Australia’s appetite for both online casinos and anime has grown over the past few years, and both share a similar demographic too. It wasn’t until recently, though, that the online casino space began to tap into the subculture.
The Anime-Casino Experience
When browsing the top online casinos in Australia, it’s clear that Japanese culture is having a growing influence. The beauty of anime is that it isn’t just being expressed in storylines or characters, but the entire anime aesthetic provides a lot of design opportunities.
Kensei Blades, which is a slot game with 720 ways to win, is a good example of how well anime-style artwork fits into the online casino environment. There’s a certain familiarity, even with those who don’t watch anime, perhaps because it resembles the old street fighter games. The developer Betsoft has become a growing influence in this trend of dressing up traditional slots in Japanese anime clothing.
Demon Train by DragonGaming, which is of course a cross-platform game, draws on inspiration from the “Demon Slayer” franchise – a hugely popular manga series written by Koyoharu Gotouge. The game has avalanche mechanisms in which winning symbols explode out to allow new combos. And, unsurprisingly, authentic Japanese voice acting and animations are at the essence of the Demon Train experience.
Shinobi Wars is worthy of mention, with a high RTP and exciting ninja world that can be played through a 25-pay line system. Classic anime tropes are found within the game, and the animation sequences are very vivid. Similarly, Seirei Academy is another game with high pay lines (30) and RTP, along with familiar anime features like magical girls, warriors, distinctive Japanese art, and familiar themes.
The above games have spurred the development of many more anime-themed games, which are attracting Australian non-casino goers who are simply fans of the art. Developers are intensely focused on authenticity, and this comes through in the soundtrack and small details.
How Culture Become Important to Casinos
Anime slot machines come from a broader, older trend of introducing different cultures and franchises into game aesthetics and storylines. Of course, it wasn’t only the recognition that the demand was there, but the fact that technology had progressed enough to allow it.
Development is much faster than it used to be, with real-time rendering and immersive experiences being easier to deliver on mobile phones now. The process of amending the art style, font, characters, and mechanics has become routine now, with Australian developers being more prolific than ever before.
Because casino players are not only global but consume global media, culture has become core to the identity of online casino games in a way that was never prevalent in traditional games.
Japan’s Gaming Culture
When a specific overseas culture gets used so much within the Australian casino industry, often as a theme for slots, it often gets asked whether it’s appropriating or culturally insensitive. However, there are no such qualms when depicting Japanese-style art within gaming because Japan has a strong gaming culture itself.
Beyond the obvious Pokemon and card games, Japan has a huge appetite for gambling games. Pachinko is their most popular, by far, which combines the elements of pinball with slots. The sales revenue of Pachinko generated around 14 trillion yen in 2022, which is around $90 billion USD. This is less revenue than 15 years ago, but this can be in part attributed to the fact that there are far more options for other games (like online anime casino games) to play.
Clearly, gambling and anime are both a huge part of Japanese culture, and it’s no surprise that the rest of the world wants to experience that. In fact, Pachinko itself has been digitalized to now be available to the entire world on online casinos.
It’s also worth noting that many animes are on the topic of gambling, too, which is perhaps a theme to explore for meta-themed casino games in the future. Gyakkyō Burai Kaiji is pointed to as the inspiration for the mega-hit Squid Game (TV Show), in which there are many similarities. Within the Kaiji series, the main character becomes entangled in high-stakes gambling, meaning that this highly influential anime was themed on gaming.
Final Word
Anime and gambling continue to become intertwined into a symbiotic relationship, where both industries are winning from the exposure. The Australian gaming landscape also benefits, with bettors now having more choices than ever before, with games themed on famous anime series and recognisable characters.