Intended Audience age questions.

[Dynaman]

I've been wondering what the expected audience age was for animated shows in Japan. It's hard to guess from the content of the original shows since I'm hardly familiar with what passes for acceptable for children's viewing over there. (I'm a little better off then the average US citizen, but not by much)

I'm guessing that Macross was originally intended for a young teenage male audience, but it had a major crossover to mainstream.

So, does anyone know what age bracket all the following were intended for?

Yamato series 1

Farewell to Yamato movie

Mobile Suit Gundam

Macross series

DYRL

Macross Plus (the subject matter in this would have made it a possible R movie in the US, PG-13 certainly)

Macross 7 (hard one to pin down, partly since I just didn't get it personally, looks like the young male teenage audience again)

Macross zero (I don't even have a guess here)

Macross Frontier (I heard it was on later at night in Japan, but at least one episode seemed to be geared more toward a teenage audience)

[wolfx]

I've been wondering what the expected audience age was for animated shows in Japan. It's hard to guess from the content of the original shows since I'm hardly familiar with what passes for acceptable for children's viewing over there. (I'm a little better off then the average US citizen, but not by much)

I'm guessing that Macross was originally intended for a young teenage male audience, but it had a major crossover to mainstream.

So, does anyone know what age bracket all the following were intended for?

Yamato series 1

Farewell to Yamato movie

Mobile Suit Gundam

Macross series

DYRL

Macross Plus (the subject matter in this would have made it a possible R movie in the US, PG-13 certainly)

Macross 7 (hard one to pin down, partly since I just didn't get it personally, looks like the young male teenage audience again)

Macross zero (I don't even have a guess here)

Macross Frontier (I heard it was on later at night in Japan, but at least one episode seemed to be geared more toward a teenage audience)

Was macross ever mainstream?

But generally yeah, Gundam and Macross (to some extent), was targetted at kids to teenagers back then due to their major tie-ins with toy companies. Nowadays they try to capture both the old fans and new ones as well. And old anime being old, was still in the era when anime was made targetted to kids so there really wasn't anime targetted to adults back then , despite some of them having adult themes.

As for the newer series of Macross post Macross 7, i'd say they were targetted at the teenage to adult (old fans) range. The formatting for Macross Plus/Zero/Frontier and how they are presented (OVAs, late night airings) is an obvious indicator.

[Bri]

Don't think there was much of an adult audience in the years Macross, Yamato and Mobile Suit Gundam originally aired. As far as I know adults watching anime has only recently become accepted in Japan. Manga was ok but it was uncommon for anyone past their twenties to watch anime.

The whole late night/OVA market puzzles me aswell. Seems 00.00 to 02.00am is prime time for anime in Japan. Wonder if people just tape it during weekdays or if the fanbase is more diehard.

[sketchley]

I've been wondering what the expected audience age was for animated shows in Japan. It's hard to guess from the content of the original shows since I'm hardly familiar with what passes for acceptable for children's viewing over there. (I'm a little better off then the average US citizen, but not by much)

Macross, in all it's incarnets, was never a children's show. The timeslot of Macross F also speaks volumes (1:25 to 1:55 AM).

If you want kid shows, check out the prime time ones:

Sazae-san (Ongoing from 1969.10.05. Yes, 1969.)

Boy Detective Conan (Ongoing from 1996.01.02)

One Piece (Ongoing from 1999.10.20)

Yatterman (1977.01.01 to 1979.01.27; retelling ongoing from 2008.01.14)

Sure, there's Gundam, but the above 3 get much, much, much more exposure.

There's also NHK. My son loves:

Senzai Zamurai (ongoing from 2006.04.03)

These anime (and there are literally only 1 or 2 more) are readily and freely available (ie one doesn't need to stay up late at night or have to pay for cable/pay-TV in order to see them). They are all good examples of what children are watching.

EDIT: forgot to add (and it pretty much goes without saying): Anpanman, Hello Kitty, and import shows, such as Thomas the Tank Engine.

Edited February 15, 2009 by sketchley

[Wes]

Hey now, Conan's like CSI, only half as long and animated. But with there being a dead body every episode I don't see it going for young kids.

[azrael]

Macross, Gundam, any many shows that sketchley didn't list probably fall in the category of "Ages 11 and older" or PG/PG-13 or TV-Y7-FV/TV-PG. Most elementary school kids usually don't stay up into late-night timeslots. That's for older kids and adults. Gundam is basically a 25-minute toy commercial with a story and it's predecessor in the same timeslot, Code Geass, is a little more story than most young viewers can absorb.