Are Japanese Kids Shows better than American Kids Shows
 

I see a lot of people say that kids shows from Japan are better than ones from America? Do you agree with that or not? I feel like some American kids cartoons are just as good as Japanese ones.

Short answer: No
Long answer: There are multiple factors which ultimately decide whether or not a show is good, there's also restrictions for what some shows can do and for the culture as Dragon Ball, which was marketed as a serious show to teens in the US, is mostly a silly show in Japan which kids wake up to in the morning. There's also the writing and presentation which depends on the people working on the show and there's a lot of bias in effect here as there are loads of Japanese kid shows that get brought over to America and lots of American kid shows that get brought over to Japan, both getting appropriate changes for the target audience and what is deemed 'appropriate' for cultures. Hell, did you know Batman The Animated Series has a Japanese dub. They added narration on top of the incredibly well-done intro which managed to non-verbally communicate to viewers what to expect. The only answers available are subjective at best

Objective quality doesn't exist

Both Japan and America have their fair share of both good and bad shows for kids. Kamen Rider Ghost and Black Clover are for kids in Japan and they are not much better than the garbage that is made for kids in the US (Like Ben 10 in my opinion).

The Dragon Ball shows were marketed for kids in the US with it airing after schools and having toys aim for kids to play as.

I wonder what the rest of Japanese kids TV is like. Toku and battle shonen/mahou shoujo can only be so much of it.

I definitely remember DBZ being more popular among teens and being played up more seriously back then

DBZ was popular with little kids because I was in K-4th grade when DBZ aired on Toonami from 1998-2003 and every kid that I knew was into it. DBZ's dub tone felt like Biker Mice on Mars and Beast Wars than a dark and edgy show.

I also do think people like Japanese kids shows better because they get away with more darker and risky themes. There is not many shows in the US that will do that for kids.

Kodomo shows like Doraemon, Anpanman and Hello Kitty are pretty much Japan's equivalent to Barney and Dr. Seuss (Shows for toddlers).

I wish exist had more popular animated cartoon now.

Not necessarily better but are made for different audiences. American animation is usually directed towards kids or gross out adult humor. Some have transcended to a broad audience; while most are just throw away content not lasting much or only having an affect on a particular niche or generation that grew up on it. Japanese anime is regarded more as it's own medium that can include most if not all genres of film and television. But most shows only resonate with those who can handle viewing animation. For some they see all animation as "kid stuff" while others have a condition that makes them unable to suspend their disbelief with animation and cannot connect with the characters because they can only connect with physical entities. It's cultural for the most part, with probably the latter being somewhat biological.

As for live action, there's a fair amount of good and bad shows in all countries that produce watchable content.

I'll also add that it depends on the demographics and the genre as well. A lot of it is based on what sells. Tokusatsu, anime, and game shows are big in Japan. The USA has crime dramas, sitcoms, and for a while reality TV was big. So even fads come into play.

I will defend some sub par animes over most bad American TV shows though because more work and imagination are put into anime than most American shows. FairyTail gets a lot of hate for not being completely original and the use of a lot of cliche anime tropes. Yet the visuals are good and the characters are typically likable. While Americans seem to be enthralled by the copy and paste crime dramas with wooden actors that plague American TV networks. How many CSI shows do we need? The only exception would be Lucifer. Though the show is another CSI copy it at least has better acting, a likable protagonist, and a supernatural theme that makes it slightly entertaining, but not necessarily unique.

Quantity comes into play too. There's probably a lot more American throw away TV dramas, sitcoms, and reality shows past and present than there are Japanese programs. TV shows aren't all produced in Hollywood. Some stations were even localized before the time of satellite TV and the internet. That caused a lot of shows to be made for a local audience, usually by district or state. Japan is only an island nation with limited simply and demand. The USA is an Oligarchical Empire made up of several dozen semi-sovereign nations. Being so small with a smaller population means content output is more about quality and less about quantity.