Becoming an anime fan has never been easier, but why is it more acceptable now than it was several years ago?
The anime industry has seen a huge boom in the West in recent years, with titles like my hero academia and Murderer of demons becoming some of the most popular. The rise of social media, streaming services, and more easily accessible content is largely due to this, as they make it easier for fans to gather and consume media.
This is a far cry from what it was like in the early days of the internet, when trying to find episodes was difficult and dangerous thanks to shady, virus-ridden sites and questionable download services. Despite this setback, anime was still accessible through television and stores like FYE. It wasn’t like there were no options. So why has anime become more accepted now than before?
The way anime is consumed plays a big role in this increased acceptance. Before the days of Crunchyroll and Netflix, anime fans had to trust questionable sites or spend a lot of money to get merchandise and DVDs of their favorite series. From time to time, major retailers like Walmart had anime DVDs available at reasonable prices, but for the most part, it wasn’t as easy to get your hands on anime as it is today. There were stores that had a pretty large selection of anime like Suncoast and FYE, so it wasn’t entirely impossible, and eBay and Amazon had DVDs available through individual retailers. However, especially for younger fans who had no money of their own, this was debatable.
Fans of the 1980s and early 1990s had it even harder than their 2000s counterparts. Anime distribution was in its early days, and not all series got the quality localization that is common. today. Even now, some still suffer from misinterpretation of voice or translations. One of the most common ways people were introduced to anime during this time was an unsuspecting family member finding a random “cartoon” video and buying it for them, not knowing what the content was aside from containing colorful characters. Many children accidentally received copies of ninja scroll or wicked city because the person who gave them thought it was an animated movie for children.
Eventually, anime began to gain popularity among the younger generation as networks began to dive into airing it on TV after school. This contributed to the rise in interest, but even then, if someone liked anime, they were still considered the “weird kid” in many circles. While not always the case, anime was often seen as something that geek kids liked. These views would slowly start to change as the internet simplified and social media started to grow, but it wouldn’t be until the mid-2010s that anime would become more widely accepted as sites like Netflix and Hulu offered more and more. more titles for transmission. Therefore, it also became easier to watch an entire season of a show in one go.
Jumping into a series has now become much easier thanks to streaming. Unless someone had been watching a series from the beginning, it was difficult for new fans to start a series that was broadcast on television. Now someone interested in starting an anime can look it up on whatever streaming service they use and quickly catch up on what’s going on in a relatively short period of time. Smartphones have made this even easier as people can watch anime on the go. Also, in terms of manga, it’s helpful to be able to pay a small fee to access a full library, as is the case with the Jump Plus app. It could be argued that becoming an anime fan has never been easier than it is now.
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