In terms of blockbuster: how about Demon Slayer's Mugen Train movie being the highest grossing movie of 2020 worldwide? Infinity Castle was also the seventh-highest grossing movie of 2025 (and was the highest-grossing international film in the U.S.). That's beyond Disney making Ghibli a household name.

Yes, my views are going to be U.S-centric, I'll admit that, and I'm sure what counts as "everyday conversations" is going to vary by region -- however for me "mainstream" means things like the above, that anime movies like Chainsaw Man and One Piece see theatrical releases outside of Japan and get placed on lists of highest-grossing movies worldwide. Pokémon is also partly anime and it is literally THE most profitable IP in the world. Big companies like Sony and Disney have anime as part of their regular catalogue. It's not some niche little thing that only scrappy companies like Tokyopop will touch anymore. Goku is in the Macy's Day Parade (which is a major national event in the U.S., I am completely unaware how well-known it is outside the country).

I'm sure you can argue that there are a lot of anime that no one outside those really entrenched in the greater anime fandom have heard of, but to discount anime as a whole being some niche form of media only known to those in the hobby is, IMO, misguided at best.

Oh, and something else to back up my claims: a 2025 global research report by Dentsu found around 30% of "global consumers" (which I'm reading as those with disposable income, probably 16 and up) watch anime at least once a week, and another 2023 report for the U.S. specifically found that 1 in 3 adults 18-54 watched "viral anime titles" with that number going up to 44% for Gen Z aged 18-24 at the time.