| My immediate thought would have been Doraemon, but I think he's not that well known in the West. At least not to the level that he's recognizable to non-fans. Maybe Totoro? |
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| I would go with Pikachu. Everyone knows of Pokemon and Pikachu is the face of this franchise. |
| Doraemon... If you mean as an iconic mascot of the country and popularity... But if you mean species of rodents then pikachu If you mean cosplayers then it's LeMickey Cancun Blames |
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| Probably Doraemon. Doraemon is an old series that multiple generations grew up with like Mickey Mouse is in the West. Goku is more like the Superman of anime if you ask me. |
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| Pikachu. He is one of the most easily recognizable character. After all Pokemon is the largest media franchise. Larger than even Mickey mouse so yeah Pikachu. |
If you enjoyed the time you wasted, then its not a waste of time.  |
| Pikachu is a pretty good answer but I don't think your average normie associates it with anime or even necessarily Japan. Less people know of Goku but even normies know he's from them chinese porn cartoons. |
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| I would say pikachu, cinsidering everyone in my family knows him. Other candidate would be goku |
| Pikachu in the west. highest peak and longevity. |
| Easily Pikachu. He's just so recognizable character. |
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| Idk, Pikachu would never have been my first thought considering he is like 70 years younger than mickey mouse and from an entirely different era with much less history behind it. TBH, considering the design, 'birth' date and questionable war propaganda during the 40s, the first comparison that came to mind was Norakuro: https://myanimelist.net/character/81001/Norakuro They were both important and similar figures during the infancy of the medium in their respective countries and have been used for propaganda during WWII. The only difference is that Mickey had a career after WWII while Norakura was mostly forgotten by the mainstream. But there are even some anime with/about him from the 70s and 80s so it seems he had some longevity comparable to Mickey, at least in Japan. |
| I probably regret this post by now. |
| Pikachu, Luna from Sailor Moon, uhhh Totoro?? If we're talking non-animals than Naruto probably. Like you'd think it'd be Ash but a fair amount of boomers know the name Naruto probably because they think Poke'mon is called Pikachu. |
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| Pikachu and Goku. Most non anime fans i know recognize those 2. |
| My waifu is the most wonderful waifu. Mai Valentine. |
| In terms of how influential the character was to it's medium, my pick would be Astro boy, heck, even Tezuka himself stated that the character was inspired by mickey mouse, just take a look at his hair spikes on 3/4 view. |
| I know your PTW list is bigger than your completed list. |
| Pikachu - hard to say Pikachu is synonymous with anime when many people don't associate Pikachu with anime as others have pointed out Doraemon - probably the best answer if you were talking just about Japan or maybe even Asia so unfortunately that only leaves Goku as being well known worldwide and everyone realizes he's from anime |
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| None honestly. The thing with Mickey is that the character is the face of Disney company not really cartoons as a whole. People look at the mouse and think about Disney, not Dreamworks or Cartoon Network. That character also is in another league due to other things too, like being written by so many different people across globe that his personality can switch between works published in different countries. But totoro and pikachu work as a synonym to their respective companies, so they're closest in that aspect. |
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| I would've said ASTRO boy since he was the big popular character at the dawn of anime, but Pikachu is definitely more popular and recognizable. |
| Pikachu is indeed the only "anime" character that I feel I'd reasonably be able to ask any random person on the street to identify and they'd know who it was Even if it is primarily a game character, but whatever. Still counts |
My greatest contribution to this website:  |
| I've never even heard of "Doraemon" until this thread ...... |
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| Pikachu sounds like a reasonable choice to me. Others like Goku, Naruto, etc could probably be the Mickey Mouse of more specific demographics. |
| Most likely Pikachu. Probably everine on Earth recognises this mascot. |
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Asturaetus said: My immediate thought would have been Doraemon, but I think he's not that well known in the West. At least not to the level that he's recognizable to non-fans. araizarai said: Doraemon feels like the right answer even if he's not as well known outside of Japan. kushmonatl said: I've never even heard of "Doraemon" until this thread ...... He is mainstream in some parts of the west, just not those parts where English is spoken. |
| その目だれの目？ |
| If you're going like historical precedent, Astro Boy or Speed Racer are the easy picks. If it's purely a mascot or flagship character based purely on popularity and branding then yeah Pikachu. |
| Def Pikachu. Even non anime fans are very familiar with him. |
| I'm surprised nobody said Astro-boy. Not as iconic but it pioneered the genre. |
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Lucifrost said: Asturaetus said: My immediate thought would have been Doraemon, but I think he's not that well known in the West. At least not to the level that he's recognizable to non-fans. araizarai said: Doraemon feels like the right answer even if he's not as well known outside of Japan. kushmonatl said: I've never even heard of "Doraemon" until this thread ...... He is mainstream in some parts of the west, just not those parts where English is spoken. Where would that be? I don't think it ever aired on TV in europe or north america. There isn't much west left after that. Is it the DBZ of south america or what? From what I know it's only mainstream in some south-east asian countries, not the west. |
| I probably regret this post by now. |
| Yup, Pikachu, Doraemon and Goku or anyone looking like him. |
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| Astro Boy. Osamu Tezuka's creation was among the earliest Japanese anime created for TV. Any later TV anime that came about, even among more popular and well-known characters, wouldn't have been possible or the means to bring it about could have been quite different without the God of Manga's involvement in making a production model for TV animation in Japan possible. |
| doraemon for japan, pikachu for the west. for reasons already stated previously in the thread |
| i’d say prolly naruto everyone knows that guy |
bam |
| Everyone know that Naruto is the Mickey Mouse of the anime |
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CastletonSnob said: Who's the Mickey Mouse of anime? A character who is synonymous with anime, and known even by people who don't watch anime? Maybe Goku? Pikachu or Ash probably, maybe Usagi from sailor moon. |
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Alcoholicide said: Lucifrost said: He is mainstream in some parts of the west, just not those parts where English is spoken. Where would that be? I don't think it ever aired on TV in europe or north america. There isn't much west left after that. Is it the DBZ of south america or what? From what I know it's only mainstream in some south-east asian countries, not the west. I used to watch Doraemon in Spain. Both the series and movies were dubbed. The stores there even carry Doraemon merchandise. Some websites claim Doraemon aired in North America for a time, yet I didn't notice. It clearly never caught on where I live. |
| その目だれの目？ |
| The Toei cat or Astro Boy, they may not be big here, but in Japan... |
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| First that came to my mind was also Goku, but Pikachu is a good choice too |
| Gotta be Pikachu. Even my parents know who that is. |
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| It was arguably Astro Boy for a while, but I don't really see him around anymore. |
Take care of yourself |
| Definitely Pikachu or Doraemon... or Totoro? |
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