Japanese pop culture in the United States
The flow of Japanese animation, fashion, films, manga comics, martial arts, television shows and video games to the United States has increased American awareness of Japanese pop culture, which has had a significant influence on American pop culture, including sequential media and entertainment into the 21st century.
While cultural influences are mainly Japanese as due to nation of origin, Japanese pop culture has gained its popularity by high quality and standard of artistic content for sequential media, from not just artistic style and composition, but to writing content, lack of expressive restriction by censorship and moral regulation of works allowed for syndication, diverse portrayals of genres and imaginative ideas explored throughout its library of works, and appealing to generally shared human ideals and the human condition regardless of boundary of nationality and ethnicity.
Anime and manga incorporate a multitude of genres such as romance, action, horror, comedy, drama and cover a wide variety of topics like teen suicides, high school rivalries, and social commentary, and more subjects.
People who are avid devotees to anime in the United States affectionately refer to themselves as otaku, although in Japan the term is similar to geek, and is commonly frowned upon by society.
Anime culture in the United States began as a niche community that had a grassroots foundation built by groups of fans on the local level.
[1] Some of the earliest televised anime to air in the United States were Astro Boy, Speed Racer, and Gigantor, which gained popularity with many American audiences during the late 1960s.
[6] Small patches of isolated communities started to form around collective interest towards this new medium, which seemed reminiscent of familiar Disney visuals and Warner-Brothers narratives.
[1] The early popularity was driven by fan-subtitled content and remained that way until much later, when inter-connected entrepreneurs from Japan and the United States saw an opportunity for business through this new medium.
[17] Some avid fans however choose to go the extra mile of visiting Japan in person to experience the culture they have viewed through the world of anime in real life.
[18] This voluntary labor connects people on a global scale as fans from all over the world participate in and benefit from the collective community's work.
[18] Interview with modern-day anime fans reveal that some have no interest in its Japanese roots, merely that they enjoy the fashion or particular facets of the fandom.
Scholars highlight the reason for this phenomenon as being the increasing hybrid factor of anime caused by integrating North America's popular culture characteristics.
There are a range of informational panels offered at these conventions from the basics of Japanese language and culture to cutting edge news about anime releases in Japan and the US.
Such famous titles as Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, and most importantly Pokémon have influenced anime's appeal to young Americans.
[25] Hello Kitty branded merchandise (such as clothing and other items) also became popular, generating more than $1 billion in annual North American retail sales.
Popular sources that fans draw from include anime, manga, video games, comic books, and graphic novels.
These comics were mostly a retelling of a piece of American entertainment, such as Disney films, or perhaps a sequel to a movie, TV series, or adaptation of a video game.
"[31] Fans of manga have long stated that its library and lexicon of works are with something for everyone, as well as not as restricted creatively and not as censored as the American comic book industry, instead being as varied and as openly expressive as any form of entertainment.
"[32] In October 2019 industry analyst Milton Griepp presented data at an ICv2 conference in New York showing that for the first time in decades, the market was dominated not by traditionally American monthly comics of the superhero genre, but graphic novels and trade paperbacks of other genres, particular those aimed at younger readers, such Dav Pilkey’s Dog Man and Raina Telgemeier’s Guts, and Japanese manga and manga-inspired books.
According to data by Bookscan, child-oriented comics and graphic novels accounted for 41% of sell-through at bookstores, and manga is 28%, while books of the superhero genre constituted less than 10%, a drop of 9.6% year-over-year.
[citation needed] Such artists include L'Arc-en-Ciel, Miyavi, T.M.Revolution, Hikaru Utada, Asian Kung-Fu Generation, Dir En Grey, Yellow Magic Orchestra, and Susumu Hirasawa.
Growing in popularity by the year these performers have toured the United States at least twice playing at small venues in Boston, New York City and Los Angeles each time increasing their fan base.
[citation needed] Japanese American artist Hikaru Utada released an English debut album in 2004, her single "Devil Inside" topped the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Airplay charts.
Even the electronic musicians Daft Punk have collaborated with Japanese studio Toei Animation to produce Interstella 5555, a film based on their album Discovery.
Since the early 1970s, Japan has been home to some of the most famous and influential video game companies in the world; some of the most well-known include Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Namco, Capcom, Konami and Square Enix.
