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How much "anime availability" in the west changes people's perception of the medium?

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Jan 28, 9:57 PM
#1

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Feb 2014
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I told of a story where years ago, as a bit of trolling, I copied an excerpt of a forum post form 1995 complaining about the current (At the time) state of anime.
Today I found the whole thing again I started reading it, it includes from complaints about moe to complaints about bikini armor (I guess the term was already popular back then, huh).

My interpretation of all that (Similar to my interpretation about the manime crowd of the late 2000's) was that people had a warped view of anime was due to selection bias of things that came to the west (And it's worth reminding that in the 80's-90's a lot of OVA's came here being marketed as being "edgy"), and once more things started coming that were popular in Japan, it caused some whiplash due to their view of what anime """was supposed to be""".

Is there an equivalent nowadays? As in, people whose whole access to anime is whats available in a single streaming service (Be it NETFLIX or Crunchyroll), are their view of "what anime is" different from a person that just watched everything because they pirate stuff?
What about people that limit themselves for only dubbed anime?
Or are we all "in the same boat"?
Jan 28, 10:03 PM
#2

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Feb 2021
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An anime being on Hidive does affect how popular it gets on the west, because although a lot of people pirate stuff, I think most casual fans (at least in the US) don't.
So if an anime is on a streaming service that's not very popular, then that show suffers a little as a result.
Jan 28, 10:11 PM
#3

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Feb 2014
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Reply to MadanielFL
An anime being on Hidive does affect how popular it gets on the west, because although a lot of people pirate stuff, I think most casual fans (at least in the US) don't.
So if an anime is on a streaming service that's not very popular, then that show suffers a little as a result.
MadanielFL said:
An anime being on Hidive does affect how popular it gets on the west

Counter-point: Made in Abyss
I was gonna use Mahou Shoujo ni Akogarete as a second counter-point, but considering that it somehow not even in the top 10 of it's season in terms of popularity, perhaps this has become true in the last 7-8 years.
Jan 28, 10:14 PM
#4

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Jan 28, 10:34 PM
#5

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When you say West what did mean even Europe or Us only remember this two has a different culture like the Europeans were early in anime than the US by the when Us was open to anime the others are already know the anime culture even before the streaming era


I can't say in the US since they always late, unlike in Europe, South America Middle East (yes I met people about how popular anime in Dubai during the 90s thanks to World theater Masterpiece)

People in France used to anime culture by now (hence we are the 2nd manga reader in the country under Japan) even grandparents know anime because of 80s world theater Masterpiece I don't if US have been released

And another thing Streaming Service only works in US not the rest of the world because the how limit in other countries like Southeast Asia and Europe
Jan 28, 10:44 PM
#6

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Feb 2016
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The more things change, the more they remain the same. Few will watch Minky Momo on crunchyroll because there simply is no fanbase for 80s magical girls. The masses watch seasonals, as usual. Retro fans struggle to shake the impression that 80s anime should be "mature," because that's what was available back then.
その目だれの目?
Jan 28, 11:37 PM
#7

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May 2018
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"How much "anime availability" in the west changes people's perception of the medium?"

The fact that many people who started as kids with Dragon Ball, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Digimon, Mobile Fighter G Gundam can't go beyond battle shounen and tournament formula shows, is pretty telling.

Also Toonami overexposing stuff like Cowboy Bebop and FLCL makes nowadays "elitist recommendation" lists so tin an monotonous.


I think here in Europe (mainly in Western Europe, less where I live) till the 90s we had somehow tin, yet diverse anime catalogue, but:
1. Mostly aimed at kids.
2. That was swept away on TV in the 00s with Pokemon, Beyblade, Naruto and Shaman King, this you can say that we lost our unique point of view towards the media.


Exposure is pretty important and determinative.


The equivalent nowadays are the ratings on MAL. AL, AniDB ect. also the biased selections for several different anime awards. Some shows get overexposure, other fall to obscurity just based on the hype around them, not their actual qualities.
alshuJan 28, 11:47 PM
Jan 29, 3:36 AM
#8

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Dec 2015
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And nothing has changed since that thread, access to anime is limited in Poland as there's only Netflix and maybe few titles somewhere else.
Many series are not even available in Poland while they are available in UK or Germany [weren't supposed European Union countries being treated equally to European law *ekhem AI chips export Usa*?]

Stupid ideas of Netflix, as example One Piece is available but only from 1085th episode I wonder where the fuck I am supposed to watch the others x), Demon Slayer has finished in Red Light district on Netflix oh wait but there are already 2 more seasons out, there's only Last Encore and Apocrypha from Fate series while Netflix itself is asking me if I want to look up for Zero, Stay Night, Heaven's Feel which are not even available, good job!
Not to even mention about Polish dub.


Already has said that multiple times.


Also by West you mean only Americans? Or European too, west from whose perspective, such stuff need to be specified.
Jan 29, 7:27 AM
#9

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thewiru said:
Counter-point: Made in Abyss
I was gonna use Mahou Shoujo ni Akogarete as a second counter-point, but considering that it somehow not even in the top 10 of it's season in terms of popularity, perhaps this has become true in the last 7-8 years
Made in Abyss was Prime Video, and that service has a lot more subscribers than even Crunchyroll.

Zettaiken said:
Also by West you mean only Americans? Or European too, west from whose perspective, such stuff need to be specified.
Don't forget Canada, pretty much 99% of all anime available on the US is also available in Canada on the exact same services.
MadanielFLJan 29, 7:30 AM
Jan 29, 9:05 AM

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May 2012
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TV is a very powerful machine. It shows things to make people believe in them. People believe what's happening in the news and documentaries etc. even though certain percentage of them are not true or half-true. So anime is no different. Over here in Europe (UK & Ireland region anyways) back in the 2000's (when I just came to the region), all I see were 4Kids dubbed versions of Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Shaman King, One Piece and Naruto, US English dubbed versions of Beyblade, Digimon, Groove Adventure Rave (aka Rave Master in dub) and few other kids stuff. Shounen stuff was hardly seen, likewise for anime from other genres. So a lot of people especially the older adults still perceive anime as "Japanese cartoons for children". After all, these dubbed anime used to show up in children's channels. Only when you look around in certain movie channels you might encounter one or two anime movies from Studio Ghibli.

Then during 2010s I was too busy with college and starting my work life, so I wasn't really aware if anime on TV had improved. But on odd occasions, some channels still show kids anime shows (dubbed as usual). So nothing changed. I'm not sure if streaming sites such as Netflix had anime back then, but record stores began to have more anime selections, even though the selection was still limited. Now in 2020's I see anime on Netflix (I subscribed to it sometime in 2023), I hardly seen any anime on it except for some movies. Simply because many people online talking about dublation and dubtitles. Certain anime English dubs had gone liberal and deviated from the original dialogue. With lack of fansubs nowadays, official subs took over 99% of new anime shows. So parents of kids I'm sure would still think anime is for kids because TV hardly show any anime these days. Then on Netflix and other streaming sites, you hardly see much anime. There are some known titles from certain genre, which might broaden the horizon to those people think anime are children's cartoons, but my own worry are the dublations and dubtitles. So I tend to sail the high seas to discover niche shows myself as well as seeking accurate subs if possible.

Cinemas over here now have limited screening times for new random anime titles. But they are very rare during the year. So I can't be certain if any anime movies would make anime-haters go and see them.

Jan 29, 10:48 AM

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Oct 2017
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I wouldn't say so. Streaming websites, have significant libraries, with tons of older/nicher titles and while there are plenty of shows that still have no legal release or have lost it, the reality is FOMO is a way bigger contributor to people missing out on many other anime.

MadanielFL said:
Made in Abyss was Prime Video, and that service has a lot more subscribers than even Crunchyroll.

Well actually it was Anime Strike (which thankfully died), where you had to pay more money, to access it. At least, S1 was originally. I think MIA prevailed in spite of it's streaming platform than because of it. I think most people just pirated it, in the West when it came out.
Jan 29, 1:40 PM

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I don't care about what other people think about anime.
Jan 29, 2:35 PM

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I think that nowadays the world is so interconnected that although there are some animes that benefit from being on certain streaming services mainstream anime will be mainstream wherever they are and less known anime will remain like that. I don't think the platform that they are in changes people's perception of the medium as a whole.
"Those words are meant for those that dare defy god's final warning... An epigraph of their stubbornness"
- Maho Hiyajo (Steins;Gate 0)

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