17+ Anime Facts To Surprise and Entertain You in 2023

Updated · Mar 06, 2023

Nowadays, we can’t help but feel everything has moved online—all the communication, all the news. Consequently, most entertainment methods are now related to the internet as well. This, however, makes movies and TV shows even more popular.

All this also further helped anime’s popularity explode, with the genre becoming even more established than animated movies from the West. We’ve prepared some glorious anime facts to showcase just how far it has come.

Fascinating Anime Facts You (Probably) Didn’t Know (Editor’s Choice):

  • Sazae-san is the world’s longest-running anime.
  • Anime’s market size was $25.46 billion in 2021.
  • Haikyuu!! was created with the intention to make volleyball more popular.
  • Spirited Away was both the first anime to be nominated for an Oscar and the first one to win it.
  • It makes for 60% of the world’s animation-based entertainment.
  • Pokémon is the most popular anime in North America and Oceania, while Naruto is most famous in South America, Asia, and Europe.
  • Attack on Titan is the biggest anime in Asia.

Anime History Facts

Did you know that anime goes over 100 years back? It’s not just influential, it boasts an impressive history as well. Learn more about it: 

1. Namakura Gatana is the earliest surviving anime.

(Source: Oldest.org)

Let’s face it—anime wouldn’t be where it is today if it weren’t for its history, consisting of older, fairly unknown animes. Namakura Gatana, a short made in 1917, is one of the most relevant examples.

Animes do go a bit further back but this one is the oldest to be kept in its entirety. It was thought to be lost or damaged, too, though it was eventually found in 2008.

2. Sazae-san is the world’s longest-running anime.

(Source: Geeks)

Some highly popular anime series, such as One Piece, are in part famous because of their length. Still, not a single one beats Sazae-san.

It’s not the most watched anime of all time, being a kids show. It did, however, gather considerable attention because of the amount of time it’s been on the air. 

An episode has aired every single day since 1969. Though, this does include reruns. Worldwide events, such as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, are to blame. The show has nearly 4,000 episodes, making it the longest-airing animated series and one of the longest-airing shows overall of all time.

3. Sally the Witch is the first magical girl anime.

(Source: Ranker)

While Sailor Moon is definitely the most popular, anime stats show that it’s not the first of its sort. Its first episode aired in 1992, but the genre is considerably older.

Sally the Witch was the first magical girl anime to air in Japan. It came out more than 25 years earlier—it was on from 1966 to 1968.

4. Spirited Away was the first anime to be nominated for an Oscar.

(Source: Beano.com)

Even 2022 anime facts talk about the genre classics. Take for example Spirited Away, the 2001 Studio Ghibli feature film. The movie was a massive success—not only did it receive critical acclaim, it was also nominated for numerous awards.

The Oscars were one of them. It was the first anime to win the Academy Award for Best Animated film in 2003! Its director, Hayao Miyazaki, didn’t show up at the ceremony as a sign of protest, though. His actions were caused by his dissatisfaction with the US involvement in the Iraq War.

5. The Titans in Attack on Titan are based on drunk people.

(Source: Anime News Network)

It’s not always joy and rainbows, there are sad anime facts as well. This one is among them.

Hajime Isayama, the man behind the manga Attack on Titan, revealed in an interview that the Titans came to life thanks to a drunk person. He got the idea when he encountered a drunk customer in a net café. Not understanding a single word, he came to the conclusion that the world’s scariest creatures are actually humans.

6. If it weren’t for the creator of Dragon Ball, Bleach wouldn’t be around.

(Source: Geeks)

Did you know that Bleach almost got scrapped? It was originally pitched for Shonen Jump, the biggest manga magazine, but was rejected.

Then, Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball, suddenly stepped in. He saw great potential in Bleach, so he wrote a letter to Tite Kubo, its creator, hoping he would continue working on it nevertheless.

Long story short, anime stats now show that it’s among the most successful of all time.

(Source: Beano.com)

He created Haikyuu!! because he found volleyball “fun and cool” and thought he would try to convince people to do the same. His wish came true, as volleyball became noticeably more popular with high school students. Sports clubs were brimming after the anime first aired. 

So luckily, we could now cite this as one of anime fun facts. We don’t want to imagine the disappointment he’d feel if he didn’t complete his mission.

8. 50 new colors were made exclusively for the 1988 anime film Akira.

(Source: Ranker)

It’s films like this serving as a benchmark for future ones. Colors have a great influence on mood, style, and tone.

Many animators avoided drawing films with a nighttime setting… but not those behind the anime Akira. Drawing such scenes increases the color requirements, which didn’t seem to bother them. They wanted Akira to be darker and used 327 colors to adjust to this significant change.

Anime facts claim that 50 were specifically made for this film.

Most Watched Animes

So many anime to watch, so little time. Have you ever wondered what’s the number one anime in the world or what is the anime popularity by country? You’ll find out all this and more here:

(Source: Milford Library)

What’s the most popular anime worldwide? It’s probably Dragon Ball—widely considered to be the first big shonen anime as well.

Shonen anime have a partly humorous plot and usually feature strong, muscular, and good at martial arts male lead characters.

10. Naruto, One Piece, and Bleach are commonly called “The Big 3.”

(Source: Milford Library)

Other than Dragon Ball, what is the most watched shonen anime? It’s definitely these three.

Fans like calling them “The Big 3” because of their overwhelming popularity. They managed to break through both in the East and in the West.

Dragon Ball isn’t in there only because it’s considerably older. Despite that, some fans prefer including it as well and calling the group “The Big Four of Shonen Anime.

(Source: DiamondLobby)

Anime statistics like this don’t lie—Naruto reigns supreme, even though it’s one of the newest anime series we’ll mention here. That didn’t stop it from becoming the biggest anime in South America, Europe, and Africa. Half of all North American countries hold it closest to their hearts, too.

12. Pokémon is the biggest anime in North America and Oceania.

(Source: DiamondLobby)

While it has slightly fallen behind, anime facts unequivocally reveal that Pokémon is still extremely popular. The “Pocket monsters” are yet another worldwide hit—it’s the biggest anime in North America (when we split North and South America) and Oceania. It’s also the second biggest in Europe and the Americas overall.

13. Attack on Titan is the most watched anime in Asia.

(Source: DiamondLobby)

The fight for the “most popular anime in the world” is actually pretty fierce and complex. Besides the “Big Four,” there are others worth mentioning as well. 

Did you know that Attack on Titan is the most watched anime in Asia? 39.13% of all Asian countries point it out as the most popular. Pretty huge, considering how Asia is the birthplace of anime.

14. There are four most watched animes in 2022.

(Source: Thrillist)

Top anime lists differ significantly in different periods of time—now, it seems like old ones have stepped aside to make room for new ones to shine. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, My Dress-Up Darling, The Orbital Children, and Ranking of Kings are all extremely popular right now.

If you were wondering what the most famous anime is out of all these, that’d be Demon Slayer. At the time of writing, it’s been the most popular in Japan for 18 weeks in a row—it even managed to beat Attack on Titan!

Anime Market Statistics 

Anime isn’t related to a single company. It’s a global business and quite a force to be reckoned with. There’s not much info on its exact revenue but we still managed to fetch some interesting anime market facts

15. Anime makes for 60% of the world’s animation.

(Source: Ranker) 

Anime originates from Japan and early on, didn’t get the worldwide recognition it deserved. Fortunately, that quickly changed. 

Even though its popularity is huge right now, there isn’t an anime stock market yet. However, this doesn’t mean there won’t ever be. After all, it does make for more than half of all the world’s animation-based entertainment, meaning it’s even more popular than animated shows produced by the likes of Disney and Pixar.

The secret behind this lies in the fact that 70% of TV shows and animated films were made in Japan. The country also has more than 130 schools dedicated specifically to voice acting!

16. The anime industry net worth was $25.46 billion in 2021.

(Source: Grand View Research)

And it keeps on rising… Back in 2020, its net worth was “only” $23.56 billion.

Its compound annual growth rate from 2021 to 2028 is estimated at 9.5%. Should this become a reality, the anime market will be almost twice as big in 2028, worth $48.03 billion!

17. Creating an anime episode can cost somewhere between $100,000 and $200,000.

(Source: Geeks)

Anime does cost a lot between the voice acting, animation, and overall production. However, it sells even more. Now that it’s global, market-related facts about anime like this stopped being surprising long ago.

18. Code Geass was sponsored by none other than Pizza Hut.

(Source: Ranker)

Oftentimes, anime is a result of certain business deals. 

Code Geass, for instance, was funded by Pizza Hut. In return, the restaurant chain was featured in the show a lot. Some other relatively unknown anime characters also made the cut this way—yes, we’re talking about the Japanese Pizza Hut mascot, Cheese-kun!

(Source: Geeks)

Death Note, Attack on Titan, Sword Art Online, and many others are banned in China. The reason? Some of its scenes could be considered immoral

Even though they can’t reach one of the world's biggest markets, they still comprise more than half of the world's animation. Anime stats like this clearly show how strong and huge its popularity is.

Wrap Up

That’s all for today. We hope our collection of anime facts made you learn something new and also realize it’s no fading trend.

Anime has been around for more than a century, turning into one of the pillars in modern TV and movie history. The only way to go from here is up. We can’t wait to see what the future has in store!

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Nick Galov
Nick Galov

Unaware that life beyond the internet exists, Nick is poking servers and control panels, playing with WordPress add-ons, and helping people get the hosting that suits them.