����ֱ��

RIYADH: A new report reveals how anime has become a cultural cornerstone for Saudi youth and a powerful new platform for brands.

The research was carried out by global advertising and digital media agency Dentsu MENAT. At the Athar Festival for creativity in Riyadh this week the company’s CEO, Tarek Daouk, spoke to Arab News, the event’s media partner, about anime culture in the Kingdom and the ways in which it can redefine modern agency models.

About 31 percent of fans of anime watch content daily, and more than 21 percent spend more than SR2,000 ($530) a year on merchandise, the report revealed.

“We looked at anime fans in ����ֱ�� and we found that around 70 percent of anime fans will react positively to brands that are connected to anime,” Daouk said,

“When you go deep into a fandom and you try to understand the passion point, then the potential for the brand to build connections is very high.”

Anime, a style of animation that originated in Japan, has been a significant part of Saudi youth culture since the 1980s, when early series began airing across the region, including “Grendizer,” “Detective Conan,” and “Captain Majid” (also known as “Captain Tsubasa”), which were localized and dubbed into Arabic by Damascus-based Al-Zahra Center/VENUS. When the TV channel Spacetoon began broadcasting in 2000 and its popularity soared, it helped define television programming for a generation.

The report found that 62.3 percent of people who engage with anime regularly in ����ֱ�� are under the age of 35, and so it is becoming a language of connection in youth culture.

According to the report: “Among 18-24-year-olds, quality narratives and artistic creativity are the top reasons for their deep connection to the medium. Anime reflects modern life, personal growth, and emotional depth in ways that feel both global and relatable.”

This passion for anime has inspired many Saudis to carve out their own spaces that blend the style of the art form with Saudi aesthetics, including graphic designer Njood Al-Kharboush, who creates stickers, pins and decks of cards she sells on her online store, Haku.

Daouk said: “Cultures have different layers. One layer is where we live, our stories, our family stories, our societies’ stories. That’s one layer of culture.

“The other layer is what we like; we like football, anime, dance, poetry, music, fashion. And in this layer of culture, we share it across geographies.

“So a Saudi fan of anime will share a lot of stories with a Japanese fan of anime. The first layer of where they live (and) the language might be different but their passion points are similar.”

For local and global brands, this represents an opportunity to integrate anime culture into other streams and leverage intellectual properties that resonate with Saudi fans, who are 1.6 times more likely than the global average to improve their opinion of a brand when an anime IP is incorporated into products or promotions.

One example of this is development of a Dragon Ball Z theme park as part of the Qiddiya entertainment and tourism project in Riyadh. Themed around the legendary series, it is expected to be one of the largest anime-themed destinations in the world.

There are other ways in which anime is increasingly becoming part of people’s lives. The report found that more than half of anime fans in ����ֱ�� play anime-based video games and more than 43 percent play video games based on manga (Japanese comics), highlighting the potential of this sector as the Kingdom continues to invest in esports.

“Now with gaming, where gaming is becoming a space for connection between people, not just to game, and where you can incorporate content like anime in gaming, these connections are much easier now,” Daouk said.

The great popularity of anime in the country means there are many opportunities to capitalize on it, he added.

“The biggest opportunity is to go along with the 2030 Vision and turning Saudi from a consuming community — like, we consume anime, we watch anime — into giving the talent in Saudi the opportunity to produce. And when you produce, you add your cultural twist to the content.”

RIYADH: To mark International Stuttering Awareness Day, the stuttering awareness and support association Mutalaathem held an event on Wednesday evening at the Cultural House in Riyadh.

A presentation on effective communication methods for individuals with a stuttering disability was given, and various panel discussions were held for both adults and young people.

“Our event is for International Stuttering Awareness Day, and we called it ‘Give Me My Time,’ because we stutterers need time to get the words out,” said Saad Al-Munajem, founder of Mutalaathem.

Al-Munajem added: “The goal of the event is to spread awareness in our community, to tell people that stuttering is just a different way of speaking and that it is not necessary to speak fluently. We only need to take our time to deliver our thoughts.”

Stuttering is a speech disorder that causes individuals to have challenges in pronouncing words smoothly.

The health condition often worsens when the person is excited, exhausted or stressed, according to the Saudi Ministry of Health.

Stuttering often begins in early childhood, between the ages of 2 and 5 years old, and if the disability persists beyond that, professional help may be necessary.

Although the precise causes of stuttering remain unclear, it is believed to result from a combination of different factors, including genetic differences in brain functioning, according to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Lolwah Al-Nogaidan, who attended the event, spoke to Arab News about her experience with her son Saad, who has stuttered since the age of 3.

“My son was timid and didn’t talk. He used to see himself as different than others. Yet, when he attended the event (last year) and saw others with stutter, I saw a complete 180 change,” she explained.

“He had the confidence to talk … after that, I never missed an event with Saad.”

Al-Munajem explained to Arab News his personal experience with stuttering, which led him to found Mutalaathem in 2021.

“I created Mutalaathem based on my own experience and journey with stuttering. Stuttering once held me back from speaking and sharing my voice.

“I used to think it was a flaw in me or in the way I speak, but when I reached university, my perspective on stuttering changed.”

Al-Munajem developed an understanding of stuttering and focused on delivering his thoughts rather than on how he spoke.

“I told myself that what matters is not whether I speak fluently, but whether I can convey the message I want to share.”

“After my mindset toward stuttering changed, my life changed for the better, even though the stutter itself didn’t.

“Thus, I wanted to help other people to reach the same mindset I did, or maybe even further.”