Best Wishes ratings in Japan

[Almonds]

I'm not really surprised with the ratings that changed from OS to Best Wishes. Like some people said here, back in 1997 the TV was the only way to watch and catch up with the Pokemon episodes, so every kid who's interested would've HAD to use the TV. And as time goes by the media developed. For now, there would be more people watching BW on the Internet than the TV. I mean, if you want to watch it on TV you have to sit on the sofa and turn on the channel right when it airs, but using the Internet you can watch whenever you want. Which is preferrable? The latter.

Also, about BW's ratings dropping? Well, to me, it doesn't seem like a big decline, but yeah - a lot of people would've expected Team Plasma to appear. Even though the anime is targeted to young kids, there are still older fans who play the games and watch the anime as well. But the TR vs TP episode being put off indefinitely, it would've been a big disappoint because many would've been looking forward to it. Not using TP in the anime episodes had been rather a big mistake to me - because to many, this is the Unova arc where the plot is based on BW. TR isn't really supposed to be the main villain here.

 

[SSJ_Jup81]

Then how do you explain the other shows also having lower ratings over time? I mentioned Detective Conan. Its ratings have dropped over the years, but it still remains one of the most popular series here and most watched in the top 10 list practically every week (unless they show a remastered ep usually). Can't really say the day had much to do with it, because it seemed to be in the top 10 when the show used to originally air on Monday nights too...so yeah.

For every show its expected to have ratings decline as time goes on, but when anime has sudden drop in ratings than reason behind this lies in drop of people interest.

Or there are less people around to watch TV.

Its no secret that writers poor decisions and reckless moves already caused drop in ratings and displeasure among audience in past trying to fix mistakes.
BW series in 2012 in general had unusually low ratings declining pretty fast compared to 2010/2011, which had decent percentage.

Still probably just less people watching TV in a general sense.

I remember same argument being used at one point in DP, but regardless of it Sinnoh still had generally better viewing figures than Unova did.
There are many factors which are needed to be taken in consideration behind drop of viewers, and i don't think "obligations kids might have" is only reason behind this.

Um, you'd be surprised at how much responsibility kids have over here, especially the JHS and HS kids. As far as their age groups go, it wouldn't surprise me at all if the shows aimed at their age groups (if it airs early) would be missed by them, because they'd usually be in school for some reason or another (usually mandatory club activities).

I kinda disagree with this. I feel that the ratings have gone down because there are less kids around to watch television compared to maybe 10+ years ago. As it's been constantly pointed out, Pokemon is a pure kids show. It's aimed at kids. Even its time slot shows that. Which set of kids would usually be home at 7:00 in the evening? Elementary and kindergarten kids. Who wouldn't generally have a bunch of school responsibilities, mandatory club activities, or juku to go to (which can run as late as 10 at night?). Elementary and kindergarten kids. Who usually have to worry about club activities, entrance exams, juku, working, etc., (junior-high kids, high-school kids, university students, and adults).

There are less Japanese having kids now. There have been schools closed in a few areas due to the fact that they didn't have enough kids to fill them. Of course there are different reasons as to why some don't have as many kids anymore (I chalk it up to lack of privacy [kids share the rooms with their parents in most cases] and economic reasons), but if the target audience is growing smaller, is it no surprise that the ratings for not only Pokemon, but most of these series are low?

If that was case, logic dictates how ratings would than stay more or less through whole BW show, but they really weren't. Also how to explain sudden increase in ratings whenever writers hype things up with older character return and new game features, starting with BW2 promotion rather early trying to regain people interest back and attract more of them toward show?

Who knows, but Pokemon isn't the only series to do that kind of thing and have more viewers. I'm pretty sure that when a BO plot is used for its anime, the DC ratings go up.

As for the promo stuff, I wouldn't have known it was early. I don't really pay attention to that type of stuff.

If today kids are busy not having time for TV,

Which I never said. I said that the JHS and HS kids are the ones that'd probably be too busy to bother watching the show or either not home or just arriving home, because of school responsibilities. If it's a sports tourney time, especially, some sports clubs could END at about 7:00. Doesn't matter much anyway, because the show is aimed at Kindergarten kids and elementary school kids. Getting down to it, and this is just my personal experience, I don't think I've ever come across anyone outside of the kindergarten or elementary school kids who actually watched Pokemon...playing the games, yeah, the show, no.

Less kids watching TV nowadays is only partial reason...

Not sure if I'm misinterpreting, but that's not really what I meant. There are less kids around to watch it because of the steadily declining birthrate, which isn't a recent thing.

Oh, I also partially disagree with the technology part (as far as kids are concerned) due to the fact that I doubt many kids would be using the Internet to begin with. I'd go with, "They're playing more video games" as a reason as opposed to, "They're playing on the Internet."

That may have been rule back in day, but with constant development of new technologies with new products coming out today kids definitely have access to internet much more than they used to have 10 to 15 years ago. In Europe and USA nowadays plenty of kids are using computer and internet, and seeing how Japan is known for releases of technologies with youngsters ad kids being anything but unfamiliar with it i highly doubt that kids aren't using internet at all.

Times changed.

Once again, it's very uncommon for elementary school kids to use computers in the home. Same goes for older kids too. Of course there are some who do.

The main source of "internet" pretty much used by a big chunk of the population is through their keitai (mobile phones). Some families don't even bother or use home computers outside of work or school. Depending on the school though, even using computers in them isn't really a priority. I know this may sound surprising, given that the country is Japan which is known for its technological stuff, but in that regard, it does seem to be a rarity for young kids to be on the computer. Also, internet isn't all that great in some parts either.

p.s. In other news i disagree with those which say how character replacing is "best thing this show does helping ratings",and argument how this ensures that everyone find someone to relate to doesn't hold any water, when plenty anime don't replace cast with people remaining interested . If anything its rather counterproductive disappointing viewers after they grew attached to someone instead of doing new things and continuation with good number of people over the years abandoning pokemon because of this. Fact that return of older favorite brings more hype than new character does with ratings usually being boosted up says a lot too.

But ill leave further thoughts on this for some other day.

Dunno. Might just depend on the actual character in question, but getting down to the fact that all the Pokemon series are shown on a daily basis (original series should be coming on in a half hour, ironically), it's not like the kids aren't used to it. They have easy access to all the previous series.

 

[pokemon fan 132]

Or there are less people around to watch TV.

I never denied how this might be one of reasons, but i don't think its only one. There are several other factors which are needed to be took in account with disinterest among viewers being possibly one of reasons behind decline too. If customers aren't satisfied with products, sales will start to drop with company losing money. Same goes for TV show, if viewers are disappointed with current quality of writing and changes writers made to anime they will start to lose interest drifting away from it, which will pull with itself drop in ratings.

This definitely wouldn't be first time that ratings dropped in pokemon because of people not being satisfied with show writing.

Um, you'd be surprised at how much responsibility kids have over here, especially the JHS and HS kids. As far as their age groups go, it wouldn't surprise me at all if the shows aimed at their age groups (if it airs early) would be missed by them, because they'd usually be in school for some reason or another (usually mandatory club activities).

If amount of chores was only reason, than how to explain fact that pokemon used to watch a lot higher number of viewers? Not only during Original series when hype was highest, but also during AG and DP era?

Everyone can notice that BW is doing rather bad when it comes to ratings not being even shadow of its former self in that regard and i still stand by what i said. If less kids watching TV nowadays was only reason behind drop in ratings in Unova, ratings would be more or less same during whole BW. But they aren't with BW series in 2012 having lowest number of viewers so far with percentage between 2.2 and 3.7 speaking for itself.

Who knows, but Pokemon isn't the only series to do that kind of thing and have more viewers. I'm pretty sure that when a BO plot is used for its anime, the DC ratings go up.

As for the promo stuff, I wouldn't have known it was early. I don't really pay attention to that type of stuff.

I believe answer is obvious. Ratings go up when older character returns or new features are introduced because of hype and excitement they create among people attracting more of viewers toward show. They also go up when quality of writing improves and anime becomes again appealing to wider group of people.

Which leads me to believe how writers on purpose changed writing style in BW increasing continuity with extra long stay of Dawn which is shaping to have rival like role,return of hugely popular Piplup(in Japan), return of Cynthia and promotion of world tournament etc trying to regain viewers interest and bring more of them to watch series.

That's likely reason why they started promotion two weeks earlier than expected,with increase of ratings in Homika episodes and onwards showing how they did wise and right move in maintaining viewers interest.

Getting down to it, and this is just my personal experience, I don't think I've ever come across anyone outside of the kindergarten or elementary school kids who actually watched Pokemon...playing the games, yeah, the show, no.

Which could be because they are displeased with quality of writing(which is rather poor imo) this show has.

Once again, it's very uncommon for elementary school kids to use computers in the home. Same goes for older kids too. Of course there are some who do.

The main source of "internet" pretty much used by a big chunk of the population is through their keitai (mobile phones). Some families don't even bother or use home computers outside of work or school. Depending on the school though, even using computers in them isn't really a priority. I know this may sound surprising, given that the country is Japan which is known for its technological stuff, but in that regard, it does seem to be a rarity for young kids to be on the computer. Also, internet isn't all that great in some parts either.

But can we know for sure how this applies to majority over there? Computer or laptop isn't the only way to get access to internet. There are all kind of other gadgets which allow access to internet, such as mobile phones, tablet pc, i-pad etc, and im not sure if we can base general situation only on people in our area.

Dunno. Might just depend on the actual character in question, but getting down to the fact that all the Pokemon series are shown on a daily basis (original series should be coming on in a half hour, ironically), it's not like the kids aren't used to it. They have easy access to all the previous series.

Whether they are used to it or not is not real issue in here though, but more fact that such formula takes away from anime continuity and stability of main cast ending up with ton of halfway unfinished characters . With each passing region number of disappointed fans increases disliking "rinse and repeat" approach wanting to see continuation of someone story and not reset with new one, finding pointless to invest in characters and like them if they are leaving soon anyway never to be seen afterwards. I can say from personal experience how this played role for good portion of fandom over the years deciding to quit watching anime.

p.s. I noticed we started to go in circles, so perhaps wisest move would be to end this discussion. Like i said kids having more obligations is perhaps one of factors and im not trying to disprove it entirely; but judging by complaints, sudden change of approach writers took toward show lately and past when people disinterest caused viewing figures decline, one of factors behind low Unova ratings can and likely is viewers disappointment as well.

We can't generalize things and put blame only on one reason, because in most cases multiple factors play role behind rating decline in TV industry.

 

[Adil]

Reminder: From now on, the ratings will be posted in the episodes' respective review threads.

PS: I am not sure why URL linking is not working properly, so I have used a URL shortener.