But if you look around today, you'll notice it's absolutely everywhere.

Heck, there are CA Zuna I posters in Wal Mart now.

So the question is, how the heck did it make the jump to mainstream popularity?

Yeah, welcome to watch Mojo.

Siri's How Geek culture became pop culture.

Once niche and ridiculed geek culture has exploded into the mainstream.

How did so much change join us as we look at how Pulp fiction, comics, video games, anime and nerd heroes became pop culture staples.

The history of anime in North America in earnest starts back in 1963.

That's when one animated Japanese Siris was able to do the impossible and appear on mainstream American television, all thanks to a little boy named Adam created by the god of manga himself, Osama Tezuka.

This Pinocchio like robot with a heart of gold, was a huge hit in Japan.

Eventually, the manga Siri's mighty Adam was adapted by Tezuka own animation company for Japanese TV, where it pioneered that distinctive anime aesthetic.

Meanwhile, Adam had also caught the attention of NBC reps within months of its release in Japan.

Mighty Adam began airing in the U.

S.

Under the name Astro Boy.

Theo.

Siri's proved so popular that other countries took notice and began airing it, too.

Things were looking up for the anime industries.

Global domination.

I'm not giving Astro Boy back.

I bought him for a lot of money.

However, this rise was cut fatally short with the arrival of color television.

Astro Boy suddenly seemed immediately dated compared to his full color peers in the U.

S.

He was promptly taken to the scrapyard, and the Siris was cut short.

Fortunately, that didn't stop other shows from following an Astro boy's footsteps mock Go, go go!

Skidded onto the scene in 1967 under the name Speed Racer.

This would, however, be the beginning of a rather unfortunate trend theme.

American release saw farm or edits and changes made to fit Western standards.

Many criticized the voices and dialogue.

In particular, he's going over the clip.

Still, Speed Racer enjoyed moderate success, though the term anime remained virtually unknown.

Ah, few other shows came and went in the eighties, such as Vole Tron and a color remake of Astro Boy.

But Animal really started making waves.

Thanks to Studio Ghibli seen as entertainment, the whole family can enjoy.

The films of Hayao Miyazaki remains some of the biggest milestones in animated cinema, not just anime.

It wasn't always smooth sailing, though.

When Miyazaki's masterpiece Nah.

Zika of the Valley of the Wind, was released to the English speaking world, it was heavily edited by the company Manson International.

What can that be?

These ad?

It's affected the film's reception and deeply upset Miyazaki, who felt his creation had been mutilated.

Thankfully, in the mid nineties, Disney acquired the distribution rights for Jubilee Film's and Jubilee made their position on cuts clear from the outset.

The story goes that the head of Disney subsidiary Miramax wanted to chop up another Dibley classic, Princess Mononoke, before it reached North American audiences.

In response, studio Ghibli executives allegedly sent a katana to the office with a note reading No cuts, a firm message that ensured the movies would be left untouched.

Since then, the films have been given to Western audiences in their purest form, and the fact that everyone now loves Studio Ghibli creations is proof of the Miyazaki movies.

Universal themes.

Sorry, it looks like you're involved.

In fact, his 2001 masterpiece, Spirited Away, Not Onley, set box office records in Japan but also took home the Oscar for best animated feature.

I think That was You and your real name is Kohaku River E.

Of course, those weren't the only films that gripped Western viewers.

Ghost in the Shell and Oxy adopt both garnered cult and eventually, mainstream audiences.

The history of anime would be incomplete without discussing the anime Dragonball Z or going its original.

Siri's, the biggest anime in history, burst into North America in 1996 with its Super Sands and Kamehameha as dead set to make an impact.

Yeah, but it was promptly taken off the air after two seasons.

You know what with Subban shifting focus to original content.

Fortunately to NAMI picked up the Siri's and brought it to a whole new audience.

To NAMI is easily the most important programming block in this story.

It's a platform that launched anime series like Gundam Wing, Outlaw, Star, You, You Ha Que Show the Big o and Tension You Yo.

But Dragonball Z was truly the biggest success story.

It continues to dominate sales today and is highlighted by many as the true gateway into the Animas genre.

It wasn't long before to NAMI viewers were so eager to watch the next episode that they began tape trading and buying overpriced VHS is of fan translated episodes.

Seriously, look up the infamous Miami Mike Fan sub story around the same time DBC was taking North America by Storm, Sailor Moon and The Sailor Scout started fighting Evil by Moonlight.

What happened?

This dream is getting weirder and weirder.

I'll never studied that hard again.

One company had originally planned to do an American live action cartoon hybrid adaptation, but that plan was by the grace of the anime God's scrapped I don't want to play this game anymore, and that turned out to be the right move because Sailor Moon killed it in the States.

In fact, it infiltrated the mainstream to the point that it was included among a string of pop culture references in the Barenaked Ladies song one week.

Love him or hate, Um ah, lot of credit when it comes to spreading, anime in the West has to goto four kids.

Pokemon absolutely dominated the world in the late nineties, and the anime was brought to life with the talented voices from four kids.

Entertainment.

Come on, Char Mander.

Welcome to the Group E, while others may dig their nostalgia from the red and blue video games.

The Pokemon anime was the rial driving force behind Pok mania, and it's popularity led to one of the first anime movies to ever see a widespread release in American theaters.

E polio.

Pokemon even made it to the front cover of Time magazine.

By this point, anime was an undeniable sales driver as Pokemon paved the way for other toy sellers like Digimon, Ugo Bay, Blade and Mawr.

But what about the diehards?

How are they introduced to the Big Three Shonen Jump powerhouses?

Naruto Bleach in one piece.

Oh, well.

Even before these anime found their way to North American TV, came the English version of Shonen Jump magazine in 2002, this monthly anthology compiled manga that included the Big Three and could be bought in almost any magazine store.

As the interest grew in the two thousands, fan subs of airing shows became more readily available, meaning Western otaku could finally be in sync with their Japanese counterparts.

But this model was not sustainable, and thus a new savior swooped in to save the day.

Streaming services.

With the help of subscription based streaming services, anime became mawr accessible than ever before.

Providers like Fun, Imation, High Dive and Crunchy Roll began simulcasting shows with high quality subtitles.

Almost immediately after they aired in Japan, even entertainment titans like Netflix and Amazon began funding and distributing incredible original Siri's compared to its popularity even a few decades ago, it's safe to say that anime has become a part of mainstream Western popular culture.

In 2019 alone, Anime Expo, the biggest North American anime convention, had a whopping 115,000 unique visitors.

So you may hold nostalgia for the good old days of Anime Club.

But today there truly is an anime out there for everyone, meaning this hobby has become as universally beloved as any form of animation.

Samuel L.

Jackson, like Animal?