Anime and Manga: Just a fad or here to stay

[Mangafanatic]

I've been wondering for a while if this rising tide of manga and anime is just a trend or if manga and anime will one day be a regular fixture in video rental places and book store. What do you guys think: Fad or Forever?

[Kireihana]

If A&M have lasted for so long in Japan, you can bet that it probably wont die out in the States.

[Ichigo_89]

I think it's become more popular than ever, and is definately not going to die anytime soon. I've even seen Tokyopop commercials advertising Manga such as Sgt. Frog and Saiyuki!!

[Heart of Sword]

It's here to stay! It'd better be or else I'm moving to Japan. ^^x

[Destroyer2000]

I've seen Tokyo Pop advertising manga online. THing is...homosexual undertones in most of them from what I could tell. X(

[Ingemar]

I think it's here to "stay," just like the Beatles were, but I think it will be displaced by something more popular, though always in our memory.

[blkmage]

It's been here for a while. What's to keep it from dying out?
It's not like anime is a single genre. I guess that's what keeps it 'new.'

[Bobtheduck]

It's not a single genre, but it may not stay in the limelight long enough for people to realise that finally... 95% of the people I talk to still talk about anime like it's all one big thing... "Oh, I've tried that anime, but it's so silly" or, <sarcasm>my personal favorite</sarcasm> "Those pornographic Japanese pokey-man cartoons." I think it will likely pass out of the public eye in the US in a few years... By that time I'll be in Japan, hehe.

I should add that much of the furvor over anime in the US is by, and no offense by this, young teens. They watch DBZ and Yu Yu Hakusho and even Inu Yasha, and they giggle at the sexual jokes and bizarre nature of FLCL and they feel mature for watching a nice gunfight or one on one brawl on Cowboy Bebop, but they'll eventually get to the point where the very friends that got them into anime will get them out of it, by the point of the sword of shame most certainly. They will think they've grown out of it, younger children won't get into it, and it will fade away... Only a handfull of hardcore fans will exist, and the "Cartoons are for kids" mindset will come back, driving those aging fans deeper into secrecy about it until they don't have any new anime coming their way and they're all arrested for piracy. Ok, so I"m a pessimist...

[Destroyer2000]

It's not a single genre, but it may not stay in the limelight long enough for people to realise that finally... 95% of the people I talk to still talk about anime like it's all one big thing... "Oh, I've tried that anime, but it's so silly" or, <sarcasm>my personal favorite</sarcasm> "Those pornographic Japanese pokey-man cartoons." I think it will likely pass out of the public eye in the US in a few years... By that time I'll be in Japan, hehe.

I should add that much of the furvor over anime in the US is by, and no offense by this, young teens. They watch DBZ and Yu Yu Hakusho and even Inu Yasha, and they giggle at the sexual jokes and bizarre nature of FLCL and they feel mature for watching a nice gunfight or one on one brawl on Cowboy Bebop, but they'll eventually get to the point where the very friends that got them into anime will get them out of it, by the point of the sword of shame most certainly. They will think they've grown out of it, younger children won't get into it, and it will fade away... Only a handfull of hardcore fans will exist, and the "Cartoons are for kids" mindset will come back, driving those aging fans deeper into secrecy about it until they don't have any new anime coming their way and they're all arrested for piracy. Ok, so I"m a pessimist...

People like that who says the things, especially those I bolded, I'd like to meet and strap down to the floor, and beat the heck out of them. As for the young teens, that's true...the sixth and seventh grade at my school are idiots. They DO feel mature for watching Cowboy Bebop and understanding it...to me, it makes me sick at my stomach when they put a sincerely good Anime on Toonami or something. Everyone considers it 'childish' or something else...swordsmanship has done a good thing to me, teaching discipline and control of anger, otherwise I'd have gotten expelled for knocking the snot out of some of the kids at school who think ALL anime and manga are hentai (in their words, porn) because some idiot brough Samurai Deeper Kyo manga to school and showed off the fanservice...he just about lost those few pages, too, cause I wanted to rip them out...they can't appreciate a good storyline in anime, either. I could go on and on, but, I degress...I'll stop here, for now.

[RoyalWing]

Well... I'm not sure how to answer this. I've known Japanese cartoons when I was small, but I didn't know the difference, they weren't looked at differently or called "animé" and comic books have existed forever in my mind, who cares what country they come from. I believe that right now, it is a fad, with all the terms coming out to seperate it from other comic books. i don't like it like this, I wish it could go back to the way it was, because people didn't look at it as something different! ... i think you can identify a fad when one group of people say "OMG I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!" and then you have the others going "pfffff that stuff is *bleep* i can't believe you're so immature" and then the few people in between, most of whom are on the board, that go "what's the big deal?"
......
...... ok I think I just confused myself, that may be the most opinionated post I've ever done... V___V sorry if I offend anybody!!!!!!

[MasterDias]

I think it's here to stay. For a long time, at least.
I don't think I'd really consider it a fad.

Bob did have a point however. Most of the "popular" anime currently on TV is geared toward older kids/younger teens so if they lose interest...
Still, people don't appear to be losing interest in anime anytime soon.

Another thing is, if I'm wrong, and it is only a fad, what would Cartoon Network/WB/FOX/whoever replace it with?
Generally speaking, it's anime that tend to get the top ratings on each station...

[TheMelodyMaker]

I just like the general style of drawing; I don't think I'd ever tire of it. ^_^

[Technomancer]

I tend to think that the anime and manga themselves are here to stay, but individual shows are obviously faddish. If you think about how big comics already are, having become more mature over time and dealing with themes beyond superheroes or detectives, then it seems likely that anime will follow the same route in terms of the public mind (and thus lose the "juvenile" label attached to animation). For better or for worse, anime and manga have already influenced North American artists, and a number of cartoon series have adopted a sort of "Amerimanga" style, so for that reason alone it's influence is likely to be felt for some time to come.

[Mave]

Most have stated what I wanted to say but fads usually don't last because they cater a specific target market. Once that targetted group loses interest, the fad dies.

But anime and manga targets "all groups of audience, ie. young/old, male/female, romance/action/horror whatever genre available", once the American market understands that and welcomes it (which seems to be happening right now), it's here to stay. Just my two cents.

[Spiritsword]

I don't know if anime and manga will ever become "mainstream", which is fine by me. The uniqueness of different anime/manga series keeps me interested, and I definitely like the original versions better than the American "makeovers" which are performed in order to "mainstream" anime for US audiences. As long as I can get anime and manga which is kept as close to its original form as possible, I don't mind its popularization, or whether it becomes less popular. I enjoyed it before it was popular in the US, and I will continue to enjoy it regardless or whether it remains popular or not.

[ShiroiHikari]

If anime and manga do disappear from the mainstream, I don't think it'll bother me much, as long as some good stuff is still being brought over.

Although I would like for this "animation is for kids" mindset to go away and never come back. XD

[TheMelodyMaker]

My mom once said something along the lines of, "I don't think you can ever be too old to enjoy a good cartoon." I agree; cartoons aren't just for the young, but also for the young at heart. ^_^