So i was watching deadpool today, and i was curious, what would happen if a large amount of normies got interested in anime and bought merchandise etc. Would it fundamentally alter the medium like it did to /co/, or does japan's isolationaism sort of shield them from that?
Production companies might actually make good anime instead of pedobait and other shit explicitly made to appeal to broken men who fantasize about being little girls in high school
I'm not even sure.
Capeshit is completely homogenized in that everyone makes superhero comics and movies because it's the only thing the public enjoys.
Yet in anime, you see basically the same fucking thing.
Moeshit and high school girls doing cute things because that's what sells the most.
Anime went mainstream in the early 00's in the west. Nothing happened. It died down. It looks like anime is gaining popularity again in the west but just like last time, nothing will happen.
Anime is mainstream.
>>139068677
Might just be poor memory, but i thought anime was in its super popular phase during the 90's (dbz, sailor moon, pokemon period)
>>139068700
Among teenagers.
>>139068700
More mainstream than say, /tg/ games, but not on the same levek as cape shit i think.
We will seem less autistic and maybe we can make a friend..probably not considering half of us don't shower on a regularly basis.
>>139068786
Meh. Even it was mainstream, most people would only like entry shit. The stuff we like would still be considered odd.
>>139068602
You get more cancerous normalfag like
>>139068653
shitting on /a/ culture.
>>139068746
That period people didn't think of those as anime nor did they seek out more though.
Faggots like
>>139068653
would start filling /a/.
Also anime is quite mainstream already like >>139068700 said.
>>139068602
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywvGp852V9E
you probably don't want it to actually go mainstream in the west.
>>139068700
I feel like I'm living in a different world when people say this. I mean, maybe it's mainstream in college STEM departments or on Steam, but no one I run into on a daily basis is watching or talking about anime.
>>139068929
>0:01
>nasal nerd autist voice
nope
Anime would become even more of a colossal pandering fuckfest than it already is.
You would probably get a lot more stuff like this
>>139068962
My friends are not anime fans, but they know stuff like fairytail and attack on titan.
>>139069048
...what?
the male mc getting brutalized by women as a joke is already a common theme
>>139069048
I dont get it. Do sjws buy enough comics for shit like this to be profitable?
>>139069182
More the hamfisted cause of the day inserts.
>>139069206
no they don't
the people who ask for this are the comic fans themselves, since most of them identify as male feminists now
it's really fucked up
>>139069182
no, the fact that wonder woman said "mansplaining".
>>139069261
I couldn't make out what any of them were saying, tumblr images are garbage.
>>139069238
>>139069261
I'm not really familiar with comic book culture, but aren't comic books supposed to be disposable transient culture like magazines and newspapers?
Isn't that why comic books are like 20 pages long and full of ads?
>>139069317
The image is kind of famous. It shows ww tying a guy down, and letting a woman beat the shit out of him, because he was "mansplaining" to her.
>>139069366
Yes and no. Large arcs are important, but so many comics are produced that it doesnt matter if you make a bunch of junk.
>>139068981
fair enough. The point is franchises like marvel are now mainstream and they are tailored to make money based on mass appeal.
True mainstream anime in the west would be sanitized of any Japanese elements seen as un-PC or overly offensive in the west and tailored to make money off of an audience who watches broadcast tv. Smaller studios most likely wouldn't get funding and there would be little creativity or deeper elements.
>>139068700
Look at capeshit. Every major channel has some kind of cape series at this point and most people can name the more popular heros.Just no comparing anime and that.
>>139069803
Is that not what happens now?
>>139069803
This is literally what happens now.
Aside from the occasional gem, you're not going to see many studios taking huge risks when they know cute girls doing cute things or generic TRAPPED IN MMO shit is going to sell much better.
Also, unless america starts producing their own adaptations with japanese IPs, I really don't think the industry would want to deal with american political correctness simply because it isn't worth it.
>>139069968
Why would it not be? This is /a/ related.
>>139070010
Wrong thread.
>>139068962
New guy at work comes in, he's married and in his 30s or 40s and I'm 23
>I'm quiet and a little awkward but he's shadowing me
>doing my best, making small talk, not really connecting on much but he's nice
>he's saying stuff he likes and he's like "but i'm REALLY into anime"
>My face lights up
>Say I'm watching Boku Dake, ask him what he likes
>Naruto, DBZ and Invader Zim
what
>>139070104
Ahh gotcha. I was gonna say, this was more /a/ than a lot of the fetish or general threads we have.
>>139070113
They watch anime ironically, so they can steal our geek image, which is for some reason popular right now.
Don't become mainstream.
Because SJW or those who love PC in western countries will absolutry complain about anime,manga and Japan more than ever.
>>139068602
It has been happening the last 2 years. Just look at how fucking awful /a/ is right now.
Normalfags already won. They came and invaded video games and now are coming for anime.
Being a normalfags nerd is the new hot thing and obviously what is more nerdy than anime?
>>139070324
Yeah. Not sure of it will ever be as popular as it was in its hayday, but it is definitely getting more exposure.
>>139068602
>normies
Fuck off /r9k/
>>139068602
>>139068700
It is very mainstream in my country but things usually don't get very ugly.
>>139070391
I never got this meme. They ARE normies.
>>139070381
>Being a normalfags nerd is the new hot thing
You just outed yourself as a neet.
>>139070423
>not being NEET
why are you here
>>139069964
It happens now because the target audience is otaku that buy plastic waifus and other merch.
In order to become mainstream as in appeal to a significant portion of the consumer population in the US you would have to adopt popular or trendy values from the west.
The japanese industry will deal with the west if they can rake in the same money as the star wars and marvel franchises make disney.
>>139068602
>normies
WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THIS BOARD
>>139070423
We are neets mate.
>>139070465
I'm the only one that cares.
>>139070465
Please explain. We have always been the odd kid in the back of the room playing gal games and torrented anime on his laptop.
>>139070454
>It happens now because the target audience is otaku that buy plastic waifus and other merch.
It happens now because those otaku are literally the only thing that keeps the industry afloat.
Japan needs their legions of otaku buying $70 blurays with 2 episodes each or else the industry would collapse.
And no amount of promotion will change that, because at the end of the day, most subject matter in anime is extremely niche, and the only things that make any "mass market" money are the bland action shit shows that offends noone and appeals to the widest group of people.
>>139070564
When has controversy been bad for buisiness?
>>139070423
>outed
>>139070608
when it makes your company look really bad
>>139070608
think about what you just said my man
>>139068786
Oh I used to shower, it's just my panic attacks put an end to it.I wish I was joking
>>139070653
>>139070758
Their sales went through the roof.
>>139070810
this doesn't count, since the offended parties were basically non-customers, and their actual customers were totally in line with the company's beliefs and so they ate there more often out of solidarity
>>139070564
I'm aware but I worry about the longevity of this strategy where they're essentially the marketing arm of toy companies.
Anime becoming mainstream would suck exactly because it loses the niche aspect.
>>139071073
Anime will never become mainstream fodder in the west.
It's not even mainstream in it's own country.
Going around telling people you watch cartoons as an adult will get you looks of disgust in japan just like in the west.
>>139071073
If it is still being produced, anime will probably get popular from /a/nons children being exposed to it through their parents.
>>139071154
That is really not true though. It is not a super well respected hobby, but it is typically treated like nerd hobbies were in the west before they went mainstream.
>>139070423
Yeah I am. Why are you surprise about neet on /a/?
Fucking dumbass.
>>139071163
>/a/nons children
What?
>>139071249
So you admit you have no idea what you're talking about because you try to make wild claims based on social phenomena that you have never witnessed?
WHEN WILL YOU FUCKING DUMBASS UNDERSTAND.
NORMIES IS WHAT ACTUAL REAL NORMALFAGS USE BECAUSE THEY LOVE THE PEPE REEE MEME. ONLY NORMALFAGS USE THE WORD NORMIES BEAUSE THEY THINK ITS FUNNY.
I DON'T THINK YOU GUYS KNOW HOW POPULAR PEPE IS RIGHT NOW.
>>139071267
Maybe not us, buy some of the less autistic anime fans will probably have kids.
On one hand I don't want anime to be popular in the US because it might ruin anime (I didn't watch a foreign medium for the western culture, and I hope none of you did either).
on the other hand it might bring a renaissance in western animation
like western cartoon influenced by anime tend to take the wrong things from anime (dem BIG EYES), but if it's like avatar and is influenced enough for western animation to take things like character development, conflicts, and over-arching narrative from anime I think it might balance out
>>139071299
>I didn't watch a foreign medium for the western culture, and I hope none of you did either
While i love jap voices, im not sure i would honestly care where it was made as long as it had the anime feel.
>>139071154
You could have said the same thing about liking comic books/Marvel/DC, tabletop gaming and even videogames a few decades ago. Anime could take the same route as gaming.
>>139071299
america shouldn't touch japanese things
america is never going to embrace 2D animation ever again, they effectively disbanded their own 2D studios because 3DCG is cheaper and the dumb kids won't know the difference.
For the most part, that's all cartoons are here. They're kids stuff.
>>139071276
I see this shit all over the internet buddy.
>>139071358
tabletop gaming is a niche nerd thing to do
just because you can find people who like the same things as you doesn't mean it's the norm
>>139071398
No real comparing /tg/ with the popularity of /v/ and /co/ (at least the movies)
>>139071371
yeah but this is the theoretical world where "anime is mainstream"
which can't happen so long as America thinks animation is purely "kid's shows and Family guy"
Superheroes were already mainstream. They just weren't cool until recently. They were considered stuff for kids and nerds.
Anime is also creeping into the mainstream but I don't think it will ever be cool.
>>139071358
Anime has been around longer than video games and had a boom in popularity at the same time as video games, and has still been left in the dust as far as popularity goes.
>>139071508
Do you just mean by recognition? I feel like most people who have acess to the internet at least know anime as "those japanese cartoons".
>>139071508
anime's time to shine in the united states has come and gone, it's peaked, multiple times.
it can peak again, but it will never be anything more than a novelty for the majority of people who don't care about cartoons on anything more than a topical level
it wasn't even that long ago when "japanimation" was a word that people actually used
>>139071398
i suppose it mostly is, but like /v/ and /co/ stuff, it's not purely for social pariahs like it was in the past.
Anime is already a part of popular culture in the United States. I see people watching anime in the library of my university all of the time.
I feel like the crackdown on anime torrenting/streaming etc, actually showd that anime is becoming more mainstream than it was.
>>139071565
I mean people know the famous super heroes on sight even if they don't give a shit about the comics or cartoons or movies: Superman, Batman, Spider-man, etc. Anime doesn't have that level of exposure in the west. But it's getting there. It's only at the level that most people now know it exists and might be able to recognize it if they saw it. Don't think we'll reach a point where everyone knows Dragon Ball until there's a generational shift after the Baby Boomers die off.
>>139071358
Tabletop gaming is still pretty niche, but comics and videogames have been mainstream since before 99% of 4chan was even born, and anyone who believes otherwise is either delusional or underage. The reason why capeshit movies are so successful is because everyone knows about Batman, Spiderman, Superman, X-Men, etc. because they've been a part of the Western pop culture for the past hundred years. As for video games, literally every single person born outside of Africa in the past four decades grew up playing video games. /v/ermin weren't socially ostracized because they were gamers growing up, they were socially ostracized because they were annoying little shits. Their "bullies" probably played just as many video games as they did.
>>139071670
>I feel like the crackdown on anime torrenting/streaming etc
There was a crackdown?
>>139071658
>Anime is already a part of popular youth culture
Fixed. People over the age of 35 or so don't really give a fuck for the most part. It's just Gen Y/Millennials who've really gotten into anime as a group.
>>139071658
I see this too.
Don't they have internet at home?
>>139071670
japanese government illegally DDOSing nyaatorrents for 2 weeks solid is not "cracking down", and it didn't even work
>>139071724
Its ongoing actually.
>>139071770
Hadn't noticed. Says how effective it is I guess.
>>139071750
>>Anime is already a part of popular youth culture
>Fixed. People over the age of 35 or so don't really give a fuck for the most part. It's just Gen Y/Millennials who've really gotten into anime as a group.
I had a discussion with my doctor about NGE, Gundam, and gunpla with my doctor a couple of weeks ago and he's in his 60's. While one person is not representative of the "older" population, it was still pretty cool.
>>139071566
I feel like anime is currently at a peak in the US. I mean look, we have CR, Funi, Daisuki, Hulu, and Netflix all competing for simulcast rights, we have actual simuldubs premiering in America first. Hell, you can even say the revival of Toonami was as result of riding this surge in anime popularity over the last couple years. And it's still going up actually, we haven't hit the tipping point for this bubble.
>>139071866
And I know a baby boomer mother who likes watching K-On. She's hardly typical for her generation either.
So anime is dying?
>>139071872
We just got Japan defending "child porn," so maybe the backlash will start now.
>>139071553
How do you gauge the decline in popularity?
Anime used to be limited via the older distribution methods. I still remember renting eva on VHS.
Now you have streaming services and cheaper wider reaching distibution methods that only seem to be offering more content selection.
>>139071913
they're very clear on the matter
drawings aren't real
>>139071913
That's like back page news these days. It's an election year with one of the most controversial candidates in living memory plus there are terrorist attacks every other month in Europe now. Nobody would give a fuck even if they tried to sensationalize it.
>>139071915
>How do you gauge the decline in popularity?
I didn't say there's a decline in popularity, if anything Anime's popularity is still increasing. It's just nowhere near the level of video games. It's still very niche. Niche interest grow at a slower rate.
>>139071913
Anon, its legal in the u.s as well. It was an odd push to make something illegal there, that is legal here.
I'll be frank here im scared of anime becoming mainstream like it happened with video games.
I hate this current ''xd im such a nerd'' culture in video games right now. I don't want to see horde of dumbSJWscrying about loli and lewd shit in anime.
>>139071987
It's illegal in a number of states.
>>139072043
I don't even play video games, but I hate the current "xd im such a nerd" culture because every time I hear about it I get this irrational fear that I'm part of it.
>>139072050
not in the good ones
>>139072078
Well if you don't play video games I don't see how you can be part of it.
>>139072043
It's a fad.
Give it several years and people will stop glamorizing nerds and getting zelda tattoos.
>>139072043
As long as anime is inaccessible to the vast majority of people you don't have to worry. And I've said many times I don't see anime gaining real mainstream popularity ever. The best it can hope for is mainstream exposure.
>>139072109
But anime is more accessible than ever now with shit like CR getting more popular everyday.
>>139072050
Legal grey area, but supreme court ruled that lolicon was covered under the 1st amendment.
>>139072043
This.
I hope it dies out soon, very fucking soon.
>>139072126
I don't mean accessible in that way, I mean accessible in the entertainment sense. I.e. the general American public's ability to "get" anime, or understand it. I can't see it happening.
>>139072043
They already are anon. We just find that ignoring them wirks better than giving them attention like /v/ does.
>>139072126
>crunchyroll
>oh what is that?
>netflix for cartoons?
>ok
>>139072165
>why is everything subtitled?
>where's the English section?
>>139072214
Even plebs can read subtitles.
>>139072214
>It doesn't have one?
>This is weird
>>139072043
Video games have been mainstream since before you were even born.
If you think playing video games made you a nerd you're just as much a fake nerd as the dumb whores who post duckface selfies on Facebook.
Feel free to look up statistics for console sales and see how many units consoles and handhelds sold twenty years ago.
Don't leave me good /a/non. I don't want to die yet.
>>139072214
thanks for reminding me
>>139072223
they literally CANNOT
When I was in high school, most people couldn't even keep up when reading aloud during english class.
If it's not dubbed, they're NEVER going to watch it long enough to get offended.
>>139072223
You severely underestimate the general American antipathy toward foreign language entertainment. Many people refuse to see a foreign film if it is not dubbed in English.
>>139072266
Well, lets hope dubs do not get popular lest we get our own anita.
>>139072239
It is certainly not the same kind of mainstream that it is right now.
Mobile shit didn't exist back then. You didn't have the gamer girls claiming to be a gamer because she's playing some shitty mobile game.
Yes it was popular back then but it was popular with actual real nerds.
>>139071708
>>139072239
>before 99% of 4chan was even born, and anyone who believes otherwise is either delusional or underage
I love this historical revisionism.
Old video games only enjoyed mainstream popularity around the late 70's, early 80's because that's when games were introduced to the general public. That's when you had the Pac-Man craze. Then the market crashed in 1983 and it went back to niche status.
In the late-80s, you only had the NES which sold 65M units (nothing compared to the combined ~300M units that the PS3, 360 and Wii sold, without mentioning the PSP/DS) and was mostly played by small kids, computers which were ridiculously expensive and hard to use at the time so most people didn't own one, let alone played games on it, and arcades which were also pretty niche. You had no smartphone, no handheld, no affordable and easy to use PC, no console that an adult could own in good conscience since the NES was marketed as a kids' toy.
The idea that gaming was never niche, that it hasn't gained a huge amount of popularity in the last decades, or that there wasn't a huge stigma around computers and games in the past is just revisionism.
Same with comics. I'm not as familiar with the history of the medium but it's another thing that went through phases. Most people who watch films inspired by comics haven't read any comic books, they just know the characters because they're pop culture icons.
>>139072239
Fucking this. Even just looking at the numbers around shit like the amount of households that owned a dreamcast, n64, atari, or god forbid a dreamcast shows just how embedded vidya is.
>>139072223
They literally cannot watch subs.
If they have no prior experience they will not watch a sub.
>>139072293
dubs are the only thing that ever reach mainstream, and if it's too offensive, it's not getting dubbed or localized, end of story.
Nobody wants a repeat of Nymphet (kodomo no jikan)
>>139072308
look at yardsales
99% of games you'll find are worthless sports garbage
most people buy consoles to play sports and shooters, nothing more
>>139072155
> get cancer
> ignore said cancer
>somehow it magically goes away
People ignored sjws and what happened they got the jobs in the industry because muh diversity job quota to the point jews are on top sjw in the middle both dev and review and rest on the bottom
If you're getting pushed out something ignoring it won't fix it
>>139072368
Hasn't really affected the Japanese market at all. It's just a western thing. Japan is immune to feminism as they just recently proved to the UN. Anime is safe.
>>139072368
Yeah, but with anime, we dont have to worry about thay, since japan is oretty secluded from the western sjw shit.
>>139072150
They won't "get" anime in it's current form. It would take a bigger push to market to western tastes but most companies still see the US market as more of a novelty/dirty IP thieves and hopefully it stays that way.
The only other exposure might be videogame/cardgame "inspired" anime like pokemon or Yugioh causing more intrest but that stuff is still kind of a fad.
>>139072368
And getting pissy about it online changes it how?
>>139072368
the anime industry would rather go isolationist again than pander to the west's concept of political correctness,
>>139072308
You couldn't have picked worst examples.
The N64 only sold 30M worldwide, which marked the start of the decline for Nintendo.
The Dreamcast sold less than 10M worldwide, it sold so badly that Sega had to stop producing consoles because they were losing too much money and the console was discontinued after a year or so.
>>139072396
It can impact getting anime in the west through legal means.
>>139072368
West cunt can't touch anime. West cunt can't even touch japanese video games.
Im glad I don't play western games and have to deal with this shit but yeah the SJWs craze is really annoying. Fucking sissy everywhere getting triggered by everything on the net. I mean just close your eyes and fuck off somewhere else people.
>>139072415
>pokemon or Yugioh causing more intrest but that stuff is still kind of a fad.
It's a "fad" that's lasted for like 2 decades. It's pretty much here to stay, but yeah it's got very low impact with anyone over 10 years old.
>>139072308
A famicom would be a better example.
So /a/, do we need to make an effort to keep anime niche, or will it stay that way on its own. I dont want to have to worry about the sjw ruining anime like it did to comics.
>>139072304
Shit anon you can just look at how the general public (i.e. idiots) got access to the internet in the early 2000s through mobile phones and easy to use PCs and see how that's contributed to the tubes goin to shit.
>>139072434
But isn't that a good thing? Doesn't hinder me at all, and it lowers how many normalfags are involved with anime. How do I lose from that?
>>139072431
Dreamcast sold like ass because Sony PS2 was just around the corner and nobody wanted to stick with the sinking ship that had literally killed the sega saturn just a year into it's lifecycle.
Nintendo looks like they want to pull a sega saturn with the Wii U and if they do, they're digging their own grave.
>>139072459
We can't do anything, even if we wanted to there's no real need since anime is so niche as it is. There's an anime bubble right now but it won't last forever.
>>139072459
We don't have a influence on it. Japan controls anime, not us. It's completely up to them if they want to change anything and it looks like they're not going to.
>>139072437
was the UN seriously trying to pass a law that puts women into a protected class all on their own?
Could I still sell games and manga that depict sexual violence against men?
>>139072619
Its not the un per se, more like special interest groups like anita who are forcing it down their throats.
>>139072223
If this were true no one would ever watch a dub, yet you have faggots arguing how dubs are the best all the damn time even leaking to /a/
>>139068602
It happened already, it piggy backed with comics and videogames in the 2000s.
>>139072781
Not necessarily, it piggy backed to some degree but I still feel that it's a niche genre. It's not as big as you think.
>>139072239
>if you think playing video games made you a nerd you're just as much a fake nerd
There is a difference between playing candy crush on your phone while sitting on a tub and spending 8 hours a day playing PvP Starcraft II, they are completely different leagues, the same way there is a difference between someone watching chinese cartoons every day and someone watching top 10 animes on MAL and calling herself anime fan.
>video games have been mainstream since before you were even born
In the past gaming was mostly a kid hobby that was generally vilified and shunned upon by mainsteam as something childish and generally undesirable after the age of 15. People who spent too much time were called nerds and no one apart from other nerds really wanted to associate with them.
That narrative is exaggerated, but there's definate difference between past where gaming was constantly blamed for ruined lives and school shooting and today where pro gaming is now hitting TV with millions of dollars in prizepools.
Nowadays it's "hip" to be "introverted and quarky geek" and you can see that with the invention of "gamer girl". Once we've passed this point we've got people who joined the wave just because it's starting to be popular, which fucked up the whole thing. You suddently have shitloads of people who don't really didn't join the hobby because they like it and once they realize there are many things in it they aren't satisfied with, they try to change it, effeciently ruining it for people who actually loved it to begin with and made it what it is today; e.g. "Fallout is too hard even on easiest difficulty" "This video game is racist" "The video game industry isn't exclusive enough".
The same probably won't happen to Japanese media to same degree, because they have no problems dismissing the pleads of the west and they don't need their money to sell/run their products, though it might change eventually.
>>139073522
>Fallout is too hard even on easiest difficulty
w-what?
I played a AAA game recently and was insulted at how easy it was even on the "highest" difficulty setting.
bioshock infinite, to be specific, i didn't even finish it because it felt like a fucking long extended cutscene, and the story was just not worth the grind, worst $8 i ever spent
>>139073575
http://remeshed.com/2015/fallout-4-very-easy-mode-too-difficult/
And I love Bioshock Infinite personally. I admit it's rather easy game even on hard, especially since it doesn't really punish you that much for dying, but I played it for the story, which tied really well to the rest of the series and Burial at Sea, but if you play it for the base game you're likely to be really dissapointed.
Anime will never be mainstream in Japan so it's okay anons.
We can still enjoy our CGDCT for a long while.
