It may not be totally mainstream, but anime is still incredibly popular in America today, with its endless cascade of shows and movies available through various streaming services, merchandise of all kinds available from a variety of popular stores, and an entire subculture complete with unique vernacular, multi-layered memes, professional level cosplay, and of course, conventions.
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The rise of anime was slow in the West, and it took more than a few failures before it could really catch on. Any fan of anime today should give an occasional salute to those shows that didn’t fail, but rather captured the imagination of enough American viewers to start an animation revolution.
10Astro Boy: America’s First Anime
Astro Boywas the first anime to hit American television, which of course makes it one of the most influential shows of them all when it comes to Japanese animation making its way stateside. In fact, it’s just one of the most influential anime anywhere, ever, period.
Back in 1963, TV execs were certain that American audiences wouldn’t connect with anime unless considerable changes were made to the show, from titles to names to entire plot points in many episodes. While many anime fans would come to hate these Americanized alterations, it proved successful back then, andAstro Boywould be one of the major reasons why the medium started gaining traction in the West.
9Speed Racer: The First Franchise
This Westernized version of Japan’sMach GoGoGocaptured American attention by being about something that folks during the 1960s found pretty awesome: car racing. There were a ton of racing movies during that time, and Steve McQueen was a national icon, so it made perfect sense that a show like this would be the first one to connect.
Speed Racerwas a big enough hit in America that it would go on to become its own franchise, with all kinds of toys, video games, American comic books, new animated series and movies, an American-made live-action film by the Wachowskis, and even a play.
8Robotech: A Bridge To The Next Generation
The 1970s hadmany great Japanese animated shows, some of which found success in America, namelyStar BlazersandBattle of the Planets. However, that success was ultimately marginal compared to what future shows were able to achieve. Some argue that the bridge between then and now was built by one single show:Robotech.
Well, it was technically one show.Robotechwas made by chopping together three different unrelated anime:Super Dimensional Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, andGenesis Climber Mospeada.As weird and sort of blasphemous as that may sound, this Frankenstein’s monster of media was fundamental in preparing American audiences for the unique visual style, the darker and more mature themes, and the ongoing storylines that differentiated anime from most American animation.
7Dragon Ball Z: The Big Breakthrough
WithRobotechhelping audiences adapt to the different design and storytelling styles of Japanese animation in the 80s, America was primed for a big anime hit. That hit came in the mid-90s, riding in on a gigantic Kamehameha wave.
BothDragon BallandDragon Ball Zhad come to America before Toonami ever existed, but it was thisCartoon Network after-school blockthat truly blew the door open on anime in the West, andDragon Ball Zwas its golden goose. The show would become an absolute force of a franchise in the States, earning its place as a pop culture touchstone for those who grew up in the early 2000s and beyond.
6Sailor Moon: Opening The Door To A Whole New Audience
While there were probably kids of all identities who loved the hyper-masculine supersized sci-fi fantasy action thatDragon Ball Zoffered, there’s no doubt that the show’s demographic skewed mostly toward young males. If anime wanted to really make it in America, it was going to have to capture the attention of those with more traditionally feminine sensibilities in their media taste. EnterSailor Moon.
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This legendarymagical girl animeserved as the Polly Pocket toDBZ’s Mighty Max, bringing all the drama, action, quirky tropes, and ongoing storytelling thatDragon BallZoffered, only this time centered around a middle school girl and her magical friends.Sailor Moonshowed American kids that anime was for more than just fans of martial arts and city-sized explosions.
5Pokemon: The Megahit
WhileDragon Ball Z,Sailor Moon, and a few other Toonami shows kicked off the anime revolution in America,Pokemonraised the ceiling for the art form by achieving a level of mainstream success that arguably has never been matched to this day.
Kids who watched Toonami and pretended they were Goku at recess fell into their own sort of subcategory on the playground; kids who watchedPokemonwere sort of just kids. It’s perhaps the only anime that achieved the status of “Saturday Morning Cartoon” and it was the very first to earn its major motion picture with a nationwide release.
4Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Next Big Thing
ThePokemonanime opened the floodgates for Japanese animated programming in America. Anime began to pop up on just about every single channel that sought young or young adult viewers. With it came some duds, some cult hits, some decent successes, and the occasional cultural phenomenon, likeYu-Gi-Oh!.
It may not have been quite as titanic asDragon Ball ZorPokemon, butYu-Gi-Oh!and its coinciding card game carved out its own significant corner of the world of American youth culture back in the early 2000s. It kept the anime train rolling and created a dedicated following that exists in the States to this day.
3Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Other Side Of Anime In America
Television wasn’t the only place where those curious about Japanese animation could indulge their interests in America back in the day. Stores likeSaturday Matinee,Sam Goody, andSuncoast Motion Picture Company, as well as various video rental places, typically had their little anime sections full of subs and dubs of shows that were never aired on TV. There may have been some forgettable selections in there, but there were also some masterpieces, likeNeon Genesis Evangelion.
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This seminal anime was something of a mythical creature in the West for a while, as licensing issues made it exceedingly difficult to watch until it finally began streaming in America in 2019. However, it was influential and highly-regarded shows likeEvangelionthat broadened the world of anime to American fans.
2Cowboy Bebop: Bringing Anime To American Adults
While Toonami helped bring anime to the American masses, there was still so much more to Japanese animation than the shonen and shoujo shows found on the iconic after-school programming block. Anime covers a far broader range of storytelling styles, and it can get far darker and more mature than most American animation.Cowboy Bebop’s initial run on Adult Swim was pivotal in relaying this message to an American audience.
This classic space western introduced a whole different style of anime to the West than whatDragon Ball ZandSailor Moonpresented. It drew in an older audience with its darker themes and grittier action and allowed America to see just how versatile the medium could be when compared to the animation they were used to.
1One Piece: The Deal Sealer
In its early years in America, some aspects of anime were still a bit clunky and, according to some fans, totally unacceptable. Some dubs, for example, were so egregiously reworked that they bore little resemblance to the original work. One of the most notorious culprits of this wasthe 4Kids versionofOne Piece.
This massively popular anime initially stumbled in America, in part due to the poor dubbing, but has since become what is most likelythe number one anime in the country. Why? Probably because Funimation took the reins in 2007, stayed far truer to the original material, and even began simulcasting with Japan, bringing America’s anime fans up to speed with the art form’s country of origin. WithoutOne Piece(and Funimation), things may still be different in the West.
