Yes, the magnetic weight transfer does help a lot in the flying abilities of the bait, for ex, Shad Raps are great, but not exactly the best flying bait out there, the MegaBass Deep X or the Lucky Craft US Shad have similar profile but cast like if you were casting a rock:
See that submerged brush over there ? man get closer or steer in a better position so the wind helps my Shad Rap to fly over there ....... grab a Deep X and reaching that brush is no problem.
Many Japanese baits incorporate things you wish you had in your baits, like the weight transfer system, others have distinctive shape that makes them move in a completely different way, like the MegaBass Flap Slap, it doesn 't look like much at first glance: what ? 20 bones for a jerkbait ?!? , oh yeah but when you study it on more detail you discover that the bait is not symetrical, one side is flatter than the other, this causes the bait to move sideways in a sharpest angle, roll on it 's side and glide when jerked, it 's still a jerkbait but it moves like no other jerkbait does. Don 't know why many bad mouth the Live Pointer ( yup, that multisection japanese jerkbait ), it 's a great producer for me, in few ocassions you can see fish traveling a long distance to strike a bait and that one causes that reaction.
Not saying that you won 't catch fish with the common cranks, they still catch fish and I fish them most of the times but there are times that those 15-25 bones japanese baits are worth every penny you paid for them. Having some of them in your T-box doesn 't hurt.