Anime went mainstream among Thai Gen Z through close friends' word of mouth — the feed makes discoveries, not decisions

Liking anime once marked a Thai person out as odd; among Generation Z it is now ordinary. Through which channels does information flow, whom do people actually believe, and what does the fan community do for this generation's sense of self? The study asks from the vantage point of four groups positioned differently within the scene.

Twenty-three semi-structured interviews in Bangkok in March–April 2025, each lasting 35–75 minutes: five event organisers (aged 26–31), four content creators and influencers (23–26), seven casual fans (20–24) and seven niche fans (19–25). Thematic analysis was built from roughly 187 codes.

• Discovered on the feed, decided by friends. 20 of 23 named TikTok as where they first encounter new titles, yet almost no one starts watching on the strength of the feed alone — 21 of 23 said a close friend's recommendation is what actually gets them to watch.
• Big influencers are viewed with suspicion; niche ones are trusted. Content that reads as promotion was seen as insincere, while people who demonstrably know a genre deeply carried weight.
• Quiet watchers count as members. “Lurking” was not read as being an outsider; several levels of participation were treated as equally legitimate.
• Events function as “identity laboratories” — cosplay and gatherings open a safe space to try being someone else, but the same spaces carry pressure over appearance standards and spending; some fans spend more than 50,000 baht a year on the hobby.
• The authors propose three frameworks from the data: an “organic” cultural spread that did not depend on corporate push, a trust network with close friends at its centre, and events as identity laboratories.

For brands or organisations hoping to reach Gen Z through fan culture: buying space on the feed only gets you seen; decisions happen among friends, which cannot be bought but can be supported — for instance by backing deep-knowledge niche creators rather than general celebrities. Content that looks like selling destroys trust quickly in this community. And event design should recognise that a space that frees identity can create pressure at the same time.