Anime: Encyclopedia - Anime

Anime

Anime - 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 the West. During the 1970s, anime developed further, separating itself from its Western roots, and developing unique genres such as mecha. In the 1980s, anime was accepted in the mainstream in Japan, and experienced a boom in production. The 1990s and 2000s saw an increased acceptance of anime in overseas markets.

Anime - Terminology

The Japanese term for animation is アニメーション (animēshon, pronounced: /ɑnimɛːʃɔn/), written in katakana. It is a direct transliteration of the English term "animation." The Japanese term is abbreviated as アニメ (anime, pronounced: /ɑnimɛ/ ). 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 term is a broad one, and does not specify an animation's nation of origin or style.

Anime - Pronunciation

The English word anime is a transliteration of the abbreviated version of this Japanese term, and it is typically pronounced as /ˈænɪˌmei/, or "ANN ih may" ("AH nee may" is a less common variant).

Anime - Spelling

Some non-Japanese speakers theorize the word comes from the French animé ("animated") or "les dessins animés" (animated drawings) and pronounce it as "ah nee MAY", though the Japanese themselves deny this theory, and the fact that it is written in Japanese syllables as アニメ (anime) rather than アニメイ (animei) further lowers its credibility.

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 [e]. Hence, the pronunciations "ah NEEM" and "uh NEEM" are generally considered incorrect.

Anime - Syntax

Anime can be used as a common noun, "Do you watch anime?", as a count noun, "How much anime have you collected" or as a suppletive adjective, "The anime Guyver is different from the movie Guyver".

Anime - Synonyms

Anime once bore the popular name Japanimation, but this term has fallen into disuse. It saw the most usage during the 1970s and 1980s, which broadly comprise the first and second waves of anime fandom. The term survived at least into the early 1990s but seemed to fade away shortly before the mid-1990s anime resurgence. In general, the term now only appears in nostalgic contexts. The term Japanimation is much more commonly used in Japan to refer to domestic animation. Since anime or animeshon is used to describe all forms of animation, Japanimation is meant 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 Europe, 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. This term is much more common in Europe since Manga Entertainment started out in the UK.

The voice actors for anime usually bear the Japanese equivalent designation, seiyū.

Anime - Characteristics

Anime features a wide variety of artistic styles which vary from artist to artist. Anime also features a large number of genres as well--at least as many as traditional cinema. This is an important contrast to most western-produced animation. While most western animated titles are made expressly for younger children, anime has a significantly broader range of appeal. While some anime is made expressly for young children, most titles are targeted towards a young adult or older audience.

Anime - Target audience

Anime is often an explicitly commercial art form; producers and marketers often aim for very specific audiences, with focused categories for shōnen (boys) and shōjo (girls) genres, as well as for teenagers and adults. Other target audiences are described below.

Anime - Genres

Anime has as many genres as live action cinema, including adventure, science fiction, children's stories, romance, medieval fantasy, erotica (hentai), occult/horror, action, and drama.

Most anime includes content from several different genres, as well as a variety of thematic elements. This can make categorizing some titles very difficult. 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 a strongly action themed anime to also involve humor, romance, and even poignant social commentary. The same can be applied to a romance themed anime in that it may involve a strong action element.

Genres and designations that are specific to anime and manga:

• Bishōjo: Japanese for 'beautiful girl', blanket term that can be used to describe any anime that features pretty girl characters, for example Magic Knight Rayearth
• Bishōnen: Japanese for 'beautiful boy' blanket term that can be used to describe any anime that features "pretty" and elegant boys and men, for example Fushigi Yugi
• Ecchi: Japanese for 'indecent sexuality'. Contains mild sexual humor, for example Love Hina.
• Hentai: Japanese for 'abnormal' or 'perverted', and used by Western Audiences to refer to pornographic anime or erotica. However, in Japan the term used to refer to the same material is typically Poruno or Ero.
• Josei: Japanese for 'young woman', this is anime or manga that is aimed at young women, and is one of the rarest forms.
• Kodomo: Japanese for 'child', this is anime or manga that is aimed at young children, for example Doraemon.
• Mecha: Anime or manga featuring giant robots, example Neon Genesis Evangelion.
• Moé: Anime or manga featuring characters that are extremely perky or cute, for example Little Snow Fairy Sugar.
• Progressive: "Art films" or extremely stylized anime, for example Voices of a Distant Star.
• Seinen: Anime or manga similar to Shōjo, but targeted at teenage or young male adults, for example Oh My Goddess!.
• Sentai/Super Sentai: Literally "fighting team" in Japanese, refers to any show that involves a superhero team, for example Cyborg 009.
• Shōjo: Japanese for 'young lady' or 'little girl', refers to anime or manga targeted at girls, for example Cardcaptor Sakura.
  • Mahō Shōjo: Subgenre of Shoujo known for 'Magical Girl' stories, for example Sailor Moon.
• Shōjo-ai: Japanese for 'girl-love', refers to anime or manga that focus on love and romance between female characters, for example Revolutionary Girl Utena.
• Shōnen: Japanese for 'boys', refers to anime or manga targeted at boys, for example Dragon Ball Z.
• Shōnen-ai: Japanese for 'boy-love', refers to anime or manga that focus on love and romance between male characters. This term is being phased out in Japan due to references to pedophilia, and is being replaced by the term "Boys Love" (BL). An example of this style is Gravitation.

Some anime titles are written for a very specific audience, even narrower than those described above. For example, Initial D and éX-Driver concerns street racing and car tuning. Ashita No Joe is about boxing. Hanaukyo Maid Team is based on the French maid fantasy.

Anime - Music

Much like western live-action cinema, anime uses music as an important artistic tool. Anime soundtracks are big business in Japan, and are often times met with similar demand as chart topping pop albums. It is for this reason that anime music is often composed and performed by 'A-list' musicians, stars, and composers. Skilled BGM composers are highly respected in the anime fan community. Anime series with opening credits use the opening theme song as a quick introduction to the show.

The most frequent use of music in Anime is background music or BGM. BGM is used to set the tone of a given scene, for example Neon Genesis Evangelion 's "Decisive Battle" is played when the characters are making battle preparations and it features heavy drum beats and a militaristic style which highlights the tension of the scene and hints at the action to follow.

The theme song (also referred to as the Opening song) usually serves as a marketing tool for the show, and gets the viewer excited about the upcoming program and buying all the soundtracks that go along with it. Insert songs and ending songs often make commentary about the plot or the program as a whole, and are often times used to sell more soundtrack cds. Opening and ending themes, as well as insert songs, are frequently performed by popular musicians or Japanese idols, so in this way, songs become a very important component of an anime program.

Anime - Animation style

The drawing style used in anime is counter productive to the animation process, having far too many details and subsequently making it difficult to keep the number of drawings comparable to other cartoons with design ethics that stress simplicity. This may be due to a philosophy of applying more effort into a each of a few drawings than less effort into one of many.

Osamu Tezuka adapted and simplified many Disney animation precepts to reduce the budget costs and number of frames in the production, though it should be noted that Disney films made in the west are not anime. This was intended to be a temporary measure to allow him to produce one episode every week with an inexperienced animation staff. Anime studios have since perfected techniques to draw as little new animation as possible, using scrolling or repeating backgrounds, still shots of characters sliding across the screen, and dialogue which involves only animating mouths while the rest of the screen remains absolutely still, a technique not wholly unfamiliar to Western animation. The overall effect of these techniques, such as reduced frame rate, several still shots and scrolling backgrounds, has led some critics to accuse anime of choppiness or poor quality in general. (See also limited animation.)

There are often scenes where the frame rate of the animation far exceeds the quality of the rest of the production. These are commonly referred to as "money shots" outside of Japan, where more effort is put into the animation of one scene to give it emphasis over the rest of the work. Animator Yasuo Otsuka was the pioneer of this technique.

Exceptions to these rules are early classic films, such as those produced by Toei Animation up until the mid 1960s, and recent big budget films, such as those produced by the enormously successful Studio Ghibli. These movies have much higher production values, due to their anticipated success at the box office. Some animators in Japan overcome production values by utilizing different techniques than the Disney or the old Tezuka/Otsuka methods of animating anime. Directors such as Hiroyuki Imaishi (Cutey Honey, Dead Leaves) simplify backgrounds so that more attention can be paid to character animation. Other animators like Tatsuyuki Tanaka (in Koji Morimoto's Eternal Family in particular) use squash and stretch, an animation technique not often used by Japanese animators; Tanaka makes other shortcuts to compensate for this. Some higher-budgeted television and OVA (Original Video Animation) series also forego the shortcuts found in most other anime.

While different titles and different artists have their own unique artistic styles, many stylistic elements have become extremely common. Some examples have become so common that they are often described as being definative of anime in general, and have been given names of their own. The most common is the large eyes style drawn on many anime characters, common mainly due to the influence of Osamu Tezuka, who was inspired by the exaggerated features of Western cartoon characters such as Betty Boop and Mickey Mouse and from Disney's Bambi. Tezuka found that large eyes allowed his characters to better express their emotions. Some Western audiences have interpreted such stylized eyes as more Caucasian. Cultural anthropologist Matt Thorn argues that Japanese animators and audiences do not perceive them as inherently more or less foreign. ^[1] 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. Male characters will develop an inexplicable bloody nose around their female love interests (typically to indicate arousal). Embarrassed characters will invariably produce a massive sweat-drop, which has become something of a stereotype 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 no stylistic exaggerations.

Another unique aspect of anime not found in other commercial animation markets is the lack of a directoral system. In most animation produced around the world animators are all forced to conform to a set style by the director or animation director. In Japan starting with the animation director Yoshinori Kanada (as a means to save time and money) each animator brings his/her own style to the work. The most extreme examples of this can be found in Mindgame or The Hakkenden. The Hakkenden is particularly extreme, showing constantly shifting styles of animation based upon the key animator that worked on that particular episode. This approach combined with Otsuka's "money shots" make key animators important individuals in the style and production of an anime film.

Many non-Japanese cartoons are starting to incorporate mainstream anime shortcuts and symbols to appeal to anime's tremendously growing fanbase and cut costs.

Anime - Production types of anime

Most anime can be categorized as one of three types:

• Films, which are generally released in theaters, represent the highest budgets and generally the highest video quality. Popular anime movies include Akira, and Spirited Away. Some anime films are only released at film or animation festivals and are shorter and sometimes lower in production values. Some examples of these are Winter Days, and Osamu Tezuka's Legend of the Forest. Other types of films include compilation movies, which are television episodes edited together and presented in theaters for various reasons, and are hence a concentrated form of a television serial. These may, however, be longer than the average movie. There are also theatrical shorts derived from existing televisions series and billed in Japanese theaters together to form feature-length showing.

• Television series anime is syndicated and broadcast on television on a regular schedule. Television series are generally low quality compared to OVA (Original Video Animation) and film titles, because the production budget is spread out over many episodes rather than a single film or a short series. Most episodes are about 23 minutes in length, to fill a typical thirty-minute time slot with added commercials. One full season is 26 episodes, and many titles run half seasons, or 13 episodes. Most TV series anime episodes will have opening credits, closing credits, and often an "eyecatch", a very short scene, often humorous or silly, that is used to signal the start or end of the commercial break (as "bumpers" in the United States are used in a similar fashion). "Eyecatch" scenes are often found in TV series anime and are generally similar throughout the series.

• OVA (Original Video Animation; sometimes OAV, or Original Animated Video) anime is often similar to a television miniseries. OVAs are typically two to twenty episodes in length; one-shots are particularly short, usually less than film-length. They are most commonly released directly to video. As a general rule OVA anime tends to be of high quality, approaching that of films. Titles often have a very regular, continuous plot best enjoyed if all episodes are viewed in sequence. Popular OVA titles include FLCL, Bubblegum Crisis, and Tenchi Muyo!. Opening credits, closing credits, and eyecatches may sometimes be found in OVA releases, but not universally.

Anime - Franchising

It is very common for one title to spawn several different releases. A title that starts as a popular television series might then have a movie produced at a later date. A good example is Tenchi Muyo!. Originally an OVA, it spawned three movies, three television series, and several spinoff titles and specials.

Not all successors to an anime are a sequel to the original story. Prequels and alternate stories are commonly adapted from the original.

Anime - Licensing and distribution

Anime is available outside of Japan in localized form, referred to as licensed anime or Dubs. Licensed anime is modified by western 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 companies may remove what may be perceived as objectionable content. For the fans who may object to the editing and dubbing of anime, DVDs may be their preference. DVD releases often include both the dubbed audio and the original Japanese audio with subtitles, are typically unedited, and lack commercials.

Anime - 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 is usually seen as the intended method of watching anime by enthusiasts. The ethical implications of producing, distributing, or watching fansubs is a topic of much controversy even when fansub groups do not profit from and cease distribution of their work once the series has been licensed.

See also

• Animated cartoon
• Animation
• Anime industry
• History of Anime
• Traditional animation

Terminology

• Anime Music Video
• Catgirl
• Chibi
• Cosplay
• Dōjinshi or Doujinshi
• Dorama
• J-pop
• Manga
• Otaku

Licensing and fansubbing

• Editing of anime in international distribution
• Fansub

Lists

• Animated television series
• Anime Characters
  • Notable names in anime
• Anime Companies
• Conventions
• List of anime
  • Notable anime
  • Anime theatrically released in America

Anime - Notes

1. ^  Do Manga Characters Look "White"?. URL accessed on December 5, 2005.[[Category:Art genres]

Categories: Animation | Anime | Cartooning | Film

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Anime", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki