Random ramble: You know, looking at the discussion about Mononoke, I was thinking, anime series and gauging their popularity in particular is really hard, and their obscurity in general. I think the fact that a vast majority of its (anime) audience is young and always online/proactive with discussions often skews the actual data. I guess its a case of being in an echo-chamber and subconsciously going into communities that mesh with your tastes because a series like Patlabor is synonymous with anime for me, I can't remember a time that I didn't know of its existence (although of course there was such a time when I didn't know it existed), and whenever I hear about the series I hear nothing but praises. But then you realize that, maybe its obscure in the west and not that well known and bombs sales wise outside of Japan where the series is huge.
I never thought of a series like Mononoke as being obscure, just like most other auteur series of a similar nature, but I guess that's just partly due to it being something interesting to me and thus something that I'd find out about, where most causal people don't investigate further than "recommend me some anime" with the response being Bebop, Death Note and FMA, so part me being a bit more savvy with a vested interest and part existing in a loud echo-chamber.
Okay, so is a series like Tatamai Galaxy considered obscure? Because as far as I'm aware, its pretty mainstream, which I guess shows my perspective on things being fucked up.