I’ve always been concerned over the past few years, while I’ve been traveling around the world, that I wouldn’t see another popular anime series overseas that could reach the status of well-known titles that were already big when I first started working in anime cultural diplomacy, like “Naruto,” One Piece,” “Bleach,” “Inuyasha,” and “Fullmetal Alchemist.”

Anime works that people like varies, but I’ve personally felt that there haven’t been any recent anime works that have reached a level of recognition to be able to further increase the popularity of Japanese anime and Japan as a whole. But recently, wherever I go just about anywhere in the world, anime fans always talk about “Attack on Titan.” If you want proof, you only need look at the number of “Attack on Titan” cosplayers at events like Otakon – which is basically a reflection of current trends in America’s otaku culture.