Meanwhile in Japan they seem to be content with reaching a more limited audience
Sometimes but it also includes the broader appeal in other ways.
Using some of the more popular Anime/Mange out there, Naruto, Bleach, and MHA all have far, far larger cast lists than most Western Comics do these days.
Justice League is 7 core members with the occasional cameos of what is the Justice League "Unlimited" members showing up as needed by plot despite those characters always being present. There are even spinoffs like Justice League Dark dealing with magical stories that the main comic doesn't really touch on but overall it's still the same collective group they just get compartmentalized for Western consoomers.
Meanwhile Bleach had the core characters of Ichigo, Rukia, Orihime, Chad, Uryu, and eventually Renji, the vice captain of the 6th Division [of 13, plus the Kido corps and "assassination" group which one of the 13 Division captains also runs].
So roughly 5 "main" characters floating around the protagonist. Then you have as secondary characters every other captain and vice captain of the remaining 13 Divisions, so that's roughly another 26 characters, then the occasional 3rd seat for some Divisions who were recurring, like Yumichika, then you had the Espada and later the Wandenreich creating a massive character list that the fandom knew all the names of.
Same thing happens with Naruto and Boruto since it's essentially "Ninja School: The Musical Shonen" . Main team of 3 including the titular protag, their captain, several other teams of classmates, their captains. The various bad guys they fight over the years including some that were only around for a few issues and were at the very, very start of things.
MHA again does this since it's an actual classroom format, so the protag's class of 1-A has 20 "main characters", their teacher, whatever mentors characters in the class have amongst the staff: All Might, Endeavor, Hawks, Best Jeanist, Midnight, Present Mic, etc, other characters: Mirio, Nejire, Amajiki, Eri, Hatsume, etc. Then there's their neighboring class 1-B which shows up from time to time and gets more facetime as things progress. And then finally there are the villains.
One of the most beloved "minor" MHA classmates outside of the main protags is Mashirao Ojiro because he ticks a lot of the traditionally honorable traits that Japan favors. He recuses himself from an ongoing contest after he feels the way he progressed through previous rounds was done in ways that meant he hadn't actually done anything or was ethically fair because he was literally mind controlled onto a winning team.
"I know this is a great opportunity. And I know how stupid it must seem to throw it away... but this final tournament... everyone else made it here by their own strength. Yet I'm standing here, and I don't even know how or why. I just can't take it."
He's the closest character in the series to the Monkey King/Son Goku/Sun Wukong trope so many Japanese/Asian stories cover because of his appearance and behavior at times [his superpower is a literal prehensile tail he uses for combat]. Readers love him something fierce.
And that's just three of the bigger series which are like this. Anime/manga casts are massive compared to a lot of Western media and quite often those massive casts are recurring throughout a series from start to finish.
Sometimes but it also includes the broader appeal in other ways.
Using some of the more popular Anime/Mange out there, Naruto, Bleach, and MHA all have far, far larger cast lists than most Western Comics do these days.
Justice League is 7 core members with the occasional cameos of what is the Justice League "Unlimited" members showing up as needed by plot despite those characters always being present. There are even spinoffs like Justice League Dark dealing with magical stories that the main comic doesn't really touch on but overall it's still the same collective group they just get compartmentalized for Western consoomers.
Meanwhile Bleach had the core characters of Ichigo, Rukia, Orihime, Chad, Uryu, and eventually Renji, the vice captain of the 6th Division [of 13, plus the Kido corps and "assassination" group which one of the 13 Division captains also runs]. So roughly 5 "main" characters floating around the protagonist. Then you have as secondary characters every other captain and vice captain of the remaining 13 Divisions, so that's roughly another 26 characters, then the occasional 3rd seat for some Divisions who were recurring, like Yumichika, then you had the Espada and later the Wandenreich creating a massive character list that the fandom knew all the names of.
Same thing happens with Naruto and Boruto since it's essentially "Ninja School: The
MusicalShonen" . Main team of 3 including the titular protag, their captain, several other teams of classmates, their captains. The various bad guys they fight over the years including some that were only around for a few issues and were at the very, very start of things.MHA again does this since it's an actual classroom format, so the protag's class of 1-A has 20 "main characters", their teacher, whatever mentors characters in the class have amongst the staff: All Might, Endeavor, Hawks, Best Jeanist, Midnight, Present Mic, etc, other characters: Mirio, Nejire, Amajiki, Eri, Hatsume, etc. Then there's their neighboring class 1-B which shows up from time to time and gets more facetime as things progress. And then finally there are the villains. One of the most beloved "minor" MHA classmates outside of the main protags is Mashirao Ojiro because he ticks a lot of the traditionally honorable traits that Japan favors. He recuses himself from an ongoing contest after he feels the way he progressed through previous rounds was done in ways that meant he hadn't actually done anything or was ethically fair because he was literally mind controlled onto a winning team.
He's the closest character in the series to the Monkey King/Son Goku/Sun Wukong trope so many Japanese/Asian stories cover because of his appearance and behavior at times [his superpower is a literal prehensile tail he uses for combat]. Readers love him something fierce.
And that's just three of the bigger series which are like this. Anime/manga casts are massive compared to a lot of Western media and quite often those massive casts are recurring throughout a series from start to finish.