As anime becomes ‘cool’ and reaches broader audiences outside of the always-online subset of long-term, ‘hardcore’ fans, the barometer for popularity is no longer in the hands of an impassioned Twitter commentator or a person writing for an anime website or blog. These fans won’t mind that Netflix releases Beastars months after the show has finished airing in Japan, as they’re informed primarily by Netflix recommendations. Your hairdresser will praise Seven Deadly Sins, and the shop assistant will talk to you about Darling in the Franxx after just discovering the show through TikTok a week ago, blissfully unaware of the conversations surrounding the show when it first released.
You can read this piece over on Otaquest.
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