www.pbs.org Open in urlscan Pro
2600:9000:25e8:8600:0:3833:24c0:93a1 Public Scan

Back to summary

URL:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/whats-behind-the-growing-popularity-of-japanese-comics-and-animations-in-u-s
Submission: On May 19 via manual (May 19th 2024, 7:36:27 pm UTC) from US — Scanned from DE

Form analysis
3 forms found in the DOM

GET https://www.pbs.org/newshour/search-results?q=

<form id="pbs_distribution_search_form" accept-charset="UTF-8" method="get" action="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/search-results?q=">
  <div class="pbs_searchtext_wrap">
    <input name="q" type="text" id="header_query" value="" placeholder="Search" data-type="local" aria-label="Search">
    <span aria-hidden="true">
      <span class="pbs_lens_icon"></span>
    </span>
  </div>
  <div class="pbs_searchbuttons_wrap">
    <input type="button" class="search_btn" id="btnLocalSearch" data-type="local" value="Search This Site">
    <input type="button" class="search_btn" id="btnGlobalSearch" data-type="global" value="Search PBS">
  </div>
</form>

POST #

<form action="#" method="POST" class="subscribe-form" novalidate="">
  <div class="form-fields">
    <label class="subscribe__label">
      <input type="hidden" value="politics" name="newsletter">
      <input type="hidden" value="website-sidebar" name="signup_location">
      <input type="hidden" value="" name="full_name">
      <input class="subscribe__input" type="email" value="" name="email" autocomplete="off" placeholder="Email Address">
      <span class="aria-hidden">Email Address</span>
    </label>
    <button type="submit" class="submit">
      <svg class="svg">
        <use xlink:href="#icon-email"></use>
      </svg>
      <span class="submit-text">Subscribe</span>
    </button>
  </div>
  <div class="form-error">Form error message goes here.</div>
  <div class="form-success">
    <p>Thank you. Please check your inbox to confirm.</p>
  </div>
</form>

POST #

<form action="#" method="POST" class="subscribe-form" novalidate="">
  <div class="form-fields">
    <label class="subscribe__label">
      <input type="hidden" value="politics" name="newsletter">
      <input type="hidden" value="website-footer" name="signup_location">
      <input type="hidden" value="" name="full_name">
      <input class="subscribe__input" type="email" value="" name="email" autocomplete="off" placeholder="Email Address">
      <span class="aria-hidden">Email Address</span>
    </label>
    <button type="submit" class="submit">
      <svg class="svg">
        <use xlink:href="#icon-email"></use>
      </svg>
      <span class="submit-text">Subscribe</span>
    </button>
  </div>
  <div class="form-error">Form error message goes here.</div>
  <div class="form-success">
    <p>Thank you. Please check your inbox to confirm.</p>
  </div>
</form>

Text Content

PBS

* Shows
* Explore
* TV Schedules
* Shop
* Donate

Full Episode

Saturday, May 18
Close Menu
PBS NewsHour
* Episodes
* Podcasts
* Newsletters

* The Latest
* Politics
* Brooks and Capehart
* Politics Monday
* Supreme Court

* Arts
* CANVAS
* Poetry
* Now Read This

* Nation
* Supreme Court
* Race Matters
* Essays
* Brief But Spectacular

* World
* Agents for Change

* Economy
* Making Sen$e
* Paul Solman

* Science
* The Leading Edge
* ScienceScope
* Basic Research
* Innovation and Invention

* Health
* Long-Term Care

* Education

* Teachers' Lounge
* Student Reporting Labs

* For Teachers
* Newshour Classroom

* NewsHour Shop
* About
* Feedback
* Funders
* Support
* Jobs

Close Menu

PBS NewsHour
Menu
Notifications

GET NEWS ALERTS FROM PBS NEWSHOUR

TURN ON DESKTOP NOTIFICATIONS?

Yes Not now
* Full Episodes
* Podcasts
* Newsletters
* Live

WHAT’S BEHIND THE GROWING POPULARITY OF JAPANESE COMICS AND ANIMATIONS IN U.S.

May 18, 2024 5:30 PM EDT

By —

Ali Rogin Ali Rogin

By —

Claire Mufson Claire Mufson

By —

Michael Boulter Michael Boulter

Leave your feedback

Share
* Copy URL
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/whats-behind-the-growing-popularity-of-japanese-comics-and-animations-in-u-s
* Email
* Facebook
* Twitter
* LinkedIn
* Pinterest
* Tumblr

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter
Transcript Audio

Japanese animation and comic books have exploded in popularity in the United
States over the last few years. From floats in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day
Parade to a win at this year's Oscars, the genre has seen an increasing amount
of visibility in American culture. Ali Rogin reports.

READ THE FULL TRANSCRIPT

Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for
accuracy. They may contain errors.

* Laura Barron-Lopez:

Over the last few years, Japanese animation and comic books have seen an
explosion of popularity in the United States. From Netflix adaptations to
Macy's Thanksgiving Day floats to a win at this year's Oscars, the genre has
seen an increasing amount of visibility in American culture. Ali Rogin is
back with a look inside the world of anime and manga.

* Man:

My spirit trembles, my heart is ablaze.

* Ali Rogin (voice-over):

It's an art form that's having a moment.

* Man:

Come on within me, come to my aid.

* Ali Rogin (voice-over):

Anime, Japanese animation and manga Japanese comics Ale Guevara is one of
many who discovered the genre during the pandemic.

* Ale Guevara:

I couldn't go to college. I couldn't find a job, so I was in a pretty dark
time.

* Ali Rogin (voice-over):

Stuck at home with little to do. Guevara's cousins recommended they watch One
Piece, animated pirate adventure show based on a manga of the same name.

* Ale Guevara:

Since were uncertain about how long were going to stay home, they were like,
One Piece is long. It's so entertaining. Even though they never told me it
was like a thousand episodes, One Piece fans kind of do that. They trick you
into watching it.

* Ali Rogin (voice-over):

The volume and variety of content, from fantasy and horror to romance and
dramas, is part of the appeal.

* Ale Guevara:

Anime takes you to like, a whole other level. It shows you, like, how
artistic people can be, how like, different people grew up, or like how
different the world looks through, like, animation.

Shannon DeVito, Barnes & Noble, Inc: We couldn't fill the stores fast enough.

* Ali Rogin (voice-over):

Barnes and Noble senior director of books Shannon DeVito.

* Shannon DeVito:

The readers in the space are so voracious. It's a good thing that the series
are so long and so beautifully drawn, because not only do they look for 10
other series to read, once they finish one, they go back and reread.

* Ali Rogin (voice-over):

Manga sales in the US quadrupled from 2019 to 2022, with a peak of 28.4
million copies sold. It is now the fourth largest fiction category overall in
the United States, behind romance, thrillers, and fantasy.

* Shannon DeVito:

It's one of our top ten subjects any day. During the pandemic, it was in our
top five pretty consistently.

* Ali Rogin (voice-over):

The boom has been helped along by a number of other factors, new apps with
low subscription fees that allow American readers to access unlimited content
without long waits for translated copies, and new interest among American
audiences as streaming platforms like Netflix introduce viewers to more
foreign movies and TV shows.

In 2022, anime film, "Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero," debuted at number one
at the box office in the U.S. and grossed nearly $87 million worldwide. And
in 2023, "Everything Everywhere All at Once," an action comedy inspired by
anime won best picture at the Oscars.

But it's not a totally new phenomenon. We went to anime convention in
Virginia to see what's behind the loyal fandom.

* Ali Rogin:

There are more than 100 gatherings just like this one all over the country
every year, and it's a chance for anime and manga fans to get together and
celebrate this art form.

* Ali Rogin (voice-over):

This annual convention has been going on since 1999. For many, it's about
more than entertainment.

* Janelle Kruza:

As someone who is on the is a bit on the spectrum, this is kind of where I
kind of developed and learned how to really talk to people, go out and talk
to people and really develop more of my social skills.

* Noelani Roberts:

Having us all here as a family really brings us closer together.

* Ali Rogin:

Noelani Roberts and her brother Kahlel started watching anime in their early
teens. Then their mother became interested.

* Michelle Murray-Roberts:

My kids were like, mommy, come and see this show. You got to check it out.
And I sat down, started watching the anime shows with them. Next thing you
know, I got hooked.

* Ali Rogin (voice-over):

Like many at the convention, they came in cosplay, the term for dressing up
as characters from a favorite series.

* Michelle Murray-Roberts:

I started out as a closet cosplaying, and I started just embracing it and
started telling people, this is what I do.

* Ali Rogin (voice-over):

From intricate costumes to everyday clothes. It's a genre that attracts a
range of people and personalities.

* Mirelle:

If you asked an average person on the street what anime fan looks like, they
would probably say someone cringe, someone who maybe didn't take care of
themselves and just sits in their room all day. People who love anime can be
anyone as long as they have, you know, an active imagination.

* Ali Rogin (voice-over):

That sense of imagination is part of why today's public pop culture is full
of references to anime, from Grammy award winning rapper Megan Thee Stallion
to sneaker collaborations.

* Man:

What this shoe means to me is your response to adversity. Respond cool, calm,
and collective.

* Ali Rogin (voice-over):

Even actor and director Jordan Peele's blockbuster film "Nope" references a
1988 anime film, Akira.

* Gita Jackson, Co-founder, Aftermath:

The mainstreaming has happened slowly but surely, but I think especially
within the black community and the hip hop community.

* Ali Rogin (voice-over):

Journalist Gita Jackson says anime and manga appeal specifically to a
generation that loves antihero.

* Gita Jackson:

They don't want to hear that the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad.
They want to hear that it's kind of hard to be an adult, but that everyone
has to deal with these difficult emotions. That kind of heightened reality,
just in general appeals to young people.

* Man:

I will become the God of this new world.

* Ale Guevara:

Anime doesn't just show you things he innocently watches. Anime actually
shows you dark things or like sad things and like, it makes you feel things
more deeply.

* Ali Rogin (voice-over):

Another part of the appeal is the art.

* Kahlel Roberts:

Honestly, I just really love seeing like, artists rendition of different
things and seeing the worlds that they could create. It kind of lets me,
like, get lost in their creation.

* Ali Rogin (voice-over):

Unlike western comics, where artists and writers typically work in
collaboration, manga, even ones that run for decades, like the gory hit
Berserk, is often the work of a single creator's unique perspective.

* Gita Jackson:

Some of these things that I've read, like the deluxe editions of Berserk, you
can really see how he just takes every single item and illustrates every
single leaf and every single droplet of blood as different characters get
their heads exploded. There's a lot of imagination in it, and that will
always impress me.

* Ali Rogin (voice-over):

And it inspires many fans to produce their own art.

* David Loeman, Artist:

Me and my sister, we'd watch a lot of shows together. So that kind of got the
artistic sparks flowing and inspired a lot of the work that I do.

* Ali Rogin:

David Loeman is an illustrator, one of dozens of artists selling their work
at the anime convention.

* David Loeman:

Everybody has their own unique relationship with the characters. They mean
something different to everybody who watches the show. So when they see their
favorite characters on the wall again, it has that moment of sparking joy,
that moment of enthusiasm they see themselves in the artwork.

* Ali Rogin:

Sales have dipped from the pandemic's record high, but Shannon DeVito says
the genre is here to stay.

* Shannon DeVito:

It is not an outsider subject anymore. Readers have definitely stayed and
continued to buy content in a way that shows that they're staying power.

* Ale Guevara:

Before, I used to make fun of people who actually like anime, and now it's
like, you know, anime, you're cool. You're my best friend now.

* Ali Rogin (voice-over):

Gaining viewers and readers one character at a time. For PBS News Weekend,
I'm Ali Rogin.

LISTEN TO THIS SEGMENT

Play
00:00

…
Volume

Watch

Watch the Full Episode

PBS NewsHour from May 18, 2024

www.pbs.org Open in urlscan Pro 2600:9000:25e8:8600:0:3833:24c0:93a1 Public Scan

Form analysis 3 forms found in the DOM

GET https://www.pbs.org/newshour/search-results?q=

POST #

POST #

Text Content

www.pbs.org Open in urlscan Pro
2600:9000:25e8:8600:0:3833:24c0:93a1 Public Scan

Form analysis
3 forms found in the DOM