The 2000s was something of a transitional period for anime, at least among international audiences. The nostalgic period of the 1990s was over, yet the current craze for the medium hadn't yet begun.

"The medium is so popular now," says Leigh, who remembers when anime existed mostly on home video and hardly ever played in theaters. "My friends out of state have seen the ‘Chainsaw’ movie. It was a ...