5 Reasons Anime Popularity Is Booming

Anime has been a huge staple in Japanese culture since the 1960s when adaptations of manga were introduced to the big screen. We’ve explored some of the top five reasons why anime popularity is currently booming.

Dragonball Z:

The Dragonball franchise has been a childhood favorite since it was released in the US and 80 other countries worldwide in 1996 on Cartoon Network’s Toonami. Following the success of this and Dragonball Z Kai, Toei Animation created a sequel to the show called Dragonball Super with the original creator Akira Toriyama. During this time, the series has spanned three movies within the timeline, retelling the events of ‘Battle of Gods’ and ‘Resurrection F’. The recent movies and new series have given long-standing fans what they wanted after ten years and sparked the interest of new viewers.

Pokémon:

Pokémon became a worldwide phenomenon back in 1996 with the release of its original Nintendo Gameboy games, Pokémon RED and Pokémon BLUE. Along with this, there was a worldwide release of the anime series following the main character Ash Ketchum, a 10-year-old Pokémon trainer with his first Pokémon, Pikachu. The Pokémon franchise follows the mascot on his adventure to become a Pokémon master. This series was huge, from collectible figurines to trading cards. The franchise has been relevant over the years with new Pokémon games developed by GameFreak every couple of years on every Nintendo handheld console.

Recently, we have seen yet another rise in popularity. In 2016, Niantic, an American software development company, developed and published Pokémon Go in collaboration with the Pokémon Company. This Augmented Reality (AR) mobile video game uses GPS tracking and mobile phone cameras to catch Pokémon in real life. This is a free-to-play game and by the end of 2016, the game had been downloaded more than 500 million times worldwide, which brought old fans that had grown up with the series back, as well as introducing the franchise to new fans.

Crunchyroll:

Crunchyroll is an anime streaming service available as an app to download on multiple platforms. Thanks to technology development in recent years, this has given easy access to audiences worldwide who can discover and catch up with anime shows that they would not have been able to explore using standard streaming services or standard television channels. More and more series on this platform have added multiple language options in terms of subtitles and dubbed shows allowing for more accessibility and understanding across the globe. If you like Crunchyroll, be sure to check the site at Nin-Nin Game for all sorts of anime and gaming merch.

Netflix:

Netflix is the most popular streaming app available across all platforms. Over the last year, they have added multiple anime series and movies to the service and created a complete anime category. This gives non-anime fans an opportunity to discover the anime hype, as well as providing extra options for those that can’t find what they’re looking for on other anime streaming platforms.

Video Games:

Since the 90s, anime and manga have hit the western parts of the world with the popularity of video games and consoles from Japanese brands like Sega, Nintendo, and Atari. These go hand in hand as anime such as Pokémon and Dragonball were being adapted into videogames on those consoles back then. Even 30 years later, we’re seeing more and more reiterations of these anime franchises being released on current generation consoles.

With anime becoming increasingly popular, we’ve also seen more conventions across the world where fans can gather to cosplay as their favorite anime characters. At these conventions, fans can make new friends, discover new and exciting anime series, and even purchase anime merchandise.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes