There is no denying how Japanese animations took the world by a storm as Western art and literature enthusiasts such as Neil Gaiman would not hesitate any opportunity to do something for the anime industry, in his case, translating the Princess Mononoke screenplay into English. There is no use to further discuss such fact and this article would not waste any of your time trying to explain over and over again how anime was able to proliferate all over the world by means of the World Wide Web. This article, however, will tackle another related phenomenon and how the Cyberworld became its breeding ground. This is about another Japanese artifact that, arguably, breeds out of Japanese animation – J-Rock music.

How else can bands such as Dir en Grey and L’arc en Ciel reached the global market but with the proliferation of MP3 anime sound tracks all over the Internet? The official sound track of such Japanese animations as Full Metal Alchemist and Bleach sells as much as the anime series themselves. MP3 anime download sites obtain millions of hits daily by visitors of two consumer classifications. The first classification would be anime lovers who loved the anime so much they would collect any possible thing related to it and that includes its opening and closing theme regardless of how many season the anime has. The second type of visitor would be J-Rock and J-Pop lovers themselves who would do anything to complete their X Japan or Gackt discography, and that would mean downloading each and every MP3 anime single created specifically for the series.

It is also safe to say that like what music does to any other film or TV show, J-Rock and J-Pop helped out the anime industry be known to the world. Take for example, what Gackt did to Final Fantasy as the live inspiration of the character of Squall. The popularity of L’arc en Ciel obviously affected the marketing of Full Metal Alchemist with the opening theme “Ready, Steady, Go.” It is quite inevitable as music and visual arts usually go side by side in whichever medium it may be.

Of course, all these could never had happened to anime and J-Rock without the help of various Internet file sharing tools by which both animation and music enthusiasts from Japan can share their enjoyment with the rest of the world without taking a fuss about anything at all. In addition, internet file sharing could not have been effective without the wonders of MP3 file format which has made it possible for people across the globe to upload what used to be bulky music files to 12 times less the size. Today, after watching One Piece and Samurai X, the next automatic thing to do is to search for that catchy rhythm that will remind you of the series without having to watch it all over again.

Without the wonders of P2P file sharing and MP3 technology, no one would know that Japanese animation and MP3 anime can be appreciated across cultures, bridging the barriers of language and space.