Japanese Animation: A Global Cultural Phenomenon

Astro Boy, Doraemon, Pokémon, Slam Dunk, Dragon Ball, Shinchan, many of us may heard about one or few of these names despite where we come from, they are some of the famous Japanese animations, which have worldwide influences and have become more than a regional pop culture, but a transnational culture phenomenon. Like many transnational pop cultures, the reasons of why they can be popular in other countries while others cannot are complicated, it may relate with the social environment, cultural background, and many other factors. This article will briefly introduce the history and development o Japanese animations, and analyze their influences and reasons of why they become a worldwide cultural phenomenon.

Today Japan has become the largest comics and animation exporter in the world, with an industry of $500 million a year(Take Two), its influence is no longer limited in the TV screen, but an important part of pop cultures in many countries. Japanese animations originated in the early 20th century, and firstly by imitating western cartoons, but its distinctive style was then being continually developed and adopted. In 1963, the first widely popular Japanese animation was born, Astro Boy, a production of Osamu Tezuka, who is considered to be the farther of modern Japanese animations. During this period, many original animations were created, and some of them like Doraemon are still producing and having influence up to today. Despite the simple drawing style and story line that animations in this period had, they started to create domestic influence in Japan.

In 1980s, Japanese animations had become an indispensable part in Japanese’s lives. By referring the successful comic industry of United States, Japanese government realized ...

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...eas continuously, high quality and good story and various topics make them popular to people of different ages with different cultural background, wherever you come from, no matter what kind of topic you are interested in, you can always find a Japanese animation that attracts you, and this is why Japanese animation become a global cultural phenomenon.

Works Cited

Chambers, Samantha Nicole Inëz. “Anime: From Cult Following to Pop Culture Phenomenon.” of Undergraduate Research in Communications 94. Print.

Schodt, F.L., and O. Tezuka. Manga! Manga!: The World of Japanese Comics. Kodansha America, Incorporated, 2013.

Take Two. “Why Japanese Animation Has Such a Huge Following in the US.” 89.3 KPCC 3 Dec. 2012. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.

Wai-ming, Ng. “The Impact of Japanese Comics and Animation in Asia.” Journal of Japanese Trade & Industry: July/August (2002): 2. Print.