These anime series have been shown and have achieved varying levels of popularity in the United States and Canada, this is contributed to the era known as the "anime boom" which lasted from mid-1990s to mid-2000s. In the United States, most anime can be seen televised on channels, with channels such as Adult Swim's Toonami block, Neon Alley, Funimation Channel, and G4 airing anime targeted toward young adults to adult audiences, and with channels such as Nicktoons, The CW's Vortexx block, and Cartoon Network airing anime targeted toward children audiences. Anime can also be viewed online on streaming websites such as Anime Network, Funimation 's website, Crunchyroll, Netflix, Crackle, YouTube and Hulu.
1960s
In the 1960s, Astro Boy, Speed Racer and Kimba the White Lion were introduced in the U.S. and were popular in the ratings. However their style of animation and storytelling really never stood out as being "Japanese" to American viewers thus they were never classified as "anime".
- Astro Boy
- Gigantor
- Kimba the White Lion
- Speed Racer
- The Amazing 3
- Marine Boy
- 8 Man
- Prince Planet
- Space Ace
1970s
- Star Blazers (adaptation of Space Battleship Yamato)
- Battle of the Planets (adaptation of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman)
- Space Pirate Captain Harlock
- Galaxy Express 999
- Lupin III: Mystery of Mamo (Original 1970s English dub by Toho created for international flights. Received multiple new dubs in later years from various companies. Notable for being one of the earliest anime feature films to be released in English.)
1980s
In the early 1980s, CBN Cable aired an English dub of the Christian-themed anime series Superbook and The Flying House.
In the 1970s and 1980s many production companies such as DiC Entertainment, Nelvana, Hasbro, Warner Bros. Animation and Walt Disney Television Animation outsourced Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese studios to help animate many original animated series for network syndication such as Transformers, Inspector Gadget, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Muppet Babies, DuckTales and Care Bears. TMS Entertainment (known for Lupin III and Detective Conan) would animate the popular animated series Tiny Toon Adventures and Rainbow Brite.
In the mid-1980s super robot and space opera anime was very popular, series such as Voltron, Transformers and Robotech were successful in ratings and also commercial successes through selling merchandise.
There was an early attempt by Harmony Gold to air a dub of Dragon Ball in the late 1980s but was unsuccessful.
In 1988, the anime film Akira was released theatrically in the U.S. by Streamline Pictures. Though it was a commercial failure, it gained a cult following.
- Superbook
- The Flying House
- Maya the Bee
- The Littl' Bits
- Adventures of the Little Koala
- Voltron (combined adaptation of Go Lion and Dairugger XV)
- Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years (combined adaptation of Captain Harlock and Queen Millennia)
- Galaxy Express 999
- Starvengers
- Noozles
- Maple Town
- Robotech (combined adaptation of Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, and Genesis Climber Mospeada)
- Dragon Ball
- Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs (adaptation of Bismarck)
- Mazinger Z/Tranzor Z
- Macron 1 (combined adaptation of GoShogun and Akū Dai Sakusen Srungle)
1990s
The 1990s, was the period in which anime became successful in the U.S. market and the terms "anime" and "manga" became commonly well known (ultimately replacing the former majorly known term "Japanimation"). Companies such as FUNimation Productions, Bandai Entertainment, 4Kids Entertainment, Central Park Media, Media Blasters, Saban Entertainment, Viz Video, Pioneer LDC and ADV Films began licensing anime in the United States.
Viz which was already successful with its manga translation of Rumiko Takahashi's Ranma ½, bought the rights to the anime and released it via direct-to-video starting in 1994. Ranma ½ enjoyed success in the VHS market and was the first anime title in the 1990s to have this level of success and one of the first titles to be recognized as an "anime". Viz also began publishing a magazine called Animerica in the 1990s which featured manga as well as articles on Japanese culture, fashion, manga, anime and video games, this helped spread the otaku subculture to Americans. Fansubs were also popular during this period.
DiC (then-owned by Disney) and Funimation (with the help of Saban and Ocean Studios) licensed Sailor Moon (1995) and Dragon Ball Z (1996) respectively and both were televised in the U.S. through early morning syndication. Since the two anime were very successful internationally, they were purchased to capitalize on the success of superhero shows like Power Rangers (The very popular Americanized version of the tokusatsu series Super Sentai) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Power Rangers ratings overthrew both Anime and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Power Rangers is the most popular and longest running boys action series.
In the summer of 1998, Cartoon Network which had an action-themed evening block named Toonami began airing Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z both became overwhelmingly successful with younger audiences (being that they were aired in the evening hours which children were home) and as a result both got revived: receiving new dubs with significantly less editing being that these episodes were on cable television and with the recent inception of television rating system (both were rated TV-Y7-FV), the standards were relaxed. Voltron, Robotech and Ronin Warriors also enjoyed renewed success on Toonami. Toonami would still continue to air anime and is credited with the beginning the era of the anime boom in the United States in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
In 1997, the very popular yet controversial series Neon Genesis Evangelion was released on VHS uncut by ADV Films and in 2002, both the films End of Evangelion and Evangelion: Death and Rebirth were both released in the U.S. by Manga Entertainment. Evangelion grew to have a large fan base in the United States and is famed for its combining of the mecha genre with various aspects of philosophy, psychology, religious imagery, mental illnesses and shock horror elements.
In 1998, Pokémon was introduced to U.S. and it became a ratings hit, a pop culture phenomenon and monumental commercial success through its merchandising (trading cards, VHS, toys, video games etc.). Digimon was introduced in 1999; although it was a success, it did not reach the same level of popularity as Pokémon.
Sci Fi Channel also aired many experimental, avant-garde, action, horror and science fiction anime films and series during the 1990s during the late night and early morning hours and still continued to do so up until 2011. Ghost in the Shell, Ninja Scroll, Akira, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, and Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer are among the films that have aired. Series such as Gurren Lagann, Gundam 00, Casshan: Robot Hunter, Record of Lodoss War, Iria: Zeiram the Animation, Rave Master, Tokko, Chrono Crusade and Fist of the North Star have also aired.
In 1998, Disney's Miramax released the anime film Princess Mononoke in the U.S. theatrically, though it was not a great success at the box office (it did much better on DVD releases) it began the relationship between Disney and Studio Ghibli to distribute the latter's films in the U.S.
- Pokémon
- Digimon Adventure
- Fist of the North Star
- Sailor Moon (last season Sailor Stars aired in Japan but was never dubbed)
- Super Pig
- Dragon Ball Z
- The Littl' Bits
- Neon Genesis Evangelion
- Revolutionary Girl Utena
- Cardcaptors
- Outlaw Star
- Ranma ½
- Maison Ikkoku
- Tenchi Muyo!
- Tenchi Universe
- The Slayers
- The Vision of Escaflowne
- Fushigi Yuugi
- Bob in a Bottle
- Cowboy Bebop
- Teknoman
- Please Save My Earth
- Monkey Magic
- Patlabor
- Shin-chan
- Ronin Warriors
- Nazca
2000s
In 2002, Spirited Away was released through Disney theatrically and was successful enough to be the first anime film to be nominated for and win an Academy Award.
In the 2000s even after the popular series Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon ended their runs, Toonami still continued to air popular anime such as Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball GT, Rurouni Kenshin,Yu Yu Hakusho, .hack, Cardcaptors, Tenchi Muyo!, Tenchi Universe, Tenchi in Tokyo, Gundam Wing, G Gundam, The 08th MS Team, One Piece, Gundam SEED, Astro Boy, SD Gundam, Cyborg 009, IGPX, Bobobo-Bobo-Bobo, Outlaw Star, Hamtaro and Naruto. Naruto was very successful on Toonami and remains of the most popular anime titles in U.S. In 2008, Toonami was discontinued and anime began airing exclusively on Adult Swim, the late night counterpart to Cartoon Network.
The block Adult Swim began airing on Cartoon Network in 2001, its first anime title aired was Cowboy Bebop. Cowboy Bebop was very successful and remains the longest aired anime series on Adult Swim. Adult Swim also aired series including Fullmetal Alchemist, InuYasha, Outlaw Star, Pilot Candidate, Paranoia Agent, Samurai Champloo, Death Note, s-CRY-ed, Eureka Seven, Ghost in the Shell, FLCL, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Case Closed, Lupin III, Blue Gender, Code Geass, Bleach, Blood+, Trinity Blood, Shin Chan, Wolf's Rain, Moribito and Trigun. Adult Swim mostly airs anime under the title "Action" even though Shin Chan and Super Milk Chan are comedies. Adult Swim became so successful over the years that Turner Broadcasting split it from Cartoon Network & is now ranked as an independent network.
Due to the popularity of Dragon Ball Z, Funimation would continue to dominate the anime distribution in the United States and continued licensing several popular titles such as Yu Yu Hakusho, Case Closed, Blue Gender, Fruits Basket, Black Cat, Ouran High School Host Club, Kodocha, One Piece, Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple, Trinity Blood, Fullmetal Alchemist, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle and Shin Chan and launched its own channel Funimation Channel to exclusively carry most of its titles. Funimation would also rescue rights to titles when if its licensor discontinued, such the case with ADV Films (which closed in 2008) and Geneon (which closed in 2007).
After the success of Pokémon in the late 1990s, 4Kids Entertainment continue to license anime titles and target them towards children such as the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, Sonic X, Magical DoReMi, Mew Mew Power, Shaman King, Kirby Right Back At Ya!, Dinosaur King and Ultimate Muscle. However 4Kids was met with much controversy for its use of "Americanization" and heavy editing of content, particularly with its dub of Yu-Gi-Oh! and One Piece.
- xxxHolic
- Cardcaptor Sakura
- Onegai Teacher
- Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
- Angelic Layer
- Black Cat
- Digimon Adventure 02
- Digimon Tamers
- Digimon Frontier
- Ouran High School Host Club
- Fruits Basket
- Darker than Black
- Yu-Gi-Oh!
- Lost Universe
- Kodomo no Omocha
- Detective Conan (title changed to Case Closed for copyright issues with the comic book series Conan)
- His and Her Circumstances
- Android Kikaider: The Animation
- Slayers TRY
- Rurouni Kenshin
- InuYasha
- Love Hina
- s-CRY-ed
- Chobits
- Fullmetal Alchemist
- .hack
- Hamtaro
- Azumanga Daioh
- Doki Doki School Hours
- Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
- Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2nd GIG
- FLCL
- Samurai Champloo
- Darker Than Black
- G Gundam
- SD Gundam
- Gundam Seed
- Gundam Seed Destiny
- Mobile Suit Gundam 00
- Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team
- Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
- Mobile Suit Gundam F91
- Zeta Gundam
- Cyborg 009
- Naruto
- Zatch Bell
- Tenchi Universe
- Tenchi in Tokyo
- Tenchi Muyo! GXP
- Eureka Seven
- Trinity Blood
- Crest of the Stars
- Betterman
- Silent Mobius
- Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure
- Boogiepop Phantom
- Banner of the Stars
- Geneshaft
- UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie
- Last Exile
- The Soul Taker
- Armitage III
- Gate Keepers
- Read or Die
- Gad Guard
- Lucky Star
- The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
- Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi
- Bleach
- One Piece
- Prince of Tennis
- Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
- Death Note
- Gungrave
- Trigun
- Devil May Cry
- Wolf's Rain
- Mirage of Blaze
- Samurai Deeper Kyo
- Blood +
- Bakugan Battle Brawlers
- Fighting Foodons
- Shinzo
- Mega Man Star Force
- Mega Man NT Warrior
- Zoids: Chaotic Century
- Zoids: New Century Zero
- Rave Master
- Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo
- Gokusen
- The Big O
- Witchblade
- D.Gray-man
- Monster Rancher
- Medabots
- Mon Colle Knights
- YuYu Hakusho
- Great Teacher Onizuka
- Dragon Ball GT
- Duel Masters
- Dinozaurs
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monsters
- Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
- Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
- MÄR
- Spider Riders
- Dinosaur King
- Pokémon Chronicles
- Beyblade
- Beyblade V-Force
- Beyblade G-Revolution
- Kirby: Right Back at Ya!
- Viewtiful Joe
- Nerima Daikon Brothers
- Ultimate Muscle
- Sonic X
- Tokyo Mew Mew
- Elfen Lied
- Tokyo Underground
- Immortal Grand Prix
- Excel Saga
- Puni Puni Poemy
- The Wallflower
- Tayutama
- Area 88
- Angelic Layer
- Eyeshield 21
- Buso Renkin
- Gals!
- Hikaru no Go
- Kiba
- Best Student Council
- Chance Pop Session
- Ojamajo Doremi
- Divergence Eve
- GetBackers
- Kino's Journey
- Magical Play
- Mezzo DSA
- Parasite Dolls
- Petshop Of Horrors
- Princess Resurrection
- RahXephon
- Saiyuki
- Tokko
- X
- Blue Dragon
- Gurren Lagann
- Black Lagoon
- Clannad
- K-On!
- Moribito
- Monster
- Now and Then, Here and There
- Descendants of darkness
- Ergo Proxy
- Fate/stay Night
- Gantz
- Sgt. Frog
- Claymore
- Chrono Crusade
- Naruto Shippuden
- Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple
- Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning
- Casshern Sins
- Black God
- Mai-Otome
- Pretty Cure
- Hayate the Combat Butler
- Shakugan No Shana
- The Tower of Druaga
2010s
In 2010, Dragon Ball Z Kai premiered on Nicktoons and became a hit success for the network, Nicktoons also aired the original Dragon Ball Z films and Dragon Ball GT. Starting on March 2013, Yu-Gi-Oh! and one of its continuing series, Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal started to air on the network. Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02 also started to air on the network starting June 2013 and one it's continuing series, Digimon Fusion moved to the network on October 13, 2013 from Nickelodeon just after three episodes, mostly due to Nickelodeon's failed attempt at marketing the anime before it premiered September 7, 2013.
Fansub sites of popular anime have been popular yet controversial in the U.S. though many are criticized since they steal money away from anime licensors and have been blamed for the cause of many companies going out of business. Section23, Bandai, Viz, TV Tokyo and Funimation have tried to limit these efforts by sending cease and decease letters or blocking out content on many sites. Also the production of English dubs of anime in general have decreased and many distributors are switching to the subtitle-only market such as Sentai Filmworks, Aniplex Of America and NIS America.
In 2012, Bandai folded its Bandai Entertainment anime licensing department in the United States, and eventually studio Sunrise (owned by Bandai Visual) made deals with Funimation and Sentai Filmworks to license and republish Sunrise titles formerly licensed by Bandai Entertainment. In 2012, 4Kids Entertainment filed for bankruptcy protection and sold off the rights to the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise back to Konami and the remaining licenses went to Saban Brands.
In early 2012, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos was released in over 100 theaters throughout North America.
Disney released The Secret World of Arrietty theatrically and it grew to become a huge box office success and is one of the highest grossing films of 2012 (Number 50 in the Worldwide box office).
In 2012, due to popular request on Twitter, Reddit and Facebook: the Toonami block was revived and began airing on Adult Swim, replacing Adult Swim Action. Similar to Midnight Run, it is now targeted to the young adult demographic with little to no editing of content. On May 16, 2014, Viz Media acquired the license for the original Sailor Moon series (formerly owned by DiC/Cloverway, Inc in the 1990s and early 2000s) and the new 2014 anime series, Sailor Moon: Crystal premiered on July 5, 2014. In May 2014, Disney acquired the broadcasting rights for the 2005 series based on the Fujiko Fujio manga Doraemon, and began airing the program on Disney XD on July 7 of that year, marking the first ever release of the Doraemon franchise in the United States.
- Soul Eater
- Halo Legends
- Fairy Tail
- Kekkaishi
- Clannad: After Story
- InuYasha: The Final Act
- Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
- Slayers Revolution
- Slayers Evolution-R
- Beyblade: Metal Fusion
- Kaze no Stigma
- Break Blade
- Dragon Ball Z Kai
- Sailor Moon Crystal
- Hetalia: Axis Powers
- Guilty Crown
- Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn
- Deltora Quest
- Heaven's Lost Property
- Cat Shit One
- Togainu no Chi
- Cat Planet Cuties
- Oreimo
- Needless
- Black Butler
- Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt
- Hero Tales
- Durarara!!
- Deadman Wonderland
- Marvel Anime
- Squid Girl
- Tai Chi Chasers
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
- Viper's Creed
- Ultraviolet: Code 044
- Monsuno
- Blue Exorcist
- Wish Upon the Pleiades
- Star Driver
- Cardfight!! Vanguard
- Fractale
- Baka and Test
- Shiki
- Persona 4: The Animation
- Hakuoki
- Intrigue in the Bakumatsu - Irohanihoheto
- Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan
- AnoHana
- Occult Academy
- Pandora Hearts
- Haganai
- Mirai Nikki
- The World God Only Knows
- Rosario + Vampire
- Appleseed XIII
- Sword Art Online
- Tenkai Knights
- B-Daman Crossfire
- Digimon Fusion
- Space Dandy
- Danboru Senki
- Attack on Titan
- Doraemon
- Kill La Kill
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