AnimeDemand Network

What is Anime?

If you do a google "what is anime" or "anime introduction", you'll find tons of links and descriptions. What I am going to do here is to sum them up. So, what is anime? Anime is the most common word used by fans to refer to Japanese Animation. Is anime the same as cartoon? Technically yes, however for anime fans, anime is not cartoon. See the definition above, anime refers to Japanese animation. So, the rule of thumb is as simple as: if it's not originated from Japan then it's not an anime (while the contrary is not true). People usually think that anime is the animated version of japanese comic (manga). While in most cases this is true, however, not all anime is based on manga. For example, some anime are based on video games like Sakura Taisen and Tales of Eternia. Anime is Japanese for 'animation'. The word was originally borrowed from the French when animation was introduced. Animation as an industry is much larger in Japan than it is in North America, being of the same order of magnitude as the 'live-action' film industry there. Anime separates itself from American animation in many ways. In America, animation is commonly perceived as children's entertainment, as American animation is designed for generally a younger audience. In Japan however, animation is not merely viewed as a form of children's entertainment, but as a visual medium and art form that can be used and manipulated to tell stories in a way that could not be possible with live-action. Anime works covers nearly all film and television genres one could possibly imagine. While anime varies in quality according to both production techniques and artistic merit, the level of sophistication is, in general, far superior to it's counterpart outside Japan, the 'cartoon'. The beauty and appeal of anime is most likely because there is a show for nearly any interest and any age group. Anime is distributed in three forms, TV episodes, Original Video Animation (often called Ova’s or OAVs), and full-length feature films.