This Map Breaks Down Anime's Top Shows by Japanese Prefecture

Anime has become a big medium in the world of entertainment in the West, with streaming services [...]

By Evan Valentine

Anime has become a big medium in the world of entertainment in the West, with streaming services like Crunchyroll, Netflix, and Funimation attempting to make their mark within the market, but in Japan, the country of anime's birth, the various series of the style continue to march forward and one map shows us which shows are most popular based on region! While series such as Dragon Ball, My Hero Academia, and Naruto are big in North America, you may very well be surprised at some of the picks for favorite anime franchises that are making the rounds in Japan.

Anime has had a long history in the East, first appearing in 1917 with a little known series dubbed Dekobou Shingachou: Meian no Shippai and continuing for over one hundred years past this point. When the medium arrived in the West, you would have been hard pressed to imagine that it would reach the current heights that it has hit in the past decades. With anime growing in popularity across the board of series that have been created, there are more series than we can count that are becoming household names in Western culture and most likely, there will be many more!

Reddit User FetchFrosh shared this insanely impressive map that shows some anime franchises that focus far more on the likes of Tenchi Muyo, Akira, and Space Brothers versus the likes of Dragon Ball, One Piece, and some of the most popular series across the world:

Anime Set in Japan: A Map of 165 Anime Sorted By Prefecture from r/anime

Japan has made a part of their culture about anime for many years now, incorporating series into many of their locales and selling countless pieces of merchandise from different franchises. With Anime growing in popularity around the world, it will be interesting to see it evolve as the animation styles have changed with the times. With many anime series incorporating the use of computer graphics to tell their tales, it's clear that the future of anime is now. With Netflix, Crunchyroll, and Funimation making their own original series, there are plenty of different options for watching anime that were once thought impossible.

What do you think of this idiosyncratic mix of anime choices for Japan? What is your favorite anime series? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and anime's influence on the world at large!

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