How games and anime became BFFs

Visit patreon.com/postgames to get bonus segments, early access, and exclusive monthly episodes like "The birth of Pokémon: 30 years ago, a young game critic imagined the biggest franchise on the planet" for $5 Visit post.games to get full episodes for free, including links to all games and stories referenced in today's show This week on Post Games: How video games and anime took over pop culture together. Act 1: Anime in your video games Act 2: Video games in your anime Patreon bonus: The anime every gamer should watch Act 3: News of the Week Last year, I helped oversee the first major national survey of anime consumption in the United States. Before the survey, I knew anime had achieved pop culture status, with characters from Dragon Ball appearing in Fortnite and musicians like Megan Thee Stallion wearing over a dozen anime cosplays. Even still, the numbers surprised me. Nearly half of Gen Z watches anime once a week. And a quarter of millennials. 44% of anime viewers have had a crush on an anime character. And 65% of anime viewers find the form more emotionally compelling than other forms of media. Anime fans claimed to watch for escape and comfort. But also for strength, a too…