Especially during and just following the bubble economy in Japan, a lot of people would go to France and get completely shocked. They largely went to Paris and we're shocked that it was not romance, fantasy, and love, but regular Parisians. There is a word in japanese パリ病 (Paris sickness) to describe the disillusionment of it all.
Do you know why that is? I never really thought about that, but as a child, before i knew what anime or manga is, we went to france a lot on vacation. Back then the only anime i knew was heidi and drangonball, and that was before the frieza saga even aired. But there, kids my age had dbz video games, a ton of mangas and anime. I bought some mangas and was blown away to read the story where golu goes super saiyan.
And even now, i deadass wouldn't know where i would buy a manga, but if i cross the french border and go to a normal supermarket, they have a whole isle just manga.
The biggest tvshow aimed for kids switched from French cartoon to anime because it was cheaper ,so it influenced a lot the kids and our pop culture. That s one big reason , there are surely other factors but I don't know them.