An anime is a Japanese animated video. The word is written in three katakana characters a, ni, me (アニメ). It should be pronounced "ah-nee-meh" (the "me" sound is not long, it is like a truncated pronunciation of "met"), but in America is typically pronounced "an-ee-may" ("an" pronounced as in "hand"). Ironically, the word is an English transliteration of a Japanese term, which in turn is generally supposed to be an abbreviation of the Japanese transliteration of the English word animation (shortened, as many foreign words are; for example terebi is the Japanese word for "television", or in Japanese pronunciation "terebijon"). However, some anime fans state that the Japanese word comes from the French animé, meaning "animated" although no Japanese believes it. The voice actors for anime are usually called by the Japanese equivalent term seiyuu.

Table of contents

1 Anime characteristics 2 Outside Japan 3 Growth in North America 4 Notable names in anime 5 Genres 6 See also 7 External links

Anime characteristics

Anime is known for its variety of genres, unique artistic style, and deep, emotional stories. Just as with live-action cinema, it spans various genres: adventure, science fiction, children's stories, romance, medieval fantasy, erotica (hentai), and various others. Anime is an expressly commercial art form, and most anime are produced and marketed for very specific audiences, with well-defined categories for shonen (boys) and shoujo (girls) genres, as well as teenagers and adults.

Critics contend that the name "anime" is very appropriate, for the cartoons are "almost animated". Anime is known for its almost miserly animation compared to cartoons made specifically for America such as Disney. Anime studios have perfected techniques to draw as little new frames of animation as possible, such as scrolling/repeating backgrounds, still shots of characters sliding across the screen, and dialogue which involves only animating the mouths while the rest of the screen is absolutely still. Anime is also known for its very developed "lighting" and "laser" effects, and its ahead-of-the-curve embracing of new computer animation technologies.

Outside Japan

Outside of Japan, most of the audience for anime has traditionally been boys and young men, so most anime which is translated tends to belong to the shonen style, including titles like Bubblegum Crisis, Tenchi Muyo and Gundam. However, shoujo anime has made some recent success in the West in the form of Sailor Moon, Card Captor Sakura, and Revolutionary Girl Utena. Anime fans hope that the positive publicity surrounding Hayao Miyazaki's acclaimed film, Spirited Away winning the 2002 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature might spur further mainstream acceptance of the form.

Growth in North America

In North America, the public reaction to anime is still unsure with lingering stereotypes of classic television series like Speed Racer combined with sensationalized reports of the more risque adult entertainment productions. However, anime series have become a staple of cable television like the Cartoon Network for both their children's and adult programming block, and now on the dedicated Anime Network. Anime has in the last few years become an extremely strong seller on home video, with many major retailers now carrying and displaying anime as a distinct genre.

Strong North American sales of anime (such as Spirited Away) have been encouraging enough for Disney to announce the video release of two more Hayao Miyazaki features in late 2003 after years of the Company seemingly ignoring them which can be a positive sign.

Anime is now widely available in North America. Local networks in the US, such as Fox and the WB, have imports from the east in their Saturday morning children's television blocks. You can find an even greater selection of anime on the Cartoon Network. The Action Channel also shows anime movies frequently. YTV and Teletoon in Canada also have a few anime programs on their schedules. Last but not least, the VOD service "Anime Network", the first channel in North America wholly dedicated to anime, was launched in late 2002. Print publications focused on the world of anime are also increasingly popular in the U.S., with Newtype USA (the English-language version of the Japanese magazine Newtype) the circulation leader.

Many of the more serious anime, and many of the straight to video productions called "OVA", are made with an American anime fan audience in mind. In Japan these more serious animes are not as popular as the more children focused productions (although in Japan these seemingly children oriented animes are also much appreciated by adults).

One major aspect of the fanbase of anime is the existence of anime conventions. Often meeting annually at roughly the same time each year, these conventions allow for fans of anime to come together and socialize on a large scale. In addition, many conventions invite guests from overseas. Several of the older and larger conventions are Anime Expo in California, Otakon in Maryland, Project: A-Kon in Texas, and Anime Central in Illinois.

For an extensive list of Japanese anime, see List of anime.

Notable names in anime

• Shinichiro Watanabe the well known "Guru of Sunrise" has overseen such projects as Macross Plus and most recently Cowboy Bebop.

• Hayao Miyazaki is a well respected director/producer of the quintessential anime work Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke) and the early series Lupin III. His later works are characterized by elaborate and beautiful background drawings. If one were to take a snapshot of the frame of his anime, one can see that each frame looks like an artistic painting.

• Go Nagai's contributions to anime can be compared with Jack Kirby's work in comic books. Nagai pioneered several genres of anime, and his style was widely imitated by many producers for years. His action-packed science fiction series were among the first anime to be widely broadcast in the United States (under the American titles Force Five and Tranzor Z).

• Masamune Shirow has created a number of popular projects, particularly Ghost in the Shell.

• Leiji Matsumoto created the Captain Harlock universe, in which numerous anime series have been set.

• Hideaki Anno is a controversial director of Neon Genesis Evangelion series.

Genres

• shoujo
  • magical girl (mahou shoujo)
  • shounen-ai
  • shoujo-ai
• shonen
• seinen
• mecha
• hentai
  • animals (kemono)
  • futanari
  • loli
  • shota
  • yaoi
  • yuri

See also

• List of anime
• Manga
• PC bishoujo games
• Fansubs
• Anime in the United States of America
• List of anime conventions

External links

• http://anidb.ath.cx/
• http://www.animechecklist.net/
• http://www.animeinfo.com
• http://www.animeondvd.com/
• http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/
• http://www.animeacademy.com/
• http://www.animenfo.com
• http://www.animetric.com
• http://www.anipike.com
• http://www.advfilms.com
• http://www.theanimenetwork.com
• http://www.newtype-usa.com
• What are Manga and Anime? by Eri Izawa, some of whose essays appeared at http://www.ex.org/
• EX: The Online World of Anime and Manga - news, reviews, columns, and shopping guide.
• TechTV Anime Message Board - a lot of noise but some good posts