by Francis Jock

Created on: February 08, 2008   Last Updated: March 29, 2010

A look at the support for anime on American television networks may provide a revealing and realistic gauge of the increasing popularity of anime into America and American culture. However, television is only one form of media distribution. It is also distributed on media such as DVD and VHS, and included in computer and video games. Anime may also be downloaded from various Internet sites. Many popular American theme features are produced as full length motion pictures, such as The Incredibles and Disney's Bambi.

According to AC Nielsen, Pixar's The Incredibles sold 16 million copies on DVD in America last year. Even the DVD release of Bambi sold 6 million copies in 2005. HBO also showed juvenile-targeted anime on occasion, including TV series such as Tales of Little Women, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and Saban's Adventures of Pinocchio and feature films such as Gisaburo Sugii's 1974 Jack and the Beanstalk. The Disney Channel broadcast both of the feature-length anime films starring Osamu Tezuka's popular unicorn character Unico, and CBN redubbed and broadcast its Bible-based anime TV series co-produced with Tatsunoko, Superbook and The Flying House. The phenomenal success of Nintendo's multi-billion dollar Pokemon franchise was helped greatly by the spin-off anime series that, first broadcast in the late 1990s, is still running worldwide to this day.

All of these successes illustrate the point that anime is here to stay. The high quality of the animation and production of anime have made it one of the most popular and fast rising media formats today. It now appears in television commercial content and on the Internet through outlets such as YouTube and My Space, albeit these are free content sites.

As digital technology continues to take quantum leaps forward in terms of processing speed and data handling and storage capability, the cost effectiveness of anime productions will only serve to enhance its popularity. It is has already made remarkable inroads into science fiction and adventure films. There have been several great movies featuring integrated animated characters (Headspace and Who Killed Roger Rabbit?) and human actors. One notable computer game that accomplishes this well is Sierra's classic horror game-movie Phamtasmagoria.

Anime isn't just for kids anymore. In fact, Adult rated xxx-dvd anime has gained in popularity across the international adult entertainment market. You've come a long way, Speed Racer!

(Source: Wikipedia)

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