Quote Originally Posted by Alahra View Post
Something can still be popular and have a niche audience, though.

Anime had a much bigger presence in mainstream spaces (like retail stores and whatnot) say fifteen years ago, and the shelf space dedicated to it in places like that has largely shrunk since then. It's certainly very popular via streaming now, but you don't see nationwide theatrical releases anymore (such as it was for Princess Mononoke, for example). There have been some limited releases (like with Evangelion 3.33 a couple years ago), but nothing that hit that level of mainstream exposure of which I'm aware.

That's all I meant.
Just because the amount of Dragonball and Pokemon DvDs/BlueRays shrank, doesn't mean there is less of a presence. A majority of TV is handled via streaming these days and yes, anime takes a big part in that. Also, something being very popular and being a niche kind of does not go together.

Also, anime movies is more than Princess Mononoke and Studio Ghibli. The anime scene evolved over the year (oh and btw, 15 years ago was when it only really started off).

This is a bit of an OTT topic for this thread but really, do not judge a general popularity by your standards. Maybe you paid more attention to this topic 15 years ago (if you were beyond 5 at the time...and if you weren't I highly doubt you perception). You don't like "Senpai", it's understood. YOu'd be surprised how many people know the word though.