Kinnikuman is Japan is like Transformers over here. Even a few seasons of crappy cartoons or comics wouldn't be enough to make a bad name for the brand.
Nisei flopped in Japan, which is why there was no third season there. However, when the cartoon aired over here (Japan seasons 1 and 2 as US season 1) it did well enough over here for 4Kids to go back to Toei and have them produce another season.
Had it not been for the popularity of the series over here, there would have been no 3rd Japanese (2nd US) series at all.
Not to mention that the Ultimate Muscle Micro figures by Bandai were exclusive to North America and never were released in Japan.
Transformers here in the states is no different than in Japan. Takara is still producing them. I mean Takara/Tomy.
Boy, you sure make Nisei sound like it tanked in Japan. To say it 'flopped' and to say 'No 4Kids=no second season' is being Arrogant and Ignorant! In 2002, was it more popular than some other anime's at the time in Japan, like Naruto? No. But if Nisei really tanked or bombed like you're assuming, they wouldn't have made a second movie for it or even finished airing the first season. It would have been 'postponed'. Because 4kids wanted more episodes it sped that process up for more episodes which Toei didn't put in the TLC and it ended up doing a not so good job with it. Not right away, but there would have been a second season without Fourkids involvement. And it would have been better done, if that was the case. But unfortunately it's not. To say it did well enough in NA to pay for more episodes, sure. To say it did WAY better here and flopped in Japan, no. And Just to clarify, as it ended up, season 1 in Japan was 51 episodes. Season 2 was 13 & season 3 was 13 ep. Also, for the record, it's 'Anime'. Any animation from Japan is Anime, Not cartoon. Cartoons are animation that's produced here.
As for the NA Micro figs, so each country had it's own figs released. There were plenty of Nisei goods that was only sold in Japan. Like the Muscle Full Color figs. I was just pointing out that for something that was supposedly way more popular here, nothing new(toys) was released(except for the manga books) in NA even with stations airing the second season at that time.
Edited by Stinger Wolf, 21 May 2013 - 07:41 PM.