What do you think of when you think of an anime series or movie that's made a big impact in the United States? There are many series that qualify. They can be action-packed fighting animes like Bleach, magical girl shows like Sailor Moon, giant robot shows like the Gundam series, or boy-and-pet-monster shows like Pokemon.

So, in this article I will mainly be discussing the popularity of these shows and their impact on culture and anime.

Basically, I wanted to talk about these shows, not necessarily because they're the best, but because they became the most significant in the U.S., having a big impact. They're also the shows most likely to be someone's first anime or the first one that made them interested in seeing more anime.

These animes are also some of the most well-represented within anime fandom, with the highest number of cosplayers, fan artists, and fanfiction writers, obviously as a result of their popularity and success. Many have also spawned successful fan-made parodies.

1. Neon Genesis Evangelion

While probably the one with the least amount of recognition to non-otakus in the west on this list, I still thought it was worth a mention because of how significant it's popularity is with otakus, as well as the level of merchandise produced by Gainax of the characters in this show in Japan. Personally, I find it weird that this happened. After all, Neon Genesis Evangelion is a show about 14 year-olds losing their minds and sinking into abject depression, while corrupt adults manipulate things to bring about the destruction of all mankind.

I don't like how this show is then depicted as cute or sexy for the purposes of merchandising, when in reality it's gross, violent, disturbing, and pessimistic. They also made a manga of it (Angelic Days) that dumbed it down and took out the psychological drama that was in the original series. And then there's the Rebuildmovies, which basically take all the depression, angst, bitterness, philosophical interest, teenage sexuality, and everything else that made Evangelion unique, and turn it into another mindless action shounen. Isn't it great what money can do to art?

However, this was probably not intended to ruin the show, but make it more accessible to a new generation of fans. But I like the original, because it touches on themes like fear, loneliness, anxiety, isolation, sexuality, failure, paranoia, and self-esteem. It also has a lot of cool religious symbolism.

Evangelion stands apart from other anime, and it was definitely the show that cued me in to the fact that anime was something separate from "cartoons" in the western sense.

It's one of the more philosophical and psychological works of fiction, sparking a lot of discussion. Evangelion remains a huge franchise in Japan, and is popular with anime fans all over the world, but is still not as popular in the U.S. as some other animes. Possibly, this is because it's a tragic show at its core, and American audiences prefer more saccharine tales with more perfect heroes and heroines and happier endings.

2. Death Note

A more recent anime, Death Note is popular among anime fans in the west and, like Evangelion, is often a starting point for discussion. Death Note centers around Light Yagami, a college student studying law, who encounters a magical notebook that can kill anyone whose name is written in it, if the person using it also pictures the person's face. It's an incredibly powerful object sent to earth from the land of the dead, because one Shinigami (death god) named Ryuk was bored and used the Death Note in the human world to stir up trouble, and to see how humans would react to the capabilities such an artifact would give them.

Light's mindset is very justice oriented. His dad being a police officer might be a strong influence here. However, over time, the audience learns the downsides to his idea of what justice is. He thinks that by using the Death Note to purge the world of criminals, and eventually of other undesirable elements in society, he can achieve a perfect world. This makes this anime incredibly significant from a philosophical standpoint. It explores what different people might do given the power over life and death (since, over time, new characters with death notes appear), and also explores the ethical questions raised about how society should treat criminals.

In the U.S., these kinds of issues are of monumental importance, considering all the problems the U.S. has with crime, high incarceration rates, and police racial profiling and excessive use of deadly force. Comparatively, Japan has such low rates of crime and incarceration that I thought it was strange for a Japanese show whose primary conflict derived from disagreements about criminal justice. L, the master detective, takes the compassionate stance, that everyone has the right to live, even criminals, and that no one person should dictate moral law for the rest of humanity. This moral stance is probably the more common sentiment of most Americans. Another important issue explored in Death Note is the concern for people who have been wrongfully accused. It also deals with the idea that a person forfeits their right to live when they themselves take the life of someone else. And perhaps it's the hard-line moral nature of Japanese culture that has led to their low crime rate in the first place, and leniency could definitely become a weakness.

At any rate, Death Note is a very intelligent anime. It has intense drama, makes the viewer feel conflicted about who they want to root for, and it makes for interesting discussion on morality and criminal justice. It's rare that a shounen show reaches this level of depth, imagination, or intrigue.

3.Fullmetal Alchemist

A very popular anime this side of the ocean, Fullmetal Alchemist's popularity has even increased in recent years due to the reboot: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, which stays closer to the manga than the first series did.

I think that because Fullmetal Alchemist deals with cultural issues that many Westerners can relate to, and because the characters are culturally more European than Asian, this series has had a big impact in the west. It tells a story of science vs. morality, or rationality vs. emotion, which is a common theme throughout history in western art and literature. "Science gone wrong" is a theme that shows up first in Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, and also can be traced back to ancient Greek stories about mankind going too far, such as the stories of Daedelus and Pygmalion. Time periods in western art and literature have been defined by their place on the sliding scale of romanticism vs. enlightenment. So, for this show to show that struggle, coming out on the side of enlightenment while acknowledging the negative consequences of some unscrupulous scientists' actions, is very much based on Western philosophy.

Aside from that, there is the issue of racial and nationalist issues that very much seem related to American political issues of today. For example, there is a conflict between desert-dwelling people called Ishvalans and white-looking Amestrians with superior technology. The Amestrians use alchemy, which is seen as immoral to Ishvalans because of their religious beliefs. This is very much a mirror of the struggle between American vs. Middle Eastern schools of thought. The Ishvalans were also destroyed, and it's revealed that (spoiler alert) many of them were killed as part of a big alchemy experiment. It mirrors the way that western imperialism has historically, and in some places continues to, be seen by people in other countries as deplorable.

A lot of the cultural significance of Fullmetal Alchemist, I think also, is the comparisons that can be drawn between Amestris and the Thrid Reich. These become even more blatant parallels in the movie Conqueror of Shamballa, where there is interplay between the world of 1930's Germany in the real world and the world of alchemy that the show takes place in. It's important that we teach not just that the Holocaust happened, and that it was bad, but also that we explain to them that it could happen anywhere, at any time, given the right social and political conditions, and that we have to believe in the right of every human being to life, or it will happen again. I think that makes this show important.

It's not just about the struggle of one boy and his brother and their desperate, impossible quest. It's much more about the struggles between nations, political subterfuge and deception, and about the dark possibilities that can come with science. It's also about how science and religion can co-exist and why they clash.

4.Cowboy Bebop

Cowboy Bebop is a show about bounty hunters in space in the future. Human colonies have been created throughout the solar system, so the action takes the characters to places like Mars and various colonized asteroids. The main characters are:

• Spike, the epitome of badass, who jokes a lot.

• Faye, a sexy bad girl who can go back and forth between bratty and badass.

• Jet Black, a gruff, no-nonsense ex-cop, a foil to Spike sometimes.

• Ed, an ambiguously gendered kid (I think it's a girl?) with an upbeat personality who is skilled at hacking.

• Ein, the group's corgi mascot.

A typical episode usually has them chasing after a bad guy for a bounty somewhere and then some random, unpredictable stuff happens, usually preventing them from getting the money. The show is mostly humorous but becomes darker when later episodes reveal the main character's pasts and psychological depth. The show really touches on important and interesting themes such as the inhumanity of modern existence and the loneliness and isolation of space. It also shows life as crazy and varied. I really liked the movie of it too.

5.Trigun

Trigun is similar in that it takes place in a non-specific future, starts out comedic and gets more and more serious and flashback-intensive, and has similar characters (as Cowboy Bebop). In this, you have, well:

• Vash the Stampede, a goofy man with a huge bounty on his head, incredible superhuman powers, and a love of donuts.

• Wolfwood, a traveling priest, who is a practical and cynical foil for Vash's naivete, but despite his cynicism, he is a loyal friend and a powerful ally.

• Milly and Meryl, too young women who are tasked with basically following Vash everywhere he goes to keep track of any damages he might cause for an insurance company. Meryl is all business and Milly is a ditz with a kind heart.

• And, a black cat shows up somewhere in nearly every episode as a kind of running gag.

So, the show starts off when Vash is caught up in a kerfluffle when Millie and Meryl are sent to chase down a man claiming to be Vash the Stampede, who really isn't him. When they find the real one, they have trouble believing that the doughnut-crazed nutball they've been with the whole time is the real legendary gunman. This sets the overall plot structure; Vash is usually innocently getting involved in some larger trouble that sometimes has to deal with his status as a wanted "humanoid typhoon" or "localized disaster". Despite his reputation for being a dangerous person, he avoids killing people at all costs and is genuinely a good person. He just happens to live on a desert planet where people prefer to talk with bullets and grrs.

The show later gets into Vash's past and explores the origin of human civilization on the planet and Vash's relationship with his evil twin brother, Knives. He faces tougher villains over time, culminating in a final confrontation with his brother over deeply rooted resentment over Knives killing his childhood mother figure, Rem Saverem.

The ending of the series is incredibly moving and beautiful, so I won't ruin it.

I think Trigun is noteworthy in that it borrows so heavily from American culture and cinema, especially westerns.