If you’ve never heard of anime before – where have you been?! To those of us in the UK and elsewhere in the West, anime refers to animation that’s produced in Japan – but in Japan, it refers to pretty much any animated short, series, or film you can think of.
Over the past 40-plus years, anime has exploded in popularity in the UK and North America, with many films and TV series – such as Dragon Ball, Naruto, One Piece, and Pokemon – having been fully dubbed for international audiences.
Many anime films and series are based on manga, which refers to comics and graphic novels, again, produced in Japan. There are thousands upon thousands of anime properties and series out there – and in this fact file, I’m going to start chipping away at the iceberg to give you some fascinating facts about anime you might never have heard of.
1. Anime has ancient roots.
It’s thought that the art of travelling storytelling – emakimono – is directly related to anime as it’s developed over the years. Emakimono refers to old plays and panoramas that Japanese storytellers would unveil while travelling around the country – dating all the way back to the 11th century!
By the 20th century, filmmakers began to experiment with various animation techniques that had already seen wide acclaim across Europe, North America, and Russia. It’s at the start of the anime revolution that three creators – Jun’ichi Kōuchi, Seitarō Kitayama, and Ōten Shimokawa – would start displaying professional animations. The trio became widely known as the ‘fathers of anime’!
2. Some anime series go on for years and years.
One of the most notable hallmarks of televised anime is that many stories and franchises tend to be very long runners! Though you’d be forgiven for thinking that the original Pokemon series was a long runner (and it indeed had 276 episodes over more than five years), there are several others that outstrip it in longevity.
One Piece, for example – a hugely popular anime based on the adventures of pirates and rogues – has been on the air since 1999. In fact, the manga it’s based on is still running, too! However, at the time of writing, the longest-running anime series is Sazae-san, which started broadcasting in October 1969 – and it’s still going!
3. Studio Ghibli helped reinvigorate anime in the West.
While anime has certainly been cemented in Western interests for a while now, the rise of Studio Ghibli – co-founded by legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki –has helped to establish Japanese animation as an award-winning art form.
The studio was founded in Tokyo, Japan, in 1985. It’s responsible for popular animated classics such as Princess Mononoke, Grave of the Fireflies, My Neighbor Totoro, and Howl’s Moving Castle.
However, it was Spirited Away, released in 2001, that really helped to establish the studio in the West as a force to be reckoned with.
4. Spirited Away was the first anime to be nominated for – and to win – an Academy Award.
Spirited Away, a tale about a young girl who ends up mixed up in a world full of intriguing and sometimes dangerous spirits and ghosts (while trying to help her parents, who have been turned into pigs) – broke new ground for anime being recognised at the Oscars.
The movie won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2003, at the 75th Awards. It managed to beat the likes of Ice Age and Lilo & Stitch to the punch!
However, it wasn’t until 2024 that anime would triumph again in the category – again, thanks to Studio Ghibli – with The Boy and The Heron. This award led to Miyazaki becoming the first person born outside of America to win Best Animated Feature twice.
5. There are several anime franchises that are banned in China.
While anime is hugely popular in the East more so than in the West, there are some territories which don’t look so kindly upon some of the bigger shows and films of the genre. China, for example, with its strict laws regarding programming control, has banned several anime franchises from being televised across the country.
Popular anime such as Tokyo Ghoul, Attack on Titan, Sword Art Online, and Death Note are all reportedly restricted in China. In the UK, there’s not so much censorship – though several adult anime have been cut or restricted in the past.
6. There are thousands of different anime properties.
Though I’m not the one you should talk to about counting them all individually, there are reportedly more than 10,000 different anime films and series. What’s more, the animation genre covers a variety of storytelling genres within itself – horror, sci-fi, romance, fantasy, crime, melodrama – you name it, anime covers it.
In fact, you’ll also find there are terms that split certain anime up for specific audiences. For young girls, there’s Shojo anime, and for boys, there’s Shonen anime. For adult audiences, you’re likely to come across Josei and Seinen for women and men, respectively. That said, many of the most popular anime franchises are appealing to all ages.
7. Anime is responsible for bringing some of the most iconic fictional characters to global audiences.
Without anime, we wouldn’t be aware of characters such as Pikachu, Aang, Naruto Uzumaki, Sailor Moon, Luffy, or Goku. These are some of the best-known characters from anime series that have exploded globally over the past few decades – that’s Pokemon, Avatar, Naruto, Sailor Moon, One Piece, and Dragon Ball, respectively.
Anime series such as Naruto, Pokemon, and Dragon Ball have built up such an overwhelming fanbase that they’ve split off different spin-off series and extensions to their central lore. With Pokemon, for example, there are different anime series to line up with the latest games released alongside, and different regions that characters explore.
8. One Piece took a long time to get greenlit.
If you’re a fan of One Piece’s fast-paced sea-faring antics, take a look at our fact file on the anime – but in the meantime, marvel at the fact that it took some effort to get the series off the ground at all.
It’s suggested that the series, which is now one of the longest-running manga and anime franchises in history, was rejected for publication (in its initial form) several times. However, Shonen Jump, the iconic magazine, eventually relented – and decades on, One Piece is still one of its landmark stories.
9. Anime has made serious box office bank in Japan.
While anime has gradually become huge over in the West, in its homeland, it’s nearly unstoppable when it comes to sales – especially at the box office. Believe it or not, Princess Mononoke overtook ET: The Extra-Terrestrial as the highest-selling movie in Japan as of 1997.
That record’s been beaten many times over now, with Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train now being the biggest-selling movie nationwide (and yes, it’s an anime!). Spirited Away, Your Name, One Piece Film: Red, Princess Mononoke, and Howl’s Moving Castle are all anime that make the top ten.
Interestingly, Disney’s Frozen bucks the trend at fourth place!
10. Worldwide, a few other anime movies make the box office sales list.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba remains the biggest-selling Japanese movie worldwide, but anime such as Suzume, The Boy and the Heron, The First Slam Dunk, Ponyo, and Jujutsu Kaisen 0 all make the top ten.
Interestingly, of the top 30 biggest-selling Japanese movies worldwide, only five aren’t anime – never underestimate anime as an export!
11. Hundreds of anime are produced each year.
Sources suggest that the number of unique anime produced every year is increasing. From just over 200 per year produced across the 00s, there were around 300 per year produced in the 10s.
In 2020, only around 278 anime were produced – but, we can perhaps blame some of the decrease on the COVID-19 pandemic. Regardless, that’s a lot of new stories to catch up on!
12. People watch anime at home in their millions.
The anime streaming revolution has really exploded in the past ten years (up to the time of publication). If you’re a big fan of anime, there’s a chance you’re already a member of Crunchyroll, regarded as the biggest name in anime-only streaming.
Crunchyroll’s been around since the mid-00s. However, it only reached its millionth subscriber by the mid-10s. And yet, by 2021, it reached its five millionth viewer – meaning that, between the 10s and 20s, there’s been an explosion in anime interest at home.
Netflix has become a big name in anime streaming, too, with around half of all households subscribed to the service watching at least one anime.
13. Akira was a game-changer for anime in film.
Akira is one of the best-known and best-loved anime movies of all time. It helped to challenge many people’s perceptions that animation was purely for children and family audiences – however, it also broke incredible new ground when it came to colours used in animation, too!
It’s reported that the movie used as many as 327 different colours, with around 50 – and here’s where things get really weird – having been created solely for the film! This was reportedly thanks to the fact that much of the story takes place during the night time, meaning there was increased pressure to use lighting and colour.
14. Gundam is so-called for a pretty interesting reason.
Gundam is one of the best-loved anime franchises of all time – with series such as Mobile Suit Gundam helping to put the art form on the map regarding action and adventure. However, the mega-robot series’ name is a pretty clever portmanteau.
According to the powers that be, it’s reported that ‘Gundam’ is simply a mix of the words ‘gun’ and ‘freedom’ – a pretty loaded name (pun intended), but a fitting one, all the same!
15. Anime makes up a huge percentage of the world’s animation in general.
Remember the statistics I mentioned earlier about anime films produced each year? On a global scale, that makes up a huge slice of the animation pie in general. In fact, it’s estimated that around 60% of all animation, produced anywhere, is anime.
That, however, is based on statistics from a couple of decades ago – but given the scale at which anime has exploded since, it won’t be surprising if the stats are even bigger now.
16. The Titans are based on one specific person.
Attack on Titan, a manga series that revolves around the rise of giant beings who threaten civilisation, has some rather strange, if humorous roots. It’s thought that the series’ creator, Hajime Isayama, actually based the Titan characters on a random drunk person he met in a cafe.
Specifically, Isayama was inspired by the communication breakdown – and there you have the oddly horrifying, enormous beasts you may have already watched and read about!
17. Anime movies don’t take that much money to create.
On top of being huge money makers for Japanese animation studios, anime is relatively affordable to make.
Take The Boy and The Heron, for example, which reportedly cost less than £43 million to make. That sounds like a lot of money (and it is!), but then compare it to Pixar’s Inside Out 2 in the US. That movie cost around £159 million to make – almost triple the cost of the Studio Ghibli picture!
18. Voice acting is a very big deal in Japan.
With anime being such a massive industry in Japan, it’s unsurprising that there is so much emphasis for people to train in the art of voice acting. In fact, there are estimated to be around 130 specialist voice acting schools based across the country! Here’s hoping AI voices don’t take too many jobs along the way…
19. There are several anime franchises set in the UK!
Yes – while there are plenty of anime series and movies that are set in Japan, there are a few big hitters that are actually based on British soil, too. And, for the most part, they get Blighty down pretty well!
Black Butler, for example, is a popular anime set in Victorian-Era Britain. Hellsing, meanwhile, is a supernatural series based around the vampire myth and the character of Van Helsing – with an organisation built around the need to stop supernatural threats.
20. There are even some British dubs of anime.
For the most part, English language dubs of anime series and movies are handled by American and Canadian outfits. However, there have been a few occasions where British actors have taken on the job of dubbing Japanese characters!
For example, one of the most infamous and cheekiest takes on original anime with a British dub is Lum The Invader Girl, which was a limited-run dub of Urusei Yatsura. This was regarded as a short-run ‘gag dub’ that featured the likes of Matt Lucas, Anna Friel, and Lauren Laverne.
21. There was an anime created purely to drum up interest in a specific sport.
Yes – believe it or not, Kaikyuu!! was an anime that was created to help get people interested in volleyball as a sport. The series’ creator, Haryichi Furudate, confirmed as much, feeling that the pastime had become ‘uncool’ in Japan.
And, interestingly enough – it worked! Interest in volleyball clubs spiked (pun intended) as a result of the anime becoming popular nationwide.
22. It’s not always easy to adapt anime to live action.
Sadly, while anime has brought some fantastic stories to big and small screens over the years, it’s proven difficult to capture the same magic in live action – especially when it comes to Western studios taking a stab.
Netflix, in particular, has something of a mixed track record when it comes to anime adaptations. For example, its adaptations of Cowboy Bebop and Death Note weren’t critical successes. However, the streamer seems to have struck oil with its adaptation of One Piece.
Other anime adaptations that have failed to ignite include M Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender, adapting Avatar.
FAQs About Anime
What is the number one anime in the world?
There are lots of anime series that could lay claim to that title – One Piece, in particular, is famous for being a long-running, critically acclaimed series with no end in sight! However, other series such as Pokemon, Naruto, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and Fullmetal Alchemist could all lay claim to being the most popular anime franchises with fans.
What is the full meaning of the word anime?
Anime is a shortened word, derived from the Japanese word animēshon. Unsurprisingly, animēshon means animation – meaning anime is literally Japanese animation. Nice and simple! To save confusion, manga is used to refer to Japanese comics and graphic novels, from which many anime are derived.
What do anime fans call themselves?
Many anime fans refer to themselves as otaku, which could refer to people who enjoy Japanese culture in general. Therefore, the term is also used to describe fans of games and technology – all things Japanese, essentially! However, in Japan itself, the term is pejorative, and can be used to describe somebody who is overly obsessed.
Further reading
https://www.crunchyroll.com/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/
https://www.crunchyroll.com/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/
Do you know any fun facts about anime? Share them in the comments below!
