Why is the American box art so dull and uninspired?

[Zantetsuken]

Eh, I personally think NA boxart is the best of the three. Japanese boxart seems to say "Come join us! ^_^" while NA is like "Challenge me, Adventurer, if you dare".

After seeing how toxic the NA (hardcore) player base is, I think SE would have ended up with a far better player culture by marketing the game in NA with the "Come join us! ^_^" approach.