Thread: Anime? (What is Anime)

Grumble Grumble Grumble

Anime topic... Moving...

Now what is Anime, it depends on who's definition your using...

In Japan, 'Anime', the local abbreviation for Animation, is used as the generic term for Animation... As an example the US cartoon series 'Tom & Jerry' has made it on some of the Top 50 polls of most liked Anime in Japan....

Now outside of Japan, the widely accepted definition for 'Anime' refers to a particular 'style' of animation, written and targeted for a Japanese audience, so series such as 'Magical Do-re-mi' and 'Sailor Moon' would be considered 'Anime', but series written and targeted for US audience such as 'X-Men Evolution' (which was actually animated by the Japanese Studio Madhouse), 'GI Joe Sigma 6' (animated by Studio GONZO), the original 'Powerpuff Girls', and 'Teen Titans' would only be considered 'Anime influenced'

Anime is what the Japanese call their cartoons/animation. There have been debates as to whether anime should be called anime if it is produced outside of Japan or from a non-Japanese studio/person. I see it as an art form/style.

Grumble Grumble Grumble

Originally Posted by ZeRoGravity

Anime is what the Japanese call their cartoons/animation. There have been debates as to whether anime should be called anime if it is produced outside of Japan or from a non-Japanese studio/person. I see it as an art form/style.

Actually, the vast majority of 'in-betweening' work is already done outside of Japan in countries like Korea, China and India, and the Japanese studios have been doing this since the early 90s. And there is one Anime production that I know of (the upcoming Anime Highlander Movie) is produced entirely by a Hong Kong Studio (but with a Japanese director) that's targeted for a Japanese release...

ok thank you for the input

Cartoons that can be called anime are Japanese cartoons... even is some counties like america followed their way of drawing like the ''avatar the last airbender'' (the best example i can give), cant still be called an anime because anime is generally from asia... the japanese made anime...

Good job, LenMiyata. Your unbiased, well informed, posts that showed all sides killed the thread. Now the only thing I have to say I think of anime as cartoons. However, when I mention anime, I'm using it so...people know what I'm talking about. When you think of anime, you think of characteristics of cartoons from Japan. This forum isn't called CartoonsOnline.

****insert filler discussion here****

Grumble Grumble Grumble

So you want to discuss about Anime 'Style', the distinguishing characteristics that seperate Japanese Anime from Anime wannabes and look alikes... With out going into long details, these are the ones I find useful and common...

1. Large Eyes of Characters

2. Highly Detailed Backgrounds

3. Common use of single and multi-layer pans, zooms and rotations to give the illusion of 'animation' to a still image

4. Story Arcs that extend over multiple episodes, up to the entire series

5. Character emotional growth and development

6. More serious and emotional story lines, plots, and cliches

7. Japanese Cultural References

Now, how many of these characteristics do you understand, and can you point out examples of these from popular 'Anime' series... And I claim that most Anime wannabe series will only score maybe 2 or 3 out of this list...