How popular is anime and manga in your country?

12 comments

1. France has a huge history and culture of anime. They showed a lot of it in the 70s on kids TV channels and still do. France also has had a lot of anime shows (film/TV are huge industries there and their population is 15x Ireland’s lol).

   I’m Irish and love it too but not the stereotypical shite. Stuff like berserk… But it’s growing in popularity here as it’s more easily available through services like netflix and there are a lot more stores selling it too. Kids here are usually mental for Dragonball z, Pokémon, attack on Titan and the likes. All my nieces and nephews watch anime all the time. Ages 18 – 5!

2. Very popular in Italy,at least with the younger generations but also up until early middle-age.

   Especially animé in my experience, that is and was widely shown on TV.

   Manga is a bit more of a specialised interest.And fewer people read these days in general, particularly young people…or at least, they don’t tend to buy things that are published and printed on paper!

3. We’re the weeaboos of Europe tbh. Same as France, the boom started in the 70s and 80s with lots of Italian-dubbed anime coming into the airwaves as private TV stations flourished all over the *Stivale*. Even titles like *Ai Shite Night* (renamed *Kiss Me Licia*) or *Tokimeki Tonight* (renamed *Ransie la strega*), which nobody remembers in Japan, had a **huge** boom in Italy and still are popular today.

   If you are Italian and have a 40- or 50-year-old parent/relative, the good way to make him/her cry from nostalgia is by playing one of the opening themes by Cristina D’Avena or I Cavalieri del Re.

4. It’s pretty popular in Finland but it doesn’t pop out the same way that it did in 2000’s (decade). Back then there were loads of manga translated into Finnish available on newspaper stands and (at least) Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon and Neon Genesis Evangelion were shown on TV.

   Nowadays people who are into manga and anime don’t tend to buy translated manga from newspaper stands or watch anime from live TV – Internet is used much more.

5. It’s not really a big thing in Switzerland. The only person I know who is into it is my best friend. He and I went on a big, 1.5-month trip to Japan when we were 24. There, we once visited a manga library together (because it was on his bucket list). I really liked the atmosphere… there were lots of cozy corners where you could sit and read. There was even a spot where the floor was shaped like a meteor crater and people would like on the sloped carpet with a pillow under their head and read. However, I just couldn’t get into the actual reading material. We spent the entire afternoon there and I tried out a lot of different mangas but they all bored me. Later, after we returned home, my friend gave me some anime to watch but I didn’t enjoy those, either. It’s actually one of very few things about Japanese culture that genuinely does not interest me whatsoever. I went on another trip to Japan a few years later with my S.O.. I absolutely love the food, the language, the mentality, the history, the nature… but for some reason, Japanese pop culture – including manga and anime – doesn’t do it for me.

   Like I mentioned, most other people in Switzerland seem to feel the same way, though not necessarily for the same reasons. A lot of Swiss people can be super Eurocentric (this is certainly not the case for me) but there’s also a general scepticism towards comics and cartoons as adult entertainment. Most people seem to believe that comics and cartoons are for children and you’re supposed to grow out of reading/watching them. I must admit that I used to feel the same way for a very long time.

   I know there are some gen z people who are super into manga/anime but to my knowledge they’re still a fairly small subculture of predominantly well-educated, upper-middle class, late teens or early 20s girls.

6. It’s definitely gaining popularity, but I grew up in the times when if you were interested in manga or anime or anything related to East Asia you were weird or a loser. Or both. People made fun of you all the time for your hobbies, which is outrageous.

   It also depends on your social circle, e.g. people in my university were nothing of this sort so I didn’t have anyone to talk to about anime or manga…

7. We are the protoweebs. Manga are popular, but anime even more. Italy is the biggest western importer of anime and we helped its circulation back then in Europe. Anime has been an integral part of the pop culture for more than 50 years at this point.

   edit: I forgot to mention that italian anime openings are a BIG element that contributed to anime popularity. You might forget what the anime was about, but you *will* remember the opening.

   Due to copyright reasons Italy has always preferred making new openings (*completely* different from the originals). They often reflect tendencies in music from those times, for example 70s opening often have rock guitar solos, while 90s/2000s openings are basically italo dance songs ([Yu gi Oh’s opening](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qsaEG78YNA) slaps *hard*).

   Sometimes we really, really go *hard* on openings, ironically enough especially with the more obscure ones. The opening for [The Slayers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEkGkLvR_4A) is a testament of how anime were serious business. Sometimes lyrics can get very poetic, if not borderline educational, to the point that you might forget you are watching a cartoon aimed at kids.

   My favourite lyrics are from this very obscure [anime](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanie_with_the_Light_Brown_Hair_(TV_series)), in which one of the underlying themes is racism in 1800s US.

   *”People who play this melody only have hyprocrisy in front of them, while you have at least one opportunity and you breathe freedom wherever you go. Freedom gives peace and harmony and it will bloom if there is democracy. Democracy, the path of humanity for one way of joy and dignity. A life of joy and fraternity only if there is freedom. Cotton flakes, white as soft snow. Cotton flakes, drops of pallor on foreheads of another colour. Cotton flakes, gravel of the trail, road to the thinking that expresses itself in freedom. You will notice that at the bottom of every truth, if you will look, there is another truth. Two truths don’t make a lie to me but the reality between love and fantasy.”*

8. With the covid restrictions and seeing the streets completely empty people started saying Spain was like that at the time [Heidi](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hKi1VlE94A) aired back in the 70s. With the homes of people with color TVs being filled with neighbours (that didn’t had color Tvs)

9. It has it’s fanbase, but it’s nothing big.

   Fun story. I remember how about 20 years ago, the state TV aired Princess Mononoke as part of the Saturday morning cartoon block for children. For most children it was definitely the first encounter with animated violence. Young me was quite shocked, as normally the program consisted from shows like Donald Duck or Chip ‘n Dale. I wouldn’t want to be in the skin of the responsible guy the next Monday…

10. It’s somewhat of a Big thing among those in their 30’s or younger. Anime became popular in the 90s because regional chains couldn’t afford to pay the licence for more expensive American Cartoons. Heidi, Mazinger Z, Doraemon, Crayon Shin Chan and, especially, Dragón Ball

11. There wasn’t much anime on Slovak TV stations besides Pokemon(early 2000’s) and Captain Tsubasa(90’s).

    In late 2000’s I’ve watched Animax on TV and than pretty much switched to online sites.

    Right now I am watching Fire Force S2.

    Anyway I guess it would be hard to find someone who watches anime at my age lol.

12. It’s fairly common for people under 30 I’d say. I watch some anime and most of my friends do as well as some of my collegues. Middle aged and older people often don’t get it at all though I’ve found. I’m kinda embarrased to tell my parents or older collegues I watch anime since to them it’s “the weird japanese cartoon with the tentacles and absurdity”