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Anime

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Anime refers to Japanese animated cartoons. The word is written in three katakana characters A, Ni, Me (アニメ). It should be pronounced "Ah-Nee-Meh" (the "e" sound is not long, it is like a truncated pronunciation of "men"). Ironically, the word is an English transliteration of a Japanese term, which in turn is a Japanese transliteration of the English word "animation".

(Some sources state that the Japanese word comes from the French "Animé", meaning "animated".)

Anime is a medium, not a genre. Anime is known for its variety of genres and unique artistic style. Just as with live-action cinema, it spans various genres: science fiction, childrens' stories, romance, medieval fantasy, erotica, and so forth. Anime is an expressly commercial art form, and most anime are produced and marketed for very specific audiences, with well-defined categories for shonen (boys) and shoujo (girls) genres, as well as teenagers and adults.

Outside of Japan, most of the audience for anime is among boys and young men, so most anime which is translated tends to belong to the shonen style, including titles like Bubblegum Crisis, Tenchi Muyo, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Gundam. On the other hand, shoujo anime has more recently made some showing in the West in the form of Sailor Moon, Card Captor Sakura, and Revolutionary Girl Utena.

There is a wide range of production values in anime, and many shows are made much more cheaply than American or European animation. Unlike Disney's animation which tends to have very smooth and full body movement in their characters, the characters in anime television shows tend to move only limited parts of the body, and often motion is achived by moving a fixed picture across the screen. The minimal movement reduces cost in production because one cel drawing can produce multiple frames by simply panning the camera. Such production techniques are also use in American TV cartoons such as The Simpsons.

Hayao Miyazaki is a well respected director/producer of one genre of anime. His works are characterized by elaborate and beautiful background drawings. If one were to take a snapshot of the frame of his anime, one can see that each frame looks like an artistic painting. His work includes:

Akira is a landmark anime released in 1988. Its attention to details in the cel drawings received worldwide recognitions. (Note: this movie evokes very strong reactions in its viewers, due to its violence and extreme images.)

Examples of anime include:

Genres:

See also: