Once upon a time, watching anime felt like being in on a secret. You’d huddle over grainy downloads of Naruto openings, argue over Death Note plot holes on obscure forums, and maybe, just maybe, convince one friend to start Bleach with the promise that it “really gets good after episode 64”. These days, anime isn’t lurking in shady Torrent folders. It’s got prime-time slots, official merch, and theme songs that hit like chart-toppers.
Let’s be clear: anime’s been soft flirting with the mainstream for a while. Pokemon had us all screaming “I choose you!” in playgrounds back in the early 2000s. Dragon Ball Z made powering up cool way before pre-workout supplements became part of our daily diet. But this new era? It’s different. We’re not just talking about nostalgic reruns. We’re talking about Jujutsu Kaisen billboards in Times Square, Demon Slayer breaking box-office records faster than a Brad Pitt movie, and your co-worker casually dropping Spy x Family references between otherwise uneventful meetings.
According to a recent Crunchyroll-NRG study, anime’s fanbase among Gen Z is now on a par with some of the world’s biggest celebrities and cultural icons. Globally, 54 per cent of Gen Z participants said they “like” or “love” anime, putting it just behind Taylor Swift (60 per cent) and LeBron James (59 per cent), and nearly on a par with Beyoncé (56 per cent). That’s a staggering level of cultural relevance, especially when you consider that anime now outpaces other global entertainment powerhouses like K-dramas and Bollywood in both scale and engagement.
“I think everyone has watched one anime or the other in their childhood. It’s just that they were probably not aware of the terminology and called it ‘cartoons’,” says Jvss, a Delhi-based content creator who also cosplays and runs a dedicated anime-themed Instagram account. “Even back in school—when I was in fifth or 10th grade—nobody knew I watched anime. I couldn’t even talk about it. And for that matter, being a girl also added to that. So, I think the attitude has definitely changed. If I had said I watched anime back in school, I would not get the same reaction I get now. I’d probably have been treated like one of those geeks who watches niche cartoons. But now, it’s a culture thing.”
Her prognosis is not too far-fetched. Ashish Sharma, a 27-year-old software engineer from Delhi recalls being bullied for watching anime in school. “Back then, it was seen as something for socially awkward ‘noobs’. Now those same classmates are posting about anime and going to conventions. People are finally seeing how intricate the stories are and how much effort goes into the art,” he adds.
That shift isn’t just happening in group chats and convention halls. It’s winning Oscars. At the 2024 Academy Awards, The Boy and the Heron, Hayao Miyazaki’s latest dreamy offering from Studio Ghibli, took home Best Animated Feature. And earlier this year, you couldn’t scroll two posts without stumbling upon someone who’d Ghibli-fied themselves via ChatGPT. Everyone was suddenly on board with the whimsical and weirdly gorgeous art style. Sure, it was all AI-generated and sometimes gave you five fingers and a bonus thumb, but hey, that’s a whole other conversation.
One of the biggest reasons anime is blowing up is that it’s finally easy to watch. Gone are the days of dodgy websites, low-res subs, and malware pop-ups just to finish a One Piece arc. Now, anime is everywhere. Legally, and in HD. Streaming platforms have made it accessible, bingeable, and legit cool. At Netflix’s Anime Expo 2025 earlier this month, the streamer revealed that anime viewership on the platform has tripled over the past five years. With over 50 per cent of global Netflix viewers now watching anime, the streaming platform isn’t slowing down. From new drops like Sakamoto Days and My Melody & Kuromi to fan favourites like Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 and Blue Eye Samurai, it’s clear they’re building a serious home for anime lovers with dubbings in up to 33 languages
Arun John, a 43-year-old software engineer from Hyderabad, says one reason anime’s appeal has grown is because “there’s just so much variety now and something for everyone”. For him, it’s also become a way to bond with his family. “I’ve been watching Attack on Titan and Tokyo Ghoul with my wife, and at the same time I’ve got my kid into Haikyu!! and My Hero Academia. It gives us something fun and shared, even across age groups.” John remembers the first he got into anime—back then, the options were limited and you’d often have to rely on manga just to stay connected to Japanese culture. “Now, everything is so accessible. You don’t have to dig through niche subreddits or obscure forums to find people who get it. It’s all right there.”
Anime isn’t just a solo binge-watch anymore; it’s a full-blown bonding experience. And that fandom energy? It’s spilling offline too. From cosplay and fanfics to late-night Discord rants, anime fans go all in. Now India’s catching up too. This August, Mumbai will host Anime India, the country’s first large-scale anime convention, at NESCO’s Bombay Exhibition Center.
“It’s just that we never found a platform to make a community, and that’s where social media came in,” explains Jvss. “Social media played a massive role in establishing anime as a proper genre in our culture, which maybe television wasn’t able to do. Everyone watched anime on TV, but nobody really talked about it. Sure, people discussed Pokemon because there were toys and merch. But when it came to core anime, like Death Note, those really took off [in India] only after social media gave people a way to connect and share it.”
Interestingly, anime isn’t just in your watchlist today. It’s in your headphones, your gym playlist, and apparently, on the dancefloor. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, anime music has gone full viral, with Spotify reporting a 395 per cent jump in streams between 2021 and 2024. Whether it’s screaming the Demon Slayer intro like it’s a battle cry or getting hit with One Piece nostalgia the moment ‘We Are!’ kicks in, fans are feeling all the feelings and then some.
Behind the bingeing, a streaming war is heating up. Sony’s gone full Thanos, snapping up Crunchyroll, Funimation, and even a stake in Kadokawa to build one mega-platform stacked with exclusives. But the rivals aren’t bowing out just yet. Netflix is throwing big bucks at studios like MAPPA and Wit for originals like Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and Castlevania, while Amazon has Vinland Saga, and Disney is testing the waters.
So yeah, anime’s everywhere now. It’s not just a “phase” or something only teenagers on Tumblr care about. It’s smart, strange, emotional, chaotic and, clearly, it’s hit a nerve with people across the world. Whether you’re here for the fight scenes, the feelings, or just the aesthetics, there’s room for everyone. Just maybe don’t start One Piece unless you’ve got, like, a decade to spare.
