What country besides Japan is the best to be an anime fan?

[averygamerdude]

I've seen discussions before when I was talking about how anime is unpopular in the U.S., but a lot of people argue that America is the second best country to be an anime fan. But anime is a lot more mainstream in the Philippines, and a lot people say that anime is popular in France. In your opinion, what country besides Japan is the best country to be an anime fan?

[Cosmic Eagle]

Taiwan, China or HK I guess...


Apart from that, Malaysia or Singapore maybe

[GDiddy]

I don't know. I've heard France really publishes a lot of manga that doesn't get published here in the States.

And probably Singapore, Phillipines and Indonesia.

[Sheba]

Other than in China and South-East Asia, Anime is really popular in France and I heard Spain and Italy are comparable as well. In manga, we got a lot of different types here, even a manga about wine is enjoying a surprising popularity. The one part of the industry we are lagging behind is the Light Novels part. Now anime itself, or the animated series, Mainstream TV air a lot less anime than it used to in the 1970s-1990s, if you are desperate to watch anime on TV, you'd need DTTV and even the TV channels that are offered by your ISP. But seriously, if you don't have both, you may be living in the most remote corner of the French countryside and should not be talking here on a forum.

[roxybudgy]

I don't know how it compares to other countries, but Australia has it pretty good.

We have several licensing companies who generally sub-licence from US companies, but every now and then, they license something that hasn't been licence in the US, such as Chihayafuru, which I have on DVD :3

There's also a sizable community, and most states have a local anime convention (although some have shut down due to finance issues), and plenty of anime clubs that do weekly or regular screenings, and active cosplay communities.

[Marcus H.]

I don't know how it compares to other countries, but Australia has it pretty good.

I heard the licensing firms there have to suffer with very strict censorship laws.

[judasmartel]

Mainstream anime in the Philippines involved only the Big 3 of OP, Naruto, and Bleach until the latter two ended their anime run, though AFAIK Naruto's local run hasn't gotten to the Fourth Great Shinobi War Arc yet.

Naruto and Bleach were quickly replaced later by Sword Art Online and Magi, but other than that, there really isn't any new anime in mainstream TV yet. Mostly reruns of Yu Yu Hakusho (locally known as Ghost Fighter), Hajime No Ippo (locally known as Knock Out), and Slam Dunk. Thank goodness for the Internet indeed.

That's why we have something like a litmus test here to determine whether a person is a bonafide anime fan or not. True anime fans know a lot more anime than just the Big 3, Fairy Tail, and many other anime shown in mainstream TV on a consistent basis.

[RichardFromMarple]

I was wondering how much Anime & Manga makes it to South Korea, almost all the series I've seen profiled on MyAnimeList have Korean dubbing artists in the voice credits.

Mexico & some of the other Latin American countries had an anime boom in the 1990s, & I wondered if interest in anime had been maintained.

[Marcus H.]

Naruto and Bleach were quickly replaced later by Sword Art Online and Magi, but other than that, there really isn't any new anime in mainstream TV yet. Mostly reruns of Yu Yu Hakusho (locally known as Ghost Fighter), Hajime No Ippo (locally known as Knock Out), and Slam Dunk. Thank goodness for the Internet indeed.

You forgot Shingeki no Kyojin.

That's why we have something like a litmus test here to determine whether a person is a bonafide anime fan or not. True anime fans know a lot more anime than just the Big 3, Fairy Tail, and many other anime shown in mainstream TV on a consistent basis.

There's also cable TV (HERO TV and Animax Asia).

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by GDiddy

And probably Singapore, Phillipines and Indonesia.

If you’re a fan of mangas, anime action figures & Gundam plamos, my country is a good place. We got tons of mangas, manhwas, and Chinese comics releases. You can even get some obscure titles here (I have a copy of a local-release Kamen Rider Black and Jurassic Park manga right here on my shelf, among others). Heck, they even released some Japanese novels like Moribito. You can get figures and Gunplas for good and more reasonable prices here, not crazy pricey like some who sell collector-items on Ebay. You just have to know the right places which isn’t a difficult thing to do (places like Toys r Us is a big no-no).

But if you’re a fan of anime (outside the popular battle-shounens) who wants to collect legal DVDs & BDs, you’re out of luck if you live here. I blame the lack of dependable non-half-ass local distributors. Anime TV-airing is not much better. Due to censorship that has become tighter and tighter (they blur cleavage and people smoking in movies and foreign dramas nowadays), most anime you’ll get is for kids (and I don’t mean “big kids”, but those who still attend elementary schools). And recent anime’s tendency to show more fanservice and other NSFW things don’t really help matters. That's why many "otakus" here still rely on anime pirated-products or importing (for those who have the budget and willing to deal with the bitches at Customs). Believe me, the US of A is still a better place for anime lovers & collectors. At least you have companies like Funimation there who can supply you with decent local DVD/BD releases.

[Flower]

Correct ... this assumes that the qualification of "best country" implies availability of anime products on a broad level in the local language.

Some countries, however, may only have some strong aspects of the industry as a whole ... for various reasons.

But on a different aspect of "best country", one could also consider the overall attitude (and here we are speaking in very broad, sweeping strokes and generalizations) of acceptance by others who do not share the same interests.

There could be different aspects of positives and negatives wherever one is.

[Marcus H.]

Pretty much what Flower says.

Availability of officially licensed anime are widely available in USA, UK, Europe and other countries, but these countries also enforce strict censorship laws that ironically hurt the availability of other series.
On the other hand, Southeast Asian nations like Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan and the Philippines, as well as other countries like Mexico, have widespread mainstream reception of anime, but have poor reach of licensed content compared to the major markets for anime overseas.

I don't think there's any way to get the best of both worlds, really.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Originally Posted by Marcus H.

Pretty much what Flower says.

Availability of officially licensed anime are widely available in USA, UK, Europe and other countries, but these countries also enforce strict censorship laws that ironically hurt the availability of other series.
On the other hand, Southeast Asian nations like Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan and the Philippines, as well as other countries like Mexico, have widespread mainstream reception of anime, but have poor reach of licensed content compared to the major markets for anime overseas.

I don't think there's any way to get the best of both worlds, really.

Eh....SG and Malaysia have Kinokuniya fortunately. Every manga and LN at your doorstep.

Games though...ah, there's always speed post courier for imports...



As for Taiwan.....their licensing beats everything outside Japan. Kadokawa is huge in Taiwan.

[Marcus H.]

Eh....SG and Malaysia have Kinokuniya fortunately. Every manga and LN at your doorstep.

As for Taiwan.....their licensing beats everything outside Japan. Kadokawa is huge in Taiwan.

I also forgot that the anime convention scene in Singapore is huge.
Thanks for reminding me of the frustrating lack of the bigtime international anime cons in PH.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Ah yeah, conventions like water here. But isn't cosplay scene pretty big in PH too?

[Marcus H.]

Ah yeah, conventions like water here. But isn't cosplay scene pretty big in PH too?

Yep, but only happens near big cities, particularly near the capital.

[Azuma Denton]

Indonesian here...
I would probably vote Indonesia for good place to have official translated manga, anime convention, figure collector, cosplay, and online weebs drama...

[Tormenk]

Not sure how it's handled in other countries but Singapore manages to get screenings for a fair number of anime movies.The Psycho-Pass and Love Live movies had limited screenings here this year but the regular run of Evangelion 1.0 and 2.0 a few years back takes the cake.

Only downside are the anime DVDs available for sale. Not sure if it's imported or it's under Odex but the quality of the DVD packaging seems suspect enough to deter me from purchasing them.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Originally Posted by Tormenk

Not sure how it's handled in other countries but Singapore manages to get screenings for a fair number of anime movies.The Psycho-Pass and Love Live movies had limited screenings here this year but the regular run of Evangelion 1.0 and 2.0 a few years back takes the cake.

Only downside are the anime DVDs available for sale. Not sure if it's imported or it's under Odex but the quality of the DVD packaging seems suspect enough to deter me from purchasing them.

Most likely Odex.... Don't buy anime DVDs/BD from here....just import them directly if you must.

[judasmartel]

Originally Posted by Marcus H.

You forgot Shingeki no Kyojin.
There's also cable TV (HERO TV and Animax Asia).

No mainstream channel has gotten Attack On Titan, probably due to the gore so intense the Moral Guardians would go BEAST MODE. For some reason though, I find the live-action movie quite tame compared to the gory reputation the manga and anime have.

HERO TV and Animax Asia might have gotten this, but not everyone has cable. Again, thank heavens for the Internet.