General

[quote=ox0Shad0w0xo]Why do people keep saying things like "It's a niche in Japan" or "many Japanese have never seen anime" like what are these statements based on? Anime is popular in Japan, in the sense that most people have read/watched at least a few manga/anime at some point in their lives.The [i]sale[/i] of manga is a niche market sure, because just like comics, not a whole lot of people buy them on a regular basis besides the diehard fans. But for anime, it's just the super obsessive nerdy fanboys that can be called niche. But some anime are more household names than others, so some [i]specific[/i] anime titles can be called niche, simply because they aren't all that popular, but anime as a whole is not a niche in Japan.

And anime is already pretty well known in the west, but I do agree that people have the misconception that cartoon = for kids. But in the west that's for anything animated, not just anime. So basically they're just lumping it all together as if it's the same and I think that holds anime back from really spreading as mainstream entertainment. At first glance, things like Monster, Death Note, Steins;Gate, and Cowboy Bebop are seen as the same as things like Pokemon and Spongebob, simply because they're all animated, when they couldn't be more different. But that's a societal issue, not just a problem with animation. People assume things are going to be the same as what they experienced before. 1 animated show = childish, then assume all animated shows = childish. 1 person = moron, then assume all people like him = moron too. Anime has shaken off some of the misconception, so it's definitely a lot more popular than it used to be.[/quote]

anime is a niche in japan
just because people grow up watching anime geared towards kids doesn't make the medium as a whole popular or mainstream. it's an industry supported by the niche fans which has now cycled so far it's also being made by niche fans as well.
basically you seem to be operating on a different view of what constitutes popularity vs TS and the rest of the thread. anime in Japan is just as much as thing you're supposed to grow out of as cartoons, toys, and comics are in the US. essentially TS/others are acting as if anime should reach some level of legitimacy as an interest that it doesn't truly have in Japan. anime is about as popular as it can be, on par with all the other nerdy crap you'd see at a convention. until we somehow shatter a notion of certain interests being inappropriate, it's not going to get any better for people under that umbrella.

the only point i'm willing to concede is that anime seems to be treated as more of a legitimate medium vs how the US views cartoons. anime regularly get government funding, though almost exclusively for purposes like education, tourism, or artistic merit. can't say i've looked into US animation much but most cartoons i know of were not gov't funded.

e: also the problem w/r/t anime being lumped together is because anime is lumping itself together. for whatever reasons (possibly fans/otaku entering the industry), anime is now often self-referential with a strange sort of "anime logic." the anime aesthetic is pretty homogeneous now as well, so who can really mistake an outsider for glancing at Terrible Ecchi and seeing the same thing when they turn to Well-Directed Action or Romantic Comedy (ha ha how is this diff from ecchi?) ?

Why do people keep saying things like "It's a niche in Japan" or "many Japanese have never seen anime" like what are these statements based on? Anime is popular in Japan, in the sense that most people have read/watched at least a few manga/anime at some point in their lives.The [i]sale[/i] of manga is a niche market sure, because just like comics, not a whole lot of people buy them on a regular basis besides the diehard fans. But for anime, it's just the super obsessive nerdy fanboys that can be called niche. But some anime are more household names than others, so some [i]specific[/i] anime titles can be called niche, simply because they aren't all that popular, but anime as a whole is not a niche in Japan.

And anime is already pretty well known in the west, but I do agree that people have the misconception that cartoon = for kids. But in the west that's for anything animated, not just anime. So basically they're just lumping it all together as if it's the same and I think that holds anime back from really spreading as mainstream entertainment. At first glance, things like Monster, Death Note, Steins;Gate, and Cowboy Bebop are seen as the same as things like Pokemon and Spongebob, simply because they're all animated, when they couldn't be more different. But that's a societal issue, not just a problem with animation. People assume things are going to be the same as what they experienced before. 1 animated show = childish, then assume all animated shows = childish. 1 person = moron, then assume all people like him = moron too. Anime has shaken off some of the misconception, so it's definitely a lot more popular than it used to be.

A good 30-40% of people at my school watch anime...it's pretty popular here. Then again we're mostly asian.

Anime has already been popular in the West. It serves a niche, in both Japan and other countries.

no because weeaboos

Muricans get angry if their failed abortions watch cartoons showing more skin than what they think it's right.

Anime is already popular in the west, especially in Europe. Ever wonder why localized PS3/4 jrpg/fighters have French translations on the box?

And anime is for children, so of course it's childish. It also doesn't help when edgy preteens are the most vocal fans.

Dragon Ball Z

Like someone else said on the first page, anime is niche in Japan. The same otaku culture you see in California/America is the same kind of culture you'll see in Japan, believe it not, many japanese people actually dislike/have never seen anime before.

[quote=Plenair]" Anime needs to break out of the misconception that animation is "too childish" here in the west."
I don't think that's the misconception or problem.[/quote]

Well most of the time in the english dub animes they censor things like violence, blood, gore, swearing, and partial nudity. I'm pretty sure most people don't want children seeing those. Emphasis on most of the time. Also I agree with your last sentence.

I remember Fate zero had a scene where a little daughter was left in a pit of disgusting tentacle creatures. Attack on Titan is lackluster

I dont want your weird otaku stuff here!

@Plenair:

Needs more gradients and explosions.

anime is niche in japan, why would you expect it to be any different here?
i mean we're not producing any of the goods/merchandise so that stuff is scarce but otherwise i'd say anime is hella popular. it's just never going to be a common interest bc of the weird content.

@djmaxaaron

I quite disagree with Fate Zero. SnK? Sure. I won't get into great detail as to why, but it really isn't baseless fighting.

I know quite well how big doujins are. Me saying anime is weird wasn't really ground-breaking. I thought it was common sense.

[quote=Darkness129]I think that it won't be anytime soon. Anime needs to break out of the misconception that animation is "too childish" here in the west. I think that the only way to get it to be mainstream is to air/advertise "mature" anime. I think Fate Zero would fit this criteria. Even something like Shingeki no Kyojin wouldn't be that bad.

Not to mention that anime is really weird and it's filled with ecchi crap.

What do you think? Do you even want it to be popular?[/quote]

Fate Zero? Mature? SnK? ._. I don't think those are mature animes in the sense that people will respect them. It looks like mindless fighting.
"anime is really weird and it's filled with ecchi crap" Well obviously anime is weird and you'd be surprised to see how big ecchi is, especially H- doujins

It's popular enough in the west. In fact, it's popular enough that they host anime conventions every year in my city.

@Plenair
I've noticed that most animated shows here in the west are more geared towards the younger audience with an exception of a few.

"I think adults just don't want their children watching tentacles x school girls."
That's the kind of thing that most people think when they hear the word "anime".

EDIT:
I don't think it matters if the show is stupid or not. It works as long as it popular.