Anime

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 Anime (/ˈænəˌmeɪ/ (Japanese: アニメ, [aɲime] ( listen), plural: anime)),[a] also
called Japanimation, is hand-drawn or computer animation associated with Japan. The
word anime is the Japanese term for animation, which means all forms of animated media.[1]Outside
Japan, anime refers specifically to animation from Japan or as a Japanese-disseminated
animation style often characterized by colorful graphics, vibrant characters and fantastical
themes.[2][3] Arguably, the culturally abstract approach to the word's meaning may open up the
possibility of anime produced in countries other than Japan.[4][5][6] For simplicity, many Westerners
strictly view anime as a Japanese animation product.[3] Some scholars suggest defining anime as
specifically or quintessentially Japanese may be related to a new form of orientalism.[7]
The earliest commercial Japanese animation dates to 1917, and Japanese anime production has
since continued to increase steadily. The characteristic anime art style emerged in the 1960s with
the works of Osamu Tezuka and spread internationally in the late twentieth century, developing a
large domestic and international audience. Anime is distributed theatrically, by way of television
broadcasts, directly to home media, and over the Internet. It is classified into numerous genres
targeting diverse broad and niche audiences.
Anime is a diverse art form with distinctive production methods and techniques that have been
adapted over time in response to emergent technologies. It consists of an ideal story-telling
mechanism, combining graphic art, characterization, cinematography, and other forms of imaginative
and individualistic techniques.[8] The production of anime focuses less on the animation of movement
and more on the realism of settings as well as the use of camera effects, including panning,
zooming, and angle shots. Being hand-drawn, anime is separated from reality by a crucial gap of
fiction that provides an ideal path for escapism that audiences can immerse themselves into with
relative ease.[8] Diverse art styles are used and character proportions and features can be quite
varied, including characteristically large emotive or realistically sized eyes.
The anime industry consists of over 430 production studios, including major names like Studio
Ghibli, Gainax, and Toei Animation. Despite comprising only a fraction of Japan's domestic film
market, anime makes up a majority of Japanese DVD sales. It has also seen international success
after the rise of English-dubbed programming. This rise in international popularity has resulted in
non-Japanese productions using the anime art style, but these works are usually described
as anime-influenced animation rather than anime proper.

Contents
[hide]

 1Definition and usage

 2Format
 3History
 4Genres
 5Attributes
o 5.1Animation technique
o 5.2Characters
o 5.3Music
 6Industry
o 6.1Awards
 7Globalization
o 7.1Fan response
o 7.2Anime style
 8See also
 9References
o 9.1Notes
 o 9.2Sources
o 9.3Bibliography
 10External links

Definition and usage

Anime is an art form, specifically animation, that includes all genres found in cinema, but it can be
mistakenly classified as a genre.[9] In Japanese, the term anime refers to all forms of animation from
around the world.[1][10] In English, anime (/ˈænəˌmeɪ/) is more restrictively used to denote a
"Japanese-style animated film or television entertainment" or as "a style of animation created in
Japan".[2][11]
The etymology of the word anime is disputed. The English term "animation" is written in
Japanese katakana as アニメーション (animēshon, pronounced [animeːɕoɴ])[3] and is アニ
メ (anime) in its shortened form.[3] Some sources claim that anime derives from the French term for
animation dessin animé,[12][13] but others believe this to be a myth derived from the French popularity
of the medium in the late 1970s and 1980s.[3] In English, anime—when used as a common noun—
normally functions as a mass noun. (For example: "Do you watch anime?" or "How much anime
have you collected?")[14] Prior to the widespread use of anime, the term Japanimation was prevalent
throughout the 1970s and 1980s. In the mid-1980s, the term anime began to
supplant Japanimation.[12][15] In general, the latter term now only appears in period works where it is
used to distinguish and identify Japanese animation.[16]
The word anime has also been criticised, e.g. in 1987, when Hayao Miyazaki stated that he despised
the truncated word anime because to him it represented the desolation of the Japanese animation
industry. He equated the desolation with animators lacking motivation and with mass-produced,
overly expressionistic products relying upon a fixed iconography of facial expressions and protracted
and exaggerated action scenes but lacking depth and sophistication in that they do not attempt to
convey emotion or thought.[17]

Format
The first format of anime was theatrical viewing which originally began with commercial productions
in 1917.[18] Originally the animated flips were crude and required played musical components before
adding sound and vocal components to the production. On July 14, 1958, Nippon
Television aired Mogura no Abanchūru ("Mole's Adventure"), both the first televised and first color
anime to debut.[19] It wasn't until the 1960s when the first televised series were broadcast and it has
remained a popular medium since.[20] Works released in a direct to video format are called "original
video animation" (OVA) or "original animation video" (OAV); and are typically not released
theatrically or televised prior to home media release.[21][22] The emergence of the Internet has led
some animators to distribute works online in a format called "original net anime" (ONA).[23]
The home distribution of anime releases were popularized in the 1980s with the VHS
and LaserDisc formats.[21] The VHS NTSC video format used in both Japan and the United States is
credited as aiding the rising popularity of anime in the 1990s.[21] The Laser Disc and VHS formats
were transcended by the DVD format which offered the unique advantages; including multiple
subtitling and dubbing tracks on the same disc.[24] The DVD format also has its drawbacks in the its
usage of region coding; adopted by the industry to solve licensing, piracy and export problems and
restricted region indicated on the DVD player.[24] The Video CD (VCD) format was popular in Hong
Kong and Taiwan, but became only a minor format in the United States that was closely associated
with bootleg copies.[24]

History
Main article: History of anime

A cel from Namakura Gatana, the earliest surviving Japanese animated short made for cinemas, produced in
1917

Japanese animation began in the early 20th century, when Japanese filmmakers experimented with
the animation techniques also pioneered in France, Germany, the United States and Russia.[13] A
claim for the earliest Japanese animation is Katsudō Shashin, an undated and private work by an
unknown creator.[25] In 1917, the first professional and publicly displayed works began to appear.
Animators such as Ōten Shimokawa and Seitarou Kitayama produced numerous works, with the
oldest surviving film being Kouchi's Namakura Gatana, a two-minute clip of a samurai trying to test a
new sword on his target only to suffer defeat.[18][26][27] The 1923 Great Kantō earthquake resulted in
widespread destruction to Japan's infrastructure and the destruction of Shimokawa's warehouse,
destroying most of these early works.[28]
By the 1930s animation was well established in Japan as an alternative format to the live-action
industry. It suffered competition from foreign producers and many animators, Noburō
Ōfuji and Yasuji Murata, who still worked in cheaper cutout animation rather than cel
animation.[29]Other creators, Kenzō Masaoka and Mitsuyo Seo, nonetheless made great strides in
animation technique; they benefited from the patronage of the government, which employed
animators to produce educational shorts and propaganda.[30] The first talkie anime was Chikara to
Onna no Yo no Naka, produced by Masaoka in 1933.[31][32] By 1940, numerous anime artists'
organizations had risen, including the Shin Mangaha Shudan and Shin Nippon Mangaka.[33] The first
feature-length animated film was Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors directed by Seo in 1944 with
sponsorship by the Imperial Japanese Navy.[34]

A frame from Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors (1944), the first feature-length anime film

The success of The Walt Disney Company's 1937 feature film Snow Wh