Anime
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
Anime is Japanese for "Animation (a cartoon)". Outside of Japan, anime does mean animation made in Japan most of the time. But in Japan anime is used for any kind of animation. This article is about Japanese animation.
While some anime is hand drawn, the use of computer graphics is common now. Anime represent most major genres of fiction -- like action, love stories, detective stories, sports. Anime is shown on television, distributed on DVD and VHS, and is used in computer and video games. Also, some anime are full length movies. Anime is often based on Japanese comics (manga) and novels. Sometimes live action (not animation) films and television series use storylines from anime.
The history of anime begins around 1900, when Japanese filmmakers tried out ways of animation that came from France, Germany, United States and Russia.
The filmmakers in Japan suffer from low budget, few production sites, and casting restrictions. The lack of Western-looking actors, for example, made it very hard to make films set in Europe or America. The freedom of animation allowed artists to create characters and settings that did not look Japanese at all. This advantage made anime a popular alternative for filmmakers.
During the 1970s, there was an increase in the popularity of manga comics very much. The manga were often later made into anime. At that time Osamu Tezuka also became very popular. Now he is called a "legend" and the "god of manga". Anime developed its typical characteristics and genres through his work and that of other pioneers. The giant robot genre (known as "mecha" outside Japan) took shape under Tezuka. Robot anime like Gundam and Macross became classics in the 80s. Today the robot genre of anime is still one of the most popular in Japan and worldwide. In the 1980s, anime became very popular in Japan, and saw a boom in production (Manga is far more popular than anime in Japan).
[change] Types of anime
- Kodomo (for children)
- Shonen (for boys)
- Shojo (for girls)
- Seinen (for adult boys)
- Seijin (more for boys than girls)
- Josei (for adult girls)
[change] Topics
- Romance
- Comedy
- Ecchi
- Mecha
- Shonen-ai
- Shojo-ai
- Shota-con
- Yaoi
- Drama
- Supernatural
Outside of Japan anime became popular from the late 1980s on. In the USA giant robot anime became popular. In Europe anime for children became popular. Today many different types of anime are popular all through the world.
[change] Related Subjects