Anime in the West seems so right-wing or libertarian coded in ways that it generally doesn't in Asia. I suspect it's because in the US, anime fandom overlaps with contrarian, anti-mainstream spaces such as 4chan, Gamergate-era activism and alt-right meme aesthetics from 2016. In the case of Argentina, it's even more overt. Javier Milei's libertarian + anarcho-capitalist movement became meme-fused with Chainsaw Man. Supporters cosplayed as Pochita at rallies because Milei's "chainsaw plan" to slash government spending mirrored the character's vibe, and young male fans flooded his events with anime energy. Milei even pushed libertarian cartoons like Tuttle Twins onto state TV. In a post-God nihilistic West, where cartoons increasingly feel like vehicles for postmodernism, relativism, or "wokism," anime, by contrast, frequently delivers straightforward mythic storytelling - clear good/evil (or at least personal stakes), transcendence through struggle, and virtues that feel timeless. For many Western kids with high openness and creativity, anime programmed their psyches with the right values and imbued them with enough resilience to reject loser progressivism and decadent socialism. Given Japan's cultural baseline - socially conservative, homogeneous, and values hierarchy, duty, hard work, and harmony (wa) - its cultural exports were always going to be conservative by default. Pokémon, Dragon Ball, Fullmetal Alchemist, Tsubasa Chronicle, and Neon Genesis Evangelion are all soaked with pre-modern, universal values. Most are heavy with themes about self-improvement, heroism, and duty. Shonen is basically "boy becomes man through trials" - friendship forged in battle, overcoming despair, defending what's right. Dragon Ball glorifies striving; Evangelion, despite the existential despair, forces viewers to confront suffering and choose growth anyway. Tsubasa Chronicle channels classical chivalry - man's purpose as protector/servant to women/loved ones, echoing traditional gender roles without apology. There are some degenerate anime cartoons of course, and some do have anti-fascist, environmentalist, or queer-friendly themes. But by and large most retain mythic structures that qualify it as based by Western standards.