Social media was the key factor in the popularity of SPY x FAMILY

The portal Yahoo! News Japan published an article describing that the worldwide success of the SPY x FAMILY anime adaptation is due in large part to the production's copyright decisions, that they are quite lax about fan art , and that they even drive it. This, of course, coupled with the “ mass memification ” of the series and the great popularity of the videos posted on TikTok , significantly increase global interest.

+« Did you know that the Japanese anime 'SPY x FAMILY' is a hot topic all over the world? SPY x FAMILY is based on a manga published in Shueisha's Shonen Jump Plus. The manga itself is very popular, having originally won first place in various manga awards, and by the time the anime began airing on television, the number of sales had exceeded 12.5 million copies, but the airing of the anime has further accelerated its popularity. The total number of copies sold exceeded 21 million in about two months after the start of the anime's broadcast .

« Although in some sectors its popularity has been questioned due to the low audience of television animation, the truth is that it has remained stable among the top five positions in the Netflix classification. What is also noteworthy is that it is in the Top 10 in more than 10 countries, not only in Japan, but also in Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and other Asian countries .

« [ Attention is also growing rapidly abroad ] In fact, a look at global search trends for the words “ SPY x FAMILY ” on Google Trends shows that the number of searches has skyrocketed since the series began airing. In addition, this number of searches can be compared to some of the most popular series of the moment, such as Kimetsu no Yaiba and Shingeki no Kyojin, as can be seen ».

« It is hard to believe that an anime that has only been released for two months is doing so well. Google Trends allows you to see the search trends of each country in different colors, but if you look at the world map, you can see that it is searched not only in Japan, but in the whole world. The number of anime titles that have been actively promoted on overseas video distribution services since the release of television anime in Japan has been increasing since the success of Kimetsu no Yaiba, and these efforts can be said to be increasing steadily. steadily the number of Japanese anime fans abroad ».

« [ Active fan art promotion ] The popularity of SPY x FAMILY abroad seems to be largely due to the fact that, in addition to the attractive content of the work, there are few extreme expressions like those of Kimetsu no Yaiba and sexually suggestive expressions that are not tolerated in some countries. However, in addition to this, the positive attitude towards fan art also seems to have contributed to the success of the anime starting overseas at the same time it started airing in Japan ."

« Fan art refers to derivative works based on existing works, but in Japan it is basically recognized as a gray area of copyright infringement, and in many cases it is “tacitly” approved. Instead, SPY x FAMILY has already actively promoted non-commercial fan art, for example by holding official fan art contests even before the anime adaptation. For example, the theme of the 2nd World Jump Illustration Contest in 2020 was “SPY x FAMILY”. Also, in February 2021, a project called “Anya Buddy Project” was held to collect fan-arts, sell LINE stamps combining official and fan art, and donate the proceeds to the Ashinaga Scholarship Society. Even today, if you're looking for fan art of 'SPY x FAMILY ', you will see a lot of illustrations that are drawn every day».

« [ Images in icon formas are also distributed from official social networks ] In Japan, the official Twitter account of SPY x FAMILY also distributed images of the characters for the icons of the fans and made an animation comedy project GIFs. This is impressive. It seems very likely that this relatively tolerant approach to copyright in SPY x FAMILY is helping to expand the number of fans of the franchise around the world through fan art and fan posts ."

« [ Memification Spreads Overseas ] Perhaps in part as a result of these efforts, the SPY x FAMILY series itself has become an overseas meme. A photo of an illustration of Anya, one of the main characters, drawn on a street in the Philippines has become so popular that it has garnered 130,000 likes. Issues featuring Anya in a still from another manga have gone viral as well. The momentum of this “memification” is clearly evident on TikTok, where the total number of views of videos posted on TikTok with the hashtag #spyxfamily has already exceeded 7.4 billion .

« The 'Squid Game' series is still fresh in memory as a show that spread its popularity globally thanks to the rise of memes on TikTok, and SPY x FAMILY is arguably following a similar cycle to the success of this series . It is a known fact that Japanese animation has the power to transcend national borders, as many Japanese animations are already loved all over the world. With the addition of initiatives such as “ SPY x FAMILY ”, which are aware of the spread of word of mouth among fans through social networks, we can expect further expansion of Japanese animation in the world ».