Who's the Mickey Mouse of anime?

[SinR]

My money's on either Goku or Pikachu.

[Shadowferal]

My early 70s childhood;



In 1980, I thought I was a bit old for cartoons, but then I'd stumble on the first episode of this and was hooked:

[prwraith]

That people don't know an iconic character that's been in active production for like 30+ years is silly. DBZ isn't even niche it's became so prevalent.

I'm calling absolute bullshit on *idk* who Goku is lol.

[loras]

Who's the Mickey Mouse of anime? A character who is synonymous with anime, and known even by people who don't watch anime?

Maybe Goku?

Pikachu.
Pika pika pi.

[Shadowferal]

I'm calling absolute bullshit on *idk* who Goku is lol.

umm...Who dat?

[StillMcfuu]

Pikachu, mainly because most people know Pika, but they don't really equate Pika to anime or even recognize Pikachu from pokemon. Just Pikachu at this point. Goku is still just a character from DB, hell most people familiar with Goku probably couldn't identify which DB series a picture of Goku would be from.

Goku is the Donald Duck of anime, he's cool and all, but a lot of people will confuse him with Daffy Duck.

[KainneAbsolute]

I would say it changed over time.
Astroboy > Doraemon > Goku > Pikachu

Yeah, good thought.

[prwraith]

umm...Who dat?

Not buying it dog

[Shadowferal]

Not buying it dog

My childhood is above.

[eschatological]

I know who Goku and Pikachu are and I've never seen an anime. Except literally the Animatrix. I only know Goku by name, not sure I could pick him out of a lineup of DBZ characters.

That's about it.

[Santti]

Not buying it dog

To be honest, I'm not sure my big brother knows him, either. Might recognize the name, but that's it. I only learned of him when I was something like 20, and that's because of my friend. I'm over 30 now, and I'm pretty sure I would have stumbled on Goku on my own by now, but mostly because of the weird "Who would win, Superman or Goku" threads and the like, so even that would be very superficial understanding of the character.

I think it's largely regional, whether Dragon Ball has been a thing or not. I don't remember ever seeing it on television, ever. Some other Anime sure, but even that was quite limited, if I remember correctly.

I can only think of 2 Anime series from my childhood, but I'm sure there were more. Pokemon, and where ever the hell Akakabuto is from. That bear was too scary to watch, though...

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Ash Ketchum and Pikachu, but people didn't really know that Pokemon was an "anime". Same problem with Goku and Dragonball.

Perhaps the most famous consciously "anime" characters in the West would be Kirito from SAO, or Saber from Fate.

In Japan, the most famous anime characters are Char Aznable from Gundam, and Luffy from One Piece. Those characters are hardly known in the West outside of the hardcore anime fandom.

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How is it possible to have never heard of Goku?

Dragonball was only really popular if you grew up in the 80s and the 90s. It is practically unheard of among younger generations.

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I don't think Pikachu is accurate. Mickey Mouse is the face of Disney which has a ton of different films while the Pokemon Company really only has Pokemon. If I had to pick a Nintendo character for the Mickey Mouse of Anime I'd probably say Mario since he once had an anime and who the fuck really watches his shows anymore he's more of a mascot like Mickey. If you were asking who the Mickey Mouse of Gaming was then it would definitely be Mario imo.

Boomers would be more likely to recognize Pikachu than Mario, so Pikachu wins out. And among younger kids, again Pikachu is more recognizable than Mario. Mario is more recognizable by gamers who grew up during the 80s and the 90s, but everyone - even people who aren't gamers - know Pikachu. Parents buy stuffed Pikachu dolls for their kids and office workers have stuffed Pikachus on their desks, not stuffed Mario dolls.

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Shin Chan or Doraemon

Hardly known in the West. Only people who are hardcore into the history of anime know who Doraemon is.

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Astro boy is what put anime on the map

More known of in the West but hardly a household name.

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The original Gundam

Massive in Japan but not as well known in the West. The height of Gundam's popularity in the West was when Wing and SEED aired on Toonami, but that's still relatively niche.

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Luffy.

Massive in Japan, not so in the West. Do people who aren't into anime know who Luffy is? No, they don't.

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Or Naruto.

Millenials know who Naruto is. Boomers and Gen Z don't.

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Actually you might have something with Hello Kitty though she herself doesn't appear in a LOT of anime her face is associated with Sanrio who absolutely DOES make shows. I'd actually make an argument that Hello Kitty is ABSOLUTELY the most recognizable anime character period hell looked it up she's been in 2 as well as a TON of collaborations

And lets face it there is LITERALLY Official Hello Kitty EVERYTHING

Hello Kitty was popular in the West during the 2000s. Seems to have fallen off of the map today.

[Razorice]

I know Goku or Pikachu are more popular, but Doraemon is freaking awesome!

[hzjf]

Pikachu
Shinichi Kudo / Conan Edogawa
Son Goku
Monkey D. Luffy
Levi Ackerman
Eren Jaeger

[Konteil]

Goku was a Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade balloon too.



Goku was also the ambassador for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

pikachu has been in parades as well if i remember correctly

[Nerph-]

Not gonna lie, until someone said Goku was from DBZ, I didn't know who it was.

So I'd say Pikachu as I reckon waaaay more people know who Pikachu is compared to Goku.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

pikachu has been in parades as well if i remember correctly

Yeah, Pikachu has been in the Thanksgiving Macy's Parade as far back as 2001, which was one of the most televised annual events in America, up there with the Superbowl.

[CastletonSnob]

That people don't know an iconic character that's been in active production for like 30+ years is silly. DBZ isn't even niche it's became so prevalent.

I'm calling absolute bullshit on *idk* who Goku is lol.

This. I find it really hard to believe that anyone under the age of 40 doesn't know who Goku is, given how popular DBZ was in the 90s and 2000s. Except MAYBE if they didn't have cable growing up.

You have to have been living under a rock for 30+ years to not have at least HEARD of Goku.

[ek0zu]

Either Goku or Pikachu, i personally love both but Goku is the anime character that started everything.

[Huntermyth]

i missed the whole pokemon-mania because of age but even i acknowledge that anime = pikachu.

back in my days it was akira tho.