Anime, the Japanese
Comic Sub-Culture!

Anime, quite frankly, is a derivation of comic or animation sub-culture I have not been too familiar with. It sure seems popular though, in this day and age. So I have determined that there should be a place for it on my comic book site. I hope you agree.

For all intents and purposes, this is a style of cartoon animation that has its beginnings in Japan. This particular genre has a distinctive character and aesthetics background that visually sets itself apart from other forms of animation.

While some of this style is entirely hand-drawn, computer assisted animation techniques appear to be quite common. Story lines are typically fictional. Examples can be found in most major genres of fiction. Story lines can be found on television, distributed on media such as DVDs, or included in console and computer games. Anime has been influenced by Japanese comics known as manga.

The English word "anime" is a transliteration of the abbreviated version of this Japanese term. It appears there are two accepted ways of pronouncing this word. It can be pronounced as "ANN ih may" or many may also verbalize it as "AH nee may".

Some 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. However your may pronounce it though, this art form has become extremely popular.

History

The history of manga got its start at the beginning of the 20th century. Japanese filmmakers started experimenting with the animation techniques that were being explored in the West.

During the 1970s, further development was seen as the genre was separating itself from its Western roots. Unique genres such as mecha were coming into being. In the 1980s, japanise comics became widely accepted in the mainstream in Japan and therefore, experienced a boom in production. The 1990s and 2000s saw an increased acceptance of this form of expression in overseas markets.

At one time, the genre was also known as Japanimation, but this term has fallen into disuse. More usage of this term was seen during the 1970s and 1980s. This was the time period, which saw the first and second waves of the genre fandom.

The term survived at least into the early 1990s but then seemed to fade before the mid-1990s japanise comics/manga resurgence. In general, the term now only appears in nostalgic contexts. Japanimation is much more commonly used within Japan to refer to domestic animation. Since anime or animeshon 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, Japanise Comics have been referred to in Europe as manga. This practice may have stemmed 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".

More for Manga Fans

There looks to be quite a varied assortment of all things Anime at Amazon that may tickle your taste buds. Don't stay too long though, and come back here. I have more interesting factoids on my next page, which you can get to with the link at the bottom of this page.

If you want to keep up on the varied and interesting activities going on in the world of comic books, then feel free to sign up for my newsletter "Comics Galore" in the form below. And by all means, I would love to hear your comments and opinions on japanese-anime as opposed to comic books. You can sure leave them for me at my contact page in the menu at the left. I may even be able to include them in my newsletter. I thank you ahead of time.

Dave Gieber

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