Anime

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Anime (アニメ^?) is a medium of animation originating in Japan, with distinctive character and background aesthetics that visually set it apart from other forms of animation. While some anime is entirely hand-drawn, computer assisted animation techniques are quite common. Storylines are typically fictional; examples of anime representing most major genres of fiction exist. Anime is broadcast on television, distributed on media such as DVD and VHS, or included in computer and video games. Anime is influenced by Japanese comics known as manga. 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, United States and Russia. During the 1970s, anime developed further, separating itself from its 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 mid-to-late ’90s, on into 2000, saw an increased acceptance of anime in overseas markets.

Terminology

The Japanese term for animation is アニメーション (animēshon, pronounced: /ɑnimeːʃon/), written in katakana. It is a direct transliteration and re-borrowed loanword of the English term “animation”, though there exists a theory that the word comes from the French animé (animated, “ah nee MAY”) or “les dessins animés” (animated drawings). 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.

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].

In Japan, the term is a broad one, and does not specify an animation’s nation of origin or style. In English speaking countries the word is used usually only to refer to animated programming of Japanese origin. However, Some non-Japanese works are erroneously called anime if they borrow stylistically from the medium.

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 anime do you have now?”).

Synonyms

Anime is sometimes referred to by the portmanteau 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.

Image http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Anime_eye.svg

Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses materials from the Wikipedia.