Comment on Anime Ruined My Life (In A Good Way?)
ReluctantlyZen@ani.social 1 day agoanime had been mainstream for years at that point (I’d argue close to two decades).
Is that a US and/or NA thing? What constitutes as mainstream? I hear all the time how anime is mainstream now, but I just don’t see it. Are there a lot of fans? Sure, especially in certain online spheres, but irl I rarely see it mentioned in any way. Most don’t even know what it is.
When I hear “mainstream” I think blockbuster cinema and pop music; most people like it. It gets widely talked about in everyday conversations and media. I just don’t see how that applies to anime.
Unique_Emerald_Sol_I@ani.social 1 day ago
In terms of blockbuster: how about Demon Slayer’s Mugen Train movie being the highest grossing movie of 2020 worldwide? Infinity Castle was also the seventh-highest grossing movie of 2025 (and was the highest-grossing international film in the U.S.). That’s beyond Disney making Ghibli a household name.
Yes, my views are going to be U.S-centric, I’ll admit that, and I’m sure what counts as “everyday conversations” is going to vary by region – however for me “mainstream” means things like the above, that anime movies like Chainsaw Man and One Piece see theatrical releases outside of Japan and get placed on lists of highest-grossing movies worldwide. Pokémon is also partly anime and it is literally THE most profitable IP in the world. Big companies like Sony and Disney have anime as part of their regular catalogue. It’s not some niche little thing that only scrappy companies like Tokyopop will touch anymore. Goku is in the Macy’s Day Parade (which is a major national event in the U.S., I am completely unaware how well-known it is outside the country).
I’m sure you can argue that there are a lot of anime that no one outside those really entrenched in the greater anime fandom have heard of, but to discount anime as a whole being some niche form of media only known to those in the hobby is, IMO, misguided at best.
Oh, and something else to back up my claims: a 2025 global research report by Dentsu found around 30% of “global consumers” (which I’m reading as those with disposable income, probably 16 and up) watch anime at least once a week, and another 2023 report for the U.S. specifically found that 1 in 3 adults 18-54 watched “viral anime titles” with that number going up to 44% for Gen Z aged 18-24 at the time.
ReluctantlyZen@ani.social 1 day ago
That’s fair and I didn’t know that, but like 70% of that came from Japan as far as I can tell. Don’t get me wrong though, 30% of 512 million is still huge, especially in COVID times.
Oh for sure. I wasn’t trying to say it’s this niche little thing. It’s definitely grown in popularity even in the last 10 years. It’s just that for being mainstream, I see it barely mentioned. But maybe it’s a mix of my own environment + having too narrow a view of what mainstream means.
I guess I thought of it as people needing to actively be anime fans specifically, rather than just occassionally watching some anime and having fun with it. I suppose it’s similar to movies in that sense, where there’s quite a difference between a cinephile and someone who likes to put on Netflix to unwind.
Unique_Emerald_Sol_I@ani.social 1 day ago
Yeah, I think that’s a good way to phrase it. There is also a generational element, as I mentioned with the Gen Z statistic (probably more pronounced with anime because it is animation and a lot of the anglosphere still treats animation as “for kids”).
Also I want to apologize for probably coming across too brusquely before. I jumped to respond and then rushed to actually complete the response before I had to go to work. My bad.
I especially don’t know where anime (or, I guess more specfically, J-Pop) stacks up on the music/radio stage. AFAIK foreign-language songs just don’t crack the American music scene, but I’m no audiophile and I haven’t listened to the radio for close to two decades so ╮ (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.) ╭
ReluctantlyZen@ani.social 1 day ago
No worries, I thought your response was fine!