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Polygon: Anime is HUGE & Here's Data on Who's Consuming It
- Thread starter Reyes
- Start date
Got my wife into it during college. Out of seemingly nowhere my 5yo is suddenly a Sailor Moon fan (og and crystal in equal measure) to where she's got a lot of merch, it was her birthday party theme back in September and she went trick or treating as SM.
She's kind of watched some Precure via the Netflix Glitter Force dub. I plan on showing her Cardcaptor Sakura soonish because I know she'd like it.
Getting her generation off to an early start, that I am.
She's kind of watched some Precure via the Netflix Glitter Force dub. I plan on showing her Cardcaptor Sakura soonish because I know she'd like it.
Getting her generation off to an early start, that I am.
OP
OP
Ahh no worries, if you feel like your overwhelmed looking into Gundam more noticeably the UC.
AU's like Turn A and others are a good start as they don't require prior series and are entirely standalone.
Some other AU's that I would recommend:
Gundam Seed: the biggest non UC Gundam series and in Japan with a new movie soon that will wrap it up the entire AU, Seed is only 50 episodes and has a sequel series called Seed Destiny that is also 50 episodes if you like JP-Drama you would like it though its a very 2000's anime and I think Princess Bubblegum (who watched it recently if I remember) would say the same I think.
Gundam 00: First HD Gundam series, heavily inspired by the War in Iraq and the War on Terror following a group willling to change the world, split into two seasons each of 25 episodes and one movie.
Gundam Witch from Mercury: the newest series in Gundam that just finished up: A Shakespearean inspired Gundam Tale, a story of Love, Betrayal & Revenge, Classes and Curses only 25 episodes.
Gundam Wing: My first Gundam series, its dated as a 90's anime but I do think it has alot of charm and what it means to be a fighter and what it means to fight.
😂😂😂
I like Witch from Mercury, but found this description hilarious
That sounds up my street so I'll give it a go. Thanks for the reply.
Hobbyist anime was varying degrees of popular in America. Pokemon was massive, YGO and Digimon were pretty popular, and Beyblade was kinda niche from what I remember. During the anime boom of the late 90s/early 00s, I'd say the most popular anime in the US were Pokemon, DBZ, and Sailor Moon. There were definitely a couple of anime series that were "acceptable" to like in that time period (depending on your age group), but as we got into the mid/late 2000s anime became a bit more niche again, with a nerdy stigma. Not unpopular, per se, but still seen as offbeat and an acquired taste. Naruto was popular during this time period but I still feel like it was seen as a dorky show for kids who like to pretend to be ninjas, not something that was generally acceptable in the mainstream. Ironically I think Naruto kids growing into adults and probably watching it with their kids has made it more socially acceptable to like Naruto than ever before.
It wasn't really until the 2010s that anime got another explosion of popularity in the US, and streaming making anime so accessible increased that multifold. Now the teenagers I teach all love anime, even older shows like Sailor Moon.
I think I stopped watching anime back in the mid 2000s because at least in my country, it was a fucking pain in the ass to get ahold of new series. Either torrenting or MIRC was the only way, or getting bootleg DVD's.
Now kids can just start the Netflix app and start watching anything they want, I really envy them and I'm glad they don't go around so many hoops nowadays.
Now kids can just start the Netflix app and start watching anything they want, I really envy them and I'm glad they don't go around so many hoops nowadays.
I started out watching stuff like Voltron, Fist of the North Star, Vampire Hunter D, and Wicked City in the late 80s. However, my anime watching started dwindling in the mid-to-late 2000s and series started getting too long for me to follow.
But JoJo brought me back into watching anime again last decade, and I just recently signed back up for CR to get on board with titles like JJK or Chainsaw Man so I'm hoping to watch more. My only problem is that I'm far too nostalgic about my anime and I always prefer to watch the older stuff I grew up with.
But JoJo brought me back into watching anime again last decade, and I just recently signed back up for CR to get on board with titles like JJK or Chainsaw Man so I'm hoping to watch more. My only problem is that I'm far too nostalgic about my anime and I always prefer to watch the older stuff I grew up with.
This is truth. It's sometimes even frustrating.
Plus it feels like they get more LGTBQ content.
I still need to finish that, but it was so heartbreaking.
This still persists even with Zoomers. My kid will wear an anime shirt to school and people will start screaming. "Hey are there any lolis in that hentai? This dude wants to have sex with anime kids."
One of my core memories in elementary school was when the teacher allowed us to bring a movie to class so we can watch one day. I brought a DBZ VHS with a couple episodes on it. My teacher took a look at the cover and was like, "Hmmm let's watch something else."
It's hilarious to me now because nobody else watched DBZ at the time, and I had just brought in a couple random episodes from the Android Saga. Nobody would have liked my VHS I'm sure haha.
Anyway, it's nice to see anime going mainstream! It's super interesting to think about for me.
It's hilarious to me now because nobody else watched DBZ at the time, and I had just brought in a couple random episodes from the Android Saga. Nobody would have liked my VHS I'm sure haha.
Anyway, it's nice to see anime going mainstream! It's super interesting to think about for me.
Going from watching Lady Oscar, Cobra, Robotech in the late 80's, then Saint Seiya, Sailor Moon, Ranma, Dragon Ball, Ninja Scroll, Genocyber, Urotsukidoji among so many others, to watch something like Belle on IMAX and, of course, all the anime available through streaming services is like a dream to me. Always an animu fan, always will be.
You telling me jeff Gerstmann lied to me! I knew I should have gotten that Apology...
View: https://youtu.be/nwfyzG59qsc?si=A4q3u9G7Q5Z2RJnn
View: https://youtu.be/nwfyzG59qsc?si=A4q3u9G7Q5Z2RJnn
A travesty considering how good it is. I hate/Love the manager so much.
OP
OP
I don't think Toei cares about their other franchises barring DB and OP
At least PreCure gets simulcasts now. Localizers are still terrified of promoting magical girl anime that isn't Sailor Moon though.
Gen z is still pretty young and most are still in the prime demo for anime so I'd be curious to see if this changes substantially as they age. I feel like I remember a lot more millenials liking anime when I was younger and then dropping it once they left young adulthood (often weirdly to only pick up or cling on to other stuff they also consumed like Harry Potter or superhero movies)
I used to like anime a lot and I think most people who do watch anime go through the same thing: the illusion wears off and most of it is garbage or the same thing so they only watch the good stuff which is rare IE once every 3 years or so.
All these people watching anime and yet the AOTY voting thread is struggling to breach a page in length. What's Era just Boomers and Gen X? Vote people! Frieren needs your help. (Though Insomniacs After School is the read winner)
Only way to watch Legend of the Galactic Heroes and Patlabor, tho.
I was gonna agree that anime is, by far, too melodramatic to make me cry most of the time.
But then your comment reminded me that I definitely teared up watching the first 5 episodes of To Your Eternity.
Nice try.
I'll just rewatch 86: Eighty Six
But honestly, the only recent Gundam series (not movie/OVA) I found interesting is Witch From Mercury because its heavily queer-coded
I've been meaning to watch Odd Taxi. It looks right up my alley.
The UC aka main timeline in Gundam is a mess, especially as it is always getting expanded in some way. Also the main creative is a crummy storyteller, to be honest.
As others have said, Turn A is for all intents and purposes standalone.
Yeah, I can vouch for SEED (just not Destiny unless one really wants to go whole hog or really, really loves the mechanical designs).
Nah, it still applies for people that watch and defend shit like Jobless Reincarnation.
one of the most powerful tools in making anime mainstream has been streaming platforms presenting it on the same "level" as their other shows. they're not some weird niche product anymore, they're just another thing to watch
Yup anime is pretty mainstream these days, everyday I see cars loaded with anime stickers on windows. When I got my oil changed a few months ago, I got into a casual conversation with an employee about the upcoming Gear Five One Piece episode.
It is kind of weird though how anime is the gateway to manga worldwide when in reality the reverse is true in its home country. I kind of wish that was the case in America, even though manga does exceptionally well for the most part, it doesn't have the breadth and reach that is afforded it in Japan(or even Europe)
It is kind of weird though how anime is the gateway to manga worldwide when in reality the reverse is true in its home country. I kind of wish that was the case in America, even though manga does exceptionally well for the most part, it doesn't have the breadth and reach that is afforded it in Japan(or even Europe)
What do anime fans evolve into watching? After cartoons? Like what kind of programming and fiction do they crave? From the types of anime that is super popular, I honestly don't know what the path is.
It really sucks how all of the top steamers for anime have pretty bitstarved 1080p encodes. I think Netflix at least has a higher or better encoding for 1080p content with Dolby Vision/HDR.
In my experience, Death Note, Hellsing, Cowboy Bebop and Vampire Hunter D
???
They watch cartoons.... just aimed at adults.
Anime isn't a genre, its a medium. You can tell any story you want in it; Horror, Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Action etc etc.
Yes, the most popular/ubiquitous genre is shonen junk-food, but then you look at the movie industry over the past decade and how a MASSIVE mind-share of it was boilerplate MCU/cape-movies, it's a pretty natural phenomenon.
And as anime becomes more mainstream, we're starting to see a resurgence of very popular adult animation, from Western countries (hello, Blue Eye Samurai). There's a market for people, who want to watch cartoons but about things they care about, as they get older. Hollywood/the entertainment industry is just only now catching up.
As some others have pointed out, it's odd their was no gender breakdown here but given we've had stats before, it's usually been a 50/50 split or higher depending on the genre and programming (the idea for example that women don't watch/read Shonen for example is BS (to justify sexism) for example, that was never an audience problem, that's always been an issue with sexist editors, lack of women being hired and men who can't write women problem)
Amused by the Gen X figures given so many of the "western" animated cartoons of the 80s were done by Toei Animation or were re-dubbed anime like Robotech and Voltron.
This threads reminded me just how far behind I am on anime. I still need to watch Yuri on Ice and Spy X Family and I'm still trying to get Through PreCure, YGO 5Ds (I've just read the "bad era" of the show) and I'm in Love with the Villainess.
Amused by the Gen X figures given so many of the "western" animated cartoons of the 80s were done by Toei Animation or were re-dubbed anime like Robotech and Voltron.
This threads reminded me just how far behind I am on anime. I still need to watch Yuri on Ice and Spy X Family and I'm still trying to get Through PreCure, YGO 5Ds (I've just read the "bad era" of the show) and I'm in Love with the Villainess.
You don't evolve past it, because anime isn't just Saturday morning cartoons
You might stop altogether as you burn out, like most things it doesn't take long to realise that a huge chunk of it isn't great but there's always a show, OVA or a movie that comes a long every few years that is super solid. And not just solid for anime but for media in general.
In fairness I don't participate in GOTY threads either for the same reason: I only watch a few new anime a year, a lot of times I'm watching old stuff or I stick to specific series.
I'm in my 30s and honestly I watch more anime now than I did as a kid and teenager. Why would I "evolve" past it?
They weren't even subtle about it. I remember catching an episode of The Smurfs on breakfast TV during the 90s, right around when my primary school was starting to have Japanese language classes, and realizing that the "magic writing" on Para Smurf's blackboard in that episode was just hiragana.
Pluto and Apothecary Diaries are amazing, both from last year
And if you love Pluto, check out Monster. From the same creator, albeit an older show. Just really damn good.
