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Let us say that you are a cosmopolitan Pony fan. You have browsed the YouTubes, found the Russian version of Winter Wrap Up, and thought it was pretty good. Maybe you have run across the French version of Flutterguy, singing Evil Enchantress like a boss. Digging further, you might of even found the Italian version of the opening theme, which is complete awesomesauce. However, when looking about, you notice the complete lack of Japanese Ponies.

Short of the fan-dubs done by the very talented Ogatamon, the Japanese Brony movement appears strangely absent. Given the anime-inspired elements of “Friendship is Magic”, you might think that they would be all over this sort of show; the wonderful stylistic art, slice of life plot settings, and vividly colorful characters absolutely pop! What’s going on? Why have our friends in the East been so quiet?

Well, there are lots of reasons, but fear not. There exists a small community of Japanese pony fans…you just need to know where to look.

Japanese TV

My Little Pony has it pretty rough in Japan. First and foremost, foreign television shows  are rarely syndicated there. The US is similar; Americans would rather remake a show than show it’s original version, even if it’s in English (ie: “The Office”). Since the Japanese animation market is already saturated, it is nearly impossible to get anything non-anime broadcast there.

There are are cultural barriers as well. The most glaring example is that Japanese audiences generally perceive cartoons with talking animal protagonists as preschool-aged entertainment. You think defending your love of a cartoon aimed at the 6-12 age group is bad? Try justifying one marketed to 3 to 6 year olds!

Yes, there are classic anime shows such as Kimba the White Lion, but that was made in 1965. Things have changed over the last five decades. Topping this off, the My Little Pony franchise is handled exclusively by a single company called Takara/Tomy, which is Hasbro’s only real, limited interface with the market.

That’s not to say there hasn’t been a success story or two. Powerpuff Girls proved to be really popular via satellite. However, the broadcast version was the widely panned Powerpuff Girls Zremake.

On the Internet

In the wilds of the Internet, a small Japanese MLP fanbase does exist. The first place you can look is a website called “ReadMe!Girls! Diary“. This blog appears to have started as a Powerpuff Girls site, and expanded into one about American cartoons in general. At current count, there are about 60 “Friendship is Magic” entries. Mostly, it explains the odd culture that has sprung from the show, along with explaining things such as what a “Brony” is and the Derpy phenomenon.

For those who want to catch an episode, the entire series and some fan content is fansubbed onNicoNico Douga (literally, “Smile Video”). NicoNico has a very unique way of showing content, where comments are scrolled on the screen. It almost has a livestream feel to it. Sadly, access to the content requires you to register on the website, which is a little difficult for people who can’t read Japanese.

Do you have an itching for Japanese fanart? You can find a good deal of it on Pixiv, which is something akin to deviantART. Of particular note, there is a fan-manga about Luna currently being published there called “Lunatic” that’s pretty cool.

Over at 2ch.net, you can find a brisk thread about MLP under the cartoon category. Many of the conversations eerily mirror what the fans talk about in English, but once a while you will run into a unique Japanese perspective on the show. Most of the fan memes translated over fairly well. You will find comments about Trollestia, Derpy, and the dreaded “Cupcakes” that someone took the time to translate. (Why!? Why would you do that!?)

One example of the odder discussions theorizes about the Equestrian train system, prompting this little gem which postulats where Equestria is located based on American geography.

メーンハッタンの元は當然マンハッタン

フィリデルフィアの元はニューヨークの南西にあるフィラデルフィア

この付近にある山はアパラチア山脈なのでエクエストリアはこの近郊。

この付近のアパラチア山脈で大規模な森林地帯はデラウェア近郊なのでポニービルはこの付近。

だから大體元になってるエクエストリア近郊地域はペンシルヴァニア州。

汽車で向かう砂漠地帯は1860年頃の西部開拓時代が元なのでネブラスカやカンザスといったアメリカ中西部。

Manehatten is really supposed to be “Manhattan”.

Phillydelphia is actually real city southwest of New York called “Philadelphia”.

The mountain range close to Equestria is actually the “Appalachians”.

The large forests around the Appalachians is close to Delaware. This area is Ponyville.

This places Equestria within the state of Pennsylvania.

The train was heading towards the desert areas going though Midwest such as Kansas and Nebraska. This was set in the 1860s, or the “Wild West” era.

Cultural Differences

From time to time there are clear cultural disconnects. One of the more glaring ones was when Twilight got sprayed by a skunk in “Winter Wrap Up.” There are no skunks in Japan, and Twi was sprayed off screen. The now-befuddled audience sees her follow some badger-like animals, and then suddenly she’s taking a bath in what’s translated as “ketchup.” There is no apparent connection between the two. They understand something was revolting, but the “clothespin on the nose” clue doesn’t translate. (Japanese commonly hold their nose, hold a cloth over the face, or wear a facemask).

Another example of this disconnect are the spa scenes. In Japan, the imagery of girls in bathhouses is seen as a shade on the steamier side. It’s jarring them to watch a cartoon about multicolored ponies feature a “bath scene.”

On the flip side, there are some scenes and situations that work much better in Japanese. Luna’s archaic speech is one instance. In Japan, people of authority say things in different ways when talking down to others. What made Luna work so well in Japanese was that she was obviously in a social situation, and didn’t need to talk down to others. It wasn’t that she was being authoritative, it was much more obvious through her formal language that she simply didn’t know.

The “Heart and Hooves” plot where Big Mac and Cheerlee baby-talked to each other also resonated. Public displays of affection in Japan are actually shunned because they’re seen as attention-seeking. Consequently, the awkward reactions of the Ponyville citizenry made perfect sense in that context.

Memes and Regional Attitudes

Are there Japanese MLP Memes? Eeyup! The most obvious one is that Big Macintosh has his very own nickname. He’s almost universally called “Aniki” (兄貴) which translates to “big brother.”  He is in the top three of “best pony” in Japan. The other two are Fluttershy, and, oddly enough, Cheerilee-Sensei. In the case of Fluttershy, she has been promoted to “Honorary Japanese” because of how she behaves. Rainbow Dash is almost always subbed using male speech, making her a “Bokunoko” (僕の子), and Applejack speaks with a thick Osaka accent.

Those, in a very tiny nutshell, are the Japanese fans. They are not many in number, but are slowly growing. Feel free to poke around. Be careful though. Posting English in a Japanese comment section is really seen as poor form. Spamming text that others can’t read doesn’t help much with starting a dialog.

As you can see, there is a lot of potential for some really awesome cross-cultural MLP love. In part two of this series, I’ll show that the wonderfully odd fandom that has spring from these curious little ponies is not new. In fact, it has manifested twice in Japan over the strangest of things.

Stay Tuned!