Who's the Mickey Mouse of anime?

[eschatological]

What did you do before modding? Man a radio relay station in Antarctica?

I mean, I was into sports, and industrial warehouse raves, and lots of drugs when I was a teenager.....and then I went to college and I spent the 00s protesting the Bush Administration, going to the Peace Corps, and then going to law school.

My nerd side is only one small facet of who I am.

[draynay]

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.

I mean, I recognize the art style and if you showed me a character from DBZ I'd just guess that it's Goku, I'd have to be right eventually.

[Gestopft]

My seven-year old and my wife can recognize Pikachu, and probably zero other anime characters. I'm not that far ahead of them in that regard, though, really.

[prwraith]

I mean, I recognize the art style and if you showed me a character from DBZ I'd just guess that it's Goku, I'd have to be right eventually.

This like people saying they wouldn't recognize Tanjiro from demon slayer or Midoriya from my hero academia today.

That shit is in stores, pop culture, tiktok, youtube ads. Shit is legit everywhere but I swear to god people are prolly gonna reply to this and be like..man I've never even heard of the concept of anime before.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised though the amount of knowledge retained by the average person is abysmally low.

[Shadowferal]

This like people saying they wouldn't recognize Tanjiro from demon slayer or Midoriya from my hero academia today.

Don't confuse your tastes as universal. I for one don't know or care wtf you said above is.

[draynay]

This like people saying they wouldn't recognize Tanjiro from demon slayer or Midoriya from my hero academia today.

That shit is in stores, pop culture, tiktok, youtube ads. Shit is legit everywhere but I swear to god people are prolly gonna reply to this and be like..man I've never even heard of the concept of anime before.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised though the amount of knowledge retained by the average person is abysmally low.

I don't know those characters' names but I've heard of the shows.

[Santti]

This like people saying they wouldn't recognize Tanjiro from demon slayer or Midoriya from my hero academia today.

That shit is in stores, pop culture, tiktok, youtube ads. Shit is legit everywhere but I swear to god people are prolly gonna reply to this and be like..man I've never even heard of the concept of anime before.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised though the amount of knowledge retained by the average person is abysmally low.

I take it you are Anime fan? I'm not, and I have absolutely no idea who is Tanjiro or Midoriya. I think I might've heard of the name my hero academia, but that's it.

I find it to be rather perplexing that you seem to be personally offended by this.

[vindicatorx]

Goku, easy

if anyone, it's Astro Boy.

[UnifiedDivide]

This like people saying they wouldn't recognize Tanjiro from demon slayer or Midoriya from my hero academia today.

That shit is in stores, pop culture, tiktok, youtube ads. Shit is legit everywhere but I swear to god people are prolly gonna reply to this and be like..man I've never even heard of the concept of anime before.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised though the amount of knowledge retained by the average person is abysmally low.

There are a LOT of people that simply have no true exposure to anime. They have no interest, they don't watch things where you might see certain characters, nothing. These people do exist. Someone might recognise Midoriya in passing, but they wouldn't be able to tell you who he is or where he's from. Its weirder that you just expect everyone to know these things.

There are a million things from YouTube fame alone that I would have no idea about, because I just never involved myself with certain trends on the internet.

[Aydinx2]

This like people saying they wouldn't recognize Tanjiro from demon slayer or Midoriya from my hero academia today.

That shit is in stores, pop culture, tiktok, youtube ads. Shit is legit everywhere but I swear to god people are prolly gonna reply to this and be like..man I've never even heard of the concept of anime before.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised though the amount of knowledge retained by the average person is abysmally low.

And they wouldn't. I'm not sure how many people you think watch Anime, but it's an incredibly tiny amount compared to the population. And an even smaller portion of that actually watches the shows you mentioned. I watched the first season of My Hero Academia and nothing else, so no I wouldn't recognize whoever Tanjiro is.

It doesn't matter if it's in stores, pop culture etc. You get exposed to that and recognize it because you consume anime. Others don't. I've actually been to Japan Akihabara district 2 years ago, wanna know how much My Hero merch etc. you saw there? Almost fucking 0.

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if anyone, it's Astro Boy.

Except Mickey Mouse is recognizable outside of the U.S. Astro Boy? Barely.

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The answer is, objectively, Pikachu. There is literally no argument against it.
In fact, Mickey Mouse is the Pikachu of Disney.

Besides the popularity of the brand and how many non-anime viewers know about it, he fits the "mascot" type much more than humanoid characters like Goku or Naruto.

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Goku was also the ambassador for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

That's funny. When I was in Japan in March 2020, a bit before they cancelled the Olympics, there was literally 0 Olympics related Goku to be seen. You only saw Dragon Ball stuff in the normal expected places (figures in merch stores). I saw entire Olympics sections of stores that had 2 little mascots, but 0 Goku.

Goku was picked because he's the martial arts pop-culture character in Japan, not because he is actually the most popular anime character. Which is kinda weird since DB stopped being about martial arts a long time ago.

[vindicatorx]

Except Mickey Mouse is recognizable outside of the U.S. Astro Boy? Barely.

Not true at all. Astro Boy has been around since the 1950's had multiple iterations over those years. The original series was popular here but more popular in Australia Canada and other Asian countries. While the 2000's series was popular in the UK and Europe. Astro Boy is the reason modern anime including Pokémon exists.

[Jotaux]

Not true at all. Astro Boy has been around since the 1950's had multiple iterations over those years. The original series was popular here but more popular in Australia Canada and other Asian countries. While the 2000's series was popular in the UK and Europe. Astro Boy is the reason modern anime including Pokémon exists.

As a Canadian I have no idea who Astro Boy is.

[UnifiedDivide]

Astro Boy is the reason modern anime including Pokémon exists.

But this wasn't the point of the OP.

He wanted to know what character is "known even by people who don't watch anime." Pikachu is the obvious answer, generally.

[Thes]

This like people saying they wouldn't recognize Tanjiro from demon slayer or Midoriya from my hero academia today.

That shit is in stores, pop culture, tiktok, youtube ads. Shit is legit everywhere but I swear to god people are prolly gonna reply to this and be like..man I've never even heard of the concept of anime before.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised though the amount of knowledge retained by the average person is abysmally low.

Where I live anime and manga are not really a thing (yet). An average 30+ year old would have no clue what MHA or Demon Slayer is if you didn't tell them. And I doubt many younger people would either unless they're specifically anime watchers. There are like 3 series released in tankōbon format at a local super market, along with 10 meters of shelves of other published stuff (and these translated ones are years behind the Japanese version).

Manga/anime exposure is growing but it's slow.

[Aydinx2]

Not true at all. Astro Boy has been around since the 1950's had multiple iterations over those years. The original series was popular here but more popular in Australia Canada and other Asian countries. While the 2000's series was popular in the UK and Europe. Astro Boy is the reason modern anime including Pokémon exists.

Ok now call 100 random people above the age of 30 and ask them who Astro Boy is and who Pikachu is.
And count how many immediately do the Pikachu noise.

[vindicatorx]

But this wasn't the point of the OP.

He wanted to know what character is "known even by people who don't watch anime." Pikachu is the obvious answer, generally.

He asked

A character who is synonymous with anime, and known even by people who don't watch anime?

Pikachu may be more well known due to being on more mediums but he doesn't fit the first part of the question.

[UnifiedDivide]

He asked
Pikachu may be more well known due to being on more mediums but he doesn't fit the first part of the question.

As a full question, Pikachu fits both parts.

[Aydinx2]

He asked
Pikachu may be more well known due to being on more mediums but he doesn't fit the first part of the question.

Pikachu absolutely is synonymous with anime. Just because it was on American T.V. in your youth instead of shady backwater websites does not mean it isn't anime.

[Kathandira]

Either Goku, Pikachu, or Astro Boy. Depends on the age of who you ask.

[Ghanir]

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?

So there are several takes about the topic of this thread because of how OP has worded his post.

He asks "Who is the Mickey Mouse of Anime?" and "A character who is synonymous with anime, and known even by poeple who don't watch anime?"

I personally find it really hard to give a concrete answer for the entirety of this because you can tackle it more accurately if you divide it into two separate questions.
"Who's the Mickey Mouse of Anime?" and "Who is the most well known anime character, being synonymous with anime and known to people who don't watch anime?"

I will give my own two cents on this separately to give a more concrete answer.


For the first question: "Who's the Mickey Mouse of anime?"

To this I'd prob. say it's Hello Kitty. This is because Mickey Mouse has become synonymous with Disney, the brand. Therefore what anime character would best fit this bill? To this I'd prob. say Hello Kitty.


For the second question: "Who is the most well known anime character, being synonymous with anime and known to people who don't watch anime?"

To this I'd prob. have to go with Pikachu. There are plenty of great answers already posted previously, like Doraemon and Astro Boy, but I feel Pikachu has landed the biggest splash across several decenniums compared to other anime characters.