Japan’s most popular form of entertainment is anime. Currently, 72% of people in the United States regularly watch anime. In 2024, the Japanese anime industry was valued at a staggering $33 billion USD, but it wasn’t always this popular.
Before anime really skyrocketed in popularity, it was seen in a negative light. There was a stigma around anime and its watchers, especially from Western countries, for a multitude of reasons such as stereotyping, perceived immaturely and limited access.
Many anime fans were often called “weebs,” a derogatory term for someone who is obsessed with Japanese culture and anime. These anime enthusiasts were often stereotyped as being socially awkward and overfixated on Japanese films. They were stereotyped as basement-dwelling single men who were watching anime to “escape from reality” and were drawn to inappropriate fan-service, while female fans were overlooked despite them being a major part of the fandom.
This stigma pushed people away from openly expressing their love for anime.“It was mainly to do with the fanbase having a loud minority of unhealthily obsessed people. People did not want to be associated with them and so they distanced themselves from the genre as a whole,” said senior Ammar Bazaraa.
Because anime’s style looked similar to cartoons, many people saw it as immature and childish. Common characteristics that anime and manga artists give to their characters to reduce the maturity of the film are: extremely exaggerated expressions, reactions, voices and body proportions, often enlarging certain body parts of characters reinforcing the negative outlook on anime. Due to this visual style, many pushed anime away without even attempting to understand its significance.
These negative aspects pushed people away from Japanese entertainment, making them miss the mature and complex themes that anime brings to the surface. This negative outlook towards anime almost immediately dissipated after it exploded in popularity around 2019 and continues to this day.
One reason why anime skyrocketed in popularity was the COVID-19 pandemic. With more free time at home, many people gave it a try. “Anime blew up during COVID-19, because people had more time on their hands to try and watch new things. Its popularity has been growing ever since,” said senior Atharva Anthati.
Anime became more accessible as platforms like Netflix, Crunchyroll and Hulu started streaming it. This made it easier for people who already had those platforms to watch anime .
Many Gen Z have viewed anime more open mindedly than previous generations as nearly half of Gen Z Americans watch anime. This has caused anime to become more popular as discussions among friends were freely made as anime became a shared experience instead of a negative and unattractive hobby. Due to the increase in quality animations and very deep and complex themes, people have begun to appreciate the genre as a whole, ignoring the small minority of people who made it weird.
Today, anime has gained worldwide acceptance and appreciation. The new movie “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle” has broken several records upon release. When the film opened, it made approximately $70 million from the United States and Canada. It was also the fastest film to reach 10 billion yen.
Companies now profit from merchandise sales, and fans now make edits of anime, celebrating the creativity and connection that anime makes the genre unique. What was once a niche interest is now a culture of people.
