@Neo
I don’t think measuring anime by using theater releases is the correct way to do so. It would be better to judge by merch sales and streaming views. You say that it’s just those weird little kiosks but you can go to any Walmart or Target and find loads of stuff. It’s everywhere at this point.
OK, so Universal is where you go to "ride the movies" so yes, I'm using movies as a basis.
But for the sake of discussion (don't want to say argument) let's talk about your specific example of Target since I regularly visit 3 different ones by me.
Each one has a section, on the back wall by electronics that has horror figures, some Funkos, weird stuffed animals, and some Anime stuff (figures, Funkos, shirts in boxes, keychains, pins, etc). I'd say this section is about 20 feet wide.
The toy section is huge, like 10 isles, and it has a bunch of Jurassic World, Stranger Things, South Park, Simpsons and other popular Funkos. It also has an entire aisle, both sides, for Jurassic World Dominion right now. When the new Minions movie comes out, it will have an entire isle dedicated to it. Plus stuff randomly peppered through the store and by checkouts. Minions band aids make end cap displays in the healthcare section, Mandalorian branded goldfish and Stranger Things Doritos get displays in the food section. Up front by the checkouts they have trading cards and random "mystery packs" of minions and other IP.
Why are the Anime toys not in the toy section? (Granted Bakugon stuff is). Why are their shirts not in the clothing section? Why aren't any little things like pins up by the trading cards/collectibles? Why is their stuff all concentrated in a 20' section on the backmost wall of the store behind the obsolete (due to ebooks) book section?
Because it's niche.
Again, supply and demand and the resulting advertising based on sales. If the stuff sold really well, it would be in the high traffic areas. 60sqft on the back wall of a 100,000sqft big box store doesn't equal huge popularity. In fact, the section usually spans about 2 aisles and the endcaps opposite of it at 2 out of the 3 Targets (the third has $10 blu-ray deals) is the clearance section. The least valuable and desired stuff in the store is in the same area for 67% of my local stores.
A lot of people love it, a lot of critics hail the movies and give them great reviews, but sorry...the general public, by and large, doesn't care.
A themepark has to appeal to the masses to be profitable, much like Target had to be profitable so there is no business case for putting Anime stuff in prime locations using up valuable square footage.