What Is Anime?

Written on: 2010-03-25 08:32:06 | by AnimeCrunch

Anime is an abbreviation of the word "animation". Outside Japan, the term most popularly refers to animation originating in Japan. To the West, not all animation is considered anime; and anime is considered a subset of animation. While some anime is hand drawn, computer assisted animation techniques have become quite common in recent years. Like any entertainment medium, the story lines represent most major genres of fiction. Anime is broadcast on television, distributed on media such as DVD and VHS, and included in video games. Additionally, some are produced as full length motion pictures. Anime often draws influence from manga, light novels, and other cultures. Some anime storylines have been adapted into live action films and television series.

History

The history of anime begins at the start of the 20th century, when Japanese filmmakers experimented with the animation techniques that were being explored in France, Germany, the United States, and Russia. Animation became popular in Japan as it provided an alternative format of storytelling compared to the underdeveloped live-action industry in Japan. Unlike America, where live-action shows and films have generous budgets, the live-action industry in Japan is a small market and suffered from budgeting, location, and casting restrictions. The lack of Western-looking actors, for example, made it next to impossible to shoot films set in Europe, America, or fantasy worlds that do not naturally involve Japan. The varied use of animation allowed artists to create any characters and settings. During the 1970s, there was a surge of growth in the popularity of manga— which were often later animated — especially those of Osamu Tezuka, who has been called a "legend" and the "god of manga". As a result of his work and that of other pioneers in the field, anime developed characteristics and genres that are fundamental elements of the art today. The giant robot genre (known as "mecha" outside Japan), for instance, took shape under Tezuka, developed under Go Nagai and others, and was revolutionized at the end of the decade by Yoshiyuki Tomino. Robot anime like Gundam and Macross became instant classics in the 80s, and the robot genre of anime is still one of the most popular in Japan and worldwide today. In the 1980s, anime was accepted in the mainstream in Japan, and experienced a boom in production (It should be noticed that, manga has significantly more mainstream exposure than anime in Japan). The mid-to-late '90s, on into the 2000s, saw an increased acceptance of anime in overseas markets.

Terminology

Etymology and pronunciation

The Japanese term for animation is アニメーション (animēshon, pronounced /ɑnime:ɕoɴ/), written in katakana. It is a direct transliteration and re-borrowed loanword (see gairaigo) of the English term "animation." The Japanese term is abbreviated as アニメ (anime, pronounced /ɑnime/). Both the original and abbreviated forms are valid and interchangeable in Japanese, but as could be expected the abbreviated form is more commonly used. The pronunciation of anime in English differs significantly from Japanese. The first vowel is further forward in English than Japanese: /æ/ is more likely than /ɑ/. As English stresses words differently than Japanese, the second vowel is likely to emerge as an unstressed schwa /ə/ or /I/ in English, whereas in Japanese each mora carries equal stress. As with a few other Japanese words such as Pokémon and Kobo Abé, anime is sometimes spelled as animé in English with an acute accent over the final e to cue the reader that the letter is pronounced as a Japanese /e/. However, this accent does not appear in any commonly used system of romanized Japanese, and English native speakers may produce /eI/.

Definition

Linguistically, the anime definition is subject to interpretation. In Japan, the term does not specify an animation's nation of origin or style; instead, it is used as a blanket term to refer to all forms of animation from around the world. In English, main dictionary sources define anime as "a Japanese style of motion-picture animation" or "a style of animation developed in Japan". Thus, non-Japanese works are sometimes called anime-influenced animation if they borrow stylistically from Japanese animation. In western countries the word is used usually only to refer to animated programming of Japanese origin, with the term "cartoon" or "animated series" used for most other visual styles. The online anime database AniDB generally defines anime (in the singular form) as "an animated, professionally produced, feature film created by a Japanese company for the Japanese market". However, some anime are co-productions with non-Japanese companies like the Cartoon Network. Thus, anime is no longer specific to the Japanese market.

Syntax and morphology

Anime can be used as a common noun, "Do you watch anime?" or as a suppletive adjective, "The anime Guyver is different from the movie Guyver." It may also be used as a mass noun, as in "How much anime have you collected?" and therefore is never pluralized "animes" (nouns are never pluralized in Japanese). However, in other languages where anime has been adopted as a loan word, it is sometimes used as a count noun in singular and in plural as in Danish "Jeg tror, jeg vil se en anime" ("I think I'll watch an anime") and "Hvor mange anime'er har du nu?" ("How many animes do you have now?").

Synonyms

Anime is sometimes referred to as Japanimation, but this term has fallen into disuse. Japanimation saw the most usage during the 1970s and 1980s, which broadly comprise the first and second waves of anime fandom, and had continued use up until before the mid-1990s anime resurgence. In general, the term now only appears in nostalgic contexts. The term is much more commonly used within Japan to refer to domestic animation. Since anime or animēshon is used to describe all forms of animation, Japanimation is used to distinguish Japanese work from that of the rest of the world. In more recent years, anime has also frequently been referred to as manga in European countries, a practice that may stem from the Japanese usage: In Japan, manga can refer to both animation and comics (although the use of manga to refer to animation is mostly restricted to non-fans). Among English speakers, manga usually has the stricter meaning of "Japanese comics". An alternate explanation is that it is due to the prominence of Manga Entertainment, a distributor of anime to the US and UK markets. Because Manga Entertainment originated in the UK the use of the term is common outside of Japan. The portmanteau "animanga" has been used to collectively refer to anime and manga, though it is also a term used to describe comics produced from animation cels.

Characteristics

Anime features a wide variety of artistic styles. They vary from artist to artist or by studio to studio. They are generally characterized by detailed backgrounds and stylized characters in a variety of different settings and storylines, aimed at a wide range of audiences.

Genres

Anime has many genres typically found in any mass media form. Such genres include action, adventure, children's stories, comedy, drama, erotica (hentai), medieval fantasy, occult/horror, romance, and science fiction. Most anime includes content from several different genres, as well as a variety of thematic elements. Thus, some series may be categorized under multiple genres. For example, Neon Genesis Evangelion might be considered to fall into the genres of post-apocalyptic, mecha, drama, and shonen-ai. A show may have a seemingly simple surface plot, but at the same time may feature a far more complex, deeper storyline and character development. It is not uncommon for an action themed anime to also involve humor, romance, and even social commentary. The same can be applied to a romance themed anime in that it may involve an action element, or in some cases brutal violence. The following is a list of the major genres and designations that are specific to anime and manga.

For other possible genres, see film genre.

Genres with Western Counterparts: Demographic Genres: Thematic Genres Romantic Genres
  • Harem: A genre where several girl characters are attracted to a single boy character (or sometimes to multiple boy characters). It is more often than not a Shonen Anime and may be considered a sub-genre. Examples: Ranma ½ or Love Hina.
    • Reverse Harem: As a Harem anime, but where several boy characters are attracted to a single girl character (or sometimes to multiple girl characters). It is more often than not a Shojo Anime and may be considered a sub-genre. Examples: Ouran Host Club or Fruits Basket.
  • Ecchi: Japanese for 'indecent sexuality', derived from the pronunciation of the letter 'H', (the origin of the term is not well known, even in Japan. See main article for more information.) Contains sexual humor, and some fan service. Examples: Love Hina, Oruchuban Ebichu or He Is My Master.
  • Hentai: Japanese for 'abnormal' or 'perverted'. While Western audiences may use the term to refer to pornographic anime or erotica, in Japan the term used to refer to the same material is typically Poruno or Ero. Examples: La Blue Girl.
  • Shōjo-ai/Yuri: Japanese for 'girl-love'. Refers to anime or manga that focus on love and romance between female characters. It is often being replaced by the term "Girls Love" (GL). Yuri is like Shōjo-ai, but sometimes involves older characters or explicit sexual activity. Examples: Revolutionary Girl Utena or Kannazuki no Miko.
  • Shōnen-ai: Japanese for 'boy-love'. Refers to anime or manga that focus on love and romance between male characters. The term "Shōnen-ai" is being phased out in Japan due to its other meaning of pederasty, and is being replaced by the term "Boys Love" (BL). Examples: Loveless.
  • Yaoi: Like "Shōnen-ai" but often involving older characters and explicit sexual activity. Examples: "Sensitive Pornograph"
Some anime titles are written for a very specific audience, even narrower than those described above. For example, Initial D, Wangan Midnight and éX-Driver concern street racing and car tuning. Ashita No Joe, Hajime no Ippo were about boxing. Hanaukyo Maid Team is based on the French maid fantasy.

Style

While different titles and different artists have their own artistic styles, many stylistic elements have become so common such that they are described as being definitive of anime in general. These elements have been given names of their own. The anime drawing style can be learned, particularly with the aid of books such as How to Draw Manga. Such books come complete with information and instructions on the styles used in anime. A common approach is the large eyes style drawn on many anime characters, credited to the influence of Osamu Tezuka, who was inspired by the exaggerated features of American cartoon characters such as Betty Boop and Mickey Mouse and from Disney's Bambi. Tezuka found that large eyes style allowed his characters to show emotions distinctly. Cultural anthropologist Matt Thorn argues that Japanese animators and audiences do not perceive such stylized eyes as inherently more or less foreign. When Tezuka began drawing Ribbon no Kishi, the first manga specifically targeted at young girls, Tezuka further exaggerated the size of the characters' eyes. Indeed, through Ribbon no Kishi, Tezuka set a stylistic template that later shōjo artists tended to follow. Another variation of this style is "chibi" or "super deformed"; which usually feature huge eyes, an enlarged head, and small body. Other stylistic elements are common as well; often in comedic anime, characters that are shocked or surprised will perform a "face fault", in which they display an extremely exaggerated expression. Angry characters may exhibit a "vein" or "stressmark" effect, where lines representing bulging veins will appear on their forehead. Angry women will sometimes summon a mallet from nowhere and strike someone with it, leading to the concept of Hammerspace and cartoon physics. Male characters will develop a bloody nose around their female love interests (typically to indicate arousal, based on an old wives' tale). Embarrassed characters will invariably produce a massive sweat-drop, which has become one of the most widely recognized stereotype motifs of anime. The degree of stylization varies from title to title. Some titles make extensive use of common stylization: FLCL, for example, is known for its wild, exaggerated stylization. In contrast, titles such as Only Yesterday, a film by Isao Takahata, take a much more realistic approach, and feature few stylistic exaggerations.

Anime beyond Japan

Early anime in the United States

The United States saw its first exposure to anime in June of 1961, when Shônen Sarutobi Sasuke (Magic Boy) was released by MGM, followed a few weeks later by Hakuja den (Panda and the Magic Serpent, or The Tale of the White Serpent). Anime then got its running jump in September of 1963, when NBC syndicated a dubbed version of the Japanese series Astro Boy. Not counting such Japanese/American co-productions as The King Kong Show and Johnny Cypher in Dimension Zero[1], only seven more anime TV series were released in the United States in the 1960s. These were 8 Man (1965), Gigantor (1966), Kimba the White Lion (1966), Prince Planet (1966), Marine Boy (1966), The Amazing 3 (1967) and Speed Racer (1967). Speed Racer would be the last anime series released in the United States until 1978 when the 1972 series Kagaku ninja tai Gatchaman was adapted for American audiences as Battle of the Planets. Many anime series that made it to American television from the 1960s through the 1980s tended to be science fiction or action-oriented, such as Star Blazers (the English dub of Space Battleship Yamato) and Robotech and Voltron (both Americanized amalgamations of unrelated anime series cobbled together into a single story). As the 1980s wore on, more anime series and films targeted at very young children also found their way to U.S. TV screens, often on cable television channels or in syndication. Nickelodeon broadcast many mostly Canadian-made English dubs of anime films during its early years, including TV series such as Mysterious Cities of Gold, Adventures of the Little Koala, Belle and Sebastian, The Adventures of the Little Prince, Noozles, Maya the Bee, Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics, and The Littl' Bits, many of which were aired on "Nick Jr.", the network's block of programming for very young viewers. The Disney Channel broadcast both of the feature-length anime films starring Osamu Tezuka's popular unicorn character Unico, and CBN redubbed and broadcast its Bible-based anime TV series co-produced with Tatsunoko, Superbook and The Flying House. HBO also showed juvenile-targeted anime on occasion, including TV series such as Tales of Little Women, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and Saban's Adventures of Pinocchio and feature films such as Gisaburo Sugii's 1974 Jack and the Beanstalk. A great many anime films and feature-length TV series compilations were also released direct-to-video in the U.S., and were often available for rental at mainstream video stores. Some titles which were distributed in the U.S. in this fashion included Candy Candy, Captain Future, Angel, Serendipity the Pink Dragon, Taro the Dragon Boy, Robby the Rascal (Cybot Robotchi), and Ninja the Wonder Boy (Manga Sarutobi Sasuke). For the most part, though, these TV series and films were not actively promoted as being of Japanese origin; in fact, many of them went so far as to remove most or all Japanese names from the credits except for credits to the animation studios. In the series themselves, character names were often changed and Japanese cultural references removed to make them more accessible to English-speaking audiences, such as Genshi being changed to Flint in Space-Time Detective Genshi-kun. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, this trend began to change as more openly Japanese works, such as Sailor Moon, Gundam Wing, Pokémon, Dragon Ball Z, Digimon, and Yu-Gi-Oh! achieved mainstream popularity on American television. Although many of these shows did undergo some kind of "Americanization" in the form of character name changes and edits for violence, language, and the occasional nudity, viewers were more aware of the shows' country of origin, which might perhaps pique their curiosity to seek out other works in a similar style.

Current reception in the United States

AnimeNation’s John Oppliger had this to say on the matter:
The support for anime among American anime fans is very strong. The availability of anime in America is truly impressive, especially within the anime fan community. Awareness of Japanese animation in America is at an all time high. However, mainstream acceptance of anime in America lags far behind the advances anime has made in other respects. A close examination of the support for anime on American television may provide a revealing and realistic gauge of the actual penetration of anime into America and American culture. Anime may seem like it's tremendously successful in America because its high profile, but the facts tell another story.
According to AC Nielsen, Pixar's The Incredibles sold 16 million copies on DVD in America last year. Shark Tale sold nearly 10 million copies. Even the DVD release of Bambi sold 6 million copies in 2005. In comparison, all four Inuyasha movies combined have sold just over 1 million copies in the past year and a half. Evidently, the success of anime in America is very relative. American anime fans are very devoted. Through underground means hardcore American fans now have access to brand new Japanese anime before even many Japanese residents do. America's anime fan community is influential because it's affluent, intelligent, and motivated; but it's not very large. Despite assessments like that, and its rare and limited release in American theaters, anime's legitimacy and respect in North America has grown well enough to garner major native artistic awards such as the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2002 for Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki. Anime has a dedicated fan following in English speaking countries, particularly active on the internet, and at conventions regularly held throughout the US and UK.

Commercial appeal

Anime has become commercially profitable in western countries as early commercially successful western adaptations of anime, such as Astro Boy, have revealed. The phenomenal success of Nintendo's multi-billion dollar Pokémon franchise was helped greatly by the spin-off anime series that, first broadcast in the late 1990s, is still running worldwide to this day.

Licensing

Anime is available outside of Japan in localized form. Licensed anime is modified by distributors through dubbing into the language of the country. The anime may also be edited to alter cultural references that may not be understood by a non-Japanese person and certain companies may remove what may be perceived as objectionable content. This process was far more common in the past (e.g. One Piece), when anime was largely unheard of in the west, but its use has declined in recent years because of the demand for anime in its original form. This "light touch" approach to localization has proved popular with fans as well as viewers formerly unfamiliar with anime. The popularity of such methods is evident by the success of Naruto and Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block, both of which employ minor edits. The "light touch" approach also applies to DVD releases as they often include both the dubbed audio and the original Japanese audio with subtitles, are typically unedited. Anime edited for television is usually released on DVD "uncut," with all scenes intact. Anime has also been a commercial success in Asia, Europe and Latin America, where anime has become even more mainstream than in the United States. For example, the Saint Seiya video game was released in Europe due to the popularity of the show even years after the series has been off-air.

Fansubs

Although it is a violation of copyright laws in many countries, some fans watch fansubs, recordings of anime series that have been subtitled by fans. Watching subtitled Japanese versions, though not necessarily downloaded fansubs, is seen by many enthusiasts as the preferred method of watching anime. The ethical implications of producing, distributing, or watching fansubs are topics of much controversy even when fansub groups do not profit from their activities and cease distribution of their work once the series has been licensed outside of Japan.

Influence on Western animation

Anime-influenced animation refers to non-Japanese works of animation that emulate the visual style of anime. Though most of these works are created by and primarily shown in the United States, many also involve production studios from Europe and non-Japanese Asia. These generally adapted anime stylizations and anime methods described in anime physics into their own. Such examples exist in Totally Spies!, The Boondocks, W.I.T.C.H. and Megas XLR. In addition, works such as Avatar: The Last Airbender features Asian themes. While these examples are not considered anime by the fanbase majority, they are best noted for being "influenced by anime".

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