Japanese Anime and Its Influence on the American Culture

Japanese animation or anime is as popular as it’s ever been in the United State. Even though America televisions edits most of the shows because of kids watching anime still have a huge impact on American culture throughout the years. Japanese animators were also inspired by Disney and use that to develop their own form of animation which is called anime that captured the hearts of many because of its strange theme and create a world for people who always dream of their own fantasy. The impact of anime from the past, present, and future will be soon throughout America.

To understand the impact of anime had on American culture you got to go back to when anime first hit the United States. Japanese anime history is as long as America animation but didn’t get to American until the 1960s. During the 60s, an animator name Osamu Tezuka created the first Japanese huge anime called Tetsuwan Atom, in America, it’s known as Astroboy. On January 1, 1963, Tetswan Atom was the first broadcast on Japanese TV, and soon after Astroboy appealed on American television.

Because the characters in anime appear western, it was easy to create American versions of Japanese made shows simply by changing the names of the characters”. Not only did Astroboy made it to America, but Gingantor another big Japanese anime did as well. Even though these shows were popular at that time in the US, by the late 60s anime was quickly vanishing from America television.

During the late 70s, there was an overflowing interest in science fiction in the US with Star Trek and Star Wars being the face with these shows opening the doors for anime like Space Battleship Yamato and Star Blazers who impacts in America was massive. During that time, cable TV and video players appeared on the market; which helps anime become more common again. By the 80s OVAs (Original Video Animation) also known during that time as OAVs (Original Animation Video) became a big thing a lot of animators at that time started to do, because it was easier for Americas to import anime, by videotapes intended for purchase and home viewing. 'Robotech and Akira' was one of the first anime import to the US, Akira for a lot of people born in the 70s or 80s is their first introduction to anime, and may have had the most impact even today, people still talk about it.

Not once, the 90s hit anime impact will be felt, shows like Sailor Moon, Dragonball Z, Digimon, and Ghost in the Shell influenced, and still is influencing American films and televisions because he introduces didn’t genre such as an anime about a group of girls beating up bad guys, also broadcasters started to take chances on series that was aimed at an older audience, such as Berserk. Its art style began to have a huge influence on American animation and people such as the late great Stan Lee, who created Spiderman and many more great anime and comics.

This statement from this article explains the impact of anime very while: When anime films such as “Akira” and “Ghost in the Shell” made their way into America in the early ’90s, they influenced — and continue to influence — the themes, designs, and narratives of important American films and television shows spanning genres like “The Matrix,” James Cameron’s “Avatar,” “Chronicle,” “Inception” and “Stranger Things.”Other factors such as Toonami — a programming block that aired anime on Cartoon Network from 1997 to 2008 and on Adult Swim since 2012 — and better respect for English dubbing from companies like Funimation and helped create a bigger audience for anime in the United States. The growth of the internet helped make anime more accessible for American audiences and led to the creation of Crunchyroll, a streaming service dedicated to anime, and Netflix making its own original anime, such as “The Seven Deadly Sins” and “Devilman Crybaby.”

With help from Crunchyroll which started in 2006 giving people a quicker and faster way to watch anime. “Crunchyroll recently reported that it has over 45 million registered users, 12 million monthly active users, and 2 million subscribers” (Sanchez).

Crunchyroll is now a global powerhouse and the user count is no way over millions. Anime used to be a small thing that only a few people watch and Crunchyroll has an anime awards show every year and suddenly cool thing to be into, so, without Crunchyroll and Toonami America wouldn't get great shows like Hunter X Hunter, One Piece, Bleach, Naruto, My Hero Academia, and many more. Even Celebrities more than ever show how much they love anime wither it’s in their films, cosplaying, and even fashion. “Kardashian posted on Instagram of her pink, alongside a picture of a character from Darling in the A Franxx When Kanye West makes a music video based on Akira and calls it the greatest film of all time “(Wick).

Almost every month, there will be huge anime events, such as Comic-Con, and at that event, anime fans can dress up as their favorite anime characters, meet their favorite voice actor, and interact with other anime fans, by playing games, singing karaoke, or even taking pictures with a person with a cool costume. Anime can do nothing get bigger from here anime has a great future. The passion people have for anime is huge and yes so people do get bully because of it, but in the future anime will bring everyone together instead of dividing. From when anime first hit America until today the future of anime is very bright.