you probably grew up thinking anime was
your niche little hobby
but if you look around today you'll
notice it's absolutely everywhere
heck there are kazuna eye posters in
walmart now
so the question is how the heck did it
make the jump to mainstream popularity
welcome to watch mojo's series how geek
culture became pop culture
once niche and ridiculed geek culture
has exploded into the mainstream
how did so much change
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[Applause]
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join us as we look at how pulp fiction
comics
video games anime and nerd heroes became
pop culture staples
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the history of anime in north america in
earnest starts back in 1963.
that's when one animated japanese series
was able to do the impossible and appear
on
mainstream american television all
thanks to a little boy named adam
created by the god of manga himself
osamu tezuka
this pinocchio-like robot with a heart
of gold was a huge hit in japan
eventually the manga series mighty atom
was adapted by tezuka's own animation
company for japanese tv
where it pioneered that distinctive
anime aesthetic
meanwhile adam had also caught the
attention of nbc
reps within months of its release in
japan mighty adam began airing in the
u.s
under the name astro boy
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the series proved so popular that other
countries took notice and began
airing it too things were looking up for
the anime industry's global domination
i'm not giving after a boy back i bought
him for a lot of money however
this rise was cut fatally short with the
arrival of color television
astro boys suddenly seemed immediately
dated compared to his full-color peers
in the u.s he was promptly taken to the
scrap yard
and the series was cut short fortunately
that didn't stop
other shows from following in astro
boy's footsteps mock
go go go skidded onto the scene in 1967
under the name speed racer this would
however be the beginning of a rather
unfortunate trend
the american release saw far more edits
and changes made to fit western
standards
many criticized the voices and dialogue
in particular
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still speed racer enjoyed moderate
success though the term
anime remained virtually unknown a few
other shows came and went in the 80s
such as voltron and a color remake of
astro boy but anime really started
making waves thanks to studio ghibli
seen as entertainment the whole family
can enjoy the films of hayao miyazaki
remain some of the biggest milestones in
animated cinema
not just anime
it wasn't always smooth sailing though
when miyazaki's masterpiece
nausica of the valley of the wind was
released to the english-speaking world
it was heavily edited by the company
manson
that international these edits affected
the film's reception
and deeply upset miyazaki who felt his
creation had been mutilated
thankfully in the mid 90s disney
acquired the distribution rights for
ghibli films
and ghibli made their position on cuts
clear from the outset
the story goes that the head of disney
subsidiary miramax wanted to chop up
another ghibli classic princess mononoke
before it reached north american
audiences
in response studio ghibli executives
allegedly sent a katana to the office
with a note reading
no cuts a firm message that ensured the
movies would be left untouched
since then the films have been given to
western audiences in their purest form
and the fact that everyone now loves
studio ghibli creations is proof of the
miyazaki movie's universal themes
sorry looks like you're involved in fact
his 2001 masterpiece spirited away not
only set box office records in japan
but also took home the oscar for best
animated feature
i think that was you and your real name
is kohaku river
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of course those weren't the only films
that gripped western viewers
ghost in the shell and akira both
garnered cult and eventually mainstream
audiences
the history of anime would be incomplete
without discussing
the anime dragon ball z forgoing its
original series
the biggest anime in history burst into
north america in 1996
with its super saiyans and kamehamehas
dead set to make an impact
but it was promptly taken off the air
after two seasons
with saban shifting focus to original
content
fortunately toonami picked up the series
and brought it to a whole new audience
toonami is easily the most important
programming block
in this story it's a platform that
launched anime series like gundam wing
outlaw star yuyu hakusho the big o
and tenshi muyo but dragon ball z was
truly the biggest success story
it continues to dominate sales today and
is highlighted by many
as the true gateway into the anime genre
it wasn't long before toonami viewers
were so eager to watch the next episode
that they began tape trading and buying
overpriced vhs's of fan translated
episodes
seriously look up the infamous miami
mike fan sub story
around the same time dbz was taking
north america by storm
sailor moon and the sailor scouts
started fighting evil by moonlight
what happened this stream is getting
weirder and weirder i'll never study
that hard again
one company had originally planned to do
an american live-action cartoon hybrid
adaptation
but that plan was by the grace of the
anime gods
scrapped i don't want to play this game
anymore
and that turned out to be the right move
because sailor moon killed it
in the states in fact it infiltrated the
mainstream to the point that it was
included among a string of pop culture
references in the barenaked lady song
one week
love him or hate him a lot of credit
when it comes to spreading anime in the
west has to go to four kids
pokemon absolutely dominated the world
in the late 90s
and the anime was brought to life with
the talented voices from four kids
entertainment
come on charmander welcome to the group
chat
while others may dig their nostalgia
from the red and blue video games the
pokemon anime was the real driving force
behind pokemania
and its popularity led to one of the
first anime movies to
ever see a widespread release in
american theaters
pokemon even made it to the front cover
of time magazine
by this point anime was an undeniable
sales driver
as pokemon paved the way for other toy
sellers like digimon
yugioh beyblade and more
but what about the die hards how are
they introduced to the big three shonen
jump powerhouses naruto bleach in one
piece
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well even before these anime found their
way to north american tv came the
english version of shonen jump magazine
in 2002 this monthly anthology compiled
manga that included the big three
and could be bought in almost any
magazine store
as the interest grew in the 2000s fan
subs of airing shows became more readily
available
meaning western otaku could finally be
in sync with their japanese counterparts
but this model was not sustainable and
thus a new savior swooped in to save the
day
streaming services with the help of
subscription-based streaming services
anime became more accessible than ever
before
providers like funimation high dive and
crunchyroll
began simulcasting shows with high
quality subtitles
almost immediately after they aired in
japan even entertainment titans like
netflix and amazon began funding and
distributing incredible original series
compared to its popularity even a few
decades ago it's safe to say that anime
has become a part of mainstream western
popular culture
in 2019 alone anime expo the biggest
north american anime convention had a
whopping 115
000 unique visitors so you may hold
nostalgia for the good old days at anime
club but today there truly is an anime
out there for
everyone meaning this hobby has become
as universally beloved as any form of
animation
does samuel l jackson like anime yes i
do
hentai too make sure to tune in for our
next episode of how geek culture became
pop culture where we'll be talking
geeks on screen
you