a lot of females like anime now.

[Desert Punkd]

it's undeniable that a lot more women like anime than did 10+ years ago. is that good? bad? why do you think that is? lets talk about it.

[Myouya]

5 hours ago, Desert Punkd said:

it's undeniable that a lot more women like anime than did 10+ years ago. is that good? bad? why do you think that is? lets talk about it.

I think women enjoyed anime all along! but now they are definitely more comfortable to share their hobbies, just like it happened with videogames.

[Unbroken Experiment]

Basically the only reason I found out about anime is through my big sister, who was into anime when they were still calling it Japanimation. She also got me to try a lot of different video games that I never would've even considered, so I think the interests were always there as well, just not as openly talked about.

[Zeref]

I was introduced into anime by a girl at my school, back then the only people I knew who liked anime were girls. I knew 0 other guys liking it except other guys from online.

[Wickett]

In my own personal experience, I don't see that the ratio of anime viewers has tilted more towards women than men. Rather, anime is simply more mainstream and less of a niche interest than it used to be, drastically increasing the likelihood that you'll come across a woman who watches anime. According to a study done in Japan in 2022, the percentages are approximately 62% male and 38% female, and that ratio seems to have remained fairly consistent. I also haven't been able to find any data to dispute that overall conclusion either. In the effort to find it, however, I did stumble across some numbers that I found quite interesting. Psychologically, men and women are not actually all that different. It's only in some subjects that the differences are accentuated, and this is also reflected in how men and women rate anime. 

(source- The Bunny Advocate — Gender differences in anime ratings (tumblr.com))

On top of finding that the men and women in the study were more careful and deliberate with their ratings (as opposed to other media such as video games), both peaked at 8, with the only real difference being that women generally handed out more 10s than men. 

[Sakura]

I've always had a pretty equal amount of friends that were male/female that liked anime. When I was in school pretty much all my friends did and I had a mix of girls and dudes that were friends.
I'm also a girl and I've liked anime for as long as I can remember, as has my sister. My mom has even watched some anime lol ~
Just about everyone I know has watched anime in some form at this point, whether it was Pokemon or Digimon as a kid, or getting into popular anime that was on TV like Naruto/One Piece/Bleach.
I also don't think it's considered too extremely "nerdy" to like anime anymore like it was when I was in school. My sister is 11 years younger than me for instance and told me that it was pretty widely accepted to like anime at school as pretty much everyone did, and she thought it was strange that people used to get teased for it when I went to school. 

[Clayton]

half the male characters in anime are voiced by women

[Sarada]

I'm a girl and I watch anime. I've watched it since I was really little and the majority of my friends in school did too who were both girls and guys. I know of more girls that like anime than guys I know and it seems pretty normal to like it anymore.

[Ohayotaku]

I’m pretty much in agreement with @Wickett post above. I’d also point out that many popular early isekai actually had female protagonists (Fushigi Yuugi, Vision of Escaflowne, Magic Knight Rayearth). Then there’s series like Nana & the original Fruits Basket. And of course there’s no reason why girls/women can’t enjoy shonen or seinen series too. 
As to whether it’s a “good” or “bad” thing, the majority of those I see complaining are ones fixated on ecchi & hentai. As far as I’m concerned, the more variety in anime the better. I actually enjoyed series like A Place Further Than the Universe, Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken & Arte. The current trend in “Villainess” anime doesn’t have the best track record with me, but no worse than the typical modern isekai.

[Matchi]

Anime and manga has had a long history of appealing to young girls and women with shoujo, romance, magical girls, etc.
I think it's just unnoticed by boys since they don't typically watch what girls watch.

[Sakura Dragon]

You ask if this is a positive thing or negative thing. I have to ask why would it be bad? I can’t see anything bad coming from this.

I do think anime has had predominantly male fans for a long while but there has also always been female fans. I think with just how popular and widespread anime is nowadays, there were bound to be even more female fans. When I go to anime conventions, I see a solid 50/50 mix of male and female attendees. But, to answer the original question, I view an increase in female fans as a fantastic thing.

 

[DylanMax]

Totally! Anime’s vibe is so universal now it’s like this awesome mix of storytelling, art, and culture that just pulls everyone in. Plus, the community around it is next-level welcoming and fun."

[Colu]

Where I live, growing up it was always primarily girls that were the avid anime fans, hardly any of the boys were. I think it really depends on where you live or grew up. 

[Twilight_Winter]

As some of the others have already said there have always been plenty of female anime/manga fans, I've spoken to plenty of them on some old forums I  use to frequent in the past. The only reason there seems to be more of them now is that anime is more main stream now there for the female fans are more out in the open. There is absolutely nothing wrong with girls/women enjoying it like this too I see it as a good thing.

[FidelityBoss]

On 3/8/2025 at 9:40 AM, DylanMax said:

Totally! Anime’s vibe is so universal now it’s like this awesome mix of storytelling, art, and culture that just pulls everyone in. Plus, the community around it is next-level welcoming and fun."

Yeah, I absolutely agree with you on that man

[FidelityBoss]

On 7/22/2024 at 1:17 PM, Desert Punkd said:

it's undeniable that a lot more women like anime than did 10+ years ago. is that good? bad? why do you think that is? lets talk about it.

It’s definitely interesting how anime has become way more mainstream, especially among women, compared to 10+ years ago. I’d say it’s a good thing overall! It shows how the medium has evolved to include more diverse stories and characters that resonate with a wider audience. Back in the day, anime was often seen as niche or heavily targeted toward male audiences, but now there’s so much variety romance, slice-of-life, fantasy, and even strong female leads—that appeals to everyone. Plus, the rise of streaming platforms has made it way more accessible.

As for why, I think it’s a mix of better representation in anime itself and the growing acceptance of geek culture in general. Women have always been into anime, but now it feels like there’s less stigma around it, and they’re more vocal about their interests. Social media has also played a huge role in building communities where people can share their love for anime, regardless of gender. So yeah, it’s cool to see how things have shifted! What do you think?

[Gale]

I didn't think there was a disparity between males and females. That, or I'm just incredibly dense--the latter of which I'm more inclined to believe. Was it not always a 50/50 divide?

A lot of friends that I've had in grade school were females that liked anime. In fact, it was probably more so than males. Because anime encompasses so many more genres, maybe there's more to be had--that there's something out there for someone to enjoy. It's been popularized so much now.

[DylanMax]

On 3/8/2025 at 9:56 PM, Colu said:

Where I live, growing up it was always primarily girls that were the avid anime fans, hardly any of the boys were. I think it really depends on where you live or grew up. 

Yeah i absolutely agree with you on that it really depends on where one grew up.