Forums / Media / Moving Images

It could just be that I pay attention to it as opposed to 5 years ago when I didnt at all, but even in the short span of time that I liked it, I've noticed it's getting more popular.
Just recently I've seen Barnes and Noble have significantly increased their manga section. Overall it just seems to be the case with the success of shows like Attack on Titan and sword art, hell, even the pretty big success of Monster Musume manga stateside despite it being borderline hentai.
Honestly, I chalk it up to one thing. Streaming. Netflix, hulu, Amazon plus, crunchyroll, and funimation.

What do you think that has changed for this to happen, or do you think it really hasn't become more popular?

I would probably agree with you. If you even look just at Netflix the amount of anime available to stream has increased a lot since it first launched. I'm actually very interested to see how much Japanese culture has an influence in the west in the years to come. I actually imagine that far into the future when (or rather if) the world is ever a single unified nation then our culture is going to look a lot like Japanese culture does today. The interesting thing about Japan is that they saw a rapid industrialization during the late 1800s, much more rapid than pretty much any other country, and as a result there's a huge mix of eastern and western culture. So hundreds of years down the line, I imagine the culture of a unified world will also be a huge mix of both eastern and western cultures.

@crimeariver
San Francisco in 100 years.

Seriously though, to elaborate a little on my first post, it's all about convenience and the rise of nerd culture in the mainstream. Before, you had few options, you could either watch the ones on tv, get dvds, or fansubs online. Only the more hardcore fans would do those things. Now every device will stream you the latest animes as they air in Japan. People who didn't have much interest before are more likely to give it a shot now.

Anime and Manga Popularity kinda does this:

Rising at each new turn in the genre.

True, but that's something that happens in many forms of media. Superhero movies for example have seen the same ups and downs over the decades, but I think we can all agree that what is happening now is something we have never seen before. Superhero movies dominate the summer blockbuster landscape.
Now, I am not saying that Anime and Manga is in the same position as that, but I don't think we can look at the ups and downs of the past to describe its future. I see it having more stability from this point on. Admittedly I am pretty new to the fandom, at least the adult side, but I still am a kid from the 90's and early 00's when Anime was super popular with shows like Pokemon, Dragonball, Sailor moon, Digimon, etc. and I remember it just kind of dying down a whole lot. Ultimately I think it has to do with how the business worked back then. You had them playing on channels or you could buy VHS and DVDs, both are much more expensive services to provide than just streaming. If the profits slumped, they pulled the cord, and that is pretty much what happened.
Now it's much more sustainable while still being capable of providing more than ever before. That, plus the mainstream acceptance of nerd culture, I imagine it will continue to grow.

Yes, it is. Anime is becoming popular, in part for what i feel is a reaction to media companies in the U.S ignoring the story capabilities of animation and treating animation as if it were a kids toy.