Anime, Manga, and Modern Media

By: Liam Williams, Class II

Photo credit: Pexels

Both the comic book and animation industries are renowned worldwide for the quality, artistic merit, and countless stories and themes that their works embody. Globally, companies such as Marvel, DC, Disney have received unparalleled critical acclaim and praise, cementing themselves into the minds of casual viewers and hardcore fans alike for years to come. However, in recent years, Japanese animation and comics, more commonly known as anime and manga respectively, have taken the forefront, captivating many and finding a remarkable place in today’s pop culture and entertainment spaces. What exactly are manga and anime doing that overshadows their contemporaries? 

On September 19th, 2025, the Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc movie was released to Japanese theaters, with the international release beginning on September 24th, and made its debut in the United States on October 24th. Chainsaw Man – a manga written and illustrated by mangaka Tatsuki Fujimoto – follows the story of Denji, an impoverished young man inhabiting a world where humanity must coexist with violent devils. Living with his best friend, a small dog-like devil named Pochita, he barely manages to make ends meet as he struggles to pay off his late father’s debt to the yakuza, but still finds joy in the simplest aspects of life. That is, until Denji and Pochita are tricked and killed by the yakuza, during which Pochita sacrifices himself to revive Denji as a devil-human hybrid, the titular Chainsaw Man. He’s taken in by Makima of Public Safety, an organization dedicated to fighting devils, is given a real home, and soon begins to work as a devil hunter. The manga follows Denji’s battles and adventures, during which, despite being manipulated at every turn, he learns the values of his own agency and self-worth.

Chainsaw Man received great critical acclaim, being hailed for Fujimoto’s intimately-written characters, striking themes, and crass yet deeply human nature. From October to December of 2022, Japanese animation studio MAPPA Co. Ltd, more commonly referred to as Mappa, adapted the first 38 chapters of Chainsaw Man into a 12-episode anime. The aforementioned Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc movie adapts chapters 39 to 52; the “Bomb Girl Arc” of the manga, in which Denji is faced with a love interest in a young woman named Reze. Unbeknownst to him, she is an assassin that intends to kill him and take his heart, soon revealing herself as the Bomb Devil as Denji fights to subdue her. Akin to both the manga and season one of the anime, Reze Arc was met with high critical and popular acclaim, with many highlighting the stunning animation featured in the fight scenes, as well as the movie’s admirable adaptation and additions to the emotional weight of the manga. Chainsaw Man’s popularity within anime communities has again skyrocketed, with many sharing their high praise and positive moviegoing experiences, encouraging others to get into the series, especially as budding rumors of a second season for the anime continue to build interest.

As for MAPPA, the studio plans to continue their streak of theatrical adaptations of anime within 2025. Aside from Reze Arc, the international theatrical release of Attack on Titan: The Last Attack occurred this January, and Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution was released internationally in December. MAPPA is well known for the quality of their adaptations, both in terms of high-standard animation, as well as building upon the source material in a manner that creates a fresh experience even for those who are familiar with the manga. Even beyond MAPPA, Japanese animation studio Ufotable released Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle in September 2025, and studio Science SARU released DANDADAN: Evil Eye from May to June of 2025, with the Demon Slayer movie having “generated over $729 million at the box office, making it the fifth-highest-grossing movie of the year.”

However, these theatrical releases of several Japanese anime movies speak to the larger modern popularity of anime as a whole. Within the 2020s, anime has had a massive surge in recognizability, popularity, and acclaim, likely as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown forcing people to be confined to their homes, allowing them to delve into media they may not have considered prior. Adding onto this point, Sabrina Uddin of Class II believes that, “Being an anime fan nowadays is mainstream. From celebrities to everyday folk alike sharing iconic moments and references in anime, liking the genre is no longer niche. But there was a time before what people refer to as ‘The Great Shift’ on social media, where being an anime fan would get you outcasted or even bullied.” Media such as Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, and One Piece were joined in popularity by the likes of Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man, Dandadan, My Hero Academia, and far more. “Today, one of the first things people learn about me is that I love anime and manga,” Sabrina emphasizes. “I can’t define myself without mentioning the impact the genre has had on my life, most importantly, how anime taught me to not be ashamed of my interests and even self.” Overall, anime has become far more prominent in Western pop culture; even the manga industry has found a strong place in the Western market, an example of which being Demon Slayer outselling the entire U.S. comic industry in 2020. 

Emphasizing Demon Slayer’s success, Ross Locksley of The Anime Independent states that manga’s rising popularity in the US “is laid at the feet of Demon Slayer, which in total sold 82.34 million books worldwide in 2020, against approx. $82 million for the US comic industry in total… That's ONE manga title outselling the combined might of Marvel, DC and Dark Horse.” Within this article, Locksley discusses the possible reasons why manga (and by extension, anime) flourishes in the U.S., citing the rich variety of genres and stories as aspects that draw viewers in and keep them hooked. He praises manga authors for staying true to a single vision and creating cohesive stories from start to finish, as “manga is being championed by creatives and publishing houses that are outgoing and positive in almost every sense.” Locksley’s claims are supported by sales data comparing manga and comic profits in 2021, as “comic books generated a total of $2.075 billion in America, with manga making up $1.47 billion of that total,” so even in one year alone, manga’s profits totalled over 140% of what American comics made.

Conclusively, the rise of both anime and manga in the West, namely the U.S., is strongly reflected not only in their profits, which overtake American media in both theatrical and graphic novel fields, but also their prominence in modern popular culture. In both online and in-person outlets, such as forums and conventions, fans of Japanese media express and share their interests to striking extents. However, this success is in great part due to the audience-deemed high quality of these products, especially compared to the seemingly declining features of their western counterparts. From Dragon Ball Z to Chainsaw Man, manga and anime contain a myriad of tales for anyone to enjoy, so why not go out and find what could be your next favorite story?