How popular is anime in America?

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DOMSdeluise@reddit

it seems very popular with young people.

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Yggdrasil-@reddit

It has been for like 30 years. I graduated high school a decade ago and knew lots of kids who were into anime and manga

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DOMSdeluise@reddit

when I was a kid (90s and early 2000s) it was very much a niche nerd thing, at least in my area. Now it seems like everyone likes it.

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NitescoGaming@reddit

It's easier to access now. Back then it was all torrents and fansubs outside of a few shows on Toonami and Adult Swim.

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I grew up in the Chicago suburbs and went to HS in the late 90s. The anime on Cartoon Network (especially Gundam, Sailor Moon and DBZ) was seen as pretty normal if not widely popular, and most kids were familiar with Akira and Ghost in the Shell even if they weren't necessarily fans. Princess Mononoke released in theaters in '97 and then Spirited Away won the Academy Award in '01 which pretty much cemented anime as "mainstream."

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Gustav55@reddit

In the 90's every Saturday morning the scifi channel would have Saturday Anime where they would play a anime move.

Domination Tank police, The Venus Wars, Akira, Gall Force, Record of Lodoss War are the first ones that come to mind

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brzantium@reddit

Same. When I was a little kid in the 80s, I'd watch any cartoon. By the time I was teenager in the late 90s, anime was seen as a nerdy or even juvenile genre. We didn't have cable, so the best I could catch was Escaflowne when it aired on Fox, but I kept that on the DL.

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fleetiebelle@reddit

I'm even older (was a kid in 80s and 90s) and it was definitely a niche nerd thing that I was not into. To the point that I'm regularly surprised at how popular it is.

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3Duder@reddit

Same here. I saw Akira on SiFi channel's Saturday Anime and it blew my mind. I still have a soft spot for the Streamline dub before voice actors settled on the stereotypical anime voice.

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tlamy@reddit

I know this thread is about anime and not manga, but the manga section in my local bookstores and libraries is huge. Like, practically the same size as any other genre section. It used to be just one small shelf in the corner when I was in college 10+ years ago

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brzantium@reddit

I take my kid to one of the smaller library branches nearby, and they have one side of an aisle that's mostly manga with anime DVDs and blu-rays at the end. I regularly see a couple kids purposely hunting down specific titles on that row.

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tarheel_204@reddit

I graduated high school 10 years ago. It’s come a long way even since then.

At the time, the people who openly admitted to liking it were the “Naruto running” types but a lot more liked it and just didn’t talk about it because of the stigma (this is just my personal experience at my high school)

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getElephantById@reddit

When my older brother was going to high school in the late 80s, it was something people traded VHS tapes of. There was literally a 'connect' who had access to imported Japanese anime, and he distributed 2nd- and 3rd-generation copies around our town.

When I was going to high school in the late 90s, it was much easier to get via mail order or at specialty shops, and they even showed Dragonball Z and Cowboy Bebop on Cartoon Network, a popular cable channel. That was how most of my friends were exposed to it.

Nowadays I think it's just part of the media diet. I imagine a 10 year old today has probably seen a lot more anime than they've seen Looney Tunes, but probably still less than Disney or Pixar.

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buttchugreferee@reddit

Shit, I'm pretty old, and even I love me some anime.

Just started watching Snowball Earth.

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Outrageous-Pin-4664@reddit

Yeah, my wife and I introduced our kids to anime.

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ReorientRecluse@reddit

Been fairly popular for over 20 years

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OnlyFannins@reddit

It’s tough to determine how popular it is. I would say it’s a popular niche, but not actually popular amongst the entire nation.

Redditors in general, and younger people are more likely to be into that niche. So asking on reddit is probably going to give you skewed results.

My best guess is that it’s a large and growing niche, but still very much so just a niche.

It is absolutely not popular amongst most people in the country. Anyone who says otherwise is just living in a bubble and talking about their own experience without realizing their own experience is not representative of the whole.

I would be surprised if more than half the country even knew what anime was let alone are a fan of it.

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Evening-Station7663@reddit

Anime is pretty mainstream in America now, especially with Gen Z. Shows like Dragon Ball, Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece are widely known even outside anime fandoms.

Among Gen Z, anime is probably more popular than traditional TV for a lot of people, since younger Americans mostly stream content online anyway. It’s still not bigger than all US entertainment overall, but it’s definitely no longer niche.

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grahsam@reddit

It's very popular with a small subset of people. To everyone else it's weird nerd stuff that seems to be liked because it's violent and has boobs in it.

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Gunslinger_247@reddit

Ive never been into it. But it appears a lot of people on Reddit are into it. Just not sure how many of those are American.

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RelevantJackWhite@reddit

there are at least 5 cars in my apartment complex with anime bumper stickers on their car

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BadgemanBrown@reddit

This.

There was a big boom on Cartoon Network from the late 90s to mid 00s. Sailor Moon/Dragon Ball/Pokemon -> Naruto, as well as some late night Adult Swim offerings (Cowboy Bebop, Bleach, Death Note, Inuyasha, among others)

There was a cooling off in the late 00s and early 10s circa the anime bubble bursting and Global Recession (also a lot of TV networks dropped anime).

Then the pivot to streaming (both illegal and legal) helped grow the next generation of hyper-online anime fans. Attack on Titan was particularly big around 10-12 years ago and that plus stuff like JBA, and the resurgent popularity of 2000s era shonen like Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, Full Metal, etc. have really mainstreamed it here.

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No_Walk_Town@reddit

Attack on Titan was particularly big

It's crazy how an ultra right wing Japanese cartoon pushing "great replacement for Japanese people" narratives got so huge. "No, we're actually the real victims because the people we colonized and gonocided can't get over it!" Gee, what could this possibly be an allegory for?

(It's an allegory for early 2000's ultra right wing historical revisionist Japanese "patriotic education".)

But then again, nobody ever notices that Godzilla is about the Bikini tests (which had nothing to do with Japan), so Americans aren't really primed to catch Japanese historical revisionist/denialist ethnonationalist narratives.

It's just not the type of racism we're calibrated to catch.

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jesuspoopmonster@reddit

Godzilla is less about Bikini Islands and more about a fear of an unstoppable force of destructions and what it means moving forward which is relevant to post WW2 Japan. The scientist who makes the weapon to stop Godzilla worries it will end up more destructive then Godzilla

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No_Walk_Town@reddit

Godzilla is less about Bikini Islands and more about a fear

Yes, they co-opt the Bikini tests and erase the actual victims.

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jesuspoopmonster@reddit

They don't. The movie talks about the bombings in Japan

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Kellosian@reddit

I've seen interpretations where, in the later ones that got really silly, Godzilla is more representative of the US itself instead of the A-bomb. Sure he's a giant monster that once destroyed Japan, but he's also kind of friendly now and can help fight off other, way worse monsters.

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xERR404x@reddit

which had nothing to do with Japan

There was a Japanese fishing boat, the Daigo Fujuryu Maru, that was heavily irradiated by the Castle Bravo test. One of the boat’s crew died from radiation poisoning and the whole incident sparked a huge anti-nuclear movement in Japan. But you are correct that that incident was one of the inspirations for the original Godzilla.

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No_Walk_Town@reddit

a Japanese fishing boat, the Daigo Fujuryu Maru, that was heavily irradiated by the Castle Bravo test.

Partially correct. A Japanese fishing boat was trying to exploit Marshallese waters, which they had no right to, and they had no reason to be there.

They weren't victims, they chose to go where they weren't welcome.

One of the boat’s crew died from radiation poisoning

Oh, one Japanese guy? How many Bikinians died? Do you know? Do you care? Because the Japanese don't.

and the whole incident sparked a huge anti-nuclear movement in Japan

I mean, yes, Japan selfishly and arrogantly turned the Bikini tests into an opportunity to center themselves and play victim, despite having literally nothing to do with it.

It was racist and stupid then, and it's racist and stupid now. Not even getting into how the latest Godzilla movies go out of their way to rehabilitate Imperial Japanese soldiers and portray them as heroes.

The movies are disgusting and racist.

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Ariel_s_Awesome@reddit

American adult cartoons are still working on shaking off that edgy 12-year-old-that-just-learned-to-swear vibes and just writing stories with 18+ elements. It's getting better but most people still think of South Park and Family Guy when they think about adult cartoons.

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PeanutterButter101@reddit

American adult cartoons are still working on shaking off that edgy 12-year-old-that-just-learned-to-swear vibes and just writing stories with 18+ elements.

Ever watched Hazbin Hotel or Helluva Boss?

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Not_an_okama@reddit

Back in my day toonami was afterschool. Id come home from first grade and watch dragonball or DBZ. and still think about them advertising for bobobobo-bobobo and still think its a rediculous name.

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Due-Use-3707@reddit

Well you’re asking on Reddit so the answer is going to be “everyone loves its! It’s so popular”

But in real life, I don’t know a single person that watches it. I’ll see those weird ass cars with little girl anime heads in the back window, so I assume whoever those weirdos are watch it.

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Kali-of-Amino@reddit

Manga and anime first showed up in America 40 years ago. We're a second generation otaku family.

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No_Walk_Town@reddit

Manga and anime first showed up in America 40 years ago

Lol, what? Disney goes back to the 1930's and so does Superman. Comics and cartoons were not introduced to America by Japan, and they've been around longer than 40 years.

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Ariel_s_Awesome@reddit

Your point? The fact that anime was heavily inspired by western cartoons is common knowledge. Nobody said that the animation industry originated in Japan.

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No_Walk_Town@reddit

said that the animation industry originated in Japan.

You literally said anime was introduced to America 40 years ago. You literally did claim Japan invented the animation industry.

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Kali-of-Amino@reddit

Manga = Japanese comics

Anime = Japanese animation

Keep your terms straight.

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No_Walk_Town@reddit

Keep your terms straight

I actually speak Japanese. You are incorrect about the meaning of both of those words.

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Kali-of-Amino@reddit

Those are the meanings in America.

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No_Walk_Town@reddit

No, it's not. It's just orientalist, pretentious nonsense. The English words you're looking for are "Japanese comics" and "Japanese cartoons."

You're just desperate to exotify them to feel smart.

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Ariel_s_Awesome@reddit

We are not talking about the literal meaning. We are talking about the connotations in the US. And anime flows a lot better than Japanimation or Japanese cartoons.

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No_Walk_Town@reddit

anime flows a lot better than Japanimation or Japanese cartoons.

Nah, it's just an orientalist need to exotify Japanese cartoons so you can convince yourself that watching cartoons makes you special and smart.

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EpsilonAmber@reddit

I live in an asian heavy area, so the data might be skewed for me, but I think most young people know about anime. older people probably not as much. I'd say older East Asians are probably a bit more likely to know about anime.

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SuperRowCaptain@reddit

Way more popular than you'd think, especially among young people. There was a stigma surrounding anime for a long time, so people kind of consumed in private. Since covid that's lifted a bit and it's become more mainstream, but in my opinion it's always been massive.

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DMmeNiceTitties@reddit

Anime is currently at its most popular globally, not just in America. It doesn't dominate the US market, but it is an extremely popular niche.

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BombardierIsTrash@reddit

Pokemon, Naruto, Yu Gi Oh, DBZ and the likes had a chokehold on an entire generation. A lot of people grew up watching Anime every single day/week on their local TV channels without thinking of it as anime.

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DMmeNiceTitties@reddit

And even then, it was considered nerdy to like anime in the 90s/00s (in my anecdotal experience), but somewhere around the 2010s, anime became mainstream and very, very popular, which I appreciate as a fan.

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BombardierIsTrash@reddit

Pokemon was the most mainstream children’s cartoon of its generation. I’m not sure it was specifically nerdy when every kid age 5 to 13 was watching the anime and playing the video games from like 1998 to 2005 or so.

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connor42@reddit

Early Pokémon was at a level of cultural prevalence that I didn’t really think of it as anime like i did with Digimon, Shin-Chan, Bey-Blade, maybe the fact Pokemon isn’t set in Japan

While not quite the cultural force of Pokemon I feel like DragonBall Z was also hugely popular at the time though perhaps more nerdy

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Kellosian@reddit

While not quite the cultural force of Pokemon

Not in America. In Latin America, DBZ is basically mandatory viewing.

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jerseydevil95@reddit

Even my parents who grew up in the 70s and 80s have fond memories of watching Astro Boy and original Dragon Ball in the Dominican Republic

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travelinmatt76@reddit

My friends and I started an anime club in college in 1997

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SheZowRaisedByWolves@reddit

Very popular in my microcosm of work. My Gen X coworkers talk about watching popular series like DBZ or Demon Slayer with their kids.

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DataBooking@reddit

I know it's very popular in the US military, doesn't matter which branch you will see weeb shit.

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BigEd369@reddit

I was a high school kid in the late 80s. One night my local cable-access channel was showing the Fist of the North Star movie. It blew me away, I didn’t know what the hell I was even looking at, but I knew I wanted more.

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MadCityVelovangelist@reddit

Basically any American kid that had a single working mom is into Anime.

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jesuspoopmonster@reddit

It is extremely popular. I think young people don't see it as any different then any other type of show unless they are into it to the point of seeking it out in Japanese

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StretchJazzlike6122@reddit

Pokémon was life in the late 90s 😆

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stillestwaters@reddit

Pretty popular. Enough that it isn’t an outsider characteristic to like or be knowledgeable about a popular one. It used to be the kind of thing that someone would judge or bully someone over, I think it’s much less like that now.

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A_BURLAP_THONG@reddit

It's generational. According to this article that was making the rounds recently

42 percent of Gen Z watches anime weekly (compared to 25 percent of Millennials), but only 25 percent of Gen Z follows NFL football (compared to 44 percent of Millennials). Anime has transformed from niche subculture to mainstream entertainment. The numbers are staggering: the fastest-growing anime market in the world is North America, with an expected 16 percent annual growth rate by 2030. Crunchyroll, an anime streaming service, has an estimated 53 million North American viewers, while manga sales exploded up to 500 percent at some Barnes & Noble locations in 2020. Major retailers like Walmart and Target now dedicate significant shelf space to anime merchandise, with the global anime merchandising market projected to reach $20 billion by 2032.

So if you're under 30, anime is more popular than the most popular sport in the US. If you don't regularly watch anime regularly, you probably know someone who does.

If you look at their source you can see that anime gets less and less popular as audiences age.

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Hey-Bud-Lets-Party@reddit

I shop at 2nd & Charles, which is a chain of massive bookstores and they have a staggering amount of manga.

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Smooth_Beginning_540@reddit

Thanks for posting those. I agree, anime is popular, but also correlated with generation.

I’m Gen X, and I’ve enjoyed anime since the 1980s. At the time, that made me an outlier. It has been gratifying to see anime become known in the U.S.

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Dirk_McGirken@reddit

Somewhere between dominant in the zeitgeist and niche. It depends on what you mean by anime. Shows like Demon Slayer, Frieren, Dragon Ball, One Piece, Pokémon, etc. are popular to the point that people who have never engaged with the media may recognize it still.

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Ariel_s_Awesome@reddit

Demon Slayee and Frieren are too (relatively) new to get the same reach as the Dragon Ball, One Piece, and Pokemon. Even your 50 year old mom probably knows who Pikachu though.

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ViewtifulGene@reddit

The popularity of anime with Millennials made it mainstream. Pokémon, DBZ, and Sailor Moon were the vanguard.

IDK what kids these days are watching.

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PacSan300@reddit

Was Sailor Moon actually as popular in the mainstream as Pokemon and DBZ were? My friends and peers in school talked about the latter two a lot, but I rarely remember hearing about the first. This was in the late 90s and early 2000s, for reference.

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Ariel_s_Awesome@reddit

Yes. Especially if you were a girl. Pokemon is about equally popular among girls but DBZ wasn’t marketed for them like Sailor Moon.

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foxsable@reddit

Gen-x had to work for out anime. We had to go to conventions and but the VHS or DVD of the anime we wanted to Watch at extremely inflated prices.

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MundyyyT@reddit

Pretty much all of the most popular ones, esp. if they’re more recent. Jujutsu Kaisen, Death Note, Demon Slayer, Chainsaw Man, Frieren, One Piece, etc

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TheBrownestStain@reddit

If my nephews are any indication, it includes One Piece and Demon Slayer. Which, ngl I think they’re still a bit young for those but it’s not like I wasn’t exposed to stuff like GTA at that age.

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Ariel_s_Awesome@reddit

It’s extremely mainstream! Especially with people under 40.

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Intelligent_Pop1173@reddit

I guess define “popular.” Anime isn’t popular in the way that football is, a billion dollar industry. But it has a decent sized cult following. You’ll find most of us here on Reddit lol

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sorakirei@reddit

It's definitely become more popular and mainstream since I became a fan in the 90's. The rise of streaming has done wonders for legal accessibility.

One time in college, a group of us drove 2.5 hours away to see a screening of Perfect Blue as it was playing in an extremely small number of theaters. Today anime films are regularly released in major movie theater chains across the country. Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle was in over 3,300 theaters and held the #1 box office weekend gross for TWO weekends and remained in the top 10 for an additional three weeks.

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GoodDecision@reddit

Me and my wife's favorite shows we are watching right now are Frieren, Solo Levelling, and Cowboy Bebop. We are in our 40s.

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sorakirei@reddit

Excellent choices!

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kaimcdragonfist@reddit

At least five

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ElijahNSRose@reddit

Anime is heavily associated with young and/or stupid people

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Duemont8@reddit

Very popular among gen z, might’ve just been my major but just everybody I knew at college was at least a bit into it

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14Rage@reddit

Very popular. But also, basically nothing is mainstream popular. There is just so much stuff here that everythings popularity is a small percentage of americans. The older mainstream things like the college sports, nba, mlb, and nfl are basically the only things that are really wodly popular, but even those IDK if they are popular with the vast majority of americans. Theres just too much stuff thay everyone is pulled in different directions in this country. There isn't really anything that is a cultural monolith.

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Low-Restaurant8484@reddit

Depends on the age. Gej X and older? Nkt remotely popular?

Millinenials? A rather sizable niche.

Gen Z and younger its practically mainstream. Hugely popular

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OwlCatAlex@reddit

Based on purely anecdotal experience I would estimate somewhere around 1/2 of American men and 1/3 of American women born between 1985-2005 are fans of at least a few anime. Below that age range, maybe like 10%. Above it, very rare.

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Timely-Papaya2049@reddit

Its so popular that its creating a generation of losers and pedophiles

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thorleywinston@reddit

I'm Generation X and we only had a few anime series growing up in my area (Robotech, Voltron, Speed Racer, Tranzor Z, Macron 1, etc.) but I was exposed to more of it in college and have been a fan pretty much all of my adult life. Most of the book stores I've visited have a manga section and there's one in almost all of our public libraries usually frequented by teenagers and younger adults. So I would say it has a pretty strong following.

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Yeegis@reddit

Ever since Pokémon in the late 90s, it’s been fairly popular.

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TALieutenant@reddit

It's definitely exploded in popularity. When I started getting into it as a kid (late 90s/early 2000s,) if I was looking for anime merchandise at the local mall, there was one, tiny little section in the movie store...usually in the back. Now? Same mall has an anime store, and a few others were you can get anime-related stuff.

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asiangunner@reddit

It was niche when I was a kid in the 1980s and early 1990s. Personally I wasn't into it as a kid. I only became a fan when I was well into my adulthood (maybe my mid 20s).

Basically mainstream now. I personally think it started getting mainstream in the late 1990s on coinciding with the popularity of Pokemon.

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normiepitbullmom@reddit

i’m not a fan but it’s incredibly popular with those 40 and under

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No_Walk_Town@reddit

Disney is huge.

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Aromatic_Buddy_9931@reddit

Popular I would say. I mean even some old folks know what anime is but they don't watch those. Mostly kids teens and some adults like me and my husband and so my sister

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Maiace124@reddit

I'd say it's pretty close to mainstream. Most of the people I know watch some form of it, even the stereotypical preppy or jock like people. They may not be obsessed, but they like it.

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Ok-Walk-8040@reddit

Anime has been popular for a long time in America. It was a little popular in the 60s with Astro Boy and Speed Racer. It died down in the 70s then resurged in the 90s with Pokemon, Sailor Moon and DBZ becoming insanely popular. It wasn’t until the 90s where it really became super mainstream and it has been becoming more and more popular each decade since.

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Used_Return9095@reddit

I think it’s getting more popular. I remember when I was in hs in the late 2010s you would be made fun of for watching anime lol.

There’s quite a few athletes nba and nfl players that watch anime which turns it into something more popular and “normal”.

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TokyoDrifblim@reddit

It's very popular. I would say if you're like 35 or younger it's much more popular in that demographic and much less with older people. It's not unusual for any random person on the street to either be extremely into anime or have never seen any or anything in between

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KillBologna@reddit

Super popular

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Anxious-Salamander49@reddit

The only people into it are weird kids and creepy adults

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Remote-FilmBoujee@reddit

What year are you born? Lmfao

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Anxious-Salamander49@reddit

What does that have to do with anything

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RelevantJackWhite@reddit

it's generational

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jigokubi@reddit

I mean, I'm in my fifties, and I knew a lot of people who were into it to varying degrees.

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Chedditor_@reddit

Maybe 30 years ago, yeah, but now that contingency is now a solid percentage of the population. Not so weird or creepy anymore.

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Anxious-Salamander49@reddit

There are a lot more weirdos around these days. There are always signs

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Chedditor_@reddit

I'm a weirdo, but it's more that I'm on the autism spectrum, and we stopped throwing people like me into the asylum decades ago.

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screenaholic@reddit

The only ones you NOTICE are weird/creepy. Most are regular people. If you saw me walking down the street, you would have no reason to think I'm into anime. It's confirmation bias.

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mdavis360@reddit

very creepy adults.

How do you feel when you see cars on the road with those creepy anime stickers plastered on them of little girls peeking out the window?

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Lyradni@reddit

Yes, every person who watches anime has anime stickers on their car.

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The49GiantWarriors@reddit

I don't know how representative this is, but in the Bay Area, anime is completely mainstream.

This isn't to say that everyone likes it or even knows what it is, but it's a part of everyday life in the way that pop music is--not everyone likes or knows Olivia Rodrigo or Sabrina Carpenter, but it can't be denied they are a part of normal, everyday mainstream culture.

It's almost expected that a child will watch, or at least know of, anime. If a 20 or 30 something enjoys anime, no one would bat an eye. Seeing people doing cosplay is totally normal. The SF Giants have an anime night for one of their games.

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MamaPajamaMama@reddit

Very popular based on my Gen Z son and his friends.

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MundyyyT@reddit

Everyone I know under 35 has heard of or seen clips of popular stuff. Of those, maybe a quarter have watched a show or two from start to finish, and maybe like a fifth watch anime with any regularity

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SpinachSubstantial55@reddit

Extremely

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Upstairs-Crow6572@reddit

Super popular rn with gen Z-gen alpha, if you couldn't tell by my pfp I'm also a victim lol

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jamiesugah@reddit

I attend the local anime convention every year and feel very, very old. (I'm in my 40s.)

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RhymenoserousRex@reddit

It's been pretty popular ever since it went mainstream with Cartoon Networks Toonami block like 25 years ago.

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pawsplay36@reddit

I'm not sure Gen Z watches anything but anime and Cartoon Network.

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hail_to_the_beef@reddit

I was teased for liking it in middle school in the late 90s. It’s wildly popular now.

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Upper_Extreme9461@reddit

It's very popular!

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jc8495@reddit

It REALLY depends on the group you’re asking. To be perfectly frank, you’re going to get more people on Reddit saying they like anime then if you went into a real life room of 100 people and asked if they liked it. Personally, none of my friends like it or watch it but if you’re just going by people online, then it’s the most popular genre in the country

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I_Weep_for_Willow@reddit

Spot on. I don't know a single person in real life (myself included haha) that watches anime. It's for online kids or something.

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jc8495@reddit

Yeah I was kind of shocked by how many people are saying it’s super popular like it’s really not outside of specific spaces. Definitely not a majority of the country at all

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Chedditor_@reddit

There's a large generational gap; very little anime entered American culture until the very late 1980s, but it wasn't until Toonami started airing on Cartoon Network in the mid 1990s that anime started developing its current following. Millennials saw a huge upswing in anime interest, mostly tied to successes like Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z. The increased investment spurred on the Funimation era of American localization, which fed back into the industry and created what's now becoming a mainstream culture among Gen Alpha.

My son is almost 3, and loves Ghibli movies more than Disney.

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KagakuNinja@reddit

Anime was part of American culture in the '60s, with shows like Astro Boy, Gigantor, Speed Racer and Kimba. It wasn't marketed as a Japanese cultural thing at the time.

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Chedditor_@reddit

True, which is why I didn't include the 1960s and 1970s anime series above. They didn't really establish anime culture, they just augmented Western cartoon culture.

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The_Lat_Czar@reddit

It's still a bit niche, but not so much that the youngsters are getting made fun of for watching it anymore.

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_iusuallydont_@reddit

Very. I’m a millennial and I started watching anime in high school (to be fair, I did go to hs in Japan). I still watch and I’ve noticed how many more people, especially other women, started watching over the last 20 years.

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Khajiit_Has_Upvotes@reddit

It's pretty popular. It's not at the top of the market, but ever since Cartoon Network's Toonami segment began airing in the 90s and popularized several shows it steadily grew in popularity. Even before that you could find amine at entertainment stores like Hastings. Some were pretty popular in the US even before that. My Neighbor Totoro, Voltron, and Akira are notable examples a lot of us saw growing up.

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nyyforever2018@reddit

It’s very popular with the younger generation, not as much once you get into the older group.

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jessek@reddit

Pretty popular with young people.

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InfidelZombie@reddit

I've never met anyone who has seen it, but that makes sense because I don't know anyone under the age of 12.

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screenaholic@reddit

Bro, if you think all anime is for 12 year olds, you clearly don't know much anime.

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ratchetcoutoure@reddit

Popular and mainstream enough for some of the movies screened at national movie theater chain like AMC and hitting top spot on first week box office gross. Like, that's a lot of money generated from it. Wouldn't dream that happening back in the 90s, where you need to find some art house cinema just to watch something that is not Pokemon, it was very niche back then. These days you can wear any anime t-shirt or even cosplaying as anime characters, or even just to say you enjoyed anime, without getting bullied/ridiculed, since the bullies will be ridiculed right back for being old and/or close minded.

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screenaholic@reddit

I think most kids/ young adults are into at least one or two of the major shonen/shoujo franchises nowadays, and plenty of people are fully into it.

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50ShadesOfKrillin@reddit

I remember when I was in school, if people found out you liked anime, you were gonna get clowned on. Nowadays, some of the most popular shows out are anime or anime-adjacent.

If you told me at age 12 that Goku and Luffy would have parade floats at the Macy's parade, I would've called you crazy

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ligmasweatyballs74@reddit

It's extremely popular with losers and school shooters

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PrideOfTheFoothills@reddit

It's incredibly popular amongst certain crowds but I wouldn't say it's widely popular or well-known with your average American outside of Pokemon.

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Ok-Energy-9785@reddit

It's still a niche but it's gaining mainstream popularity

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bangbangracer@reddit

It's gaining mainstream popularity, but I'd say that it's still niche popular.

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Fangsong_37@reddit

It's very popular, especially among millenials and earlier (though I do know Gen Xers who enjoy it). My mom (a Boomer) loved watching Speed Racer.

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ILoveAsianAmerica@reddit

in the past 20 years it def exploded in popularity

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shammy_dammy@reddit

Extremely

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Remote-FilmBoujee@reddit

I was into it hugely as a child, so a 8 year old or so in 2006, and I was bullied. But now everyone my age and younger is into it, so the stigma has largely changed.

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Both_Painter_9186@reddit

Pretty popular with teenage - mid 20s men.

I’m a dude in my 40s. I used to watch a lot when I was high school aged, then kinda grew out of it. I find myself kinda wincing at the over the top emotional exposition now. Like, nah dude. I don’t need the characters to talk to themselves for 5 minutes of a 22 minute episode about why they feel/think a certain way when it’s obvious from what’s happening. Some of the sexualization is over the top/ incelish as well.

That said every once in a while I still go back to BeBop or GITS.

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DrMindbendersMonocle@reddit

Very