Popular Anime That Has Become Obscure

It’s crazy to me how there are some anime/ manga that were insanely popular and then just dropped off the face of the earth.

What are some anime/ manga that you have noticed fell into the abyss of obscurity?

I remember Hetalia being wildly popular but now I never hear it being mentioned. I’m unsure if it didn’t age well because I haven’t read it or watched it in awhile.

Another one worth mentioning is Peach Girl. I can’t find Peach Girl anywhere anymore, but it was so popular in the 2000s.

I think that some anime/ manga stopped being popular when Tokyo Pop was struggling due to publishing issues.

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Commentaires

BeamMeUpBiscotti2026-01-05 01:34

Someone posted almost the same question yesterday, the comments have some good examples: https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1q34sn0/what_are_some_2000s_anime_that_were_mildly_or/

RedditRocks12292026-01-05 01:34

Thanks for that didn’t realize

P-Two2026-01-05 01:35

The rise of seasonal anime and streaming, along with how people talk about shows has meant that shows have no staying power.

Look at Chainsaw Man, literally one of the most hyped shows this decade, hundreds of comments every week while it was airing, and nobody cared about it 1 month after it finished.

Back when a lot of us were growing up with anime everyone you knew was watching the same few shows, and almost nobody had seasonal watch lists 10s of anime long. Every kid I knew that had any care for anime in the early-mid 2000s watched Naruto, we all talked about it, we all loved it, we all watched Pokemon. Then later on we all watched FMA: B, Death Note, etc.

RedditRocks12292026-01-05 01:37

Yeah Inuyasha, Naruto, Bleach, etc were the bomb in the 2000s

I miss it when there was cable instead of online streaming. It meant people watched the same shows and you got to enjoy the show slowly instead of binging.

SouekiSennoSTM2026-01-05 02:15

Yeah, I wasn't watching anime back then (though was alive) until quite a number of years later, but I imagine when it was the same few series which were made widely available through primarily watching them dubbed on TV (and before watching online or even downloading whole episodes of series from the internet became prevalent, as the latter used to take forever) and most people in certain social spheres watched them, then they really stuck around in the conversation and collective cultural consciousness for a long time (like actual years) compared to the treatment of newer series nowadays.

Walkinfaith3002026-01-05 03:31

Inuyasha, Yugioh, Case Closed, and FMA '03 were the series i watched habitually and talked about with my friends. I never watched Pokémon and was never a fan of the Naruto anime.

hollowtaku12026-01-05 04:12

Yeah, I agree. I know it might sound like I'm being an old-timer or a nostalgic but I kinda miss when people watched certain anime series and kept watching them, discussing them, they felt...alive

I think another example is Attack on Titan. I remember it was one of the few shows everyone was watching and now that it finished, it just feels like it vanished, like it never existed. Yes, you see an ocassional fanart, maybe a post or article analyzing it...but that's it.

What you mention, btw, also happened with live action TV shows. A lot of people who watch live actions compare them now to older longer running ones like the Buffyverse, New Dr. Who, X-Files and notice how most of modern Netflix/Hulu/Prime shows just come and go and barely leave any significant legacy or memory.

I also think the whole dynamic among online communities of having to watch at least 5 or 10 seasonal anime to have a common topic of discussion has an effect.

OwlsAndDevils2026-01-05 01:37

The World God Only Knows, from the late 2000's/early 2010's, was absurdly popular and inflential, kicking off a lot of careers of some of the most prolific seiyuus in the industry (Nao Touyama, for instance). It's popularity dipped pretty significantly as it progressed, to the point where the company behind the anime adapation went bankrupt due to poor sales, but I'm convinced that the series would be a breakout hit had it been released today, since the anime was an extremely good adaptation of the chapters covered.

smhmines2026-01-05 03:14

Literally one of the main shows that got me hooked on anime back in the day. Keima is one of the goats. The God Only Knows oratorio was formative for me too and a big reason I like following anisongs and artists. Love that show so much.

JBThunder2026-01-05 04:12

Last season was rough with the large amount of shit skipped though.

fraid_so2026-01-05 01:41

People don't talk about old stuff because it's old. That's normal. It needs to be extraordinary for it to have staying power.

ProspektNya2026-01-05 01:50

Magic Knight Rayearth is a 90s isekai that people don't really talk about now. Magical girls (written by CLAMP *before* Cardcaptor Sakura) + mecha + fantasy isekai. An unusual combination! There's a remake anime coming this year so maybe it'll see a resurgence.

theassassintherapist2026-01-05 01:54

Haven't heard anyone recommend Gintama or the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya in a long time

Same for GTO Great Teacher Onizuka

Pake10002026-01-05 05:22

I really wish they had finished GTO.

MusubiKazesaru2026-01-05 01:55

Hetalia is a weird one where the only people who seem to ever mention it or know it exists are IRL female anime fans. You're like maybe the second time I've seen it brought up online.

Fun_Yam46062026-01-05 01:58

Zatch Bell

Innalibra2026-01-05 02:03

Shows come and go. Sometimes really brilliant shows. Only a tiny fraction ever retain their popularity through generations, especially as anime output is so much higher than it used to be. Even though the 2000s was an incredible decade for anime, I still know way too many people who've never heard of Haruhi or Black Lagoon or GITS: Stand Alone Complex to name just a couple, and they were all enormous at the time.

New_Zone63002026-01-05 02:27

Elfen Lied , The melancholy of Haruhi suzamiya , and Black butler come to mind ,they were everywhere at one point , then slowly faded from mainstream talk

bkendig2026-01-05 02:41

Cowboy Bebop was HUGE in the early 2000s. It helped launch Cartoon Network Adult Swim. Everybody had a Cowboy Bebop poster on their wall. I never see it mentioned any more these days. (Maybe the live-action Netflix disaster was a nail in its coffin.)

bravetailor2026-01-05 03:02

I would say Cowboy Bebop is one of the few "older" anime that is still well remembered. If nothing else, the Netflix disaster at least got people talking about how good the original series was again.

I feel like modern anime consumption is such that even a show from 2 years ago gets forgotten fast. In the 90s and early 2000s people would create fan websites specifically devoted to certain shows to keep them as a "googleable" mention for years after. That doesn't happen much now, so even if a show was well received during its run, it's likely to be forgotten the right after the final episode drops and people have talked about it because nobody is going to make a fan website devoted to their favorite shows anymore.

RedditRocks12292026-01-05 12:54

I agree people still know about Cowboy Bebop it hasn’t been forgotten like other anime

WISE_bookwyrm2026-01-05 03:28

Kimagure Orange Road
Oh My Goddess
You're Under Arrest
Ghost in the Shell
Yawara
Patlabor
Bubblegum Crisis

Responsible-Yam83982026-01-05 05:00

Attention spans have decreased. Everyone forgets things too quickly these days.

Pake10002026-01-05 05:24

Read or Die. GTO. Gantz.

BusinessAltruistic582026-01-05 05:59

honestly and especially ones that ud see everyone with a profile picture from it

BebeHillz2026-01-05 08:00

Theres a prevailing theory/idea that NOTHING can become popular the same way things did in the past.
There are no real NEW mega stars in hollywood or in rap or in pop music or in country. All of the big names have been in the game for decades and no new name has ever really scratched any of the names like taylor swift or beyonce or drake or tom cruise or denzel washington or anything like that.

Same is happening in cartoons / animation / anime. Something comes out and within a week its forgotten. In the past people talked about avatar and naruto and bleach and fmabrotherhood and death note as if they were the works of holy scripture. Not just worshipped but CONSTANTLY being discussed and interpreted. This happens on a MUCH smaller scale these days. I genuinely dont remember when was the last cartoon i've spoke with friends about.... castlevania??? star vs the forces of evil?? bojack horseman? The same kinda for anime. Unless you're talking in like the SPECIFIC community subreddit no one really engages deeply with content enough to have real meaningful discussions on anything anymore.

I remember when Hikaru no go was popular
I remember when D. Gray Man was popular
I remember when Kekkaishi was popular
I remember when chobits was popular and everybody was humming doo doo, doo doo yeaaaAAhh
I remember when Clannad was popular
I remember when beck mongolian chop squad was popular ( I want too hit bigggg in ammeericaaaa!)
I remember when that one chick went on a generation run practically making lolis mainstream with shakugan no shana, zero no tsukaima, toradora, and hayate the combat butler all being within like a few years of each other.
I remember when school days was popular and everyone would spam "nice boat" every time a shows episode got delayed.
I remember when ponyo came out and miyazaki was saying he was getting ready to retire.
I remember when 5 centimeters per second came out and tons of people were saying he was gonna be next miyazaki.
I remember the nisekoi waifu wars.

its just genuinely a different time. Anime is so mass consumed in a casual way now that is so different to those from the past that at times i don't even know how to classify an anime fan anymore. Its not a bad thing but its definitely never going back to the way it was in the past.