Saying it's not mainstream in Japan is a heck of a claim.
The majority of the Japanese population doesn’t watch anime: https://unseen-japan.com/is-anime-popular-in-japan/
And a large portion of those who do watch is due to a small number of very popular tentpole series. Most anime productions cater to a relatively niche nerd/geek audience.
You do not have to have a majority of people consuming something to be considered mainstream.
TFA quotes 31-32% of people (young and old) in Japan as anime watchers. That is very mainstream!
Your argument is like trying to claim Metallica is not mainstream. Sure, most people do not listen to them, but everyone has heard of them. I would wager back in the day less than 32% of people listened to Michael Jackson.
Re:Anime Is Eating the World
by hnthrowaway6543 on Monday September 23, 2024 @06:05PM
(#41631078)
32% of Japanese people watching anime is pretty damn mainstream. Marvel is indisputably some of the most mainstream US media in the past 20 years and yet "only" ~50% of the US population has seen a Marvel movie.[0]
[0] https://www.statista.com/statistics/807367/marvel-movie-view...
I’m saying this in the context of the root comment claim that there is anime for everyone. Only a very few anime series are mainstream in the same sense that Marvel movies are mainstream. Continuing that analogy, most anime series are more akin to serialized superhero comics, which are only read by relatively few. Looking at the shape of the distribution here is important.
I think the main issue they didn't do a distribution, they just asked a single question without a range from weekly to daily, etc. etc. Most folks were probably too shy to admit it as a regular thing, but also didn't have a sometimes option.
To me it's just bad data, pretty much asking for folks to be like "no". But also I can't find anyone having bothered to do any other data collection on it.
Re:Anime Is Eating the World
by booleandilemma on Monday September 23, 2024 @05:40PM
(#41630895)
Anime is an important part of their culture.
However, to me this is a good thing, in terms of cultural diversity. Trying to adapt anime to more mainstream tastes in the name of global profit would do it a disservice.