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Forum - View topicAnswerman - Why Is Anime Getting More Popular In The West (Again)?
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Merxamers
 Posts: 720 |
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This is a pretty incredible time to be a US anime fan, and i started at probably the best time. If it weren't for Hulu, i'd probably have never started watching anime, and i'm grateful every day for Crunchyroll, Netflix, etc.
I agree, there are a lot more people that i personally know that watch at least some anime, to a shocking extent. They may not watch Rokka or Garo, but a lot of them have seen stuff like HunterXHunter, One Piece, Attack on Titan, or even Gargantia. |
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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Nah, that feels wrong. I bet the answer is "more of everything is being made, for everyone". We've just had three seasons of healing moe anime, from KinMoza, to Non Non Biyori, and now GochiUsa, nevermind anything else that might also fit into that category. Otaku-pandering is as strong as ever, and sci-fi shows never went away. Maybe they weren't always stellar, but they've been there. |
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Hoppy800
 Posts: 3331 |
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Keep the feel good series coming folks. Also crowdsourcing for anime is a thing and is expanding from the dark and edgy stuff to other genres like idol anime. Also, good mecha is slowly starting to appear and the kiddy looking garbage and trainwrecks are on their way out.
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TheMorry
Posts: 658 |
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i'm myself only a real hardkor fan, or otaku, of anime since 2-3years. Yeah, I already loved DBZ, Pokemon. Gundam wings and a few more for 18 years already (Im 28 now). But I wasnt familiar with the term "anime" and simply considerd it as cartoon. In the short time i became a real fan i collected a "legal" collection of anime of new and classics, Roughly guessing over 200 titles already on DVD/blu ray. And i say "legal" because since I'm from the Netherlands the stuff that its been licensed in USA or in the UK isnt supposed to be sold to people from the Netherlands because of the rubbish called license....
I'm totaly happy that i stepped into the anime world 2-3 years ago. But im facing also things that annoys the crap out of me. Im forced to watch things illegal because I can not watch Hulu, Funimation or any other USA streaming services. All thanks to that annoying licenses crap.... I would pay for the streaming services the next minute it becomes available..... And download stuff because sometimes i must wait years before it gets released in the UK. Importing stuff from USAis annoying as well. I would pay like twice the amount then someone from the USA because of the import taxes....... |
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FireChick
 Subscriber Posts: 2400 Location: United States |
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I've been an anime fan all my life, and I'm from the US. It's great to see more and more anime being brought over to the US and more mediums available for watching it. I hope more people will come to like anime for what it is and appreciate its merits and what it has to offer.
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Jonny Mendes
 Posts: 997 Location: Europe |
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Let's see. One Peace is still king. Naruto are still around. There are a Gundam series every year since 1979 Fair Tail is around since 2009 1 year before Attack on Titan there was Bleach. Last year there was Space Dandy The only new one is One Punch Man. There never was a deficit of "western" fan friendly shows (US is not the only western country and many western fans don't like this shows as much as Americans do  ).
And Moe and slice of life is strong as ever. There are a new idol show and at least 2 or 3 LN, harem, fanservice shows every season. Sorry but i don't see your point. The only thing that changed is Internet Streaming. That is what is bringing more fans to anime. Last edited by Jonny Mendes on Wed Nov 11, 2015 5:19 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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nhat
Posts: 922 |
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Really? Besides the anime boom during the early/mid 2000s, it doesn't seem any different now then before.
I guess the word for nowadays from my PoV is that it is steady. Which I think is good. |
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MarshalBanana
 Posts: 5342 |
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The "What is popular in Japan" question is more complex then the stereotypical Moe and Slice of Life answer. Wolf's Rain did really well in its in Japan, Ghost in the Shell is still doing well years after the Cyberpunk genre has become a lot less popular in Japan. Magic Kaito 1412 was really popular on TV. Really the most accurate thing to say is that they are highly unpredictable.
As for making shows for American audiences (that is what they basically mean by Western), wouldn't that mean we would stop getting a lot of good shows, One Punch man clearly has a Japanese audience in mind, so that would be gone, one of my favourite shows of all time, Mononoke, would of never been made. Michiko & Hatchin was made for office woman in Japan, so that would of never been made. Etc Etc. |
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Themaster20000
 Posts: 863 |
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It's better by the fact were getting a ton of stuff that was thought to be impossible to get a release here. Along with being able to watch shows hours after they finish airing in Japan. |
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encrypted12345
Posts: 718 |
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I feel the same. Because of the sheer variety, I always find at least one to three anime to bide my time with weekly. My tastes are pretty wide, but that only applies when I'm marathoning something. My standards of whether or not I watch something weekly are stricter and somewhat depend on my mood during a particular season. I'm only watching One Punch Man and Utawarerumono this season, but I'm satisfied with that. It's two more than I watch on American television, and I can always work on my anime/videogame backlog. |
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Lemonchest
Posts: 1771 |
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One thing I wonder if it will become more of an issue is the different tastes of foreign audiences clashing with the legal & cultural restrictions, for lack of a better phrasing, in Japan. We seem to be eating up Mr Osomatsu's very show specific & irreverent parodies, but it seems to be giving the shows producers a headache, with one episode being pulled & having to issue an apology for content in another.
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EricJ2
 Posts: 4016 |
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And THEN, by the time the anime industry finally got the "Season boxset" thump on the head that HS and college kids with limited incomes didn't want to, or couldn't, buy 4-ep. disks one every month for $30 each, the Bubble popped, and almost no retail markets were selling them on easily accessible shelves at all. Although we've lost some of the all-in dedication of the old days of Buy to Watch, we're now running a smoother lifestyle in our new streaming days of Watch, and Later Buy. We no longer have to hope that a show gets sold to Cartoon Network so non-fans can get hooked on it for free, or even grit our teeth and pretend to recommend Wolf's Rain to them just because it is showing for free. Nowadays, just about anything's free (with ads), and accessible to the nearest click of a keyboard, Roku or game console, and the only question of WHICH show to hook newbies with is an artistic/favorites one. Which means better shows can hook newbies, more newbies get hooked, and find it easier to stay hooked. Now, the only obstacle to anime in America is the Japanese, and their attempt to preserve their society by finding a Final Solution to the Anime Conspiracy, in order to eradicate the NEET Poison sapping their society... 
Once we liberate those camps, maybe anime can start creeping back into the mainstream over there again, like it did in the 90's glory-days. But I doubt it. |
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encrypted12345
Posts: 718 |
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It would be convenient if Japan added the necessary parody law. In any case, Japan is usually more lax than the West (in the worst case scenario, only the time slot needs to be moved), and in areas where it is not as lax (such as gore), Japanese anime is already used to censoring it. I'm not that worried about cultural restrictions, though legal restrictions may still be a problem in the foreseeable future. |
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Just-another-face
Posts: 324 |
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The cynic in me says this is easy to answer: it's because we in the West still can't produce anything drawn or animated "on the same level as anime". Even in the last few years, our animated shows apparently all just suck, no matter how much so-called "anime influence" they have. Why? Because they're not still not anime according to the definition, and are therefore boring & poorly drawn by default. At least this is the explanation I see some people give.
But I suppose, by that logic, the Japanese probably have gotten tired of their own stuff and have been turning to our cartoons to compensate (not all shows they create are successes after all). Last edited by Just-another-face on Wed Nov 11, 2015 5:41 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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partially
Posts: 702 Location: Oz |
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I don't see it as wrong. "Returning to", doesn't indicate at all that moe or slice-of-life has gone away. There is just more balance now. There was a period of time where action and sci-fi all but seemed to disappear. So even doing one show would be a "return". Thankfully as you say there seems to be a bit for everyone now. |
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