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, but like a truncated pronunciation of "met"), but in America is typically pronounced "an-ee-may" ("an" pronounced as in "hand"). 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 in Japanese). Some anime fans claim the Japanese word comes from the French animé, ("animated"), although no Japanese believes it.
The voice actors for anime are usually called by the Japanese equivalent term seiyuu.
Anime is known for its variety of genres, unique artistic style and deep, emotional stories. As with live-action cinema, it spans various genres: adventure, science fiction, children's stories, romance, medieval fantasy, erotica (hentai) and others. Anime is an expressly commercial art form; 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 the American style of animation, such as that of Disney. Anime studios have perfected techniques to draw as little new animation as possible, such as scrolling or 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. Others argue that the best anime emphasize sophisticated direction over actual animation (character movement), providing an illusion of motion when there is none.
The main audience outside Japan has traditionally been boys and young men, so most anime which is translated tends to belong to the shonen style, such as 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 may spur further mainstream acceptance of the form.
In North America, the public reaction to anime is still mixed, with lingering stereotypes of 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 such as 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.
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 direct-to-video productions called OVA (Original Video Animation) or OAV, 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 important feature of the anime fan base is anime conventions. Often annual, these conventions allow fans of anime to come together and socialize on a large scale. 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.
Anime characteristics
Outside Japan
Growth in North America
Notable names in anime
Types of Anime
Target audience
Genres
List of Japanese Animation Studios
List of non-Japanese Anime Distributors
See also
External links
General sites
Specific pages/articles
Specific anime compnaies