As with any major cultural movement, anime's effects ripple far and wide. Its influence has been felt in new and creative ways across many countries and industries, including:

kaiju big battel

romance art has come in many shapes and sizes, but never before had anyone cared enough to make life-size fuzzy costumes for evil blockheaded surgeons, his pet monkey, and a slew of anime inspired characters. Once you combine the “good versus evil” plotlines, anime aesthetic, and a regulation size WWF wrestling ring, the inevitable result is live monster mayhem. The age-old battle between Dr. Cube and The Kaiju Commissioner originated at Massachusetts College of Art, sometime in the late 90s, and has been entertaining audiences, as well as provided the most absurd launching ground for some of Boston’s most riotous rock bands.

hello kitty

“Hello big bucks” for one of the most genius merchandising cats ever to hit the shelves. While anime was getting its fill of super robots, a “cute” or Kawaii kitten arrived on the scene to fill a void in the need for fictional characters for young Japanese girls. By the early 80s, Hello Kitty was the ambassador to UNICEF. However, it is ironic that the character chosen to fight world hunger does not even have a mouth. Inflated by the endorsement of countless celebrities, the little kitty was the first Japanese pop-style product to become a hit in America. If not for Hello Kitty, the Powerpuff Girls would have slept straight through Saturday morning cartoons.

• Check out the Hello Kitty community site!

Betty Boop

you would have never thought about this, would you?
ever wondered where they got Betty's big, baby blue eyes from? now you know. even though this is quite the OLD cartoon, its still a spin-off of anime. you're probably pondering about how its a spin off if anime if anime wasn't invented yet? wrong. anime was invented in the late 18oo's; betty boop was made in the early days of television. that's probebly why the producers of Betty Boop were so interested in anime, because it was still rather fresh on the mind in America. Betty Boop went to japan eventually, and watchers there automatically categorized it as anime, because of the immediate resemblance.