Ask John: How Much Impact Has Pokemon Had In America?

Question:
What do you think would be the status of anime in North America today without Pokemon? How much impact and influence was it to anime here in the West? Anime was obviously around before it came, but did it speed things up? And how has it influenced which anime are now available in North America? Do you think it had a direct impact on the type of anime we now enjoy aside from those aimed at children, or moreso the quantity?

Answer:
The question of exactly how much impact Pokemon has had on the availability of anime in America is a fascinating one because it’s not something which American anime fans normally think of. Everyone knows that Pokemon is an anime series, but to America’s hardcore fan community, Pokemon is a distinct other. Pokemon is a mainstream commodity. It feels like a parallel but separate branch of the growth of anime in America, not an embraced element of America’s fan community. But despite the fact that American anime fans may distance themselves from Pokemon and percieve it as a distant relative rather than as a close friend, Pokemon may have had more impact on the contemporary perception and availability of anime in America than anything else in recent years. I’m certain that company executives and economic observers will have a different perspective on the influence that Pokemon has had than I have, but I can only speculate from my own perspective.

I think it’s safe to say that Pokemon remains the most successful anime franchise ever released in America. Pokemon is undoubtedly the highest grossing anime franchise ever released in America. It’s also arguably the most widely recognized Japanese created anime franchise ever released in America. There’s no way to guess how America’s anime industry would have developed had Pokemon not reached America or not become the smash hit that it was, but credit must be given where it’s due. The biggest contribution that Pokemon gave to America was the popularization of the imported Japanese word “anime.” Since the “Pokemon craze” of the early 2000s, major mainstream periodicals and newspapers including Time, Newsweek, Variety, the Los Angeles Times, and The New York Times have begun to use the word “anime” without needing to explain that it means, “Japanese animation.” More credit is due to Pokemon than anything else for making America aware that Japanese animation exists.

4Kids Entertainment unquestionably licensed Yu-Gi-Oh in an attempt to coat tail the success of Pokemon, and series including Digimon, Moncolle Knight, and Card Captor Sakura were probably brought to American television in a similar attempt to cash in on the “collecting” theme and popularity of Pokemon. More importantly, Pokemon premiered on American television in September 1998, and less than two years later the Cartoon Network expanded its programming to include anime. Anime was broadcast on American television prior to Pokemon, but the success of Pokemon was the watershed moment that opened the floodgates of anime onto American television (in a relative sense, as I still wouldn’t say that American television is literally flooded with anime).

There’s probably no accurate way to determine how many Americans have become more devoted anime fans and consumers as a result of watching Pokemon, but I’m sure that the number must be significant, just based on percentages. There’s no way that millions of America children could have been exposed to Pokemon without some of them continuing to mature their infatuation with anime. The success of Pokemon may have directly lead to an importation of similar programs, but I think it’s reasonable to say that Pokemon also widened the path for all anime that followed it to America. Pokemon proved that anime could be profitable and widely successful in America the way nothing before it had ever done, and Pokemon created a larger audience and market for anime in America than what had ever existed before. I don’t think that it’s a coincidence that the size and profitability of America’s anime industry grew in giant leaps during the years of the Pokemon craze, roughly 1999 through 2003. Anime fans may not consciously acknowledge the impact that Pokemon has had on America because we half-consciously segregate ourselves from it. (American anime fans, I think, feel more secure with the belief that their hobby is more refined and mature than the childish and heavily commercial Pokemon franchise, although, in fact, the childish and commercial aspects of Pokemon are simply one of many facets of the anime hobby.) But despite the fact that American anime fans don’t acknowledge the impact that Pokemon has had on making anime more recognized and more commercially viable in America, no other anime has ever made as big an impact in American culture, and brought as much awareness of Japanese animation to American culture as Pokemon.