How come Dr. Slump the Anime Series wasn't successful anywhere than Japan?

[SuperCyan2]

Sometimes some series are a commercial success in some countries but not others, like, Doraemon and Shin-chan these two are extremely popular in Spain and Portugal and to this day each new episode continues to be dubbed and Shin-chan even had a special episode dedicated to Spain but Dr. Slump.. There's barely anything around the world.

Spain - Had a few releases on VHS and even a new DVD with a new dub but it was cancelled due to being a financial failure.
France - A DVD release though that seems to have been cancelled and a Blu-ray release currently ongoing, hopefully they won't tank that.
UK - Nothing
Portugal - Nothing
Italy - Nothing
Brazil - Think the original show was dubbed but don't know much more.
Mexico - The 'New Dr. Slump' series was dubbed as far as I'm aware but don't think it ever got an official DVD release.
United States - The Movies 1-5 and that was it.
Germany - A DVD named 'Vol. 2' with episodes of 'New Dr. Slump'.

Technically speaking, I guess you could say all these countries did dub Dr. Slump when you take into account Dr. Slump in Dragon Ball but yeah. The Dr. Slump franchise really needs some love.

Dr. Slump was never given a proper chance.

[TheRed259]

ANT1 in Greece aired almost 60 episodes of Dr. Slump dubbed in Greek.

[SuperCyan2]

ANT1 in Greece aired almost 60 episodes of Dr. Slump dubbed in Greek.

Lucky. Spain only dubbed about 30-40 tops.

[superrayman3]

I can't speak for other countries, but here in the U.S. the problem primarily boils down to the fact that no anime distributors were/are willing to actually give the series an honest chance (to date Discotek has been the ONLY U.S. company that has ever been willing to really give it a chance and officially released anything related to the Dr. Slump anime in the 30+ years the anime has been out, that right there should tell you how little faith U.S. anime distributors have in the series, the only other attempt made was the first episode dubbed by Harmony Gold as a potential pilot back in the 80's but that was never officially aired or released so it doesn't really count imo).

[ShinkenRed]

I may be wrong but I remember hearing that the first series was very successful in Catalonia, Spain.

[floofychan333]

Dr Slump's issue is that it came way before the dub era. Of course, it was likely available in the fansub tape era, but that period of anime fandom history seems to be overshadowed and I'm not aware if Dr Slump was popular with that generation. Anyway, Dr Slump didn't really become super popular (at least not to Dragon Ball's magnitude) and nobody picked up the 1997 reboot, so it got overshadowed. Now, it's too old and whacked for anyone in North America to realistically pick it up (unless it was a bunch of guys with a license or whatever backed by GoFundMe or something).
Also, I'm glad Shin-chan was successful in Spain and Portugal. It's dead in the English-speaking world and IMO the FUNimation dub of it is a lost treasure. Too bad it got cancelled.

[doomydoomydoom]

Probably it's related to the fact that Dr. Slump is more episodic in nature, Japanese-centric, filled with blue humor and alcohol and tobacco use while still being aimed at kids, etc., which would have posed serious censorship problems for the likes of Harmony Gold, and also there's the fact that the series is quite dated in both tone and art style. By the time Toriyama became known as a manga artist in Western countries Dr. Slump was already very old and completely different from DBZ which is what we know him from. Could also be down to the plain old fact that anime distributors in Western countries genuinely don't have faith in the property.

I think that's very interesting that Shin-chan had an entire episode dedicated to Spain for the Spanish fanbase.

[ZeroNeonix]

During that time in North America, if an anime wasn't action packed, it wasn't going to get a dub. Dubs during this time took a few more liberties in order to try to make it more palpable for Western kids, and they wouldn't have known what to do with Toriyama's weird sense of humor, especially considering how Japan had very different standards for what constituted as child friendly. I mean, Jesus. Imagine if Z hadn't changed Mr. Satan's name to Hercule; parents would have been in an uproar. It's the same reason most fans got into the Dragon Ball series with Z, and the original Dragon Ball never really caught on. It had the benefit of being full of action, but it was full of lewd content, like when Bulma flashed Master Roshi after Goku removed her panties to look for her balls. That stuff just didn't fly here. lol

[KBABZ]

it was full of lewd content, like when Bulma flashed Master Roshi after Goku removed her panties to look for her balls. That stuff just didn't fly here. lol

I think the early arcs are guilty of this, especially the very first one, but it mellowed out over time (as long as Master Roshi wasn't around).

[Nyoibo]

In Italy the manga was published in 28 volumes, and all episodes of the anime were dubbed. Three of the movies were also released.

[SuperCyan2]

I may be wrong but I remember hearing that the first series was very successful in Catalonia, Spain.

Oh, that's entirely possible but I didn't really consider the Catalonian or Galician sides because Spain normally refers to the Spaniard part, that is, the Castillan. Catalonia and Galicia are more like mini-countries within Spain.

In Italy the manga was published in 28 volumes, and all episodes of the anime were dubbed. Three of the movies were also released.

Neato! I didn't find any info on Amazon Italy so I take it that was either TV-only or VHS.

[Nyoibo]

Neato! I didn't find any info on Amazon Italy so I take it that was either TV-only or VHS.

Yep, it has been on TV - on and off on different channels - since at least the late 80s. It is one of the staple series that has frequent reruns alongside Dragon Ball and Doraemon.

[tinlunlau]

Pretty sure it was dubbed for the Hong Kong viewers. I have vivid memories of the late great Anita Mui singing the theme song in Cantonese. You Westerners remember her from Jackie Chan's Drunken Master 2 and Rumble in the Bronx.

[SuperCyan2]

Yep, it has been on TV - on and off on different channels - since at least the late 80s. It is one of the staple series that has frequent reruns alongside Dragon Ball and Doraemon.

A pity it was never given a DVD release.

Pretty sure it was dubbed for the Hong Kong viewers. I have vivid memories of the late great Anita Mui singing the theme song in Cantonese. You Westerners remember her from Jackie Chan's Drunken Master 2 and Rumble in the Bronx.

I'm a Westerner but haven't seen those flicks.

[DBZAOTA482]

Gag-driven anime in general aren't popular or successful outside Japan since they require a lot of familiarity with the native culture. Dr. Slump only gets by slightly because of Dragon Ball.

[SuperCyan2]

Gag-driven anime in general aren't popular or successful outside Japan since they require a lot of familiarity with the native culture. Dr. Slump only gets by slightly because of Dragon Ball.

The Spanish dub cracked me up a lot and was all around excellent but I guess very little people bought it as they cancelled any future releases.

[doomydoomydoom]

Pretty sure it was dubbed for the Hong Kong viewers. I have vivid memories of the late great Anita Mui singing the theme song in Cantonese. You Westerners remember her from Jackie Chan's Drunken Master 2 and Rumble in the Bronx.

OH! That reminds me:



So obviously it was pretty big in Hong Kong, but then again many anime and manga which aren't that big of a deal in the West or even Japan are popular there, one prime example of course being Riki-Oh.

[tinlunlau]

Yep, it has been on TV - on and off on different channels - since at least the late 80s. It is one of the staple series that has frequent reruns alongside Dragon Ball and Doraemon.

A pity it was never given a DVD release.

Pretty sure it was dubbed for the Hong Kong viewers. I have vivid memories of the late great Anita Mui singing the theme song in Cantonese. You Westerners remember her from Jackie Chan's Drunken Master 2 and Rumble in the Bronx.

I'm a Westerner but haven't seen those flicks.

You must live in a cave, having not seen Drunken Master 2 and Rumble in The Bronx. Those two films alone have been widely shown all over the world.

[Super Sonic]

He might not be into older stuff. Weird as it sounds to me, hear there are guys out there who have never seen Raiders of the Lost Ark. As for the Dr. Slump anime, older anime series tend to not sell very well in the States unfortunately. There are exceptions like Lion Voltron and Robotech, but that tends to come from nostalgia mainly from those who watched them as kids. When ADV did the new Macross dub with Japanese Minmay doing her role in English (which I have a feeling lot of DB fans wish could happen) it didn't sell that well. Heck, once at a Funimation panel I told the guys that I would love them forever if they did Dr. Slump with Laura Bailey or Luci Christian as Arale. Guy said he liked Dr. Slump as well, but with older series not selling well, there was the risk.

[Kunzait_83]

You must live in a cave, having not seen Drunken Master 2 and Rumble in The Bronx. Those two films alone have been widely shown all over the world.

Most people on this forum (on average) don't really watch anything that isn't strictly children's cartoons/media of some sort. If its not something that was on Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, or someplace like that, and its not a Hollywood superhero/summer blockbuster tentpole from the last 10/15 years (or something similarly adapted from a familiar cartoon or geek property), then the average poster on this forum likely hasn't seen nor even heard of it, no matter how otherwise mainstream or well known it is. I'm genuinely not being a dick here: that's the honest to god reality on the ground here.

Trust me, I went through this very same exact dance literally COUNTLESS times when I first joined here back in the day (mid through late-2000s):

Me: "What? What do you mean you've never heard of Hard Boiled? Its John Woo's most famous movie!"

Typical Kanz Person: "Who's John Woo?"

Me: "You know: Face/Off, Broken Arrow, Hard Target..."

Typical Kanz Person: "Never heard of them. What channel were they on?"

Me: "Uh... they're movies."

Typical Kanz Person: "You mean like Land Before Time or Spider-Man?"

Me: "Uh... sure? But I mean more like actual action movies, more like Die Hard or Mad Max or Lethal Weapon or Predator."

Typical Kanz Person: "Those sound like movies my parents wouldn't have let me watch."

Me: "But you're how old now?"

Typical Kanz Person: "24."

Me: " "