Top 10 Countries where Anime is Most Popular and Why!

It’s no secret that anime is massively popular around the globe. Gone are the years where only geeks watch anime, as now almost everyone watches anime or knows what anime is.

While, there are many countries where anime is popular I’ll be narrowing down the list to 10 countries based on the power of analysis, growth in demand for anime, and which countries are trending for anime on Google for the past 12 months.

RankTop X countries where Anime is most popularCountry’s population as of January 2022% of people watching animeNumber of people watching anime
10Taiwan23,269,61632.50%11,634,808
9Canada36,874,29634.67%18,437,148
8Malaysia33,477,72042.70%16,738,860
7Mexico131,860,13845.58%65,930,069
6South Korea49,403,21650.70%24,701,608
5Brazil215,756,32755.78%107,878,164
4France67,929,57662.50%33,964,788
3Phillipines112,390,10470.58%56,195,052
2US335,124,94171.86%167,562,471
1Japan126,362,85375.87%63,181,427
Statistical data of the top 10 countries where anime is most popular
Top 10 Countries where Anime is Most Popular and Why!
Geographical chart of top 10 countries where anime is most popular

Looking at the statistical data, I’m sure you’ll be wondering why I didn’t put China on the list when they have the largest population and a lot of anime fans. The answer is simple the Chinese government puts up strict regulations on anime which made popular series like Attack on Titan, Death Note, My Hero Academia, etc inaccessible. Also, to promote more of donghua (Chinese animation) the Japanese anime market faces lots of censorship from the Chinese government.

The government’s take on anime censorship didn’t stop the anime fans in China. The growth for anime kept on increasing as evident in the growth in demand for anime chart. Demon Slayer was China’s top anime in 2019 breaking through donghua saturated market.

The list provided is based on anime viewers who watch anime on legal services and not on pirated sites which is one of the reasons why massive anime fandoms country like Indonesia and India aren’t on the list.

The quantitative data I’ve compiled to generate the statistics on each country only uses secondary data. I chose to create my top 10 countries list based on publicly available quantitative information from Statistica.com, ParrotAnalytics.com, live data of the world population per country, and multi methodology.

Top 10 Countries where Anime is Most Popular and Why!
Growth in demand for anime from September 2020 – July 2021 | Source: Parrot Analytics

The growth in demand for anime in those top 10 countries shows how the anime market is progressing. The bottom three are the US, Philippines, and Japan but that does not mean it is not growing, it simply means anime which is already massively popular in these countries has almost reached its peak point. While, countries like Germany and Russia are gaining more favorability for anime over time.

Top 10 Countries where Anime is Most Popular and Why!
Bar chart of Google trends Anime country popularity 2021 | Source: Google Trends

The Google Trends report doesn’t take into consideration every country and also is not the most suitable way of guessing the top 10 countries where anime is popular. It is a short-live trend that does not consider many other aspects of anime, especially the revenue it generates from those particular regions.

10. Taiwan

Why it’s on this list: Cosplay has been vital in spreading the anime trend. Taiwan National University has hosted various cosplay events over the years, where thousands of people dress up as anime characters. While, popular anime franchises have collaborated with clothing brands to make quality anime merchandise in Taiwan.

Big brands like Nike, Gucci, Adidas, Uniqlo, and Sketchers have collaborated with anime like Dragon Ball to make character-themed T-shirts and shoes. Uniqlo is such a famous brand in Taiwan, so it’s hard to avoid the anime merchandise they sell.

Top 10 Countries where Anime is Most Popular and Why!
Chart of Demon Slayer: Mugen Train’s Ticket Sold by Region | Source: Aniplex

Taiwanese audiences have lapped up the Japanese anime film “Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train” in unprecedented numbers. The film earned NT$360 million ($12.6 million) in 17 days. That makes it the biggest film of the year in Taiwan and the best-selling animated feature of all time.

Another boom in Taiwan is Attack on Titan. It had 16.52x the average demand from February to April 2021, making it the most in-demand show in the country for that period.

Top 10 Countries where Anime is Most Popular and Why!
Demand Distribution in Taiwan | Source: Parrot Analytics

The popularity of anime can be seen with DOCOMO and Far EasTone Telecommunications Co., Ltd. (FET), one of Taiwan’s largest mobile operators collaborating with streaming Japanese multi-angle video content via FET’s friDay Video service in Taiwan.

Also, not to forget the Muse Communication Co., Ltd’s headquarters is in New Taipei, Taiwan which serves anime to Southeast Asia, South Asia, Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.

9. Canada

Why it’s on this list: Japanese anime goes way long back to 1961 when The Tale of the White Serpent film got released in Canada. Since, then anime have leisurely made waves in the region. Anime popularity can be seen in Canada with more than 10 anime conventions taking place in the region. Anime North is the largest anime convention with 34,590 attendees in 2018.

Top 10 Countries where Anime is Most Popular and Why!
10 Most demanded subgenres in Canada | Source: Parrot Analytics

According to the chart from parrotanalytics, Japanese anime comes in fifth place in Canada for the subgenres demand in 2021.

Top 10 Countries where Anime is Most Popular and Why!
Pokemon Anime Global Travelability | Source: Parrot Analytics

Travelability for Pokémon to Canada in the last 30 days is 121%, which means that the demand for Pokémon is 121% of the demand in its home market, Japan. Making it the second country where Pokemon is most popular next to the US.

The Canadian government and its people went beyond boundaries to create a tourism ad campaign with the creators of Your Name, renowned director Makoto Shinkai and the studio CoMix Wave in 2017.

あったかい、冬カナダ
Warm, winter canada

Since then anime popularity is emerging actively with anime conventions happening in Toronto, Vancouver, Quebec City, Calgary, Montreal, Edmonton, and Kelowna. While, not forgetting Toronto has had the largest anime store called AnimeXtreme in Canada since 2002.

8. Malaysia

Why it’s on this list: In Malaysia, anime has a big following along with its manga counterpart, inspiring the work of local comic artists and film productions. Anime merchandise and specialty shops have sprouted around Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya which attracts many customers. Comic Fiesta in Malaysia rakes in average attendances of up to 60,000 people per year.

Top 10 Countries where Anime is Most Popular and Why!
10 Most demanded subgenres in Malaysia | Source: Parrot Analytics

Looking at subgenre trends from the chart above, the demand for animation shows is heavily driven by the anime subgenre. Anime is the single most demanded subgenre between December 2020 and February 2021.

Anime MMusic Station is one of the best online radio stations in Malaysia and the only anime song radio online in the region.

OLM Asia is an established branch of Japanese animation house in Malaysia which is well known for working on hit anime television series such as “Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon” and “Beyblade Burst Turbo.”

FavoriteMost Well Known
One PieceDoraemon
Case ClosedNaruto
NarutoOne Piece
DoraemonUltraman
Dragon BallDragon Ball
Compiled by Nippon.com based on data from Fun Japan Communications

The Japanese anime has often made small references to Malaysia in some of the series like in Hyouka where postcards of Malaysia appear in Chitanda’s house. This reference gives a positive impact on Malaysian viewers thereby contributing to more anime fandoms.

7. Mexico

Top 10 Countries where Anime is Most Popular and Why!
Tokyo Revengers Global Travelability | Source: Parrot Analytics

Why it’s on this list: Anime boomed in Mexico during the Golden Age – an era that began in 1985 when the first installment of the Dragon Ball franchise made its way to the country. This laid the foundation for the popularity of anime in the region.

The fact that Spanish-dubbed animes have made their way to Mexico has also contributed to a strong Mexican fandom.

Top 10 Countries where Anime is Most Popular and Why!
Anime Cafe in Tijuana, Mexico

Tijuana, a city in Mexico has become an unlikely hub for Japanese anime fans. It has three different anime cafés and multiple anime conventions throughout the year.

La Mole (started 1996) is Mexico’s largest and longest-running comic convention which welcomes thousands of cosplayers, gamers, independent illustrators, and celebrity panelists for three days of nerdy community building and enthusiastic peacocking. La Mole 2022 and Sabaku Con 2022 are going to be some of the most anticipated events for anime fans in Mexico.

6. South Korea

Why it’s on this list: Anime is massively popular in South Korea even though Japan and South Korea didn’t get along in the past. The anime film, “Your Name” became the highest-grossing non-English film in Korea.

A wide collection of anime series on Netflix Korea makes anime accessible to anyone. The big names in anime (One Piece, Naruto, Pokemon, Attack on Titan, One Punch Man) are some of the most-watched series in the region.

Top 10 Countries where Anime is Most Popular and Why!
10 Most demanded subgenres in South Korea | Source: Parrot Analytics

News of K-pop idols watching anime has also influenced the general public to be more interested in anime. The most renowned K-pop band BTS loves to watch anime, especially Jungkook and V. The majority of Korea’s animation supply is Japanese anime.

The majority of Korea’s animation supply is Japanese anime. On Tooniverse, which is the most popular channel for cartoons in South Korea, Crayon Shin-Chan and Detective Conan are both at the top.

5. Brazil

Why it’s on this list: Japan and Japanese culture has some of the longest histories with Brazil dating back to 1543. With anime making into the scene by the 60s, many people had their first contact with anime on Brazilian open TV, and now more than 15 million anime viewers in the region.

Top 10 Countries where Anime is Most Popular and Why!
10 Most demanded subgenres in Brazil | Source: Parrot Analytics

A big part of the anime content on YouTube is Brazil-made. The Brazilian channels on YouTube have more than 10+ million views in AMVs alone.

The best thing about Brazil anime fans is how they educate their President Jair Bolsonaro to acknowledge the world of anime using a plethora of visual aids.

https://twitter.com/jairbolsonaro/status/1124053516773994514

This happened when he congratulated the Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne.

Crunchyroll and Netflix are the leading services with dedicated viewers in the region. Crunchyroll Brasil YouTube channel has a massive 1.3 million subscribers.

4. France

Why it’s on this list: France has anime roots in the back the to late 70s to early 90s where the French TV aired a ton of anime. Thanks to this exposure the French people easily adapted to the format of reading manga and became the second-largest manga reader in the world.

Japan Expo Paris is the biggest anime convention outside of Asia (more attendees than the biggest US anime convention).

Top 10 Countries where Anime is Most Popular and Why!
France – Market difference from global genre demand shares | Source: Parrot Analytics

When simulcast emerged, for a long time the US and other countries only had a single legal platform for it (Crunchyroll) whereas France had three (Crunchyroll, Wakanim, and ADN).

In France, Japanese is the most translated language (in writing), after English which just shows the influence of anime culture has brought about an acceptance of the Japanese culture by the crowd.

Top 10 Countries where Anime is Most Popular and Why!
10 Most demanded subgenres in France | Source: Parrot Analytics

Many anime have French culture influences like that of Lupin III, Joker from Persona 5, and Gentle in My Hero Academia. Anime had once dropped in the French market but now its demand is growing rapidly among the younger generations.

3. Philippines

Why it’s on this list: Anime was first brought into the Philippines in the late 1970s, during the time of the late President Ferdinand Marcos. This only proves that anime has long been the Filipino’s source of entertainment.

Anime has dominated Philippine TV for more than five decades bringing it closer to the Japanese culture. Anime-inspired cafés can be seen in different parts of the cities, more especially around Metro Manila. There is a market in Manila called Ichiba Japanese Market which recreated what it feels like to be at the likes of Tokyo’s Tsukiji Market.

Top 10 Countries where Anime is Most Popular and Why!
AE: Philipines: Shopping Manga Comics, Anime | Source: Ceic
Top 10 Countries where Anime is Most Popular and Why!
Ichiba: Japanese Market | Source: Twitter

Otaku conventions play a big part in the massive popularity of anime in the Philippines. Some even embrace the anime culture and make a career out of it and influence the Filipino population like Alodia Gosiengfiao.

More than half of the population in the Philippines watches anime. Also, an interesting fact is Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, Slam Dunk, and One Piece were animated in the Philippines through Toei Animation Philippines.

Top 10 Countries where Anime is Most Popular and Why!
Anime FEB | Source: Blueprint

Naruto is the most popular anime in the Philippines, according to the sentiment analysis of Facebook posts by BluePrint.PH for February 2021. The Philippines is a pure example of anime rich culture outside Japan in Asia.

2. US

Top 10 Countries where Anime is Most Popular and Why!
Demand Share by Original Language | Source: Parrot Analytics
Top 10 Countries where Anime is Most Popular and Why!
Jujutsu Kaisen | Source: Fandom

Why it’s on this list: the US is the world’s most enthusiastic international market for anime. It has 10 of the largest anime conventions in the world, with Anime Expo, LA (started in 1991) having a yearly attendance of more than 107,600 people.

The Japanese shows draw the most demand among foreign content in the US in the first quarter of 2021 with 30.5%. The demand for anime keeps growing with popular shows like Attack on Titan, My Hero Academia, Jujutsu Kaisen, etc.

In May 2020, Naruto, Pokemon, Attack on Titan, Jojo’s Bizzare Adventure, and One Punch Man top the Netflix charts in the US.

Top 10 Countries where Anime is Most Popular and Why!
Most in-demand non-English series on Netflix | Source: Parrot Analytics

The Demon Slayer Mugen Train movie made box office history for anime in the US with whopping $44.9 million sales which surpassed Pokémon 2000’s $43.7 million the most popular anime in the region.

In 2021, Toei Animation Co., Ltd made 10.63 billion JPY net sales in the US alone which just goes on to show how massively popular and demanding the anime market is in the US.

Top 10 Countries where Anime is Most Popular and Why!
Net sales of Toei Animation Co., Ltd. in fiscal year 2021 | Source: Statista

Also to sum it up the majority of the anime subscriptions services are headquartered in the US.

American Anime-Licensing CompaniesLocation of Headquarters
FUNimationFlower Mount, Texas
CrunchyrollSan Francisco, California
NetflixLos Gatos, California
HULUSanta Monica, California
HIDIVEHouston, Texas
VRVSan Francisco, California New York City, New York

It’s all thanks to these streaming services that we get English subtitles and watch our favorite anime series. If it weren’t for the US the popularity of anime spreading around the world won’t be as high as it is now.

Emerging Demand for Anime

Before I go on to number one, I would like to name a few emerging markets where anime is gaining an increasing demand:

India

Anime is massively popular in India with the only drawback being that many of the anime fans watch anime on pirated sites. While this has changed with the Indian government banning many pirated sites.

Emerging Demand for Anime
Weathering With You | Source: Wikipedia

The introduction of anime on Netflix and YouTube has made anime more accessible to the vast audience besides the TV channels broadcasting Doraemon, Shinchan, Pokemon, etc. Weathering with You earn over INR 12.5 million from theatres making history for a foreign language film in India.

Germany

Germany’s demand for anime series has more than doubled since September 2020 and is still growing rapidly. The largest anime convention in Germany, DoKomi – Anime & Japan Expo is bringing in more than 55,000 visitors creating new waves for anime popularity in the region.

Russia

Japanese anime was very popular in Russia even before the Soviet Union fell. With the advent of social media, it became easily accessible for many thousands of Russian fans. Yet, now voices are heard arguing that anime has no place in Russia – mainly because it offends traditional values. The Russian government makes it harder for anime by entirely banning the isekai genre apart from other popular series like Attack on Titan.

Top 10 Countries where Anime is Most Popular and Why!
Attack on Titan | Source: Crunchyroll

Though the anime scene in Russia seems rough, the demand for anime is growing rapidly especially among the younger generations.

Thailand

Japanese culture does have a special place in heart of many people in Thailand since the early 80s and anime is one of them. Japan Expo Thailand is the biggest Japan event in Asia which is held in Bangkok every year.

The “Demon Slayer” movie topped the list of 2020’s top-grossing foreign movies in Thailand with revenue of 115 million baht (about ¥400 million) even though it was shown for just two months of the year.

With anime fandom ever-growing in Thailand, the popular anime website, SMART has brought a praiseworthy revolution in the anime market in Thailand. The website offers its users to watch their favorite Japanese animations with Thai subtitles and dubbing. The influence of anime brought about more than 150 different institutions to offer Japanese language courses in Thailand.

United Kingdom

U.K. has a massive number of anime followers, especially when they have their own “Anime UK News” to spread the word of new shows.

Australia

“Anime Lab” targets its main audience in Australia, New Zealand, and other Oceania countries. It is one of the main reasons why many Australians grow to love anime as well.

Middle East

Surprisingly, anime has deep roots in the Arab world. With the Japanese animation, dubbed into Arabic since the early 90s, practically everyone who’s grown up in the Middle East has grown up with anime. A 2019 YouGov poll conducted across the MENA region showed Saudi Arabia had the largest anime audience in the region.

1. Japan

Why it’s on this list: Japan is the homeland and birthplace of anime. If not for Japan, the global anime industry wouldn’t even be born.

The first successful television anime shows were broadcast for children in the 1960s in Japan. Throughout the decades, anime storylines became more complex and increasingly garnered popularity with adult audiences as well. Today, there exists a wide variety of genres, which makes the medium appealing for both mainstream and niche audiences.

Top 10 Countries where Anime is Most Popular and Why!
Most demanded subgenres for digital originals in Q2 | Source: Parrot Analytics

Anime is by far the most in-demand digital original subgenre in Japan. With more than twice the demand of the next most in-demand subgenre, superhero series.

Top 10 Countries where Anime is Most Popular and Why!
Sales revenue of the animation merchandising market in Japan | Source: Statista

Anime is part of the Japanese culture; it’s a part of their daily lives. Anime is everywhere in Japan from stationery items to food item wrappers to even trains and airplanes.

Japan has many hard-core otakus who watch anime daily, attend anime conventions and cosplay events. Not to forget “Akihabara, Ikebukuro, Nakano are anime-inspired towns or wards in Tokyo.”

Top 10 Countries where Anime is Most Popular and Why!
Comparison of demand for genres in Japan | Source: Parrot Analytics

The recent film “Jujutsu Kaisen 0,” was shown at 418 theaters nationwide, attracting 1.9 million viewers on the first three-day. While for Demon Slayer the first three-day turnout was 3.4 million viewers. This just shows how enthusiastic anime fans are in Japan.

https://twitter.com/Jujutsu_Kaisen_/status/1478756187965431814

Another fact that makes it obvious why Japan takes the sweet spot is the domestic revenue it generates from the animation industry. In 2021, the revenue was approx. 1.2 trillion JPY ($10.48 billion) according to Statista report which just speaks for itself.

Comments

7 replies on “Top 10 Countries where Anime is Most Popular and Why!”

Feedback: First of all, Brazil not an spanish-native country. And this Cafe thing doesn’t really happen here, what have happened is that Dragon Ball went pretty popular in 90s, and Naruto was even bigger in 2005-2010, even playing live on open TV on the country’s largest broadcaster in prime time. It stills very popular between teens and young adults, and i would say that a big part of anime content on youtube is brazilian made. Specially AMV’s, where you can find A LOT of them with +10million views from brazilian channels.

How mistaken that… I came here from philippines. As of 2020, philippines ranked at #2 many most people in the philippines many many loves anime, also many cosplayers, and also have many several own anime shops in the philippines. The #1 is Japan Of course.. We know japan is the owner of the popular anime. Based on that top 10 that would be mistaked.. Philippines is officially ranked at #2

Thanks for your clarification! First of all, I’m sorry that you disagree on some or a lot of the statements I made on this blog. Second, I’m originally from the Philippines. So, I know what you mean when you imply how ubiquitous or wide-spread Japanese TV anime has been there.

Based on my experience and limited understanding of the anime niche there, anime has been wide-spread in the Philippines for the past three decades. But, it reached its peak in the recent decade (from the year 2010 to 2020 because cosplays and anime cafés became intensely popular).

Please take note of the methodology I’ve done on this blog: it is a mix of both objective and subjective data.

The objective data I can provide to readers (to the best of my abilities) are the cold, hard statistics I’ve done above (as you can see in the tables and pictographs).

As for the subjective components of this blog, well, those came from my personal experiences with Japanese TV animations since childhood, my opinions of TV anime series today, and the likes.

Though I’ve only researched the quantitative information for a limited time and by myself (which is approximately a week), I utilized the best website resources out there that are reachable to me.

Some of those resources are available to the public for a steep price if they wish to engage with in-depth viewership statistics of many popular TV anime franchises. The larger the scope of the market that is being researched, the more accurate the survey results would be.

I cannot afford those high-priced researches because I only have a limited time to do this blog; hence, the results you see above. However, as I stated before, I researched the quantitative data of this list by myself as best as I could and provided the results above so my readers will know where I’m coming from.

I might not be as brilliant as the highly-paid market researchers out there who can provide 90-95% accuracy to their projects. But, to make this blog interesting, I provided my personal touch in it (which are my subjective opinions even if many people can disagree with me). In that way, bright-minded people like you will somehow be enlightened on the 10 countries where, in my opinion, Japanese TV animation series have been becoming popular in the recent years.

Thank you for your time and opinion in making a comment to this blog.

Thanks for your clarification! First of all, I apologize for replying so late in your comment. Second, I’ve never been to Brazil. So, thanks for correcting me how Japanese anime cafés don’t happen too often in there.

Please take note of the methodology I’ve done on this blog: it is a mix of both objective and subjective data.

The objective data I can provide to readers (to the best of my abilities) are the cold, hard statistics I’ve done above (as you can see in the tables and pictographs).

As for the subjective components of this blog, well, those came from my personal experiences with Japanese TV animations since childhood, my opinions of TV anime series today, and the likes.

Though I’ve only researched the quantitative information for a limited time and by myself (which is approximately a week), I utilized the best website resources out there that are reachable to me.

Some of those resources are available to the public for a steep price if they wish to engage with in-depth viewership statistics of many popular TV anime franchises. The larger the scope of the market that is being researched, the more accurate the survey results would be.

I cannot afford those high-priced researches because I only have a limited time to do this blog; hence, the results you see above. However, as I stated before, I researched the quantitative data of this list by myself as best as I could and provided the results above so my readers will know where I’m coming from.

I might not be as brilliant as the highly-paid market researchers out there who can provide 90-95% accuracy to their projects. But, to make this blog interesting, I provided my personal touch in it (my subjective opinions even if many people can disagree with me). In that way, bright-minded people like you will somehow be able to acknowledge the 10 countries where Japanese TV animation series have become popular in the recent years.

Thank you for your time and opinion in making a comment to this blog.

Hola, Marianne 
Primero que nada agradezco mucho tu artículo. Quisiera preguntarte dónde puedo consultar los mapas que utilizas a lo largo de tu trabajo. Me parecen demasiado útiles. Tengo pensado hacer una trabajo sobre el consumo de anime y me serían de mucha ayuda. 

De antemano muchas gracias.   

Buenos días Daira,

Gracias por interesarte por los mapas de Epic Dope que hemos creado, y perdona por tardar en responder. He creado los mapas a través de Google Sheets.

Dado que se trata de información hecha a medida, los mapas no se pueden encontrar en ningún otro sitio, excepto en las hojas de Google de Epic Dope (que sólo está autorizado por personal limitado, incluido yo mismo, ya que hice la investigación)

El estudio de mercado se realizó durante un periodo limitado y en su mayor parte por mí mismo, sin ninguna ayuda externa. Puedo garantizar la actualidad de los datos aunque no pueda garantizar al 100% su exactitud.

Sin embargo, puedo garantizar que la información que utilicé era de segunda mano (y todos provienen de sitios web como worldometers.info, statista.com, etc.).

No pude conseguir información de primera mano porque eso aumentaría el tiempo para hacer la investigación. Tengo un plazo de entrega para el artículo de los 10 países más populares del anime, así que trabajé con la información que tenía en el momento de escribir el artículo.

Siento que mi respuesta no te satisfaga si necesitas más información. Tengo entendido que estás planeando trabajar en el consumo de anime. Me gustaría mucho ayudar, pero todos los datos que veas en el artículo (las tablas, los mapas, las fuentes, etc.), son la información más fiable que puedo proporcionar a los lectores en la medida de mis posibilidades.

Estoy enviando esta respuesta por correo electrónico en español y en inglés usando Google Translate ya que no entiendo el español.

Traducción realizada con la versión gratuita del traductor http://www.DeepL.com/Translator.

Tengan cuidado!

Good morning Daira,

Thanks for taking interest in the Epic Dope maps we created, and sorry for taking too long to respond. I created the maps via Google Sheets.

Because they’re custom-made information, the maps cannot be found elsewhere except on Epic Dope’s Google Sheets (which is only authorized by limited personnel including myself since I did the research.)

The market research was done for a limited period and mostly by myself without any outside help. I can guarantee the timeliness of the data even if I can’t 100% guarantee its accuracy.

However, I can guarantee that the info I used was second-hand information (and they’re all from websites such as worldometers.info, statista.com, etc.).

I couldn’t get my hands on first-hand information because that would increase the time to do the research. I have a deadline on the article for the Top 10 Countries where Anime is Popular; so, I worked with the information I had at the time of writing the article.

Sorry if my response won’t satisfy you if you need further information. I understand you’re planning to work on anime consumption. I would very much like to help, but whatever data you see on the article (the tables, the maps, the sources, etc.), all those are the most reliable info I can provide readers to the best of my abilities.

I’m emailing this response in Spanish and English using DeepL Translate since I can’t understand Spanish.

Take care!

When I read you that over 1 billion people watch anime in China I was sceptical to say the least, so I started to go through your sources. Turned out I was right to be sceptical! Your sources doesn’t say what you think they do.

First of all, the statista stat 2015 that was the share of people watching anime, by access channel is just misinformation. 76 percent isn’t of the total population, it’s the percentage of anime watchers that prefer watching on a mobile device over PC.

Your second source from businessdestinations of 82 percent is also wrong. That stat is asking anime viewers if they prefer chinese or japanese cartoons, in which 82 percent said they prefer japanese.

Finally for your last source from TheJakartaPost. The iResearch survey is only asking cartoon watchers, so the 80 percent figure is only talking about anime watchers. The real number according to them it is NOT 1.6M Billion but the real number is closer to 70 million. “According to iResearch, there is a core group of about 70 million fans who check out anime or manga at least once a week.”

I’m very sceptical of any other country you’ve compiled data for and would hesitate to ever trust a figure I’ve read here.

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