Cy~ Posted June 1, 2017 Share Posted June 1, 2017 Is anime outside of Japan becoming more popular? Less popular? Staying the same? I guess this question is really... Is anime becoming mainstream? This is really an open discussion, since I don't actually have any evidence one way or another. I mean, I could go pull up a Google trends chart, but that actually doesn't tell you as much as you think. Personally, I think that, in the short term, things will stay about the same. In the long term, I see it slowly becoming more popular outside of the current niche. I'm not sure if it will ever be mainstream of not, though. Would we even want that? Who knows... What are your thoughts? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
existentiallylostdumbell Posted June 1, 2017 Share Posted June 1, 2017 I imagine it will play out much the same way video games did. It will gradually go from being just for geeks to normal over a few decades. If the earth is still habitable at that point. People will only resist what's good if other people do, anime is good shit, despite the fanservice, if you're a pervert, including the fanservice. As more people recognise it as good shit, more will partake, meaning less social pressure not to. You could probably relate this to the sexual revolution somehow, but I don't know shit about history. Or maybe the renaissance, I dunno. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roygbiv Posted June 1, 2017 Share Posted June 1, 2017 (edited) It's becoming more popular in my opinion because it seems there's more and more anime shows popping up and I go to a small religious school and out of like 400 kids my friends and I like anime, and I know another kid or two outside our friend group who does, and there are kids who know about it but are not fans of it. ps: hot topic promotes may as anime month, there's several american geek-y or videogame stores that usually carry anime merch Edited June 1, 2017 by Guest 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brycec Posted June 1, 2017 Share Posted June 1, 2017 Cannot really say too much, but as the years go by, it may become more popular, or at least more accepted. Outside of the net and a few places, I kept my anime interest to myself, but during the early years of my blog, I interviewed somebody that turned out to be very interested in anime, and they were only a little older than me. If you want to see the interview, I am including a link below. http://blog.brycecampbell.me/author-interview-weston-kincade.html 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orius Posted June 1, 2017 Share Posted June 1, 2017 Considering that anime adaptations are becoming more ubiquitous (Ghost in the Shell, for example), I'd say it's at least becoming more widely accepted as a proper type of animation one could take seriously. Anime and manga were simply far more inaccessible before the dawn of the Internet, and gathering together as fellow fans felt more like a cult than anything else. Now everybody could get their hands on anime and it's become a social club. Remember when rap music used to be associated with gangster and violence back then? It's something like that, more socially accepted these days than a stereotype to mock to basement dwellers. Also, a lot of American animations have started to imitate the art style of popular anime, so there's that. This goes back to the discussion of "genre vs. medium" as to whether if anime has a distinct art style or not, but that's another discussion for another day. Marvel also seems to have depended on anime too to promote their franchise, albeit not too successfully. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cy~ Posted June 2, 2017 Author Share Posted June 2, 2017 This goes back to the discussion of "genre vs. medium" as to whether if anime has a distinct art style or not, but that's another discussion for another day. Yeah, I actually posted this topic with my mind on the other topic. I have noticed, for example, that I am seeing many more Western visual novels with illustrations that are done in an anime/manga style. It seems to me that, with increasing popularity, more people will be willing to take the style and stretch it, blending it into their own local culture/language/experience. Marvel also seems to have depended on anime too to promote their franchise, albeit not too successfully. Wait, what... I totally didn't hear about this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Histoire Posted June 2, 2017 Share Posted June 2, 2017 Well, I'd say anime is getting more popular... At least in my country. One proof of it is that our local cinemas are now showing anime movies and such. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teru Posted June 2, 2017 Share Posted June 2, 2017 It's like some of the posts here say. I think it's becoming more popular because it's normal to watch one or two animes of the season now (Aka One Punch Man, Shingeki no Kyojin, Sword Art Online). It's becoming main stream stuff so even if the person doesn't like/watch anime, they probably have heard of it from someone who likes it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orius Posted June 2, 2017 Share Posted June 2, 2017 Wait, what... I totally didn't hear about this. lol I was referring to those Japanese Marvel anime, like Iron Man and Wolverine. Not worth checking out IMO. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kohloo Posted June 2, 2017 Share Posted June 2, 2017 I find that it's becoming more of an accepted thing. I haven't seen much change in its popularity, but I've noticed that it's not being treated as badly anymore. More often now I'm seeing even people that don't like it willing to accept it as part of other people's interests, rather than harshly judging them for it. So, it's becoming more known and accepted, but not necessarily more popular. At least, that's the case I've noticed around here anyway. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greeneyes Posted June 2, 2017 Share Posted June 2, 2017 Well I can't say for most but I think its more accept anime and more and more people are starting to view and like anime! I hope more people will view and love anime as much or even more than I do! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cy~ Posted June 11, 2017 Author Share Posted June 11, 2017 it's becoming more known and accepted, but not necessarily more popular. I think that I've noticed this as well. A bunch of people at my job actually got together and went to a local anime convention for fun, recently, and for a little while, everyone in the office kind of buzzed about it. Was an interesting experience, since basically everyone knew NOTHING about anime, but they were willing to give it a try, finally, based on the number of positive things that they had seen/heard recently. It's interesting. Anime is really popular with younger peeps, so their parents are getting pulled into things that they may have otherwise not been involved in. (This is relevant, because the average age at my job is > 60. And, I mean like, not the cool 60-somethings,either. (No, I am not that old, lmfao.)) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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