A look into anime on the basis of fandom and popular culture: A case study on anime fans

Animes short or long animations that originate from Japanese culture and are rooted in the history of this culture, holding and important spiritual and material place for Japan. Animes in Japan are not just viewed as animations. They have been used as important soft power for Japan for a long period of time. Anime fascination id not limited to Japan. There are anime viewers / fans from all over the world and the number of fans is increasing day by day. There are some concepts under this amount of increaser on which animes are based. The two most important concepts are 'popular culture' and 'fan culture'. When analyzed in the anime axis, popular culture leads fans to shortterm and quick consumption, while the fan culture creates a well-grounded faithfulness to what fans watch. This study focuses on the question of whether Turkish anime audiences are fed by 'fan culture' or 'popular culture'. Semi-structured interviews, which is a qualitative data collection method, were conducted in order to understand the possible perspectives of 30 Turkish anime fans within the scope of the research universe. The data obtained as a result of these interviews were analyzed through the concepts of 'fan culture' and 'popular culture' in line with the views of anime fans. Due to the ongoing pandemic, interviews with the determined anime fans were made over phone by voice recording with their permission. A detailed qualitative data analysis has been made on the deciphers. Considering the findings obtained, it was revealed that Turkish anime fans within the scope of the research univers saw anime as an important culture and found many traces of their emotions in them. Anime fans interviewed there in stated that the most important reason for the existence of the anime in Turkey is its 'fans'. The effect of popular culture on the marketing of anime and its appeal to more people has also been affirmed by the fans. Within the scope of this research,it was concluded that the anime is a product of 'fan culture'.