Streaming Services Boost Anime Popularity Overseas; Former ‘Geeky’ Interest More Beloved Among Gen Z than 3 Major U.S. Sports

By Yuki Kobayashi / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

12:15 JST, November 8, 2024

The value of media exported by Japan, such as films, anime and manga, rivals that of steel and semiconductor industries, a fact which has been much discussed in recent government conferences. Many people have a keen interest in the content industry as a valuable growth sector. In particular, overseas sales of anime have grown exponentially, with the market size more than doubling over the past decade.

In late September, a 27-year-old man from Chile was thrilled with the anime offerings on the shelves of Yodobashi Camera Multimedia Akiba Store in Tokyo’s Akihabara district. He said he loved “One Piece” for the series’ friendships and “Kimetsu no Yaiba” (“Demon Slayer”) for the interesting backgrounds of its characters. A 32-year-old man from the Netherlands beamed as he said he has been watching “Dragon Ball” since he was 10 years old. Still fresh in our minds is U.S. track athlete Noah Lyles doing the Kamehameha pose, the signature move of “Dragon Ball” protagonist Goku, at the Paris Olympics this summer.

Now, anime is getting increasingly popular around the world.

“The popularity of anime in the United States has entered a different phase,” said Eimi Shimizu, 40, a producer working for Dentsu Inc.’s anime licensing division. According to a U.S. survey the company conducted in 2022, 44% of Gen Z respondents aged 18 to 24 said they watched popular anime. Among them, anime was more beloved than the three major sports in the U.S., including the National Football League.

Many anime fans in the United States were considered “geeks” about 20 years ago, according to Shimizu. Today, however, a young NFL fan can also be found uploading a YouTube video gushing about “Jujutsu Kaisen,” and celebrities like Ariana Grande publicly talk about liking anime.

“Gen Z is open to various things. Many in the U.S. strongly relate to the growth of the lead character in ‘My Hero Academia,’” she said. In 2023, the company conducted awareness surveys in nine countries and regions and found the anime was remarkably popular in all of them.

Streaming increases sales

According to the Association of Japanese Animations, the size of the anime market was ¥2.92 trillion in 2022, more than double that of 10 years ago. Over the decade, overseas numbers saw rapid growth, increasing nearly sixfold.

This growth was led by streaming services. “People who hesitated to watch anime gave it a chance because it was already on their streaming services at no extra cost, and so they discovered its appeal,” said Taiki Sakurai, 47, chief executive officer of the Tokyo-based production company Salamander Pictures. Sakurai supervised anime production at streaming giant Netflix from 2017 to 2023.

As many spent more time at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, anime viewership surged. Despite being prevented from gathering in large numbers during this time, anime production companies were able to divide tasks and produce anime to meet the demand. While the industry seemed to be hitting its ceiling in Japan, now the sky is the limit, according to Sakurai.

“The characters are seen as ‘anime people,’ not as Japanese or American people. People in different countries think, ‘This anime was made for us,’” Sakurai said, explaining why anime is becoming more popular overseas. It is also important that anime does not attempt to pander to foreign audiences.

Content for all generations

Tadashi Sudo, a journalist who covers the anime industry, explains that there are many genres within anime, such as school life stories, science fiction and fantasy. With complex stories and diverse characters, they can appeal to adults as well. “There are many works with stories so sophisticated people of all generations can enjoy them, like ‘Meitantei Conan’ (‘Detective Conan’),” Sudo said.

“Even anime villains have rich backstories, and the ideas and ways of telling these stories are very unique. There never will be a day when people all over the world stop watching anime,” Chen Yan, 36, said confidently. Chen is an associate professor at Kyoto Seika University and president of an anime production company. She grew up in China watching anime and came to Japan after graduating from Peking University. While the daily life and worldviews depicted in anime are specifically Japanese, they also have universal appeal, according to Chen.

However, anime’s popularity overseas is not well-recognized in Japan. “I hope Japanese people take an interest in anime as something part of their country’s culture,” Chen said.

Sakurai believes each country will develop their own anime-influenced works and in the future some will be hits worldwide. “Japan needs to thoroughly think about what constitutes truly interesting and moving anime,” he said.

Kei Sato is a professor at the University of Tokyo’s Institute of Medical Science with a research focus on viruses such as the novel coronavirus. With about 10 international students studying in his laboratory, he said most of them decided to study in Japan because they had contact with Japanese culture, including anime, when they were children.

“These are excellent students who could have chosen to go anywhere, but they picked Japan. As Japan’s economic power declines, we Japanese need to rethink what Japan can promote to the rest of the world,” Sato said.