When you mention anime to someone, the reaction depends on how people perceive this art and it can range from “I adore it” to “I hate it.” Some might be familiar with every inch of this topic, while someone may not even know what it is. While it is a broad term, the fact is that it started during the 1970s. Since then, it has been growing exponentially throughout the world and the best part is that some of the movies and cartoons were actually based on the earlier anime works. So, how did it all start, why is it so popular and what some of the best anime series are – find out in this article that we have prepared for you!
A Quick Glance to the Past
Anime is a derived word from ‘animation’ word in the Japanese language and it relates to every type of media that is animated, containing bright colors and fantasy-like themes. The very first anime was aired on TV in 1979 – “Mobile Suit Gundam” was a show that had a topic on the gigantic robots. Even though it did not made any significant popularity, it became a cornerstone for all kinds of merchandise related to the series. Soon after, you could buy toys, wallets, video games and other items that were related to the anime, which dragged more popularity and created a strong fan base. Since the bright colors and smooth animations were visually attractive, it became apparent that the anime series was not going to be reserved only for young teenagers as the concept involved much more mature themes and topics.
Since the WW post-era was bad for tourism, the anime created much more space for tourists who wanted to visit Japan and experience not only the culture but also see the locations that were used as the inspirations for locations of the scenes in the series. This became a form of a cult as it contained a lot of emotions attached to the storyline. Thus, the Government used this as a way of promoting the Japanese nation, which enabled the international tourists to get in the country easier. With the deep themes that contained a lot of universal themes like friendships, love, loyalty and justice, it became evident that this form of art was going to hit the entire world as anyone could relate to the topics and themes. Therefore, the fan groups, due to the universal themes and pleasant-to-watch animations started creating encyclopedias and timelines for each event of the popular Mobile Suit Gundam or other series and that is how this art took over the entire world.
The 2 Most Famous Anime Series
The Japanese culture is rich and therefore the anime series also have a huge number of notable works and for the sake of the article, we will mention only a few of them. To prove the popularity, we have to say that you can find an online casino in Japan that is entirely in the anime style, which speaks to how popular this art is in Japan. For example, read reviews on online Japanese casino (オンライン カジノ 日本 語) that would offer you Naruto’s slots or even Pokemon’s bonuses that give a lot of money. Now, here are the most famous anime series.
“Naruto”
Though “Naruto” is originally a manga (comic book), it was adapted to the animated series, which made a lot of success. It is a martial-arts story where the main protagonist wants to get respect from his colleagues in the village so he could be the leader of it. Naruto is a young ninja that shares a lot of Japanese mythology references, as well as Confucianism’s philosophy and therefore discusses universal questions like life, love, friendship and the righteous way of living.
“Dragon Ball Z”
“Dragon Ball Z” is one of the most successful anime series in the world and there is no kid that has not heard about it! It is based on the Dragon Ball manga and depicts the adventures of a martial-arts warrior Goku who defends the Earth against the villains and raging aliens and magical creatures. Actually, “Dragon Ball Z” depicts the adult life of Goku, as the Dragon Ball manga revolves around his childhood! It gained a lot of popularity throughout the world and it has two sequels- “Dragon Ball GT” and “Dragon Ball Super.”
Why is Anime so Popular?
First of all – the main reason for this is the use of general topics and themes which can connect people from all parts of the world. In addition, each of the series has smooth, cartoon-like and brilliant graphics that is easy to watch, which some of the main features of a good cartoon (as the anime is characterized as the cartoon media). Therefore, it is a perfect combination. If we add the intense storylines, shocking endings and complex characters, it becomes more than evident that people enjoy a smooth-sailing cartoon as it creates the same feeling as it is the case with standard TV-formats series. With the addition of Netflix or similar streaming services, you can understand that popularity grows as the anime become more accessible to the people.
Another reason lays in the fact that anime designers and producers create more Western-oriented storylines, thanks to the wide acceptance of this art. Therefore, the producers come up with a storyline that is full of unexpected turns, general topics and universal feelings, which helps them to create a strong fan base that will later on buying their merchandise. Once you start selling the merchandise, you realize how people are interested in your work.
Therefore, the concept is not based only on the story but rather on the post-series things like shirts, toys, collectibles and so on. For example, Dragon Ball Z franchise is worth anywhere between $24 and $26 billion, while the Naruto series made over $20 million since its beginnings – you can now imagine how complex the entire franchise is, especially when you realize that fans create dedicated encyclopedias.
