Anime: How It Began, How Fans Kept it Alive, and Why It’s Bigger Than Ever

Course Description

In this MCP course, students will see the scope of anime brought to life by examining it with all the expertise available to the Carleton Film Studies Department. They will learn the history of not just anime itself, but of the Western obsession with Japanese media. They will examine films and series that changed their industries forever, and proceeded to inspire filmmakers worldwide for years to come.

Japanese Animation, or anime, has been a cultural phenomenon in the West for decades; loved by many, and yet often misunderstood or outright panned by non-fans. Despite this, it has stayed relevant through a dedicated fanbase that keeps the medium alive in territories outside of Japan thanks to the sharing of series, conventions and cosplay, and an interest in all things Japanese.

This has lead to a boom in the 2020s previously unlike anything seen in the importing of anime and Japanese media to the west. The 2020 anime film Demon Slayer: Mugen Train earned over $400 Million in its worldwide theatrical release, despite releasing during the heights of the COVID-19 pandemic. Similarly, sales of Japanese comics, or manga, grew so much during the pandemic that for the first time in history, they eclipsed those of Western comics in North America for several years in a row, including any and all output from industry titans like Marvel Comics and DC Comics.

The media industry at large has also taken notice. Anime streaming service Crunchyroll, which began as a grey-market distributor of digital anime in the early 2000s, has been acquired by Sony and is now the single biggest platform for accessing anime directly from Japan. This is also to say nothing of the numerous anime crossover events occurring within massively popular media franchises such as Fortnite and Roblox.

In short, anime is bigger than ever. But what exactly got us to this point? How did a previously niche subgenre of animation, originally brought over to the West by small handfuls of university students, become as big as it has?

Students will also have the opportunity to learn about the wide world of fandom and fan cultures that have kept anime alive. Through guest lectures and presentations from local industry professionals and fan creators alike, and the chance to express their own creativity and love of the medium in-class, students will get to see just how much anime continues to exist thanks to the efforts of individual people.

It’s a glimpse into a world beloved by teens worldwide, and one that Carleton Film Studies is in a unique position to provide. So what’s everyone waiting for? Ikimasu! (Let’s go!)