Do we really know why anything is popular?
Whenever an anime or manga is super popular, be it with “casual” fans or super hardcore 4channers or die-hard bloggers or anywhere in between, someone eventually decides to ask, “Why is this popular?” The question can be interpreted positively, encouraging people to express why they like that work so much. It can also be interpreted negatively, giving way to sweeping generalizations that categorize a work’s fans in a particularly unattractive light.
As a quick demonstration: Why is Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu so popular?
We can posit why Gundam isn’t popular “here,” or why Captain Tsubasa is popular “there,” but after a while I just have to wonder how often we’re putting the cart before the horse, completely blinded by hindsight and trying to draw conclusions from something most people might have trouble expressing in the first place, even if you asked every Naruto fan why they like Naruto so much. And in a way, when we accumulate more knowledge and experience in anime, we paradoxically move both closer and further away from the truth.
Not saying I don’t enjoy the speculation, nor am I telling people to stop, but popularity (or lack thereof) can be such a difficult entity to grasp and manipulate that I’m sure we’re all wrong more often than not.
Also, I know this doesn’t just apply to anime or manga or even fiction. Asking why stuff is successfully popular is applicable to just about any topic where group enjoys or uses something.
No, really, why is Baka Test so popular? I liked it well enough because of the way it embraced the otaku/moe/anime humor and really ran it to some logical extremes, but why is it considered the #1 light novel series of 2009?
OGIUE MANIAX 
It’s no doubt an excellent question, such that if I knew the answer to it, I’d be able to predict what will be popular and consequently profit from it.
My guess is, some people know…
… some of the time.
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Sometimes I feel like having no expectations going in works wonders in terms of what becomes popular or not.
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I asked the same about Ouran High School Host Club a while back, looking at how high it ranked in Funimation’s streams (on par with FMA:Brotherhood and One Piece, despite…well, EVERYTHING). Sure, I like it too, but there are less popular series, including other shojo anime like Princess Tutu, that I like more.
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>but why is it considered the #1 light novel series of 2009?
I am not sure if you are talking about the novel or the anime in this blog entry, but I assume it is the latter.
The #1 refers to the light novel only and has nothing to do with its anime and manga adaptations. IIRC the DVD/BD sales of the anime is so-so, being much worse than Durarara, another anime adaptation of a light novel series. Consider the sheer number of the loyal fans to the novels and a certain percentage of them would dish out money for anything related to the franchise, I would say the anime has been doing pretty bad in terms of sales figures.
Anime has a long tradition of dumbing down the original work. So we need to at least read the books to understand why they are popular. It is just like you cannot judge the Harry Potter series by the movies alone.
Basically the novel series is extremely wacky and fun, with odd jokes and cultural-specific references planted throughout the story. It is not supposed to be any mind-blowing or genre breaking work and some may even find it clichéd. But the execution is so good that any cliché is turned into components of an enjoyable ride.
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Unfortunately, BakaTest also gave me a mild headache for the 2 episodes I was watching.
Which also brings to mind a similar question.
Why is DaiMaou so much fun to watch? It’s more or less a sexed up, fanservicey version of Negima, with a few big names in Vooice-Acting in it, and yet, well… … …
It feels like a fun romp rather than, let’s say, Kanokon.
Which also brings to mind another question.
Why is Strike Witches such a fun show, despite it being an excuse to show young women IN THEIR UNDERWEAR.
If someone could answer these two questions as well as the above, then I’ll probably buy them lunch. A GO-GO CURRY lunch.
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That’s one of those questions that really will never have an answer. As you mentioned, it is a question asked of pretty much anything that CAN be popular, not even just limited to media.
In the case of media like anime or manga or fiction, one can point to technical excellence, but even then, the correlation is loose. Why is such a poorly written book like Harry Potter so popular?
It’s also a function of the times and environment, not just inherent to the work itself. Would Platoon be as popular now as it was in the 80s? And look at how The Shawshank Redemption has put-shined Forrest Gump over time despite having lost to it in every way when both were released in 1993.
Anyway, a single comment or blog post or even a million blows dedicated to this subject won’t answer the question.
What I’m wondering is, why was the Bakemonogatari anime so hugely popular in 2009? What about it resonated with audiences in east and west alike? I’ll probably never know.
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