Project "Trope the Nations"/Lucanians Love Burger King

"Also known as "Big in Japan". A version of the Ensemble Dark Horse, where interest in a character (or an entire work) is sparked by an audience well-divorced from the production source, particularly if the show is released in other countries. Places with different cultural baggage often hook onto different characters, whether or not these are the ones pushed by the story. This is even more of a gamble when one character's personality and motivations have a direct tie to the culture of origin.

In addition, what may be considered a bog-standard genre piece in the home country may be considered new and exciting in a country that hasn't been exposed to the particular genre yet.

''Since many companies get paid by foreign distributors simply for the right to air, how shows do overseas is not always of direct concern to the original producers. Other times, these characters are not tightly connected to a single story and are more an owned property, and may get their own storylines released more or less exclusively in certain countries.''

Another variant of this trope is the joke that something is "big in Japan."

''It's also not uncommon that an over-looked product or person becomes popular in a foreign country for monetary reasons: Broadcasting a show or song that was not popular in its country of origin is usually cheaper, so channels are prone to re-run these cheap products. If this is the case, then it over-laps with Vindicated by Reruns.''

Superlative Dubbing, Woolseyism, Cultural Translation and Redubbing are not uncommon causes of this, where the translated version is actually better than the original."

Anime

 * Pop Team Epic - Big in the Western world, humongous in the UVN, especially Setagaya. It is adored almost totally unironically in the country. Commercials for merchandise can last up to 5 minutes, and it is abundant in the country. Venitians love the anime for its bizarre humor and skits, and that the local dub contains excessive cussing; Venitians love adult-oriented animated comedies in general, the more vulgar and lowbrow the better.