Hello how are you? Ever wondered why anime is so successful? In this post we will try to clarify this very important issue, it was undisturbed for me until yesterday, because I didn't even ask myself why manga and anime are successful, and I believe that many people are in the same situation. After all, what difference does it make?
I personally thought like that until last week, I didn't care about the foundation of things unless it was extremely important, we have to agree that many Brazilians are like that, they just want to know what they like and live in a bubble with thoughts and ideas limited. We see this in politics, religion and many other areas.
Knowing why anime are so successful, in addition to satisfying our curiosity, can help to understand how industry and commerce works, as well as the thoughts of people who are addicted to anime. I hope you like this little article, to make it easier let's leave an index:
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Beginning of the anime industry
Everyone knows that the more influential a country is, the more it is known and “emulated”. This imitation is not irony, but the real term that is copied, I don't need to explain much, suffice it to say that the human being is curious by nature, and as we know, curiosity is what moves the world.
But curiosity is just the first step, because for a country to be imitated it has to have something that is interesting and attractive. But let's get straight to the point, Japan with its manga and anime managed to attract attention, however not only in that but in several other cultural aspects.
Martial arts, Buddhism, bonsai, sushi, these are some of the many aspects that the world imitates from Japan. But it all started with the end of the Second World War, where Japan went from a country of consumer of cultural influence to an exporter, in the form of electronics, automobiles and various products.
Speaking specifically about manga and anime, this culture began in 1963, when the pioneer Osamu Tezuka founded the anime industry in Japan when he produced one of the first anime and manga, the classic Astro Boy. This became a huge success worldwide and was exported to be shown in the USA.
After the popularization of Astro Boy and other works by Osamu, the anime and manga market managed to become the largest entertainment industry in the country to date. The main difference between anime and western cartoons is in the audience. Even today, the West has an idea that animations should be made for a children's audience.
Why are anime so successful in Japan?
I have to make it clear that Japan has a strong work culture, so much so that I've seen in many Japanese reports stating that they work more for the company than for the salary. It may seem strange but we have to take into account the love they have for their work.
With this work mania, Japanese people lose their time for distractions and leisure time. And in this sense, manga has become an excellent way out of this problem because it is easily understandable, cheap, it is for all audiences, in addition to not requiring a lot of time. In other words, the solution to the entertainment problems for the Japanese people is manga.
But that doesn't explain why anime are successful, but I'll explain later, but first I have to keep talking about manga. Because manga can easily surpass anime in terms of industry. And it is unquestionable that Japan has the biggest comic book industry in the world, taking even the US out of the running.
Anime is a huge source of income, but most adaptations come mainly with the aim of promoting their manga and original works. Which means that one industry is only used to advertise the other. Ironic but it's the pure truth, so we can say that the manga industry is more relevant.
Why do Japanese make so many manga and anime?
To understand the popularity and success of anime and manga, we need to understand why the demand is so great. The anime and manga industry is successful in Japan simply because it is popular. The Japanese are bombarded with games, books, posters, banners, manga, and other media that use hand-drawn illustrations.
For the Japanese, transmit images are more than just plain text. For this reason, marketing in general is based on kawaii culture with cute designs, this in places nothing to do with anime or otaku culture. It can be in a police department, in the hospital and in the city hall, no matter the place, you will find a banner with a character.
Despite anime art and style being present in practically every area in Japan, the addiction to watching anime and reading manga is not well regarded by the Japanese. It doesn't mean that all Japanese people watch or like anime, on the contrary, they consider it just normal and many don't like it.
For the Japanese there is no difference and prejudice between a manga, book and novel, both are readings. There are no differences between Japanese and Western animations, movies, series and dramas. Some may consider art and style, but they will mostly consider the story of the work, without the stereotypes that some use.
The art in anime and manga is also done in a way that makes an impact and stands out. even the characters eyes are designed in a way to convey feeling and reactions to the reader and viewer. It doesn't matter if it's an anime, game, food, technology or store, everything is done in a way that attracts people.
The article is still halfway through, but we recommend also reading:
The boom of anime and manga in the west
OK, let's stop talking about manga, now we're going to leave Japan and go west. What is curious is that the Japanese industry doesn't care much about the West, after all we haven't reached a relevant market for this to happen, at least for now.
That's because we don't consume as much manga as anime, after all it was because of the latter that this culture came to explode in the west. In Brazil especially, in the 1990s they became widely known, mainly by children and teenagers with the classic Knights of the Zodiac, Dragonball Z and Pokémon.
Its high ratings were enough to arouse the interest of broadcasters for this genre of entertainment and with that the market became growing. Generations were born and grew up watching this genre, and many fans emerged in a relatively short time.
Soon this market was widely known, and aspects of Japan's culture were disseminated and soon worshiped by legions of people, all wanting to try to know more about the culture, such as young people trying to learn bonsai, martial arts, their own language and even knowing their religions.
The success of anime and manga
Now let's get to the focus of the article. Why are anime and manga successful? I honestly don't know the correct answer, let's say it's an individual philosophical question. Multiple answers for each different person which generates a huge amount of conclusions.
To explain better I'll quote my example, I liked anime after watching Naruto, and I think not just me. So we can conclude that in the Naruto anime, there is something that attracts the public and differentiates itself from the competition of other genres such as American animations and movies and series.
Of course, the difference is what catches people's attention, and in my case I was attracted by the theme that brought me a contrast with the western animations that I watched before. Its features, its cultural elements, its themes, its contrasts can all be a differential that attracts people.
This is up to each one, with some being attracted by the art of the characters, others by its more exciting themes, its aspects of Japanese culture that cannot be found in western animations, and several other reasons for anime to attract people. .
There are no limitations in anime and manga, which makes reaching a huge audience
Other reasons that make anime successful
The main objective of any actor who writes or draws a work is to draw the reader's attention. There are thousands of Japanese clichés and patterns that are used to win over the audience that likes these animations. Nobody designs or creates animations to be bad, the authors' goal is to sell and reach people.
Anime dominates the world mainly because they are not limited to the western idea that drawings are for children. The Japanese create different types and stories in their works, a mystery, an erotic tale, a drama and romance. Anime reach children, teenagers, adults and seniors.
The anime succeed because of these unique features it has, this in the West, whereas in Japan they succeed because it is already a cultural aspect and the success is actually due to the mangas which, as I already explained, are the main form of entertainment in the country (I didn't forget about pachinko).
Another differential that I did not list was the moral and ethical influence that is passed on to the public, as most of these products have in their plot, messages full of good values such as love, persistence, pursuit of a dream, love and many others. And even the most violent ones have some message in context.
Anyway, here's a question for you, why do you watch anime? Leave your answer in the comments, and enjoy and leave the anime that captivated you the most to date and the anime that brought you to the world of anime.
And this article is over. If you have any questions, suggestions, criticisms or anything like that, just leave your comment and share the page to help the site. Furthermore, thanks to you, my dear reader, for reading this article so far and until the next one.
