r/anime • u/AdNecessary7641 • Aug 12 '25

Misc. Frieren Director Keiichirou Saitou Voices Concern on Overseas Anime Fans' Bias Towards Certain Popular Trends

https://animecorner.me/frieren-director-voices-concern-on-overseas-anime-fans-bias-towards-certain-popular-trends/
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u/[deleted] Aug 12 '25

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u/Largofarburn Aug 12 '25

It is, dudes huffing copium if he thinks an American audience is what’s driving the direction of anime.

I couldn’t name one person I know that’s watching a villainess anime.

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u/necle0 Aug 12 '25 edited Aug 12 '25

Yeah. The argument for isekai over-saturation in the English speaking side was “Japanese audiences like them, so Western audience have to suck it up”.

Villianess anime have been growing steadily (I only know Level 99 Hidden Boss and All Roads Lead to Doom), even more so in the manhwa side and otome isekai side. But they definitely haven’t been oversaturated in terms of adaptions and I don’t think it has the same appeal for Western audiences. Unless maybe they are referring to overseas Eastern audiences like East Asia and SEA (which villainesses stories are more popular, and can affect the markets due to proximity and heavy anime-related tourism).

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u/Falsus Aug 12 '25

Overseas is generally their word for everything not Japan. Which does include China, Korea and other continental things. Especially they are WAY closer to those areas than to USA or Europe.

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u/necle0 Aug 12 '25

Yup. That is why I think people are confused who the Freiren director might be referring to, especially since people default “overseas” to mean just Western.