They didn't can Hajime no Ippo.  It got a second season and they're preparing more currently to be aired in the future (as stated by Takamura's seiyuu).  The very reason Hajime no Ippo isn't airing continuously is because its such high quality and they need to do it in spurts.

And 'cutting Anime influences' is not the problem.  But since no one read my post about improving marketing and localizations, you don't know what the real problem is.  If you don't like Anime influences, then you don't like Japanese games, period.  The vast majority of Japanese games have some kind of Anime influence, either a soft reference such as a nod to a popular show or an in-joke to something like crayon Shin-chan or a direct reference such as using the same character designer or even director as a popular Anime series.  The Anime and Gaming series are very closely tied together in Japan and to say 'take anime crap out' is like saying take Samurai and buck rodger influences out of Star Wars.

Well when you play games like Mass Effect, Fallout 3 and others you see why western gamers don't like JRPGs. The stories are better, the gameplay is deeper and longer plus WRPGs have better replay value. JRPG rehash turn base gameplay, character personalities, and stories.

Just stop.  If your opinion is that you like those games, then so be it, but don't lump 'all' JRPGs as inferior based on your experience with certain ones.  Some JRPGs have great stories, such as Suikoden or Dragon Quest V.  Others have very good gameplay, such as Paper Mario or Chrono Trigger.  Some even have both together.

Plenty of 'western gamers' like JRPGs.  That isn't the problem.

WRPG's???better stories??? maybe in Bioware products. But with everyone else, their stories suk the big one which is why i struggle getitng into them. And also most WRPG tend to always take place in some medieval setting which is really starting to get old. At least Bioware changes it up at times which is why i like them. Oh and there are JRPGs out there that arent turn based (ex. Kingdom hearts, Dark Cloud, Star Ocean etc)

How do you get a bigger audience outside japan? Buy Western developers.

SquareEnix did with Warner Bros Game Studios, with the Yen continuing to strengthen, don't be surprised to see Take Two be taken over by a Japanese developer.

In other words you want...a Japanese made WRPG.

In any event, all I'm going to say is there's JRPGs that have done each thing you said, just not all at once.  And if you are just looking for a Japanse game that has Western style NPC interaction, exploration and etc, just play Dragon Quest.  That's all I can suggest.  Otherwise, you obviously have a major bias against JRPGs.  And I really don't want to turn this into a WRPG vs JRPG debate.

"JRPG this gen that didn't have turn base gameplay,"

Star Ocean, Kingdom Hearts, Tales of series, Dark Cloud Series, Demon's Souls

"a story in which a main character had to save the world/girl, and didn't have terrible voice overs"

Persona 4, Demon's Souls, Valkyria Chronicles

"Then name me a JRPG where you can play the game again and again with the story having a different outcome"

You got me there but do i give two fuks about this......no *Gasps* =O

Anymore retarded and biased questions u want to throw at as us?? If not then plz go back to the WRPG boards where u belong. go on get!!!

There have been big games.  They've just all been on handhelds.  And another thing that hurt this gen is how Japanese third parties spend 2-3 years 'waiting around' to make good games for consoles, putting all their major releases on PSP, DS (and a few on the 360).  Its no wonder the Japanese public feel alienated from consoles now....what did they have to look forward to in the last few years on consoles aside from a couple XBOX360 JRPGs and Idolmaster?