.A.'s retro rockers Mother Tongue have been totally forgotten in the U.S., but have a solid and devoted fanbase in Germany. It's the only place outside L.A. where they still do shows.
Dire Straits had massive success in the Netherlands before they went on to conquer the world.
- There was a time where the Netherlands were the benchmark for international success, due to their weird broadcast system (for music at least). If it succeeded there, there was a good chance the rest of Europe would follow.
Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack are still widely popular in Japan despite their fandom in English speaking countries fading down to people who remember them as classic. Bookstores in Japan seem to contain more Rat Pack biographies than actual Japanese books and you can't walk by a karaoke bar without hearing "My Way"
Green Day's American Idiot, although fairly popular in the US, was much more successful overseas. Three guesses as to why.
Pop star Anastacia, who was born in Chicago, has sold about 20 million albums and is successful in almost every country on Earth... except her native United States, where she is practically unheard of.
The popularity of The Pixies in the UK and Europe eclipsed their recognition in their native USA.
Americans love Rammstein more than the Germans do, where they're just another metal band.
- Lampshaded in their most recent single, which contains the line "I can't get laid in Germany." The NSFW video is all about how they love sex and can basically get it anywhere in the world with beautiful women... just not in their native country.
Brazilian death metal band Sepultura tours ten American cities for each Brazilian one.
There's a lot of the mid/late 90s Eurodance bands, specially from Denmark and Sweden, which had massive markets in Asia and more or less moved there for their major income after the hype died in Europe
Japanese alternative rock bands like Boris, Boredoms and Shonen Knife are far more popular in the United States and Europe then they are in Japan. This most likely has to do with the fact that the Japanese music scene is overrun with visual kei metal bands, j-pop singers and lightweight pop/rock bands like Glay, whose music is much more easily palatable for the Oricon charts. In fact, the only two Japanese alternative rock bands to do swell business in their home country are the Pillows and the Mad Capsule Markets, both of which are still far more popular overseas than they are in Japan.
Alcatrazz never really amounted to anything in the United States and became more noteworthy for being the band that managed to somehow falter after only four years with guitar legends Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai as members at different points. In Japan, they're still quite popular and their songs are a common mainstay in both covers and karaoke.
In the 80s, Nick Cave, disgruntled with the Australian music industry (and, despite a cult following, failing to gain commercial success), ended up in Germany, and appeared on postcards for Berlin.
Alt-country musician David Eugene Edwards hails from Colorado, yet his bands—16 Horsepower and Woven Hand—are far more popular in Netherlands. For a while, 16 Horsepower was the most popular band in the Netherlands.
'60s/'70s blues-rock band Steamhammer, from England, was much more popular in Germany than anywhere else, to the point that the only CD reissues of their albums were from German record companies for many years, and they got a Wikipedia article in German before one in any other language.
Progressive rock band Procol Harum was famous only for their first single in their native England, was moderately popular in the United States and Canada, and was very popular in continental Europe.
Deep Purple, during their "Mk1" era, toured primarily in North America, and had their records released there earlier than in the UK. This had the result that British audiences sometimes mistakenly thought that the group was American. They began to tour elsewhere more often after their American record company went out of business.
American musician (Sixto Diaz) Rodriguez's story might be the strongest occurence of this trope. He has released two unsuccessful albums in the early 70's before he quit music. Only in 1998, while working on a building site, he came to know that he was a big star in South Africa all along.
Remember the Atlanta hip-hop group Arrested Development (not to be confused with the TV show of the same name)? Their most recent single in Europe was released in 2004. Their most recent American single? 1994.
American musician Scatman John wasn't particularly popular in his home country, but enjoyed huge success in several European countries and Japan (which was unusual for a foreign musician).
Lionel Richie is, for reasons unknown, huge in Libya.
The success of any Mandarin pop singer born in Malaysia or Singapore in Taiwan is justified due to the huge demand of Mandarin music there.
Malaysian rap-rock group Pop Shuvit is big in Japan.
American power pop band Click Five and Canadian pop-punk band Simple Plan's unlikely huge fanbases in Asia is finally sealed when they were chosen to provide the official soundtrack to Animax Asia's first original series, LaMB.
- Speaking of Click Five, in Asia, most of their later singles are played in high rotation in most radio and TV stations, as well as topping the music charts there. In America? They haven't had a hit since "Just The Girl".
Chris Isaak, whose star has long faded in his native United States since his late 80's/early 90's heydey, is still extremely popular in Australia.
Australian punk band The Saints had to go to Britain to get any recognition. NME loved them. The same is sadly true for many great Aussie bands.
The Delta Rhythm Boys were an American R&B vocal group that had mainstream success in the US in the 1930s and '40s, but began to fade in the '50s as popular taste in music changed. All of a sudden, though, they became huge in Sweden and elsewhere in Europe and drew large crowds. They recorded an album in Swedish and in 1956 relocated to Europe permanently. Their rendition of the Swedish song "Flickorna i Småland" was featured in Bent Hamer's 2003 film Kitchen Stories. A more detailed account of the Rhythm Boys' European success can be found here.
Pink, who had 17 sold out shows in Melbourne, Australia. That's a city of less than 4 million and makes her the most sucessful concert act in Australia of all time.
Josephine Baker was an American Black entertainer who enjoyed mild success in the Vaudeville circuit during the 1920s. However, in France she became a cultural icon, renowned for her Banana Dance and many ballades. Of course, being a part of the French Resistance and winning the Croix de Guerre helped. Even today, in the nation of her birth, she's only ever appreciated within the Black community, due in most part to becoming the first international Black celebrity and sex-symbol.
The American instrumental surf-rock group The Ventures, while quite popular in the early 1960s, had their US popularity decline with the British Invasion and the rise of psychedelic rock. In Japan, however, they remained a massive success, releasing dozens of Japan-exclusive albums and becoming one of the top-selling acts of all time.
'80s synthpop band Dead or Alive is much more popular in Japan than in the US or even their native UK.
Throughout their career, the Ramones' popularity in South America (especially Argentina) rivaled that of The Beatles' British Invasion of the U.S. in the 1960s.
Megadeth also has a huge popularity in Argentina, more than they have on the rest of the countries, US included. To the point where they were the first to record a live album/DVD there: That One Night: Live In Buenos Aires. The quote on the Quotes page came from this interview after the gig which ended as the source of the live album.
Thanks to Nirvana covering them, Scottish band The Vaselines were posthumously a cult success in the USA while being mostly forgotten in their homeland. A compilation was released on Sub Pop in the USA but for a long time none of their music was available in the UK.
Because of Japanese fondness for cuteness, pop music, and teenage girls, Western girl bands such as Shampoo can have success there while being regarded as a total joke by their less tolerant British compatriots. Daphne And Celeste tried this, recording a song called I Love Your Sushi, but it didn't seem to work.
While very influential to the nu-metal genre, Faith No More are regarded more-or-less as one-hit wonders in their home country of the U.S. and never managed to achieve the same number of sales as their early album The Real Thing. Their later albums were quite well received in the world abroad, however, and for their recent (as of 2009) The Second Coming Tour they have no planned U.S. performances at all, which stings quite a bit for their U.S. fans.
One source for the "big in Japan" variant of this trope is said to be supermodel Naomi Campbell. When asked how her album Babywoman was doing, she said, "Well, it's very big in Japan." She politely declined to say how it was doing in America.
British band The Fixx were huge in the United States in the 80's, but virtually unknown in their home country.
- A similar fate befell their countrymen The Outfield in the same decade.
- And Bush had much the same happen to them in the 90s.
Celtic Woman was a record-breaking smash hit in America. In Ireland... not so much. Seriously every city in the country has a specialist pub or ten where you'd find that stuff every second tuesday.
David Grey was popular in Ireland long before he broke through at home. And by popular I mean White Ladder is the biggest selling album of all time.
Josh Ritter had a huge following in Ireland too several albums ahead of his brekthrough with "The Historical Conquest of".
Spanish band Mägo de Oz, is extremely popular in Costa Rica. During the tour for the realease of their album Gaia 2 La Voz Dormida they had to open a second concert in the country a day earlier
Speak to just about any Australian, and they'll have reactions ranging from mild suprise, to outright incredulousness, that Rolf Harris is hugely popular in the UK.
Swedish Lena-Maria Klingvall, an armless elite athlete and a Christian singer, is far more famous in Japan than in her home country.
California-based rap label Official Bizness isn't really well known in the US, even in their hometown. However, they have a large following in Japan, and most of their mixtapes released there usually sell several thousand more copies than they do here.
Michael Jackson, prior to his death, was much more popular overseas than he was in America due to his few public appearances in the U.S. and bad press surrounding his child molestation charges.
Cheap Trick, while relatively popular in the United States, were met with a frenzy comparable to Beatlemania in Japan.
Former Princes Associates Wendy and Lisa released three albums and a few singles from them between 1987-1990. All of them practically tanked on the US charts but got moderate success on the UK charts.

Being Complete Monster and savage warrior, the god of war Ares is The Scrappy in Classical Mythology. He got much more respect as Mars by the Romans.

The social networking site Friendster, while dead here in North America, still enjoys a big fanbase in Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Philippines, etc.).
- And Orkut, Google's social networking site, became so popular among Brazilians within a year of its launch that the American users fled and a few years later, Orkut headquarters were moved to Brazil. It's one of the most popular websites on the internet but largely unknown in its country of origin where its parent company is a household name.
The lesser meme "Leekspin" has become a major Runet (Russian Internet) meme under the name "Yak tsup tsop" in 2006. Subsequently, the song itself ("Ievan Polkka") and its performers (the Finnish band "Loituma") became extremely popular, too, resulting in fansites, cover-versions, ringtones, etc. Orihime Inoue, who was featured in the original flash animation, became something like a symbol of the whole yak-tsup-tsop craze; and (due to most Russians not knowing who Orihime in fact was) was considered a made-up character and nicknamed "Ieva" (after the song's main heroine). There even were some Rule34 pics of "Ieva" (not Orihime!), Or So I Heard.
- Orihime is sometimes referred to as the "Loituma Girl" as well.
- Similarly, both leekspin and caramelldansen have gone on to be major memes in Japan, with the former leading to Miku Hastune often being drawn holding a leek (something originating from a video of her "performance" of the song. Oh, and this trait has gone so far that Miku successfully hijacked the meme from Orihime), and the latter leading to a wide variety of custom versions of the original caramelldansen gif, which triggered a second, larger wave of popularity in America.
- Refering to the character as "Ieva" is something of a Memetic Mutation, considering her name is Eva.
  - Actually, it's "Eeva". It becomes "Ieva" in Savo dialect, so technically Ieva is correct name.
- Also, the popularity of Caramelldensen in Japan has led some westerners (including LittleKuriboh) to assume that the song is in Japanese. It is actually in Swedish.
You know Uncyclopedia, the parody of The Other Wiki? In the English version, most pages contain a fake quote by Oscar Wilde. In the German version, they instead use fake quotes by... David Hasselhoff. (At least in the past, I heard nowadays it's changing.)

The computer gaming magazine The Games Machine started its existence in November 1987, in England, and was translated in a number of languages, among which Italian. In England it didn't do particularly well and issues stopped after a couple of years. In Italy, on the other hand, it was so well accepted and liked that an Italian editor bought the rights to the magazine and started selling it as an original Italian computer gaming magazine. To this day, The Games Machine is still sold in Italy and is one of the longest-living computer gaming magazines in the world.

In 90s Professional Wrestling, Bret Hart played the Evil Foreigner as a proud Canadian. Naturally, whenever touring up north, the dynamic switched and Hart instantly turned from heel to face.
- This tends to occur to every Canadian wrestler in WWE.
  - Especially noticeable when the wrestler is still attempting to play the heel. If a Canadian wrestler successfully gets a Canadian audience to actually treat him like a heel, he's a really, really, good heel.
  - Basically, this occurred every time Bret Hart wrestled outside the US... just like David Hasselhoff, he was very popular in Germany.
  - To the point where color commentator Jerry "The King" Lawler refers to Canada as "Bizarro World".
- Also goes for wrestler from other countries who are heels in the US but Face in their home countries like Regal (Britain)or Nunzio (Italy). The most notable example is probably the Great Khali, who is presented as a face on Indian broadcasts of WWE programming even when he was a heel.
- Many American wrestlers also become far, far more popular overseas than they ever were in the US — in some cases it's hard to say that this trope applies, because they often spend enough time in another country to be foreign stars rather than American stars; still, it is astonishing how much more popular some wrestlers can be abroad than they were at their American peak. Stan Hansen is the ultimate example; a relatively obscure figure in American wrestling history, but one of the biggest stars in the history of Japanese wrestling. Recently, WWE washouts A-Train and Mark Jindrak have revived their careers in this manner; A-Train became New Japan Pro Wrestling's resident monster Giant Bernard, while Jindrak became Marco Corleone in CMLL.
- MMA is a curious example. In Japan, it's strongly tied to professional wrestling (thanks to the long legacy of Antonio Inoki), promoted as professional wrestling, sometimes features shoot (real) and worked (fake) matches on the same card, and it's no big deal for a "shoot" fighter to "work" a loss to build another star. In the United States, UFC runs like hell from any association with professional wrestling or implications of fixed fights, and current heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar is widely hated in the MMA community for his past history with the WWE.

Considering how Buddhism originated in India, it's certainly found more favour in the lands further East than in its country of origin.
Christianity deserves a mention as well, seeing as how "Never Accepted In His Hometown" was applied quite literally — no thanks to various events in world history.

Baseball is incredibly popular in many parts of the world (most notably the US and Japan), but in its original homeland of Britain (no, really), it is mostly played in schools.
- Who needs baseball when you have cricket?
Curling is a Scottish game, yet anyone who has paid any attention at all to it (even via stereotype) knows that Canada has become the true power and home of the the sport, having dominated international competition for decades.

The Nineties saw Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay as *the* generic RPG in Poland, as opposed to D&D. It is not so nowadays, though, with the appearance of new editions of D&D and new generation of gamers. That is, gaming folk still will recognise it, but it's not as dominant as it was.
- WFR is still considered the generic RPG, some folks even go as far as marking D&D not an RPG.
Thanks to having been for quite a long time among the few foreign RPGs translated and published in great numbers, Call of Cthulhu is quite well-known in Italy together with the aforementioned Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. As with the polish example above, this is mostly true with older gamers nowadays.
Vampire: the Masquerade also had, and largely still has, an enormous popularity in Italy, with several running LARPs and a widespread rejection of the new World of Darkness system in favor of the old game. Since Vampire was the only old WoD game to be translated, this leaves its sister games (Mage, Werewolf et cetera) pretty much unknown.
Privateer Press's Monsterpocalypse sold out world-wide within a week of its release, but nowhere did it sell faster than in Japan.
- Given that it's the country that made Godzilla, Mazinger Z, and Ultraman, it's hardly surprising.

Death of a Salesman, the "greatest American play," is also extremely popular in, of all countries, China. No, not because it's a criticism of capitalism and the American Dream, but because of its intense focus on father-son relationships.
- The Crucible is also popular, especially with the the generation that lived through the Cultural Revolution.
Les Miserables is wildly popular in Japan, with a total of six Japanese-language cast recordings and has been running in Tokyo for over 20 years.
- Lampshaded in the game Final Fantasy VII, where posters of the play 'Loveless' that resemble the iconic Cosette poster are part of the dour backdrops of Midgar.
- There is a doujin fighting game based on Les Miserables. Seriously.
Japan has long been fond of Cirque Du Soleil, dating back to the country-specific tour Fascination in 1992 (an arena-based compilation of acts for Cirque's previous shows Le Cirque Reinvente and Nouvelle Experience). In 2008, it became only the second country outside of the U.S. to get a permanent Cirque show, ZED, at the Tokyo Disneyland resort. This affection even reached anime via the Kaleido Stage.
- This hardly counts... the Cirque Du Soleil was hugely popular in It's home province of Quebec before becoming sucessful elsewhere — the first permanent show was in the US, yes, but that's only a question of market; Celine Dion's only permanent show was in Las Vegas too, but this does not mean she was not popular in Quebec earlier.

Disney in general is very popular in Japan. Even Tokyo Disneyland, the first park to open overseas, was done in the style of the American park, compared to the massive changes made to Disneyland Paris a decade later. Disneyland and Walt Disney World in the US still receive a massive amount of Japanese tourists, who treat the American parks as a sort of "Mecca".

While the Final Fantasy elements of Kingdom Hearts were played up to sell it overseas to traditional RPG fans, the project sprang up as a game starring Mickey Mouse and was always intended to use the Disney elements to appeal to the massive Japanese fanbase that includes adults.
The Metroid series is somewhat popular in Japan, but huge in the U.S. So much so that for Metroid Prime, Nintendo hired an American developer to design the series. This led to a humorous meme that Samus, being blonde and blue-eyed, was 'obviously' an American character. Several of the titles have released in the U.S. before Japan to cater to this fanbase.
- Also Metroid Fusion, universally considered one of the weaker games of the series in America, is apparently rated fairly high among Metroid games in Japan. It seems the Japanese prefer being told where to go next instead of having to wander around looking for a place that can be accessed with the newly gained ability.
- As a testament to this trope, America and Europe are getting Metroid Prime Trilogy, a Compilation Rerelease of the eponymous trilogy with the first two games reworked with Wii Remote controls and the credit system from the third game, while Japan has to settle for the remade first two Prime games as standalone titles as part of their Play it on Wii product line (New Play Control in America).
A very similar example comes in the form of Blaster Master; its Japanese incarnation, Metafight, is all but forgotten. Blaster Master, however, remains a beloved Cult Classic among Western gamers who cut their teeth in the NES era, due to its Metroidvania-style gameplay and amazing soundtrack. So much so, that the direct sequel was produced in the UK (and never sold in Japan), and by the time a Play Station revival was attempted, even Japan got the American version of the story as opposed to the original Metafight one.
Better add The Legend of Zelda onto the list of "Japanese games more well known outside of Japan". The western-style fantasy translates remarkably well, it must be said.
The Advance Wars series also has a considerably larger fanbase in North America and Europe than in its native Japan. This is partly due to the fact that the Japanese version of the original game, Game Boy Wars Advance, wasn't released until three years after its American release along with its sequel due to the unfortunate timing of the 9/11 attacks, allowing the series to develop a larger fanbase overseas during the gap, but even then, the second DS game in the series (Days of Ruin/Dark Conflict) has yet to be released in Japan. This is ironic, considering how long it took Nintendo to release the Wars series outside Japan.
Sonic The Hedgehog is another franchise that has a much bigger reception in the US than in Japan.
- Sonic was designed with American audiences in mind; he is literally Bugs Bunny and Felix the Cat spliced together and painted like an American flag. Even more interestingly is the fact that Sonic is equally huge (if not moreso) in the UK, to the point that people were composing techno soundtracks based on the games, and the fanbase of the Fleetway comics were almost religious-like in their fanaticism towards it.
Jon Talbain from Darkstalkers. Considered rather minor by the Japanese, compared to Morrigan, Demitri, Felicia, Lilith and Anakaris, but has a very large following in America. Needless to say, they are very eager to see Talbain get featured in some crossovers, but the Japanese don't get it.
- The same goes for B B Hood, funnily enough; especially considering what Jon Talbain is.
In Japan Dragon Quest is far more popular than Final Fantasy. In the USA and Europe this is essentially reversed.
- Well, sort of. FF is still highly popular in Japan, while DQ is just a footnote in Western console gaming.
  - DQ is so popular in Japan that Square-Enix will only release new games on the weekends since too many people call in "sick" to work or school otherwise.
This trope is the reason why Choi Bounge from The King Of Fighters who is rather unpopular and reviled (not as much as Bao, but still reviled) everywhere, managed to get into SNK vs. Capcom: Chaos. Why? Because Koreans consider him top-tier character, and love him. More than the in-universe Korean hero Kim Kaphwan (who's also featured there). So they added Choi to cater to the Korean fans.
- Additionally, SNK games were (and probably still are) huge in large portions of Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean, mostly because the old NEO*GEO arcade cabinets could hold multiple games at a time, and the games could be replaced by simply buying a new game and inserting it, rather than buying a whole new cabinet, making these games more economically feasible. In these areas, it's not uncommon for characters like Terry Bogard to be more recognizable than the likes of Mario.
- SNK has not failed to notice this, and has added more Mexican (Angel, Ramon, Tizoc) and Chinese (Lin, Duo Lon) characters to its roster.
- The Neo Geo fighting game version of Double Dragon was a cult success in the Latin American market, especially in Mexico, which is why Evoga produced Rage of the Dragons as a Spiritual Licensee of the series.
Starcraft is insanely popular in Korea. So popular, infact that they have televised Starcraft games. It's been called the national sport of Korea.
- Before Korea got their own servers, the Korean players completely dominated the ladders. Even the cheat-kiddies with their client hacks were afraid to go up against the obsessive Korean players.
- In a similar case, World of Warcraft is one of the most popular games in China. About half of the 10+ million subscribers are from there. A near racist stereotype in the west being that most of those are gold farmers.
  - It's not a completely unjustified stereotype; since there have been numerous investigative reports published about how prevalent this is for a number of MMORPGs is in China and Korea; to the point where it's become a significant industry by itself, with small business organizations running what are effectively sweatshops of players doing nothing but gold and item farming. Many free MMOs are flooded with farmers and spammers so badly they're almost unplayable at times due to the load. Interestingly, the first such business was not based in China or Korea; but in the US.
  - It's also not that people say that all Chinese people who play World Of Warcraft are farming for gold, it's the ones on North American servers. China has its own servers, and the NA servers don't support Chinese characters, so why else would you be using IP proxies to play a game you can play on local servers on ones across an ocean, in a language you probably don't speak?
- This trope is also the reason of why Starcraft II was officially presented in the Olympic Stadium of Seoul by Blizzard themselves.
Castlevania is more popular in the US than in Japan, according to current producer Koji Igarashi, which explains his decision to release Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles and Order of Ecclesia in the US first.
In the US, Dance Dance Revolution is the dancing game to play, but Pump It Up, an extremely similar game that uses diagonal arrows and a center step, is rather explosive in Mexico and South America; go look at any PIU video on YouTube, where more often not the majority of the comments will be in Spanish or Portugese.
- DDR exemplifies this trope in its own right. It never really received a credible release in the US, and just as the imported arcade cabinets were really starting to pick up steam in the US, the series started to become passe in Japan, so Konami nixed it at the peak of its US popularity. To give you an idea of the magnitude of this missed opportunity, some members of the fanbase got together and started producing unofficial conversion kits as a spin-off game called In The Groove in order to fill the void. Predictably, this quickly got sued into oblivion, but it was actually quite a polished effort, and in the meantime it did surprisingly well.
La-Mulana, a game originally released in Japanese only and given an English-language patch later on, seems to get more Western fans than Japanese fans, with much of the popularity being the result of Deceased Crab's 89-video Lets Play of the game.
Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! alledgedly sees more sales in US imports than it did domestically in Japan.
- Inversely, Elite Beat Agents did crazy well in Japan, to the point where it was sold in normal stores rather than as an import.
The Wii games series (Wii Sports, Wii Fit, etc) is much more popular in Japan than the rest of the world, while long running series like Zelda and Metroid (as mentioned above) aren't doing too well there.
- The DS is very popular in Europe and especially Japan while the Wii is making sales records in the USA, mostly because many Japanese and Europeans use public transport where you can waste your time by playing on a handheld and Americans regularly hold house parties.
- The DS isn't a very good example, as it's no slouch here in the states either. Nintendo of America actually delayed the North American DSi release because the DS Lite is still selling like crazy.
Although well received at home in America, the dungeon-crawler RPG series Wizardry was absolutely HUGE in Japan, with over 20 Japanese-made ports (with dramatically enhanced graphics) and original games made, as well as an (average-quality) anime series.
Cheetahmen II, a crappy American game, has one stage song, and it's surprisingly awesome. So awesome, that there are many remixes of it on the video site Nico Nico Douga. Which is a Japanese video site.
- As if this wasn't odd enough, there is a professional DJ in Japan who uses Cheetahmen to loving crowds. It's mind-boggling.
Brazilians can't play many legal videogames (but the illegal stuff is really big!) due to them being in the same import tax bracket as gambling machines (i.e., a massive amount). No small wonder that so many years after its release, Brazilians still are huge fans of Counter Strike.
- Recently, The Man gave a tax raise on GPUs, the kind of thing you need to play recent games on your PC since you can't spend R$ 8999 (US$ 4200 at the time) for a PS 3. How much? After the usual taxes (which already makes you pay 50-150% more), they now add more 50% instead of the previous 2% tax. So, smuggling is big too.
- According to Nixon, so is New Caledonia.
In most major gaming regions, the Nintendo DS outsells the PSP. In the Philippines, however, it's the other way around, due to Sony already having a much bigger fanbase there than Nintendo due to PS1 and PS2 games, which use CDs and DVDs, respectively, and being far easier to pirate than N64 cartridges or GameCube mini-discs (Never mind that Wii modding changed all that for GameCube games with its backwards compatibility), resulting in more affordable (yet pirated) copies which can easily be found and bought. The PSP is in a similar situation, except you pay real money for downloads.
- Same here in Poland. No one there owns a DS, you see kids with PSPs everywhere. Same in case of the PS3: More people own them than Xbox 360s. Ironically, it is easier to pirate for the 360 than the PS3. So why is the PS3 popular? A. Its games are region-free to begin with and B. Microsoft will unleash the banhammer on your 360 for piracy. And you gotta have good luck to find a Wii owner, despite it being by far the easiest (and safest) 7th-gen console to pirate for.
  - Actually, this is true for most second and third world countries. Consoles that can be modified to play pirated games often outsell those that can't, and clones may often outsell the real thing. Due to conditioning by the economical environment, people will often "pick the cheaper option", reasoning that they will end with the same experience anyway. Plus, these countries tend to have very lax laws regarding piracy of console games despite having tight laws for PC software, music and movies due to the lack of an official presence in these countries.
No More Heroes was initially considered a flop because there was zero interest for the game in its home territory of Japan. So much so that many people were surprised to learn that the game was a steady seller in the US and Europe and that a sequel was in production entirely because of the strong overseas sales. The next game will be catered to the overseas market first and is expected to launch there before it does in Japan.
- This may be because the protagonist is an American obsessed with Japanese culture.
  - It's more that in Japan the Wii and No More Heroes are sold to completely different people. This is not true in America and Europe where Nintendo has attempted to put out more games for hardcore gamers (Manhunt 2), and Mad World . This is best shown in the amount of gore in the different versions. The American version is heavily gory with decapations while the Japanese version had the gore removed. It's the opposite of what it was in the 90's.
Dynasty Warriors is surprising popular in the UK, with a very active fan community.
Despite the heavy editing it goes through in order to be legal for sale there, the Command And Conquer series enjoys extreme popularity in Germany, so much so that EA's official webcast is given airing on cable television. Coincidentally, guess which actor has a cameo in Red Alert 3. C'mon, guess.
A similar case could be made for the Golden Sun series, although that's more because of a dedicated Fanbase.
- Point in case: The news for the upcoming Golden Sun DS first released in Nintendo's E3 2009 Conference. And as told by the E3 Report in Camelot Software Planning's Website, CEO Hiroyuki Takahashi commented a bit on how well the previous games did overseas and his wish for the game to be as sucessful with the Japanese Fanbase before going on his surprise with the in-conference and web-coverage reactions.
The Sega Master System wasn't really much of a success in its homeland of Japan nor in the United States due to Nintendo's dominance in sales in those two countries. It was highly successful in Europe and even more so in Brazil, where it's still supported today.
It's rare to have a Brazilian character in fiction, much less in Video Games, but when it happens, Brazilian gamers usually share their love with it. Examples are Christie Monteiro of Tekken fame, and Godot/Diego Armando from the Ace Attorney series, who Word Of God states being Brazilian. The one that started it all, Street Fighter's Blanka however, is hated by them for being a grunting monster while Americans had characters like Ken and Guile.
- Blasphemy! I can garantee that the brazilian gamers love Blanka (even if mostly for the X Ray Sparks only he can make)!
  - Brazilians Love Blanka could very well be a trope, because we love him, despite (perhaps because of), his offensive portrait of our country!
- On a similar manner, Taurus Aldebaran (who is brazilian) is the Butt Monkey of Saint Seiya's brazilian fandom. He is almost universally regarded as the weakest Gold Saint and very much a boring character, but fans just love to make fun of him, to the point that no one hates him truly, just loves to pretend they do.
- The stereotype of Brazilizn gamers themselves however, is much less flattering◊ than Blanka could ever hope to be. Granted, this is courtesy of 4chan. The stereotype might be completely different in the human world.
"Love" may be a bit of stretch to call it, but the Polish press were generally the only people that were kind to American McGee's So Bad Its Horrible Bay Day L.A.
In Disgaea, Pleinair, Asagi, and female archers have a huge fandom in Japan. Raspberyl is the most popular main character of the third game in Japan. Champloo is also more popular in Japan than in America. Sapphire seems to be one the most popular main characters in America. Also since the Affectionate Parody is more spot on in America, Captain Gordon, DEFENDER OF EARTH!! sees more fanbase in America than Japan (he considerably has less fanarts than Laharl, Etna, Flonne, Mid Boss...)
- Is she really? I know that Sapphire gets a lot more love in America, especially here on TV Tropes, but not so much so that she ends up being the most popular character of the third game. Also, an old Japanese poll for the original Disgaea rated Gordon as the 10th most popular, being beaten by Prism Red at 9th and Kurtis at 8th.
Mad World is about as extreme an example of this as you can get, because the game will be released months after its initial Western release in the developers' native Japan because of its graphic violence.
Battle City became popular due to famiclones (bootlegged NES consoles) in places where it was never officially released, especially in Eastern Europe.
Russians really love Civilization. Just one of many sites.
While Sim City is slowly being forgotten in America, it's been a huge hit in Canada and Europe. In fact, most of the biggest and impressive fan-sites are Canadian.
This extends to platforms as well: In the US and japan most consoles routinely outsell PC-games, while in Sweden PC gaming remains the largest platform.
Dungeon Master, first released in 1987, was very successful and enjoyed several ports and translations. Japan, however, seems to have adopted the series while the West gradually forgot it. A remixed, lighter version called Theron's Quest was released for the PC Engine; the official sequel was released in Japan first, and only much later in the West; and the last official episode of the series, Dungeon Master Nexus, is a Sega Saturn game that never left Japan.
Kinzo Ushiromiya of Umineko No Naku Koro Ni isn't all that popular in Japan (according to the character polls), but, thanks to massive Memetic Mutation (helped along by "OH DESIRE") In America, he's become pretty popular in the states.

Kim Possible is huge in Germany. Fans on that side of the globe staged a hissy fit that director Steve Loter claimed is what really got the series renewed. Germany is also the only country were the full series is available on DVD.
While considered a classic by many, the Academy Award winning short Ferdinand the Bull is starting to fade into obscurity in America as it hasn't been aired for a very long time. In Sweden, it seems to be a long standing tradition to air Ferdinand every Christmas Eve along with the above mentioned From All of Us to All of You.
The Simpsons is as popular in Latin American countries as Dragon Ball is (especially in Mexico, trust me). Funny thing is that this show aired in the same time slot as DBZ did in another channel, so "Homero" Simpson gave it a little shout-out in "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo." And just like Dragon Ball, it's still more popular than any other cartoon like it, for example Family Guy (known locally as "Padre de Familia").
- Just to prove the longevity of their popularity in Mexico, one of the most popular vids there is "Homero Vs Vegeta".
- And the AWESOMENESS of the dubs of BOTH SERIES!
- Lisa Simpson is apparently the most popular main cast member in Japan. Considering that she's a studious and intelligent Buddhist, this isn't too surprising.
Yin Yang Yo!, Pucca and The Replacements are all extremely popular in Colombia. (As are several other shows on Jetix...)
In Brazil, Dungeons & Dragons (known there as The Dragon's Cave) was absurdly popular, it even got some reruns during the 2000's. A local movie magazine was always upset at receiving letters asking about a film adaptation of the cartoon, at a certain point replying to one with "it was only popular here!"
Danny Phantom has a very large Latino following and some fans prefer the Spanish dub for season 3. Why? Do you even need to ask?
The low-budget Canadian cartoon Kevin Spencer is surprisingly popular in Spanish-speaking countries, to the point where you can find more Spanish dubs on You Tube than the original English versions.
Transformers is half an example — it's far more popular in America than in Japan, despite the robot designs being Japanese, while the names and story was made in America. This may be because the Japanese see sentient robots without pilots as "kiddy" (and the franchise is marketed to small children in Japan). Indeed, Japanese-only series tend to feature people piloting the Transformers (Transformers Headmasters and Kiss Players). It's also very popular in China, due to the first generation (heh, generation one) of children born under the "one child per family" law watching television on a massive scale. The people who watched the 2007 movie weren't children, but adults who watched as children back in the 1990s.
- Michael Bay mentions in the DVD Commentary that when he screened the movie for Japanese producers, they went "Oooh". He doesn't mention this (and may not know), but considering that Transformers is mostly marketed to children in Japan, seeing the edgier movie may have been somewhat of a shock.
- It goes the other way, too. Not only is Transformers not taken seriously in Japan, but because of the silliness & occasional percieved perversion & sexism of the series' Japanese installments, the Transformers fanbase in the English-speaking world has turned into a veritable breeding-ground for Anti-Japanese sentiment.
Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi: An Americanization of Japanese pop stars has a Spanish dub that is incredibly popular. In fact it is easier to find online videos of the Spanish dub than of the English or Japanese versions.
- And the Japanese consider those two singers foreigners for all intents and purposes, strengthening this example of the trope.
Extreme Ghostbusters has enough populrity in Europe that it has a few video game adaptations...
The Hanna-Barbera cartoon Wacky Races is apparently popular in Japan, with some anime series making reference to or parodying the show. Wacky Races is apparently also popular in the United Kingdom, judging from Google searching turning up various British sites making use of the term "wacky races" or referencing the cartoon itself... then there's this: http://carscoop.blogspot.com/2009/06/wacky-race-cartoon-cars-come-to-life-in.html
Strawberry Shortcake. Big in the US, humongous in Latin America, Europe, South Africa and South-East Asia. It's so huge in these areas that in Europe, there are actually additional games for the franchise released that are unreleased in the US. In Latin America, words introduced by the series entered mainstream usage, and they even created a live action extension to the cartoon series. And in these countries, the 2003/2007 cartoons are aired several times a day, and special episodes are aired as two parters. In the US, the 2003 specials episodes are edited into a single 30 minute episode, throwing out many subplots of the show, and the 2007 cartoons have yet to air in the US, releasing only direct-to-DVD releases. And oh, in The Philippines and South Africa, episodes that have yet to be released on DV Ds in the US are already released over there.
Ovide is considered somewhat of a cult classic in the Netherlands. May have something to do with the thoroughly Woolseyed theme song.
Top Cat ("Don Gato") was hugely popular in Latin America since the sixties while in the US was a relative failure.

Mikhail Gorbachev is thought of in Western nations as a well respected statesmen who ended the Soviet Union. The Russian population has quite a different opinion of the man, seeing him as a weak leader who kept giving the West concessions, ended Russia as a superpower and those who are nostalgic for Communism positively HATE him.
- Oh really? Then explain this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew9YQVRSlHE
  - Well, this is just a humorous video clip made in a genre the Russians call "styob" (which can be roughly translated as "laughing mercilessly at everything"). I don't think it should be taken literally, as some kind of political statement. Gorby isn't so much hated in Russia as he is merely despised as a pathetic, foolish and ineffectual leader. When Yeltsin's popularity was seriously falling, Gorbachev decided to be reelected as President; he entered the Presidential elections... and got something like 0,1% votes. Well, during his rule the guy thought he could solve problems inherent in the Soviet system by talking much about them, defeat alcoholism by banning any kind of alcohol altogether, or eliminate failures in Soviet foreign policy by... well, just eliminating the Soviet foreign policy. I think the respect he gets in the West can be explained by the following example. Imagine a big angry dog which you're afraid would bite you. And then its new owner decides to just pluck out its teeth. Good for you; not so good for the dog.
Toyota no longer sells the Hilux/Tacoma pickup in Japan; it has a small cult following among customizers but the commercial fleet buyers who actually buy trucks new prefer cheaper, nimbler 660cc keitorakku.
- This preference against big-name pickup trucks was made painfully apparent to Japanese Transformers fans during the production of the franchise's Binaltech line; Takara refused to front the money to allow their American counterpart Hasbro make a Dodge Ram figure for the line unless they made it into a truly iconic and favorable character, fearing it wouldn't sell otherwise. Hasbro eventually gave in, and Binaltech Convoy (Optimus Prime) was created.
- The Tacoma is quite popular among truck owners in Washington State, as there is a city named Tacoma. The city itself? Not so popular.
Judging from Code Geass and Darker Than Black, a potential alternate title for this article might be Japanese Love Pizza Hut.
- They also have a major fixation with KFC, however.
  - This is true of a lot of Eastern and Southeast Asia, where dishes like chicken rice and squid rings eventually made it on the menu.
- I believe the Japanese celebrate Christmas with a visit to KFC for the traditional yuletide meal of fried chicken.
  - Probably has more to do with said companies chipping in with the animation budget...
US president Rutherford B. Hayes is a national hero in Paraguay despite being rather obscure and unremarkable in American history. He served as an arbitrator after the War of the Triple Alliance in South America that had pitted Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay against Paraguay. Hayes ruling in favor of Paraguay forever immortalized him in the country's history as their savior. He has a city (Villa Hayes) and a department (Presidente Hayes) named after him, as well as many schools, roads, and even a soccer team.
- I would hardly classify the circumstances of Hayes' election, including the end of Reconstruction, as "unremarkable."
  - Few people know what those circumstances are... So Yeah.
The Commodore Amiga series sold much better overseas than in the U.S., mainly due to its lower price tag in comparison to Macs and PCs at the time.
Steve Irwin seems to have been somewhat popular outside of Australia. Quite a few of us always thought he was a dickhead.

In John Ostrander's Martian Manhunter, it was revealed that J'onn is the most recognized superhero in the southern hemisphere and in Japan.

Played literally in Dodgeball. The German team's lucky charm of sorts is a photo David Hasselhoff, and after they are defeated they are bawled out by the man himself.
Parodied in Tropic Thunder: Film Within a Film Simple Jack was a total disaster in the US, but the Asian drug cartel the protagonists run into loved it.

In an episode of Slings and Arrows, Jack, an American movie actor playing Hamlet in a Canadian theatre festival, gets mobbed by Japanese tourists as he exits a showing of a movie he's in. He remarks to the girl he's with, an apprentice in the theatre company, "I'm huge in Japan."
Entourage made use of this trope in-universe, when Vinnie Chase starts to run out of money, prior to being cast as Aquaman (which would go on to be the highest-grossing film of all time). He's only done a couple of small films at this point, but still garners some ungodly sum of money to do a commercial in Japan, because they love him there.
In one episode of Full House, Fake Band leader Jesse got "big in Japan". He was eventually forced to make a Friend Or Idol Decision on whether or not to leave his family behind and go on a pan-Asian tour.

Usually, Luigi of the Super Mario Brothers is living in the shadow of his VERY famous brother Mario in the Mushroom Kingdom... but as Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door demonstrates, in Rogueport, a province of the Kingdom, it seems to be just the other way around: Due to a very high-selling book about Luigi, he's the popular guy over there, while nobody but a sassy University Student seems to know Mario. In fact, one person per chapter can't manage to get Mario's name right.
In one episode of Telltale's Sam and Max series of episodic games our heroes are cast as the stars of a TV show called Midtown Cowboys, which in a later episode proves to be insanely popular in Germany despite being cancelled right after the first episode in the U.S.

Strong Bad references this phenomenon in his email website, where he says "Who knows? Maybe tomorrow you'll be really big in Pakistan."
- Or at least with some guy named Stan.

In the DCAU, Super Girl has considerable popularity in Japan.
Lisa Simpson has a ridiculously detailed plan for being a famous jazz musician one day, which includes being ignored in her own country but very popular in France.

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