America’s demand for Japanese Anime shows has been skyrocketing since the hit of the COVID-19 pandemic. While all entertainment content has been higher in demand since the fall of the pandemic, Anime is quickly surpassing other genres. Among foreign-made content, Japanese anime and live-action shows are currently the most popular among Americans.
Japan and Anime
Anime literally means the style of animation that is popular in Japanese entertainment. In its infancy, anime films were made with only Japanese audiences in mind. These films contained many themes and cultural references unique to Japan. The genre shifted a bit in 1956 with the popularity of Manga. Manga is a style of comic book in Japan that now inspires the visual appearance and style of modern anime. Anime is often thought of as children’s shows, but modern anime contains many adult themes and subjects as well.
Rise of Anime in the U.S.
While anime first became popular in America to small groups of fans in the 1980s with shows like Astro Boy and Speed Racer (I definitely remember watching this show), anime didn’t boom in the United States until the early 2000’s. The Pokémon series was the first widely known anime among kids and young adults in America and began America’s fascination with anime and Japanese Culture. Spirited Away was the first anime film to win and Academy Award in 2002, and the popularity of the genre only continued to rise from there. Nowadays, anime is one of the highest consumed genres in the United States, especially in the last few years. There are frequent conventions dedicated to fans’ love of anime and cosplay, and anime-style shows are being produced and streamed more than ever before in the US.
Why Does This Matter?
Big Names Fight for Anime Content
Big names in entertainment that are not typically known for their anime content such as Sony, Netflix, Disney Plus, and HBO Max are now fighting over anime titles and streaming services. With such an over-saturated entertainment market now a days, offering more anime entertainment incentives new viewers to purchase their content
High Consumer Exposure to Anime
We as consumers have more access to different sub-genres within anime than ever before. This is important since anime is a window into Japanese culture. Americans are becoming more familiar with Japanese culture, and Japanese values, standards, and references are intertwining with American pop culture.
Tell us what’s your favorite anime, if you can pick one (≚ᄌ≚)ℒℴѵℯ❤