this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2026
16 points (90.0% liked)

Anime

4844 readers
64 users here now

This community is the place to discuss and ask questions about anime, anime news, and related topics.

Currently airing show discussion threads are created by our resident bot, rikka@ani.social. If it doesn't make a thread for an episode that you want to discuss, see the user guide on the wiki for instructions on how to ask rikka to make a thread for you to use.

Check out our wiki to find:

Rules

More complete rules on the wiki.

Post Tags

Post tags are completely optional, but some recommended tags would include:

Related General Communities

Chat

Thanks to @NineSwords@ani.social for running the discord!

rikka

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
wjs018@ani.social
wjs018@lemmy.world
rikka@ani.social
wjs018@piefed.social
1Fuji2Taka3Nasubi@piefed.zip
16
Anime Ruined My Life (In A Good Way?) (www.youtube.com)
submitted 4 days ago by devaly@ani.social to c/anime@ani.social
12 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

My fifth storytime animation! Although this one is more like a storyboard animatic bc i started my storyboard class so im trying to focus on that hehheh. Th...

top 12 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Unique_Emerald_Sol_I@ani.social 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Calling bullshit that anime only became "mainstream" by the time of AoT's final season. That was literally only 2020, anime had been mainstream for years at that point (I'd argue close to two decades). Also I remember watching those Bleach episodes as they premiered, the 3am claim is hyperbole, Toonami may have been part of the Adult Swim block by then but there was plenty of anime airing at primetime (as she herself mentioned earlier in the vid). I'm definitely being pedantic but these youngin's actin' like they had it so bad while vastly overselling the experience irks me.

Also I find it a little weird how she mentioned "anime stigma" like a dozen times and never once brought up the way a lot of parents used to associate late-night anime with hentai? That may be because of youtube, tho.

[–] ReluctantlyZen@ani.social 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

anime 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 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

how about Demon Slayer's Mugen Train movie being the highest grossing movie of 2020 worldwide?

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.

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.

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 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 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

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.

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 2 points 1 day ago

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.

No worries, I thought your response was fine!

[–] Crank@ani.social 5 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

Somehow I managed to remain ignorant of anime until I was a proper adult. Partially the blame for that falls on the fact that when I finally got my hands on the Internet I became too busy playing MMOs, and the only way to watch anime, other than piracy, was TV. So that meant all you could get was Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon. So yeah, Dragon Ball was probably my first anime, but at the time I was unaware that's what it is. It was just another cartoon to me. And after that I didn't touch anime willingly for a long time because of the stigma. Then I binged AoT and I was completely hooked. Now I watch a lot, but I still won't touch Naruto or Bleach, because this kind of stuff doesn't appeal to me anymore. I probably would have liked them as a teen, but now it's just another run-of-the-mill shounen, so not what I'm into.

[–] Hazel@piefed.blahaj.zone 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I made it to like EP 130 of Naruto and then never touched a shounen again, lol 🙈

[–] devaly@ani.social 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

I don't have any generalized hate against Shounen, my biggest problem is that they always stretch the hell out of the plot because Shounen is such an easy money machine to otherwise resist.

I think JJK is a very good counter example of good Shounen to my taste.

[–] Crank@ani.social 4 points 4 days ago

I agree about JJK. It's distinctive enough with its gore, outstanding hand-to-hand combat, and power system in general. Also the fact that it has a great direction and Yuji is not a screeching banshee helps a lot. But I'm probably a little biased here, because it was my first proper shounen, so I wasn't tired with all the tropes yet.

[–] Hazel@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 points 4 days ago

I think the biggest issue with the overly long plots is how every arc feels the same because the solution is always 'never give up' and 'work hard to get stronger'. Unless a shounen comes up with some original take on how to solve problems I don't think I'll feel compelled to try one again.

[–] devaly@ani.social 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I've started with Anime similarly to how she did in the video. There were some distinctively good shows on open tv at the time, which people would not even call anime.

Later in mid-school, some friends introduced me to One Piece, I was lent some CDs with packs of 30 episodes of One Piece in rmvb format, 320p. After getting a good taste I got addicted to it's distinct plot formulas.

I found Zatchbell, same way as her, and also Hunter x Hunter, both in which left a mark on my childhood. I only got my own PC and internet some years after that, in which I could watch more shows through piracy.

The stigma was there, definitely nerdy stuff, as they say. Anime never got mainstream, even after I've left my country. People watch it on open tv without even realizing it's anime.