While the first anime movies appeared in the 20th century, more precisely in the early 1900s, they reached worldwide popularity only a century later – some time in between the transition from the 20th to the 21st centuries.
During the past few years though, their popularity registered a tremendous surge among viewers. Did you know that in 2021 around 2.88 billion people watched anime?
As such, it’s no wonder you’re trying to find the best gift for anime lovers! That’s why we’ve prepared a list of the most inspired gifts for anime nerds. Keep reading to find your choice!
1. Cosplay Costume
Anime fans and Comic Cons go hand in hand. As such, hearing your anime nerd that they want to go to this year’s Comic Con should push you toward giving them this gift – namely, a cosplay costume.
These can get a bit expensive, but there are cheaper variations as well. Things work out better if you plan a cosplay duo for the event and want to have fun instead of participating in competitions.
2. Anime Life-Size Sword Replica
Last but not least, an anime altar is not truly complete until the anime nerds get their hands on a life-size replica of their favorite anime item – in most cases, it is a weapon. Naturally, the anime weapons that become popular are swords.
Again, while this gift might be on the pricey side, your friend will surely display it proudly in their collection. Of course, you won’t easily find a life-size Dragon Slayer from Berserk, but you can easily come across Nichirin swords from Demon Slayer, an Excalibur from the Fate Series, or the Enma sword from One Piece.
3. Licensed Anime T-Shirt or Hoodie
If you want to keep it simple, then one or two licensed anime t-shirts or hoodies can do the trick for any anime and manga fan. The best part about this gift is that you can find anything about everything – there’s no merch pulling you back.
As long as there’s an anime up and running, you will find licensed anime t-shirts with it.
4. Anime Portraits
You can easily find digital artists online. They’re the ideal solution to offering your anime nerd one of the best anime gifts ever – an anime-style portrait featuring themselves or their favorite character in a new, never-seen-before scene.
Anime portraits are highly customized drawings of anime characters or, as mentioned, the perfect way to “insert” someone into the anime world.
5. Creating Your Own Anime Workshop
Every anime nerd dreams at least once of becoming an anime character. You can help them fulfill this dream by giving them a couple of sessions at an anime workshop where they’ll work on creating their own anime – including them as anime characters.
This gift is an excellent gift for those with a knack for the fine arts who might want to develop their drawing skills.
6. My Hero Academia Poster Gift Set
Contrary to popular belief, anime posters are still a big thing and adorn rooms of both teenagers just discovering the amazing world of anime and grown-ups wanting to make their childhood dreams true.
As such, you can select a couple of anime portraits with your anime nerd’s favorite characters or up the game a bit and try to find some 3D framed portraits! There are some amazing My Hero Academia 3D posters out there showcasing each character in both regular attire and hero costume in the same poster!
7. Naruto Ramen Dish Set
If someone loves Naruto, they love ramen as well. If they love ramen but don’t live in Tokyo, it means they most often cook ramen at home. As a result, the best gift for this type of anime nerds is a Naruto ramen dish set.
This way, they’ll get to feel just like their favorite character when devouring a hearty meal!
8. The Pokemon Trading Card Game Battle Academy
When you grow up with anime, there’s one thing you’ll always want to do – namely to catch them all and fight other Pokemon trainers. This is now also possible via a trading card game in the form of a board game.
The Pokemon Trading Card Game Battle Academy will teach your friend to play the Pokemon TCG without having to buy booster packs and create a deck beforehand. It has everything two players require, as well as guides that explain all the rules.
9. Studio Ghibli Postcards
Is your anime nerd friend a huge fan of Spirited Away? If the answer is yes, then it’s likely that they’re fans of Studio Ghibli as well, given the studio’s unique style. What’s unique about anything produced by Ghibli is that it looks good on anything you’d put it, including postcards.
Even if your friend is not a big fan of using traditional mail, these postcards will certainly become something they’ll look at or post throughout their room.
10. Anime History Book
What’s the origin of chibi? What are some interesting things about the famous My Neighbor Totoro? Anime fans can find the answers to these questions and more in a comprehensive anime history book that will certainly take the top place in an anime fan’s library – among manga and posters.
If your friend likes reading, as well as discovering new things, especially when it comes to their hobbies, this might be just the best gift for an anime nerd! Anime: A History is by far the most comprehensive one, but we’re sure you can find others, too, if you want to explore the web!
11. Sailor Moon Board Game
Sailor Moon is one of the most beloved anime of all time. Despite its initial girlish appearance, it now has a large fanbase across the world. Anime knows no boundaries, after all. This anime is still popular nowadays, even if its last episode aired back in 1997.
You can help your anime nerd relive those moments by gifting them a Sailor Moon Board Game. There’s a specific one that works more as a trivia game, and any Sailor Moon fan will surely enjoy it.
12. Yu-Gi-Oh! Collector Boxes
The Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game appeared in 2002, almost ten years after Magic: The Gathering. Despite that, fans still regard it as one of the first incredibly popular TCGs, taking the world by storm. Nowadays, it’s one of the top-grossing TCGs out there, even if the anime steered a bit from its source material.
Any Yu-Gi-Oh! fan, TCG player/collector or not, will certainly enjoy the feeling of opening some booster packs or a collector box full of nostalgic items. A Yu-Gi-Oh! card can easily become the most precious anime item in an anime nerd’s house!
13. Dragon Ball Gaming Chair
Who wouldn’t want to feel just like Goku while playing video games, and maybe even feel part of his super saiyan power running through their veins while playing a competitive game?
Well, if you have the funds and your friend is a gamer besides an anime fan, you can go for a Dragon Ball Z themed chair in the unmistakable orange and blue colors of Goku’s uniform. Such a gift is perfect if given before the Dragon Ball Z fan starts decorating their gaming lair.
14. Death Note Manga Box Set
Death Note is one of the, if not the most popular anime series of all time. If you find yourself around an anime nerd, then they clearly have this anime in their top 5 of top 10 personal favorites.
The best part is that most manga series revolving around Death Note are heavily themed. For example, you can pick a set with all-black covers resembling the Death Note itself.
15. Anime Mystery Gift Box
Of course, there will be times when ideas will be difficult to find or come across. In such cases, a mystery anime gift box can do the trick. There are actually Etsy stores that sell these for a decent sum and which include a lot of anime merchandise.
Make sure to check for reviews for previous buyers or look for mystery gift boxes centered around anime if you know exactly what your friend’s favorite anime is.
16. Anime Bucket List Poster
Anime nerds love – well, they love watching anime. There’s not much of a difference between a usual TV show and a good anime, after all. True fans will often have to keep a record of what they’ve already watched and what they plan to watch.
While your friend can do this on various online platforms, an anime bucket list poster sounds a lot more interesting!
There are scratchable anime bucket list posters out there that will reveal a specific image for a certain anime after fans scratch the reserved square.
17. Anime Funko Pops
Clearly, you can’t go wrong with a Funko Pop – and the best thing is every popular anime out there has a variety of Funko Pops you can choose from as a gift. You just have to browse through them and find the perfect one for your anime nerd.
If your friend is more into classic, good old anime, then an Akira Funko Pop should be perfect. On the other hand, if you don’t really know what they’re into, you can go for a community favorite and choose Fullmetal Alchemist Funko Pops – those featuring Edward Elric are really interesting!
18. Attack On Titan Sword Keychain
Attack on Titan has taken the world by storm, especially with the release of the latest anime seasons (where things take an impressive turn, to say the least).
One popular thing within the Attack on Titan universe is the sword they use to slay the mighty titans. As such, every fan of this anime must have two things on their keychain – a sword replica from Attack on Titan and a Scout Regiment logo keychain.
