The popularity of Anime in America

Since the mid 1960's, anime has been providing Americans with cartoons featuring beautiful animation, in-depth storylines and dynamic characters. Its rise to the popular status it has achieved in America today is no surprise to anyone who has been tracking it since its humble beginnings.
A Brief History of Anime
During World War II, Japanese artists and animators were inspired by the work of Walt Disney. This Western influence gave rise to a style of drawing featuring characters with large, shiny eyes, small noses and mouths, and idealized body structure. Disney's work also served to jump start a generation of Japanese animation, beginning with the work of an artist by the name of Osamu Tezuka. Tezuka would go on to create classics such as Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion.
America's First Exposure to Anime
Incidently, Tezuka's most famous work, Astro Boy, was also America's first significant exposure to Japanese animation. With the instant success of Astroboy's expressive characters and fast-paced animation, the door was opened for other Japanese cartoons to filter across the international borders. Shortly after NBC's debut of Astroboy in 1964, another classic Japanese series by the name of Speed Racer began to gain popularity on American shores. The show aired from 1967-1968 with a total of 52 episodes.
A lull in the interest in Japanese animation occurred in the U.S. between the late 1960's and the early 1980's. Despite the success of Astroboy and Speed Racer, Anime was still viewed as kiddie fare, in line with America's concepts that cartoons are only for children. However, in 1984 the debut of Voltron began to change America's attitudes towards not only animation, but anime. The Voltron craze caught on, as the show skyrocketed in popularity among children and adults alike. A wave of merchandise was released to go along with the show, and following its success similar series (such as the still-popular Transformers) were quickly brought to the United States.
While the popularity of "mech" anime grew in America just as it had in Japan nearly a decade before, another Japanese-made piece of animation was about to invade America. In 1988 Akira made its American theater debut. Though it saw limited theater release in the States, it became an instant cult classic, and held the distinction of being the most expensive animated film of its time. This film opened the way for the idea that animation and cartoons may not be just for children any more.
With the success of "mechs" such as Voltron and Transformers on the television and the somewhat underground popularity of Akira at the box office, it wouldn't be long before anime exploded onto the American scene and took a permanent place in its culture.
Popularity in the 90's
In 1996 Nintendo, in association with Game Freak, began to release its insanely popular Pokémon series of games. In Japan, the instantly successful games were quickly followed by the release of an animated series and a veritable ocean of merchandise and paraphernalia. As the sensation grew in Japan, America acquired the Japanese animation, dubbed it over with English dialog, and released it just days prior to the American debut of the games. Both the anime and the games were an immediate hit with children all across America, further widening the door for other Japanese-made shows to come onto American networks.
Following the path blazed by the Pokémon phenomenon, another Japanese animated series by the name of Sailor Moon would make its premier in 1997. Unlike Pokémon, which was mostly targeted at young boys, Sailor Moon was directed at young girls, and would produce a collection of dolls, toys, and accessories designed to give the traditional American-Made Barbie a run for her money[http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Sailor-Moon-(character)].
Fueled by a search for the next Pokémon or Sailor Moon, American networks began to demand more and more animated shows from overseas to fill their children's programming blocks. Because of Japan's style of writing cartoons with complex story lines and dynamic character relationships, some anime began to catch the attention of older Americans. Mostly made up of high school and college students, this small number of devoted otakus (often compared to America's well-established Trekkies) began to create a growing market calling for anime directed towards a more mature audience. In March of 1997 Cartoon Network began to answer this call with Toonami, a block of programming dedicated to action-adventure animation, and most especially Japanese animation. Older audiences were captivated by popular more "grown-up" series such as Robotech and Dragonball Z. By 2000 the Toonami block had moved to a midnight schedule, which allowed for even more mature material such as the Gundam series to hit the airwaves.<br/ >
In 1996, Disney announced a partnership with Ghibli Studios, Hayao Miyazaki's company that produced such animated films as Spirited Away, further sealing the mainstream introduction of anime into the American culture. However, this proved to be both a help and a hindrance to the integration of the art form into society. While Disney did help anime gain a stronger foothold in the American film industry, its "seal of approval" tended to immediately mark the films as simple children's material in the eyes of American consumers.
Effects on American Culture and the Arts
As anime and its written counterpart manga enjoyed their tidal wave of popularity in the 90's and into the 2000's, its effects began to become more and more visible in the mainstream culture. Toy store shelves were filled with Pokémon, Sailor Moon and Dragonball Z merchandise, ranging from action figures to collectible card games. A parent could buy their child a t-shirt featuring their favorite anime character on the front. VHS and later DVD collections of the series were also released, so everyone's favorite anime could be enjoyed again and again. By the early 2000's Shonen Jump, a monthly-release American equivalent to Japan's Weekly Shonen Jump, was made widely available at newsstands and supermaket magazine racks across the nation.
Perhaps one of the more noticeable effects of anime's impact on American culture are the numerous anime conventions, or "cons" as they are affectionately known, that are held across the U.S. each year. Though the attracted fans are still mostly in the college and high-school age range, people from all walks of life are likely to show up at a convention's doors, some of them in elaborate costumes emulating their favorite characters. According to animecons.com, over 44,000 people attended California's Anime Expo in 2007, with over 22,000 people attending the east coast's equivalent Otakon the same year. This sort of phenomenon is not unheard of in American culture- Star Trek fans have been attending conventions for years - but it is certainly a sign that the popularity of Japanese animation is not declining in the least.<br />
Anime has also effected the art that has been recently produced by American comic and animation industries. Popular animated series such as Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender and Kappa Mikey, as well as Cartoon Network's recent Teen Titans sport dramatically anime-influenced character designs and story lines. One look at Deviantart.com's popular section will reveal a great deal of Japanese-inspired works, many of which are fan-created images of their favorite anime characters.
Another peculiar side-effect of the anime invasion, combined with the rise of the internet generation, is the online image forum. Though many image forums today have branched out to encompass other topics of discussion, some of the most popular with billions of users (such as , an American reincarnation of Japan's Futaba Channel) began as small communities of dedicated anime fans.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu