History of anime in the United States
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The history of anime in the United States began in 1961, when Shōnen Sarutobi Sasuke and The White Snake Enchantress, both produced by Toei Animation, became the first two anime films to receive documented releases in the country under the names Magic Boy and Panda and the Magic Serpent, respectively. Anime is a style of Japanese animation that attracts an enormous audience through its complex art, fluid movement, and emotional storytelling often involving superhuman elements. It has since found success with a growing audience in the region, with Astro Boy often being noted as the first anime to receive widespread syndication, especially in the United States. Although a handful of titles were translated before 1970, such as Speed Racer and 8th Man, anime did not achieve widespread popularity in the US until the 1990s. This period, commonly referred to as the "anime boom," and is credited with cementing anime's relevance in popular culture outside Japan. Since then anime has achieved mainstream popularity in the United States, becoming a prominent part of the country's contemporary popular culture by influencing American fashion, music, video games, advertising, inspiring collaborations between anime franchises and major American brands and shaping the interests and consumption habits of viewers. Japanese animation has expanded far beyond niche fandoms, with franchises such as Pokémon, Dragon Ball Z, Demon Slayer and many others contributing to its widespread appeal among American audiences.
From its popularity in 1961 to the late 1980s, anime was introduced to American audiences through translated and English-dubbed versions. During the late 1980s to the late 1990s, the focus shifted toward localization, where anime was adapted to suit American cultural preferences and audience expectations. From the late 1990s to the present, anime has entered a new phase characterized by experimental collaborations between American and Japanese creators, blending creative styles and production techniques from both cultures.
While several anime series have originally been distributed by pirates and fansubbers in the past via bootleg releases from the late-1990s to mid-2000s, such practices have rapidly declined since the early-2010s due to the advent of legal streaming services such as Netflix, Prime Video, Hidive and Crunchyroll, which simulcast new anime series often within a few hours of their domestic release.