Other shows were being dubbed and broadcast on television with varying degrees of success, https://hentaisister.net/hentai-tag/western/ with those deemed "too intense" for broadcast were relegated directly into the home video market. The anime version of Ranma became the first major anime television series be dubbed without any localization or bowdlerization in 1993, something only made possible by the then-burgeoning home video market which freed Viz and their dubbing contractors The Ocean Group from the shackles of broadcast censorship. Then, Toonami broadcast the original run of Sailor Moon, which proved successful enough to warrant the dubbing of more episodes which had never been dubbed before. Pokémon: The Original Series began airing on broadcast TV, as well, which attracted younger audiences. Finally, it was the broadcast of Funimation's newly-acquired series, Dragon Ball Z, that served as the Heroic Second Wind for Japanese animation. There's also a series of "Practical Guide" books set in the Dragonlance universe, starting with A Practical Guide To Dragons and later including A Practical Guide to Dragon Riding.

Japanese as possible, sometimes including Japanese openings. Mario and Sonic, two Japanese creations, became the iconic generals of the Console Wars, while Pac-Man, Pokémon, Street Fighter, The Legend of Zelda, Castlevania, Final Fantasy, Star Fox, Metroid, Kirby, and others put the question into the mind of many Americans whether the US would ever regain prominence in the video game world. This last point helps avoid the "redundancy" issue involving dragon riders, as while dragons are both physical and magical powerhouses, they can't always use their magic in the same turn they're making physical attacks, and tend to lack White Magic to heal themselves. While still found primarily in hobby, game, and comic shops, many products, such as snap-together mecha models, vinyl figurines, mini-figurines, wallscrolls, etc. have become as commonplace as American goods, and have only been altered insomuch as being printed with English text. Combining Japan's highly-developed animation techniques with American investment capabilities (read: deep pockets) made possible The Transformers, G.I. Bay and Internet shops made it possible to buy products directly from Japan, and these Japanese companies were not blind to the possibility of marketing in the US. The '80s also brought the rise of home Video Games, and out of the rubble of The Great Video Game Crash of 1983 came a small Japanese company who would drive the industry for the next 20 years: Nintendo.

Japanese games, especially those from Sega and Nintendo, flooded the market and re-centered the video game industry from California to Japan. The '80s also saw the first deliberate efforts by Japanese publishers to crack the US market when Shogakukan established VIZ Media in 1986 as a US-based but wholly owned subsidiary to lead the charge, soon to be followed by homegrown US importers like Central Park Media, ADV Films, and Funimation. Sailor Moon followed in 1995, albeit in a much-censored and bowdlerised broadcast form. A Bubsy pilot was made and broadcast. Same goes to their contemporary counterparts, Vídeo Brinquedo and Sparkplug Entertainment. For consistency, DP is influenced by the specific art style Araki used towards the end of any given Part from the manga and will use that style as a guide for the character designs throughout that same Part's anime adaption. Rurouni Kenshin also changed its art style greatly between the first volumes (somewhat amateurishly drawn) and the much more polished Kyoto/Ten Swords arc, then it went on to an even more stylized style for the final volumes.- And in the recent Kanzenban re-edition, the new covers and new character designs are once again completely different. Just as the influx of funds into Japan helped create the animation of the 70s, the greater influx in the 80s allowed for a boom of animation in Japan, with shows like Voltron and Robotech becoming as popular in the US as, if not more so than, their Japanese-originated counterparts.

The latter half of the 1980s saw more and more imports of Japanese products with part of their marketability being that they were from Japan. Following Starblazers came the dub of Battle of the Planets and it became glaringly obvious to US investors that Japan couldn't just create inexpensive animation, but inexpensive gorgeous animation. The '80s are difficult to imagine without Japan's influence, as pop-culture of the day was inundated with shows ostensibly created by and for the US but animated in Japan. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn: Jill and Haar (Daein) are playable in both games. In fact, by 2004, anime, manga, and video games had become Japan's single most valuable export, ahead of cars and electronics. Mega Man Star Force - A follow-up to NT Warrior based on the Star Force games that lasted 76 episodes. Heavily influenced by Eastern philosophy and mysticism, Samurai aesthetics, and directly based on the works of Akira Kurosawa, Star Wars became the link between the East and the West in storytelling. Finally, Japanese films made a saving throw in the last years of the decade, in the form of a Science Fantasy film known as Star Wars.