I’m from Latin America, and here anime is huge. It has been a common thing since the 80’s and today more than half of teenagers with a decent access to the internet watch anime occasionally (data took from my ass). Yet, I think there is still a bit of prejudice towards anime and who watches it. How big is the community of otakus and how they are seen? Is there a big stigma around anime in the US or is it considered equal to any other type of movie o series?
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Anime is mainstream now, people love it
Yes anime is very huge here. I’d say more prominent in the west coast from what I’ve seen bot overall I have met very few who dislike or even don’t like anime not to mention manga, H**tai, And Japanese music. It’s a very interesting time to be growing up in. I’m 17 btw
Really dude? Is this a question?! It’s VERY huge here ever since Akira came out in 1989 in America. I grew up in the late 1990s and early 2000s watching tons of anime. We even have anime conventions too.
It’s probably not as big as it is there where everyone grew up watching Dragon Ball, with the exception of Pokémon (which I’d bet many aren’t even aware is an anime) and Miyazaki movies. But it’s certainly popular. Still some stigma around weebs but that comes from within the fandom lol. I think most people generally know what it is and maybe a few big shows, even if they don’t watch it.
Pretty popular especially with the younger crowd. Dragon Ball, Naruto, AoT, MHA, JoJos, Demon Slayer, Pokémon and many more are greatly enjoyed
Looking at my Netflix home page it seems pretty dang mainstream and I am not much of a huge anime fan.
You have to remember that Disney released a bunch of Studio Ghibli stuff. Lots of folks like anime. Pokémon is incredibly popular and I think we can lump that in with anime.
It all depends on what you like and what other people like.
Anime can be super niche or quite popular.
Anime is pretty big here. Now we don’t have a lot of anime being shown in most theaters, but the era of streaming has made it more accessible than ever. Netflix, Tubi, Amazon Prime all have anime sections. Pokemon has a stand alone app. Many libraries have a ton of anime DVD and Blu-Rays.
Pokemon definitely feels like it has a bit of a resurgence right now compared to the mid-2000s/Gen 5 both in terms of the anime and the games/overall franchise.
It’s popular with young people and Reddit skews very young so this site will likely give a very skewed perspective on it.
LETS GOOO finally a question I’m qualified for. Uh a massive thing lol, anime has become so mainstream and popular now. Every other month there’s a movie that’s dropping in theatres which was unheard of when I was a kid. I think the success of Kimi no na wa globally was a big factor as well.
I mean its definitely gotten bigger. I grew up in the late 2000s to 2010s and practically 1/2 the male population at my school watched anime (especially Naruto, One Piece, and SAO), in college 1/2 the girls were too. This was probably not true much earlier in the 90s when it was more niche, but Netflix plus the Internet helped alot.
I don’t know anyone who watches anime.
Not everyone is into it but it has a healthy fanbase.
Most big cities will have an anime convention
I’m in my 20s and I know a lot of people that watch it regularly. There’s a stigma against weebs but not so much anime itself.
Boomers think any animated show is for children, regardless of context.
It could be The Simpsons, South Park, Spongebob or Cowboy Bebop. If it doesn’t involve live action actors, it’s seen as juvenile.
[](/sp)
That being said, Boomers aren’t the ones raising families any more, and Millennials with disposable income and new families are getting their kids into the shows they grew up on. Never in my life would I have dreamed of finding Dragon Ball/Z/Super action figures in the toy aisle at Target.
It’s huge here. My 12 year old is obsessed with all kinds of different Japanese animation. Some of which is a little strange compared to western cartoons. I remember anime as Pokémon, yuhgio, inuyasha, and the rest of em.
No stigma, no prejudice. Just the occasional dad comments like “what exactly is going on here?” Or “why is this bear smoking a cigarette?”
Everybody my age watches it. There is definitely a heirarchy of casual to hardcore, going from ghibli films and old classics like cowboy bebop on one end, and modern seasonal anime on the other end — like, if someone has watched Spirited Away this is as normal and unremarkable as something like Marvel movies. w
Whereas if someone says they are currently watching the currently airing “Ijiranaide Nagataro-san Season 2”, you can safely assume they are a giga weeb.
It’s grown a lot in popularity since I was a kid. I’m not sure I would call it mainstream, but it’s getting there.
The variety of genres in anime helps. Western animated shows are primarily for kids and the ones for adults are mostly comedy. Anime can scratch that itch for certain genres that can be hard to find in Western cartoons
Depends on which flavor of anime you’re talking about. Pokemon, Dragonball, Naruto, etc… All the Toonami type staples are very, very big. *Some* of the biggest franchises of the rest, Attack on Titan, My Hero Academia, etc… leak over into the mainstream. You’ll never hear much buzz about anything else.
Probably 75-80% of current seasonal anime is still pretty much niche and only watched by weebs and otaku like myself and on the dedicated streaming services (as opposed to the mass market series).