From Toonami to TikTok: How the internet transformed anime fandom

Anime’s influence extends far beyond the screen, becoming a visible part of everyday pop culture.Credit:

For a generation of American anime fans, discovering a new series once meant staying up late to watch Toonami, Cartoon Network’s seminal anime programming block, or tracking down low-quality, fan-subtitled episodes online. (Or on VHS.) Today, your introduction to anime might be a 30-second TikTok edit, an Olympic figure skater referencing her favorite character on TV, or an artist casually dropping a track inspired by Jujutsu Kaisen.

The path into anime fandom has changed dramatically, and social media has helped make what was once considered a niche, nerdy interest an increasingly visible part of mainstream pop culture.

That shift was the subject of a conversation at Crunchyroll’s Anime Future Forum in New York City, where rapper Big Sean, Olympic figure skater Amber Glenn, and content creator Jordan Howlett gathered for a panel titled “The Influencers Shaping Anime Fandom.” The three come from different corners of entertainment, but they’re united by a shared love of Japanese animation and an understanding of how the internet has helped bring that fandom into the mainstream.

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Big Sean’s anime fandom predates social media entirely. “I’m a Toonami kid,” the Detroit rapper told the audience, recalling his early exposure to Dragon Ball Z, Cowboy Bebop, Gundam Wing, and YuYu Hakusho — the latter of which he recently rewatched. He also spoke about how anime resonated with him and his friends in Detroit, particularly its stories about overcoming adversity and pushing past seemingly impossible odds.

That enthusiasm never went away. Sean has continued to draw inspiration from anime throughout his music career, and he recalled the surreal experience of having Sean Schemmel, the English-language voice of Goku, visit his home while he was working on an album.

For longtime fans like Sean, discovering anime was often a matter of finding the right show at the right time. Today, anime has a way of finding you, whether you’re looking for it or not.

From Toonami to TikTok

Anime has been finding American audiences since Astro Boy debuted on U.S. television in 1963. Its fan communities grew through VHS trading and conventions in the decades that followed, before Pokémon, Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, and Cartoon Network’s Toonami helped introduce Japanese animation to a new generation in the late ’90s.

Today, anime’s growth in the U.S. has been fueled by several overlapping developments, including the expansion of streaming services like Crunchyroll, which recently broadened its reach with a dedicated digital manga platform featuring over 250 localized English titles. Meanwhile, anime has become a major force at the box office. Last year’s Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Infinity Castle grossed nearly $794 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing anime film of all time.

But beyond streaming subscriptions and blockbuster theatrical releases, social media has introduced another pathway into fandom, one that doesn’t necessarily begin with someone deciding to watch anime at all. Sometimes, it begins with a clip.

Howlett, known for his viral storytelling videos, recalled becoming curious about Solo Leveling after seeing clips and fan edits on social media. The first caught his attention. By the second, he was hooked. “I’m like, ‘This is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen,'” he recalled. He was so intrigued that he wrote down the name of the series on his phone so he wouldn’t forget to watch it. Now, he’s slowly making his way through the dungeons.

It’s a familiar experience for anyone whose algorithm has ever served them a particularly compelling anime edit. These fan-made videos can condense an emotional turning point, character arc, or spectacular fight sequence into a few seconds of delicious tension and occasional yearning, often accompanied by music and dramatic transitions. Even without knowing the context, viewers can find themselves invested enough to seek out the original story.

Glenn understands the appeal. The figure skater described watching anime edits that stirred emotions she wanted to translate into her own performances. “There are edits of anime that make me feel more than like an entire movie could,” she said.

For Glenn, who said she can’t wait to catch up on TheApothecary Diaries Season 3 after her Dancing With the Stars run, these clips aren’t simply advertisements for the shows themselves. They’re creative works that inspire other forms of expression. She’s an avid cosplayer who’s dressed as Qifrey from Witch Hat Atelierand Yor and Loid Forger from Spy x Family. During her Olympic run, she shared her love for Maki Zenin from Jujutsu Kaisen, bringing her anime enthusiasm to an audience more accustomed to triple axels than cursed energy. She also pointed to One Piece on Ice, the Japanese ice show inspired by the long-running anime, as an example of the overlap between anime and her sport.

And that’s part of what makes this moment in anime fandom so interesting: You don’t have to be looking for anime to find yourself surrounded by it, at least not anymore.

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Social media has fundamentally changed how people find anime. Where viewers once relied on television schedules, physical media, or recommendations from fellow fans, they can now stumble upon new characters and stories through the content those fans create and share. On TikTok alone, there are nearly 178 million videos tagged #anime, while Threads has an anime community with more than 531,000 members.

And you don’t necessarily have to be an anime fan to encounter any of it. Sometimes, that’s all it takes to turn a casual viewer into a fan.

Howlett described anime’s mainstream growth as a combination of longstanding fan communities and the willingness of celebrities, musicians, athletes, and other public figures to openly embrace their interests. Social media, he suggested, has helped bridge the gap between those existing communities and audiences who might never have encountered anime otherwise.

And fans themselves are helping drive that discovery. According to Crunchyroll’s 2026 Global State of Anime Fandom study, conducted by National Research Group and unveiled at the Anime Future Forum, 77 percent of surveyed anime viewers said they’ve recommended anime to someone who hadn’t watched it before. The research also found that two-thirds of international anime fans reported watching more anime than they did three years ago.

Younger audiences are helping fuel that momentum. According to Hub Entertainment Research, 39 percent of 16- to 24-year-olds regularly watch anime, compared with 21 percent of the average general population.

With more than 21 million paid subscribers worldwide as of March 2026, Crunchyroll is a testament to anime’s growing reach. But while streaming services have made anime easier to watch, social media has made it easier to discover. And that accidental discovery is all it takes.

Being an anime fan is part of your identity

Yet discovery is only part of the story. Social media has also changed how comfortable people feel expressing their interests publicly.

Glenn suggested that online platforms have created more opportunities for people to share their enthusiasm for anime, whether through cosplay, makeup, fan art, or simply talking about their favorite shows. As a result, fandom has become a part of people’s identities, including those whose careers have little to do with anime.

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Her own relationship with anime began with Yuri!!! on Ice, the beloved 2016 figure-skating series. She recalled meeting members of its creative team during pre-production for the sequel, which was later canceled in 2024. Still, discussing her skating experience with them helped cement her enthusiasm for anime, which eventually became a recognizable part of her public persona.

For years, though, she was simply a figure skater with a nerdy side. As her athletic career progressed and more people became interested in her life beyond the ice, her anime fandom attracted greater attention. She recalled receiving an enormous amount of anime swag after the Olympics and introducing other people to series they might not otherwise have watched.

Howlett experienced something similar when an offhand mention of his favorite Dragon Ball Z video game and his affection for Vegeta on the red carpet prompted an unexpectedly enthusiastic online response. Fans flooded his inbox with their own opinions and lengthy debates about the character. What had seemed like a casual answer became an invitation into a much larger conversation.

That’s part of what makes anime fandom particularly suited to social media. Fans don’t just consume the slice-of-life stories and heroes’ journeys. They debate characters, defend their favorites by virtue and/or attractiveness, create art and cosplay, and reinterpret scenes. Platforms built around sharing and responding to content give those conversations a potentially enormous audience.

And those online connections extend into the real world. Conventions like Anime NYC bring fans together to showcase their cosplay, meet artists, attend panels, and celebrate their favorite series with others who share their enthusiasm. The convention reported 172,000 visits across its four-day event in 2026, up from 148,000 in 2025. For many fans, the conversations that start online don’t stay there. They turn into friendships, convention meetups, and entire communities built around a shared obsession.

Of course, anime fandom isn’t immune to gatekeeping, and greater visibility doesn’t necessarily mean every corner of the community has become more welcoming. Even Megan Thee Stallion has had to deal with sexist gatekeeping over her love of anime. But social media has created more opportunities for people to find others who share their enthusiasm, even when they don’t consider themselves part of a traditional anime community.

Anime’s influence goes beyond your feed

Anime has become a fixture of mainstream pop culture, and nowhere is that more apparent than in sports. Glenn pointed to the growing number of athletes incorporating anime references into their performances. Olympic sprinter Noah Lyles has celebrated victories with Dragon Ball Z‘s signature Kamehameha pose and flashed Yu-Gi-Oh! cards before races, while tennis star Naomi Osaka brought magical-girl anime aesthetics onto the court with her elaborate outfits at the 2024 U.S. Open. In the NBA, Cooper Flagg said that Crunchyroll is his most-used app and has professed his love for One Piece. Meanwhile, Knicks star Jalen Brunson declared in a team TikTok that “Dragon Ball Z fighters are stronger than the Omni-Man people” was a hill he was willing to die on.

That influence also extends into Hollywood. Michael B. Jordan, an outspoken anime fan, drew inspiration from Naruto, Dragon Ball Z, and Hajime no Ippo for his 2023 directorial debut, Creed III, incorporating anime’s heightened action and emotional storytelling into the film’s boxing sequences. But the connection runs deeper than visual references. At the heart of many of these stories is a familiar story: an underdog who faces seemingly insurmountable odds, pushes past their limitations, and refuses to give up.

It’s a theme that resonated with all three panelists. Big Sean described anime as a source of motivation throughout his life, particularly its stories about unearthing your potential and overcoming the limits others place on you. Howlett, meanwhile, recalled finding inspiration in Naruto as a child who struggled with bullying. “I was bullied a lot, and when I got home, I didn’t really have friends,” he shared. “When I was introduced to Naruto for the first time, the story inspired me… I felt so connected to these characters. It was my first introduction to really understanding a story and feeling like I was part of it.”

For both, anime and its characters offered a way to imagine what they themselves might become. And that might help explain why so many fans are eager to share these stories with others. Whether it’s an athlete replicating Satoru Gojo’s Unlimited Void hand symbol, a filmmaker borrowing from Goku vs. Vegeta’s visual language, or a creator posting about their favorite character, these expressions of fandom can get people curious about anime — even if they never thought it was for them.

Toward the end of the panel, Howlett had a simple message for anime fans: Don’t be afraid to share what you love. In a way, that sums up how anime fandom has changed. The internet didn’t make people passionate about anime; it just made that passion easier to share — and for someone else to discover it for themselves.

And now, it’s almost impossible to miss.

Crystal Bell is the Digital Culture Editor at Mashable, where she leads coverage of the creator economy, internet culture, and digital life. Her work focuses on the people, platforms, and communities shaping modern entertainment, from YouTube creators and livestreamers to fandoms, social media trends, and the evolving relationship between technology and culture. She also oversees the Mashable 101, the publication’s annual list recognizing the internet’s most influential creators.

Previously, she was the entertainment director at MTV News, where she helped expand the brand’s coverage of fan culture, K-pop, and the internet’s most passionate communities. Her work has appeared in Teen Vogue, Rolling Stone, PAPER, NYLON, ELLE, Glamour, NME, W, The FADER, and elsewhere on the internet.

She’s exceptionally fluent in fandom and will gladly make you a K-pop playlist and/or provide anime recommendations upon request. Crystal lives in New York City with her two black cats, Howl and Sophie.