Anime Polygon: anime is HUGE — and we finally have numbers to prove it

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Anime is huge — and we finally have numbers to prove it

WWW.POLYGON.COM

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Polygon surveyed more than 4,000 people to demystify anime’s reach within the world of pop culture.

 

Quote

 

Eventually, all the biggest forms of entertainment reach a tipping point. 

 

After spending years establishing themselves, building an audience, and becoming indispensable to fans, they still find themselves in a no man’s land where outsiders see them as toys for a bunch of kids messing around. No matter how many billions of dollars they generate, mainstream success remains a tough final hurdle to clear. Then, one day, they break through.

 

Anime has finally reached that tipping point.

 

On the surface, it’s easy to point to examples, with shows like Demon Slayer, Spy x Family, and My Hero Academia flooding streaming services and merch popping up everywhere you look (some Polygon staff favorites). But in an era where people rarely gather around the TV at the same time, and with services like Netflix only now offering viewership data from their splintered audiences, it can be hard to get a sense of what’s Actually Popular. And as fans of anime know, bubbling beneath the mainstream was a major cultural cornerstone many still consider niche.

 

To better understand just how vast anime culture has become, Polygon surveyed more than 4,000 Americans over the age of 18 about their anime consumption habits. Working with Vox Media’s Insights and Research team and market research group The Circus, our results show that not only is anime’s popularity growing significantly with each generation, but that — among younger audiences — it’s even surpassing cultural touchstones like the NFL.

 

So anime is big. But how big, and in what ways? Let’s dig in.

 

 

Cue the infographics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AbsolutSurgen]

There is no way that 42% of Gen Z watch anime weekly.

[Xbob42]

fuckin weebs

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Just now, AbsolutSurgen said:

There is no way that 42% of Gen Z watch anime weekly.

 

You're absolutely correct.

 

It's probably far closer to 75%!

[Xbob42]

Not a statistician or anything, but I feel like if 40% of one group of your respondents are LGBT, your survey might not be representative?

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

5 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

Not a statistician or anything, but I feel like if 40% of one group of your respondents are LGBT, your survey might not be representative?

 

I'm going to wager that it's a combination of:

• Polygon having a higher proportion of LGBTQ+ readers than other similar sites
• the Gen Z demographic being more willing to identify as LGBTQ+
• LGBTQ+ audiences naturally gravitating towards anime

When taken together, it's possible that you arrive at something resembling such a significant percentage.

[TheLeon]

3 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

I'm going to wager that it's a combination of:

• Polygon having a higher proportion of LGBTQ+ readers than other similar sites
• the Gen Z demographic being more willing to identify as LGBTQ+
• LGBTQ+ audiences naturally gravitating towards anime

When taken together, it's possible that you arrive at something resembling such a significant percentage.

I think the “Q+” does a lot of the heavy lifting here. 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Just now, TheLeon said:

I think the “Q+” does a lot of the heavy lifting here. 

 

That's very much a strong possibility.

[Kal-El814]

A significantly higher portion of Gen Z identifies as bisexual compared to previous generations.

[Keyser_Soze]

One day @Commissar SFLUFAN will be one of them.

 

Pretty sad Crunchyroll is 4th on that list despite them trying to strong arm themselves into a bunch of anime exclusives and buying right stuf, all that. Fuck em!

[Ghost_MH]

16 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

One day @Commissar SFLUFAN will be one of them.

 

Pretty sad Crunchyroll is 4th on that list despite them trying to strong arm themselves into a bunch of anime exclusives and buying right stuf, all that. Fuck em!

 

Everybody enjoys some anime that's out there. Just need to get the right anime in front of folks. Best anime I'd recommend to people around here that's airing right now is Frieren: Beyond Journey's End. For those that don't know it, it's basically a D&D adventure, only it takes place after the hero's party has defeated the Demon King. It follows the nigh immortal elf mage as she watches her world-saving party members die of old age and try to figure out what to do with her very long life.

[Keyser_Soze]

7 minutes ago, Ghost_MH said:

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

 

I've looked into starting this one. A lot of artists have been drawing fan art of it (if you know what I mean) is the way I found out about it.

 

But also on Crunchyroll and airing weekly or something so I'm waiting.

[cusideabelincoln]

Kids around here love Demon Slayer.

[Ghost_MH]

1 minute ago, Keyser_Soze said:

I've looked into starting this one. A lot of artists have been drawing fan art of it (if you know what I mean) is the way I found out about it.

 

But also on Crunchyroll and airing weekly or something so I'm waiting.

 

It's fantastic. It's also a very binge-able series thanks to the great pacing. The series does not cater to perverts, but that's never stopped anyone given the never-ending supply of Sonic and Pokemon...artwork. Perverts can go watch the BDSM-themed Gushing Over Magical Girls over on HiDive. Somehow HiDive managed to get hold of the uncensored animation, but still censored audio. I have no idea how the audio can still be censored given the content of the visuals, but that's neither here nor there.

[Spork3245]

3 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

Pretty sad Crunchyroll is 4th on that list despite them trying to strong arm themselves into a bunch of anime exclusives and buying right stuf, all that. Fuck em!

Crunchyroll not having TV apps and an absolute shit UI is probably part of it

[Greatoneshere]

The stats here seem very heavily skewed but in general I'm not surprised. As an older anime fan it's pretty clear how big its become in the US compared to what it was when I first became a fan in the late 90's/early 2000's. I'm a little concerned that 65% find anime more emotionally "compelling" than other forms of TV since 90% of anime per season is shit made for children where every character wears their emotions on their sleeves which is not more emotionally compelling but more emotionally immature in terms of how to handle one's emotions but I assume most voting that way are teenagers or young 20-somethings who make up most anime fans - as you get older it becomes harder to watch most anime since they are primarily made up of either under 18-year old teenagers or young 20-somethings and as a result a lot of that comes off like bad YA. It's always been the case but the current homogenized trends of most anime being a comedy where they are reincarnated/transported to another world/in an MMORPG doesn't help. We are currently being inundated with comedies, isekai's, slice of life, ecchi/harem, CGDCT, weird MMORPG job-centric stuff, and each season gets a tournament sports fighting anime, whether that's men or women swimming, playing golf, playing ice hockey, or soccer, or baseball, or whatever it is. All these genres are almost unbearable to watch unless you're watching the best of each genre and the rest is so bad only young people can probably binge the same tropes playing out in the same genres every season over and over. I can't emphasize enough how most of these shows simply play out exactly like every other version of that kind of show in that genre. How it doesn't get mind-numbing for teens, etc. to just keep binge-watching the same tired tropes of these genres play out over and over is crazy to me. 

 

Getting unique shows like Pluto, Dororo, Carole & Tuesday, Kingdom, Gleipnir, Vinland Saga, Golden Kamuy, etc. is rare. In the last 5 years there's probably a total of 20 anime shows I have had immediate interest in. Then there are the top shows in the aforementioned genres which I avoid unless it is top tier (which there is always like one per season maybe, which I grant, Frieren being a recent example as Ghost_MH pointed out). 65% find trashy anime more emotionally "compelling" than Barry, Better Call Saul, Yellowjackets, Beef, etc.? Makes no sense. You really have to like Japanese slapstick comedy to like a lot of these shows right off of the bat, which I do not. I'm much more of a Seinfeld/witty dialogue/smart repartee kind of comedy guy and Japanese anime is rarely that (usually Japanese anime comedy is pratfalls, sexual innuendo, toilet humor, stupidity humor, and constant physical slapstick; which is all kind of base for me).

[ort]

I still vividly remember in the mid-to-late 80's, when I was in like jr high... we used to hang out at this local pizza place and they had a party area in the back and there was a local anime club that would come in and watch subtitled Japanese cartoons... and at the time it felt so unfathomable bizarre to me... to see a bunch of adults, choosing to watch weird foreign cartoons with subtitles out in public...

 

This was before anime was really a thing. I mean, we had Speed Racer, Voltron, Battle of the Planets, Robotech, etc... but it still felt just so weird to me that adults were watching... and with subtitles... in public...

 

There isn't really a point to this story beyond anime has come a long way since then.

[Ghost_MH]

3 hours ago, Greatoneshere said:

The stats here seem very heavily skewed but in general I'm not surprised

 

Eh, not at all surprising. Anime nerd culture, NOT gamer culture, has always more inclusive. Huge numbers of minority fans and support for LGBT fans, even if anime media wasn't as inclusive. There might be Blerdcon these days, but I still remember the first few years of Anime Boston and being much more friendly to women, minorities, and anyone else not a cis, white male.

 

Telemundo was airing a bloody and uncensored Dragon Ball Z along with queer friendly Sailor Moon and Saint Seiya back before Toonami was ever a thing. I straight stole my parents' VCR so I could record episodes of the Spanish dubs.

 

I will admit that plenty of anime fandoms are toxic. Among many others, I'm looking at you One Piece fans that refuse to use proper pronouns for the 9' tall oni just because he has big boobs.

[Greatoneshere]

37 minutes ago, Ghost_MH said:

 

Eh, not at all surprising. Anime nerd culture, NOT gamer culture, has always more inclusive. Huge numbers of minority fans and support for LGBT fans, even if anime media wasn't as inclusive. There might be Blerdcon these days, but I still remember the first few years of Anime Boston and being much more friendly to women, minorities, and anyone else not a cis, white male.

 

Telemundo was airing a bloody and uncensored Dragon Ball Z along with queer friendly Sailor Moon and Saint Seiya back before Toonami was ever a thing. I straight stole my parents' VCR so I could record episodes of the Spanish dubs.

 

I will admit that plenty of anime fandoms are toxic. Among many others, I'm looking at you One Piece fans that refuse to use proper pronouns for the 9' tall oni just because he has big boobs.

 

Yeah I agree with all of this. Anime has always had an arm of it that's always been super accepting - I similarly remember old Otakon's where it was incredibly inclusive, especially at the time. Then on the other hand you have the toxic arms of anime, as you mentioned. I just think the TV content diet of anime fans is too skewed to anime if they think that's where the most emotionally compelling and mature stuff is. Anime is a lot of things, but emotionally compelling isn't what I'd think of first, even though there are anime that are of course, to say it's above other mediums is a bit much.

[Jason]

I can imagine Wade dying inside as he made the OP.

[Jason]

I'm interested in exploring other anime, but the big holes in the Dragon Ball content made me not interested in renewing Crunchyroll past the 14 day trial. The big one was that all the pre-DBZ movies only had subs, no dubs.

[Ghost_MH]

3 hours ago, Greatoneshere said:

Yeah I agree with all of this. Anime has always had an arm of it that's always been super accepting - I similarly remember old Otakon's where it was incredibly inclusive, especially at the time. Then on the other hand you have the toxic arms of anime, as you mentioned. I just think the TV content diet of anime fans is too skewed to anime if they think that's where the most emotionally compelling and mature stuff is. Anime is a lot of things, but emotionally compelling isn't what I'd think of first, even though there are anime that are of course, to say it's above other mediums is a bit much.

 

I think it depends on what you're looking at and the people we're talking about here. There is a bunch of GenZ representation here. Now I'm a 41yo, single dad to three kids in school. I'm about as far away from that age group as you can get before the number of anime fans my age really start to trail off. Still, GenZ is what? 10-25 or something? Compared to a lot of the stuff made for the tween, teen, and young adult market market, yeah, I can buy that anime resonates emotionally. We aren't just talking about action stuff either. Anime is pretty close to the only medium that has any romance content that targets straight boys and men. Last couple of years we've gotten stuff like My Dress Up Darling and Insomniacs After School. These aren't romcoms. These are straight romance, slice of life, dramas that target guys.

[Ghost_MH]

2 hours ago, Jason said:

I'm interested in exploring other anime, but the big holes in the Dragon Ball content made me not interested in renewing Crunchyroll past the 14 day trial. The big one was that all the pre-DBZ movies only had subs, no dubs.

 

It's still the best anime streaming service out there. HOWEVER, there's a whole lot of fantastic anime on Netflix. Pluto came out last month on Netflix and I feel it really flew under the radar. It might be an Astroboy spinoff, but it is very much hard sci-fi. I really liked it and wish more people would give it a shot.

[dualhunter]

26 minutes ago, Ghost_MH said:

 

It's still the best anime streaming service out there. HOWEVER, there's a whole lot of fantastic anime on Netflix. Pluto came out last month on Netflix and I feel it really flew under the radar. It might be an Astroboy spinoff, but it is very much hard sci-fi. I really liked it and wish more people would give it a shot.

 

I watched it over the weekend and loved it.

[Greatoneshere]

54 minutes ago, Ghost_MH said:

 

I think it depends on what you're looking at and the people we're talking about here. There is a bunch of GenZ representation here. Now I'm a 41yo, single dad to three kids in school. I'm about as far away from that age group as you can get before the number of anime fans my age really start to trail off. Still, GenZ is what? 10-25 or something? Compared to a lot of the stuff made for the tween, teen, and young adult market market, yeah, I can buy that anime resonates emotionally. We aren't just talking about action stuff either. Anime is pretty close to the only medium that has any romance content that targets straight boys and men. Last couple of years we've gotten stuff like My Dress Up Darling and Insomniacs After School. These aren't romcoms. These are straight romance, slice of life, dramas that target guys.

 

That's what I mean by skewed. If this is for, essentially, kids, then yes, of course they find it emotionally compelling, they don't know better. For anime to focus on such a specific demographic is what I find limiting/to be the problem. Almost 90% caters to this sole demographic, which is why yes, stuff made for the tween, teen, and young adult markets anime wins out because it is better than a lot of stuff made for those demos. But that doesn't make anime objectively emotionally compelling when the entirety of all mediums are taken into account, it just does for demographics that of course would find the sort of heightened emotional loudness of anime as "compelling". And as I said originally, I grant each year we do get top tier versions of slice of life, etc. genres, as you mentioned Insomniacs After School or My Dress Up Darling (Insomniacs was pretty good) but for every one of those there are 10 bad ones as well. And again, you say anime is close to the only medium that targets straight boys and men in terms of the romance genre, but again, are we talking just the tween/teen/young adult market? Because I would agree there, but anime is a medium, not just for those demos, they should make it for every demo. I doubt that will ever happen, and it's a shame which is why I think this is skewed entirely to a certain age group.

 

It doesn't even have to be Gen Z, anime is primarily made for and consumed by those aforementioned demographics would be successful with any generation if anime had been widely known and available before now, but for everyone else who enjoys anime beyond the teen trappings, its slim pickings out there. In the same way animation doesn't have to be just for children in America, anime doesn't have to be just for teens and young adults either. The beauty and imagination anime can have is entirely limited by being forced to cater to these demographics over and over ad nauseum. And they are making way, way too many comedies these days at the expense of everything else. I think from what I've seen the last few years almost every genre has to also be a comedy in some way, but that's just me.  

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

3 hours ago, Jason said:

I can imagine Wade dying inside as he made the OP.

 

I have made my peace with this reality.