Is anime only Japanese?
Television in Japan
, taken from half of the Japanese pronunciation of "animation", is the Japanese word for animation in general, but is used more specifically to mean "Japanese animation" in the rest of the world. Anime dates from about 1917. TV networks regularly broadcast anime programming. In Japan, major national TV networks, such as TV Tokyo broadcast anime regularly. Smaller regional stations broadcast anime on UHF. "Naruto", "Pokémon", "Bleach", "Dragon Ball", and "One Piece" are examples of anime. While many popular series air during the daytime and evening hours, most air only at night from 12:00am – 4:00am. These series usually make profits primarily through BD (Blu-ray Disc)/DVD sales and merchandising rather than through television advertisement. Some anime series are original, but most are intended to promote something else, such as an ongoing manga, light novel, or video-game series.
List of anime by release date (pre-1939)
This is a list of anime by release date which covers Japanese animated productions that were made between 1917–1938. Anime in Japan can be traced back to three key figures whom in the early 20th century started experimenting with paper animation. It is unknown when the first animated film was made, but historians have tied the year 1917 as being the key date. Very few of the first animations that were made survive to this day due to the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. At one point it was even thought that all animated works made before the earthquake were lost until the discovery of two films in 2008. Production of animated works resumed again after the earthquake, and by the early/mid 1930s sound, and cel animation were starting to appear. Later in the decade, Japan went to war with China, resulting in paper needed for the war to be used sparingly. As a result, new manga stories disappeared from the public while the Japanese government stepped in to regulate what was being released through the cinemas to take its place. The mid to late 1930s saw more animated works that were propaganda-themed to rally the public's support.
Original English-language manga
Anime and manga news site Anime News Network currently uses the term "world manga", coined by Jason DeAngelis of Seven Seas Entertainment, to describe these works in their column entitled Right-Turn Only. In May 2006, Tokyopop officially changed the name of their line of non-Japanese manga to "global manga", considering it a more respectful and accurate term than Amerimanga with its negative connotations of being a sub-par quality of work in comparison to Japanese manga; however, the Tokyopop books themselves, whether they come from Japan, Korea, or some other country, all say manga on them and are shelved in the manga section of the major bookstore chains such as Borders and Barnes & Noble alongside Japanese manga, Korean manhwa, Chinese manhua, French la nouvelle manga, and American graphic novels of similar size and dimensions. It is understood, however, that manga does not act as a loanword when used in the original Japanese language and therefore it only takes its original meaning of, simply, comics.
Anime-influenced animation
Generally, the term anime refers to a style of animation originating from Japan. As Japanese anime became increasingly popular, Western animation studios began implementing some visual stylizations typical in anime—such as exaggerated facial expressions and "super deformed" versions of characters. In particular, "Batman Beyond" displayed some characteristics of anime. Particularly for "Batman Beyond", some of its production processes were outsourced to Japan.
Japanese Association of Independent Television Stations
Short-running anime productions (as little as one episode) are often broadcast by the independent stations, a concept which has been referred to as "UHF anime". They also sometimes run shopping programming, along with brokered programming such as infomercials and televangelism. In 2000, All Japan Pro Wrestling moved to JAITS affiliates after it ended its run on Nippon TV.
Anime Limited
Anime Limited, also known as All the Anime is a British anime distribution company based in Glasgow, Scotland. It releases anime for British, Irish, French and all other European audiences. The company was established in 2013 by Andrew Partridge, best known from his role in Scotland Loves Anime. The company releases both old and new anime titles. Since 2015, it serves as the main British and Irish distributors for North American anime distributor Funimation.
Haibane Renmei
The anime series aired in Japan in late 2002 and was released on DVD the following year. It was subsequently aired by Animax in its respective networks around the world, translating and subtitling the series into English for broadcast across its English language networks in Southeast Asia under the French title "Ailes Grises" ("Grey Wings"), where the series received its English-language television premiere. It was licensed and dubbed into English, in North America by Geneon Entertainment and New Generation Pictures, which published DVD releases from mid-2003 to early 2004. In 2010 Funimation relicensed the show, along with a handful of other Geneon properties. It has been released in Australia by Madman Entertainment and in Europe by MVM Films.
List of anime distributed in the United States
These anime series have been shown and have achieved varying levels of popularity in the United States and Canada, this is contributed to the era known as the "anime boom" which lasted from the mid-1990s to mid-2000s. In the United States, most anime can be seen televised on channels, with channels such as Adult Swim's Toonami block, and Toku airing anime targeted toward young adults to adult audiences, and with channels such as Disney XD, and Nicktoons airing anime targeted toward children audiences. Anime can also be viewed online legally on streaming websites such as Anime Network, Funimation's FunimationNow platform, Crunchyroll, Netflix, Crackle, YouTube and Hulu.
List of anime distributed in the United States
The first anime in the US in the 1990s, "Dragon Warrior" (also known as "Dragon Quest"), based on the video game series, aired in 1989 in Japan and 1990 in the US by Saban Entertainment. The show was created by Akira Toriyama, the same person who made the "Dragon Ball" series. The show wasn't successful in the US and didn't get a release to home video.
Jan Scott-Frazier
Jan Scott-Frazier (born Scott Frazier) is an American who has worked in various roles of the Japanese anime industry for 13 years, including producer. Frazier was one of the few foreigners to work in the Japanese anime industry.
Japanese pop culture in the United States
Through the last two decades the introduction of anime into American mainstream culture has furthered its popularity. Such famous titles as "Sailor Moon", "Dragon Ball Z", and most importantly "Pokémon" have influenced anime's appeal to young Americans. "Anime already makes up an estimated 60% of all broadcast animation across the world." "ICv2 estimates the size of the North American anime market at $275-300 million" (in retail dollars)." To compete with its Japanese competitors, many production companies in the US have adjusted their style to one inspired by anime to hold onto their viewers. An important example that has sparked much controversy in the animation world would be "". A popular show on Nickelodeon, the characters have a distinct anime style, even the expressions and mannerism drawn evoke that of anime style. "Teen Titans" on Cartoon Network is yet another example of anime's influence on cartoons, as well as a popular comic strip turned cartoon called "The Boondocks". In recent years there has also been development of Anime developed in the United States in collaboration with Japan, examples would be the Netflix original series Neo Yokio and Castlevania (TV series) based off the video game series.
List of Digimon films
Aside from the multiple television series, several films have been released in the "Digimon" franchise. Of those films, two short films (OVAs) animated completely in CGI have never been screened outside Japan, while "Digital Monster X-Evolution" was first broadcast on television, animated completely in CGI, and was not related to any other season of the television series. The other films are primarily hand-drawn and related to the television series. The first three films are also available in English, compiled into a single film "". Subsequent films up to "" were also released in English as well, but localizing stopped until the release of the "Digimon Adventure tri." film series, whose films are streamed worldwide with English subtitles on the same day as they are released on Japanese theaters, with dubbed copies later released outside Japan.
Japanification
This temporary increase in Japanese language learners in the early years of the 21st century was unusual given Japan’s economic gloom and turmoil in the last two decades, but then again it might not be that surprising due to the rising popularity of manga and anime around 2009. Manga and anime was seen by some as a leading factor in reasons why the number of Japanese language learners was increasing, “Over 50% of Japanese language learners surveyed by the Japan Foundation in 2009 cited wanting to learn how to read manga and anime as a key reason for studying Japanese.” Today, we see what many consider is a rapid decline in the global popularity of Japanese manga and anime. Some praise the 10% of high quality manga and anime for its initial popularity, and blame its recent decline in popularity on the 90% of low quality material that has been released in recent years. Another possible reason for the decline in sales could be the increase in "Scanlations" which are described in a statement by Japan's Digital Comic Association: "The 36 publishers in Japan’s Digital Comic Association and several American publishers are forming a coalition to combat the “rampant and growing problem” of scanlations — illicit digital copies of manga either translated by fans or scanned directly from legitimate English releases".
Shigofumi: Letters from the Departed
Shigofumi: Letters from the Departed, titled in Japan, or simply Shigofumi, is a Japanese anime television series created by Tomorō Yuzawa and produced by Bandai Visual and Genco, which aired in Japan on Chiba TV and other networks between January 6 and March 22, 2008 and contains twelve episodes. An original video animation episodes was included with the final anime DVD volume released on September 26, 2008. A light novel series was originally adapted from the anime's premise set by Tomorō Yuzawa, featuring story composition and illustrations by Ryō Amamiya and Poko, respectively. Four novels were published by MediaWorks under their "Dengeki Bunko" imprint between October 2006 and March 2008. Despite the novels being produced first, the anime is considered the original work, as stated by Yuzawa. The anime has been acquired by Bandai Visual for English language localization. The title "Shigofumi" comes from the combination of the Japanese words for , and , which literally translates to an "after death letter".
List of programs broadcast by Animax
This is a list of anime series, anime films, and anime OVA series broadcast by the Japanese anime satellite television network, Animax, in its networks across North America, Japan, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, and other regions.
Drifters (manga)
In Japan, the anime is exclusively streamed on the AbemaTV service simultaneously as the anime aired on Japanese television, starting on October 7 at 11:00 p.m. The series has been licensed by Funimation for streaming in English-speaking countries and home video and on-demand distribution for the U.S. Additionally, Funimation streamed "Drifters" in English beginning on November 6, 2016, at 10:00 p.m. ET. As part of Funimation's partnership with Crunchyroll, Crunchyroll also streamed "Drifters" as it aired in Japan. "Drifters" was also broadcast on Aniplus Asia. Funimation released a DVD/Blu-ray combo package for "Drifters" on October 3, 2017. Universal Pictures UK acquired the series for the United Kingdom and Ireland, and will release it on October 8, 2018. Universal Sony classified the series for release in Australia and New Zealand, and will release it on October 17, 2018.
Devils and Realist
It was announced on December 24, 2012 that an anime adaptation of the series was in production, consisting of twelve episodes, and premiered on July 7, 2013. Crunchyroll streamed the series with English subtitles as it airs in Japan. The anime has been licensed in North America by Sentai Filmworks, and was released on March 17, 2015 on DVD/Blu-ray subtitled-only format.
Anime
The industry has been subject to both praise and condemnation for fansubs, the addition of unlicensed and unauthorized subtitled translations of anime series or films. Fansubs, which were originally distributed on VHS bootlegged cassettes in the 1980s, have been freely available and disseminated online since the 1990s. Since this practice raises concerns for copyright and piracy issues, fansubbers tend to adhere to an unwritten moral code to destroy or no longer distribute an anime once an official translated or subtitled version becomes licensed. They also try to encourage viewers to buy an official copy of the release once it comes out in English, although fansubs typically continue to circulate through file sharing networks. Even so, the laid back regulations of the Japanese animation industry tends to overlook these issues, allowing it to grow underground and thus increasing the popularity until there is a demand for official high quality releases for animation companies. This has led to an increase in global popularity with Japanese animations, reaching $40 million in sales in 2004.
History of anime
In the 1980s, anime became mainstream in Japan, experiencing a boom in production with the rise in popularity of anime like "Gundam", "Macross", "Dragon Ball", and genres such as real robot, space opera and cyberpunk. "Space Battleship Yamato" and "The Super Dimension Fortress Macross" also achieved worldwide success after being adapted respectively as "Star Blazers" and "Robotech".
Please Teacher!
It has also been broadcast across Japan by the anime satellite television network, Animax, who have aired the series across its respective networks worldwide, including East Asia, Latin America, and as well as its English language networks in Southeast Asia and South Asia. The series has been licensed for North American distribution by Bandai's distributive unit across the region, Bandai Entertainment, who have released the series via a four-volume DVD release, and whose English dub has also been broadcast by Animax across its English-language networks in Southeast Asia and South Asia. The series is now licensed by Right Stuf under their Nozomi Entertainment label.
List of anime distributed in the United States
Fansub sites of popular anime have been popular yet controversial in the U.S. Many are criticized for losing anime licencors revenue and have been blamed for the cause of many companies going out of business. Section23, Bandai, Viz, TV Tokyo and Funimation have tried to limit these efforts by sending cease and decease letters or blocking out content on many sites. Also the production of English dubs of anime in general has decreased and many distributors are switching to the subtitle-only market such as Sentai Filmworks, Aniplex Of America and NIS America.
Japanese art
As Japan has always made little distinction between 'fine art' and 'decorative art', as the West has done since the Renaissance, it is important to note Japan's significant and unique contributions to the fields of art in entertainment, commercial uses, and graphic design. Cartoons imported from America led to [[anime]] that at first were derived exclusively from manga stories. Today, anime abounds, and many artists and studios have risen to great fame as artists; [[Hayao Miyazaki]] and the artists and animators of [[Studio Ghibli]] are generally regarded to be among the best the anime world has to offer. Japan also flourishes in the fields of [[graphic design]], commercial art (e.g. billboards, magazine advertisements), and in [[video game]] graphics and concept art.
Anime
The 1970s saw a surge of growth in the popularity of "manga", Japanese comic books and graphic novels, many of which were later animated. The work of Osamu Tezuka drew particular attention: he has been called a "legend" and the "god of manga". His work—and that of other pioneers in the field—inspired characteristics and genres that remain fundamental elements of anime today. The giant robot genre (known as "mecha" outside Japan), for instance, took shape under Tezuka, developed into the Super Robot genre under Go Nagai and others, and was revolutionized at the end of the decade by Yoshiyuki Tomino who developed the Real Robot genre. Robot anime like the "Gundam" and "The Super Dimension Fortress Macross" series became instant classics in the 1980s, and the robot genre of anime is still one of the most common in Japan and worldwide today. In the 1980s, anime became more accepted in the mainstream in Japan (although less than manga), and experienced a boom in production. Following a few successful adaptations of anime in overseas markets in the 1980s, anime gained increased acceptance in those markets in the 1990s and even more at the turn of the 21st century. In 2002, "Spirited Away", a Studio Ghibli production directed by Hayao Miyazaki won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival and in 2003 at the 75th Academy Awards it won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Anime on Demand
Anime on Demand is a British/French website devoted to the streaming of anime legally in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Founded in April 2011, the website is a project between the French anime distributor Kazé SAS and several British and French anime distributors, including Manga Entertainment, Beez Entertainment and MVM Films. Initially hosted by Anime News Network, Version 1.0 of the site, hosted by Viz Media Europe, launched as an open beta in December 2011. In December 2013 it announced its closing and its incorporation to Animax UK.
History of comics
In Japan, a country with a long tradition for illustration, comics were hugely popular. Referred to as manga, the Japanese form was established after World War II by Osamu Tezuka, who expanded the page count of a work to number in the hundreds, and who developed a filmic style, heavily influenced by the Disney animations of the time. The Japanese market expanded its range to cover works in many genres, from juvenile fantasy through romance to adult fantasies. Japanese manga is typically published in large anthologies, containing several hundred pages, and the stories told have long been used as sources for adaptation into animated film. In Japan, such films are referred to as anime, and many creators work in both forms simultaneously, leading to an intrinsic linking of the two forms.
Anime UK
Anime UK was a British magazine founded in 1991 dedicated to Japanese animation and published for six years before ceasing publication in 1996. Peter Goll, Steve Kyte, Helen McCarthy, and Wil Overton founded the magazine in London. Published for six years, it was sold worldwide and was widely admired for its innovative design, high production standards and varied, entertaining content. Its stated aims were to make the then arcane and unknown world of Japanese animation accessible to non-Japanese speakers, and to promote a positive and open image for a medium that received some negative press during its early years in the U.K.
List of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's episodes
The following is a list of episodes for the anime series , which began airing in Japan on April 2, 2008. The series is currently licensed for release in North America by Konami. However, only 31 episodes from seasons 4 and 5 were dubbed into English by 4Kids Entertainment, due to low ratings, pressure to air Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal, and an ongoing lawsuit from TV Tokyo and NAS.
Digimon
The "Digimon" anime series was produced by Toei Animation and Bandai of Japan. Beginning in 1999, the franchise was given an anime as the first of the "Digimon" movies aired in theaters in Japan. Originally, the "Digimon Adventure" movie was supposed to be a short film, but after the storyboard was finished, a request for "Digimon" becoming a children's television show was made, which later became the basis for "Digimon Adventure". Several more series would follow, most of them with their own tie-in movies. The series was dubbed for release in Western markets, with the first four series under the title "Digimon: Digital Monsters".Several "Digimon" featurette films were released in Japan, with some of them seasonal tie-ins for their respective television series. In addition to the, "", an American film featuring "Digimon Adventure", "Digimon Adventure: Children's War Game!", "Digimon Adventure 02: Part 1: Digimon Hurricane Touchdown!!/Part 2: Supreme Evolution!! The Golden Digimentals", was released in the United States and Canada by Fox Kids through 20th Century Fox on October 6, 2000.In the United States, the series premiered in August 1999 on the Fox Broadcasting Company. It was dubbed by Saban Entertainment (later Sensation Animation), and was initially broadcast through Fox Kids. The first four series were collectively retitled "Digimon: Digital Monsters". Some scenes from the original version were modified or omitted in order to comply with Fox's standards and practices. The show also featured more jokes and added dialogue, along with a completely different musical score. As a cross-promotional stunt, 2001 and 2002 saw "Digi-Bowl" specials co-produced with Fox Sports; "NFL on Fox" commentator Terry Bradshaw provided interstitial segments in-between episodes as if the episodes were actually a football game.
Late night anime
As of July 2006, there are 67 late night titles being broadcast, out of 95 total anime titles. This number includes those broadcast by satellite and UHF stations as well. However, not all are broadcast nationwide. Tokyo, for instance, has 49 late night anime series being broadcast. In Okinawa, only 3 of them are on the air.
The Prince of Tennis
Despite the reviews, the series is popular in Japan. When TV Asahi, a television network in Japan, conducted a nationwide survey for the one hundred most popular animated television series, "The Prince of Tennis" anime came in twenty-seventh place. They also conducted an online web poll, in which "The Prince of Tennis" placed eighteenth. Nearly a year later, TV Asahi once again conducted an online poll for the top one hundred anime, and this time, "The Prince of Tennis" anime advanced in rank and came in eighth place. They also surveyed Japanese celebrities for their favorite anime, where the series only came in sixty-eighth out of the top one hundred.
Anime and manga fandom
In the '70s, Japanese Animation reached Europe mainly with productions aimed at European and Japanese children with the main results being "Heidi", "Vicky the Vicking" and "Barbapapa". However these works were not recognized as Japanese productions and did not earn much of a dedicated fanbase. However Italy, Spain and France grew an interest for more Japanese animation for their television programming, due to success of previous co-productions, Japan's productive output and cheap selling price in comparison to US animation. Particularly Italy imported the most anime outside of Japan. Like in the Philippines, the Super Robot Genre became very popular with series such as "UFO Robot Grendizer" and "Mazinger Z". However many more genres got added to the mix, with space opera such as "Captain Harlock", shojo shows like "Candy Candy" and "Rose of Versailles", sports like "Captain Tsubasa" and more. Germany however largely rejected Anime other than western literature adaptations of Nippon Animation, with Speed Racer and "Captain Future" proving to be problematic. It was only during the rise of cable television during the '90s that Japanese series such as "Queen Millennia", and "Rose of Versailles" went on air. A strong affinity for unique Japanese productions was developed among a generation of German children during this period.
List of anime distributed in the United States
The 1990s, was the period in which anime reached mainstream popularity in the U.S. market and the terms "anime" and "manga" became commonly well known (ultimately replacing the former majorly known term "Japanimation"). Companies such as FUNimation Productions, Bandai Entertainment, 4Kids Entertainment, Central Park Media, Media Blasters, Saban Entertainment, Viz Video, Pioneer LDC and ADV Films began licensing anime in the United States.
Anime-influenced animation
"", and its sequel series "The Legend of Korra" are other examples of Western anime so heavily influenced by Japanese anime that they started discussions among fans and viewers about what is an Anime and should a non-Japanese animation be called an Anime. "Avatar" creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino confirmed a particular Japanese anime influence in a magazine interview; that of "Hayao Miyazaki, especially "Spirited Away" and "Princess Mononoke"" as well as "My Neighbor Totoro". Other studios from which inspiration was drawn include Studio 4°C, Production I.G, Polygon Pictures and Studio Ghibli.
List of Japanese artists
"This list is intended to encompass Japanese who are primarily fine artists. For information on those who work primarily in film, television, advertising, manga, anime, video games, or performance arts, please see the relevant respective articles."
Puffy AmiYumi
On November 19, 2004, an animated series featuring cartoon versions of Ami and Yumi, "Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi", premiered on the United States' Cartoon Network. Despite both of them being voiced by American actresses (though Janice Kawaye, who plays Ami, is of Japanese descent), the real Ami and Yumi star in short live-action segments taped in Japan. The show also features some of Puffy's music. Cartoon Network's Japan service started airing episodes of the series (in English with Japanese subtitles) in 2005. In October of that year, TV Tokyo began airing a Japanese-dubbed version of the series, which eventually also went to CN Japan on January 8, 2006. Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi also debuted in other countries such as Mexico, dubbed in Spanish, and Brazil, dubbed in Brazilian Portuguese, both transmitted on Cartoon Network.
2000s in Japan
Anime of the 2000s would include "Bleach", "One Piece", "", "Sonic X", "Tokyo Mew Mew", "Ojamajo Doremi", "Gurren Lagann", and "Kodai Ōja Kyōryū Kingu". Most of these anime shows mentioned here would also go on to relative success in North America and Europe in the 2000s. For example, "Tokyo Mew Mew" became "Mew Mew Power" while "Ojamajo Doremi" became "Magical Doremi".
Shōjo manga
As shōjo literally means 'girl' in Japanese, the equivalent of the western usage will generally include the term: girls' manga (少女漫画 "shōjo manga"), or anime for girls ( "shōjo-muke anime"). The parallel terms shōnen, seinen, and josei also occur in the categorisation of manga and anime, with similar qualification. Though the terminology originates with the Japanese publishers and advertisers, cultural differences with the West mean that labelling in English tends to vary wildly, with the types often confused and mis-applied.
Dragon Ball
The anime adaptations have also been very well-received and are better known in the Western world than the manga, with Anime News Network saying, "Few anime series have mainstreamed it the way "Dragon Ball Z" has. To a certain generation of television consumers its characters are as well known as any in the animated realm, and for many it was the first step into the wilderness of anime fandom." In 2000, satellite TV channel Animax together with "Brutus", a men's lifestyle magazine, and Tsutaya, Japan's largest video rental chain, conducted a poll among 200,000 fans on the top anime series, with "Dragon Ball" coming in fourth. TV Asahi conducted two polls in 2005 on the Top 100 Anime, "Dragon Ball" came in second in the nationwide survey conducted with multiple age-groups and in third in the online poll. On several occasions, the "Dragon Ball" anime has topped Japan's DVD sales. In the United States, the anime series has also sold over 25million DVD units by January 2012, and more than 30million DVD and Blu-ray units as of 2017. By 2002, the anime films also drew a box office audience of 49million viewers, with the first sixteen films up until "" (1995) grossing at the Japanese box office.
Anime
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.
Animax
Animax have utilized numerous translation and dubbing studios for the broadcast of numerous of its anime series across its English-language networks in Southeast Asia and South Asia, some of which were not licensed by North American distributors and do not have any English adaptation counterparts, such as "Detective School Q", "Dokkiri Doctor", "Twin Spica", "Absolute Boy", "Emma: A Victorian Romance", "Future Boy Conan", numerous installments of the "World Masterpiece Theater" series, "", and numerous others. Animax have also produced and aired uncensored English versions and dubs of anime series, among the most notable of them being their dub of "Cardcaptor Sakura", which was shown uncensored and retained all of the original names, plot details and dialogue, and numerous others.
Streamline Pictures
Streamline, in being the first company dedicated to making anime accessible to the English speaking world, was notable for releasing a wide variety of anime that fit in a wide variety of genres, many of which do not fit completely in any genre such as "Twilight of the Cockroaches". During the 1990s VHS era, before the common availability of hybrid DVDs, anime distributors released anime via subtitled or dubbed tapes with the subtitled editions being noticeably more expensive than the dubs which were expected to sell better. Streamline is also notable in being the only such company to eschew this practice and release only dubs of its anime. The only exceptions were the later "Akira" subtitled release and their "Robotech Collection", which included episodes of the original "Macross", "Southern Cross" and "Mospeada" episodes on the same tape along with their "Robotech" counterparts. (Since then, these three titles were re-released by ADV Films through Harmony Gold.)
Manga outside Japan
In 1991 French theaters showed an "anime" feature-film for the first time: Katsuhiro Otomo's "Akira", a teen-rated, SF movie supported by manga publisher Glénat. TF1 Video edited the video (VHS) version for the French market, and "Akira" quickly became an "anime" reference. However, Japanese animation genre became massively exploited by TV shows from the late 1980s onwards, most notably the cult Club Dorothée show (mostly dedicated to Toei anime and tokusatsu series). In fact, the commercial relationship between the Japanese studio and the French show producers were so good, that the French presenter was even featured in a Metal Hero Series episode as guest star.
Manga outside Japan
In 2004, Mamoru Oshii's "" became the first animation finalist in the prestigious International Film Festival of Cannes, which demonstrates a radical perspective change and a social acceptance of Japanese "anime"/"manga". Since 2005, contemporary Japanese series such as "Naruto", "Initial D", "Great Teacher Onizuka", "Blue Gender" or "Gunslinger Girl" appeared on new, analog/digital terrestrial (public) and on satellite/broadband (private) channels. As the highly aggressive competition who raged once between, the sole two or three available channels no more exists in the new, vast, and segmented French TV offer, the "anime" is doing a revival in France. In 2011, 40% of the comics published in France were manga. In 2013, there were 41 publishers of manga in France and, together with other Asian comics, manga represented around 40% of new comics releases in the country, surpassing Franco-Belgian comics for the first time.
Anime and manga fandom
Anime and manga have stimulated many young people to learn the Japanese language. In the 1970s, Naoka Takaya's Saskatoon Japanese Language School was founded with a student body consisting of primarily Japanese-Canadians interested in polishing their language skills for their return to Japan. However, popularity for the language began to rise; the Japanese Language Proficiency Test was first held in 1984 in response to growing demand for standardized Japanese language certification. Yuki Sasaki, who works for the Japanese language program at the University of Georgia, noted that when she first started in the program in 1994, most students were interested in Japanese for internal business majors; however, in 2004, students are more interested in "translating Japanese pop-song lyrics and talk excitedly about the Japanese anime character Sakura Kinomoto from Cardcaptor Sakura." Echoing this sentiment, Takaya also stated that about 60% of her students are studying Japanese because of anime.
History of anime
In contrast to the above-mentioned phenomenon, there have been more productions of late-night anime for a non-"otaku" audience as well. The first concentrated effort came from Fuji TV's Noitamina block. The 30-minute late-Thursday timeframe was created to showcase productions for young women of college age, a demographic that watches very little anime. The first production "Honey and Clover" was a particular success, peaking at a 5% TV rating in Kantou, very strong for late-night anime. The block has been running uninterrupted since April 2005 and has yielded many successful productions unique in the modern anime market.
History of anime
More animated films were commissioned by the military, showing the sly, quick Japanese people winning against enemy forces. In 1941, "Princess Iron Fan" was made in China, as Asia's first full-length animated feature. In 1943, Geijutsu Eigasha produced Mitsuyo Seo's "Momotaro's Sea Eagles" with help from the Navy. Shochiku then made Japan's first full-length animated feature, Seo's "Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors" in 1945, again with the help of the Navy. Due to economic factors, it would be Japan which later emerged long after the war with the most readily available resources to continue expanding the industry.
Anime
Japanese animation studios were pioneers of many limited animation techniques, and have given anime a distinct set of conventions. Unlike Disney animation, where the emphasis is on the movement, anime emphasizes the art quality and let limited animation techniques make up for the lack of time spent on movement. Such techniques are often used not only to meet deadlines but also as artistic devices. Anime scenes place emphasis on achieving three-dimensional views, and backgrounds are instrumental in creating the atmosphere of the work. The backgrounds are not always invented and are occasionally based on real locations, as exemplified in "Howl's Moving Castle" and "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya". Oppliger stated that anime is one of the rare mediums where putting together an all-star cast usually comes out looking "tremendously impressive".
AnimEigo
Their first release, "Metal Skin Panic Madox 01", was also the first anime to be commercially released exclusively to home video in the US which was not bound by the content restrictions of American broadcast TV or film. The company has released such titles as "Urusei Yatsura", "Oh My Goddess!", "Vampire Princess Miyu", Gainax's industry/fandom sendup "Otaku no Video", the original "Bubblegum Crisis" OVA series, and "Kimagure Orange Road". They have also expanded into Japanese films that are live-action rather than animated; these are mostly classic "Jidaigeki" (samurai films) such as "Zatoichi", "Lone Wolf and Cub" and the influential edited/dubbed version of "Lone Wolf and Cub", "Shogun Assassin" (which AnimEigo completely reconstructed), but they also include other films such "A New Love in Tokyo", a film about Japanese call girls. Their completed release of "Urusei Yatsura" is one of the longest releases of an anime series in the US market, with over 50 volumes total. Most of their English dubs were recorded at Coastal Studios and Swirl Recording, both in Wilmington, NC.
Anime
Anime clubs gave rise to anime conventions in the 1990s with the "anime boom", a period marked by increased popularity of anime. These conventions are dedicated to anime and manga and include elements like cosplay contests and industry talk panels. Cosplay, a portmanteau for "costume play", is not unique to anime and has become popular in contests and masquerades at anime conventions. Japanese culture and words have entered English usage through the popularity of the medium, including "otaku", an unflattering Japanese term commonly used in English to denote a fan of anime and manga. Another word that has arisen describing fans in the United States is "wapanese" meaning White individuals who desire to be Japanese, or later known as "weeaboo" for individuals who demonstrate a strong interest in Japanese anime subculture, which is a term that originated from abusive content posted on the popular bulletin board website 4chan.org. Anime enthusiasts have produced fan fiction and fan art, including computer wallpaper and anime music videos.
History of anime
By 1998, over one hundred anime shows were aired on television in Japan, including a popular series based on the "Pokémon" video game franchise. Other 1990s anime series which gained international success were "Dragon Ball Z," "Sailor Moon," and "Digimon"; the success of these shows brought international recognition to the martial arts superhero genre, the magical girl genre, and the action-adventure genre, respectively. In particular, "Dragon Ball Z" and "Sailor Moon" were dubbed into more than a dozen languages worldwide. Another large success was the anime "One Piece", based on the best-selling manga of all time, which is still ongoing.
Urusei Yatsura: Only You
On "Anime News Network", Allen Divers gave the subtitled version an overall grade of A and the dubbed version a B, saying that "while the animation and artwork is a slight notch above the TV standard, the plot for Only You is nothing new to fans of the show." On "Midnight Eye", Jasper Sharp says the film "throws the viewer completely in at the deep-end, assuming at least some knowledge of the characters and their relationships is in place, though it shouldn't take too long for newcomers to find their feet." On "The Anime Review", Jason Huff writes that the film is "on the ragged edge of enjoyable, but it's not even close to the best this series has to offer." On "Rumic World", Mason Proulx gave the film 4 1/2 stars out of 5 and called it "the definitive Urusei Yatsura movie." On mania.com, Dani Moure called the film "a lot of fun, and for the most part [...] very enjoyable." and Chris Beveridge said that "the budget is bigger, the designs are more detailed, but the idea is the same [as the TV series]."
Tom and Jerry
Due to its lack of dialogue, "Tom and Jerry" was easily translated into various foreign languages. "Tom and Jerry" began broadcast in Japan in 1965. A 2005 nationwide survey taken in Japan by TV Asahi, sampling age groups from teenagers to adults in their sixties, ranked "Tom and Jerry" #85 in a list of the top 100 "anime" of all time; while their web poll taken after the airing of the list ranked it at #58 – the only non-Japanese animation on the list, and beating anime classics like "", "A Little Princess Sara", and the ultra-classics "Macross" and "Ghost in the Shell". (In Japan, the word "anime" refers to "all" animation regardless of origin, not just Japanese animation.) "Tom and Jerry" also serve as long-time licensed mascots for Gifu-based Juroku Bank.
Unlike some other Western cartoons such as "Bob the Builder" and "Postman Pat", whose characters had to be doctored to have five fingers in each hand instead of the original four, "Tom and Jerry" aired in Japan without such edits, as did other series starring non-human protagonists such as "SpongeBob SquarePants".
List of anime by release date (1946–1959)
This is a list of anime by release date which covers Japanese animated productions that were made between 1946–1959. After World War II, Japan was occupied by the allies which mainly consisted of the Americans. During the shift from an empire to a democracy the animation industry continued producing new animated films. The first anime broadcast on TV did not come though until 1958 when Mole's Adventure was released. This marked two major milestones as it was also the first ever color animation in the country. The first full length color animation was also released in 1958 with the title The Tale of the White Serpent, in America it was also known as Panda and the Magic Serpent. Animated television series were later released in the 1960s which include Astro Boy, the first major successful anime.
Pokémon anime in India
Pokémon is a Japanese anime series. It came to Indian television in 2003, first airing on Cartoon Network. Later, it was also shown on Pogo. From 2014, "Pokémon" was shown on Hungama TV and then shifted to Disney XD India which later was Rebranded into Marvel HQ. The "Pokémon" anime is dubbed in three languages: Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. In 2014, the "Pokémon" anime had an Indian audience of 96.9million viewers on Hungama TV.
Tamagotchi! (anime)
The first anime series officially aired in all TX Network Stations, including TV Tokyo and TV Osaka from 12 October 2009 to 3 September 2012, replacing both the Japanese broadcast of "Lilo & Stitch: The Series" and "Hikaru no Go" on their respected timeslots. It also aired in the Japanese Pay-for-View channel Animax. The series gained its official English broadcast in Australia and aired in the TV network GO! (Only the first 26 episodes were dubbed in English, and it isn't likely that dubbing will continue, as GO! no longer airs "Tamagotchi!") and also aired in Hong Kong and Taiwan through TVB and YoYo TV. It also aired in the Philippines through GMA Network.
Little Tokyo, Los Angeles
Little Tokyo has several shops that specialize in Japanese-language videos and DVDs, while other shops specialize in Japanese electronics and video games. These are a great way to find Japanese video games that were either never translated into English, or were never domestically released in North America. There are also several stores that sell manga and anime related products.
Japanese pop culture in the United States
The flow of Japanese animation and manga to the United States has increased American awareness of Japanese animation. Anime differs from American animation in the range of its audiences and themes. Anime is made for adults more often than are American cartoons, and often deals with more serious themes. Anime and manga incorporate a multitude of genres such as romance, action, horror, comedy, drama and cover a wide variety of topics like teen suicides, high school rivalries, and social commentary, and more subjects. Described as a gateway for many fans that takes them to a whole new culture; it is used as a way to learn about Japan. People who are avid devotees to anime in the United States affectionately refer to themselves as otaku, although in Japan the term is similar to geek, and is commonly frowned upon by society. Much like punk and goth, anime has become a subculture.
Anime
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. 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. The first talkie anime was "Chikara to Onna no Yo no Naka", produced by Masaoka in 1933. By 1940, numerous anime artists' organizations had risen, including the Shin Mangaha Shudan and Shin Nippon Mangaka. The first feature-length animated film was "Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors" directed by Seo in 1944 with sponsorship by the Imperial Japanese Navy.
The Film Lives On
Before the 1960s the art form was originally called or ("animated cartoon") became known as and then finally for short. Since becoming recognized overseas, the term "Anime" has been used to describe Japanese animation ever since.
Aim for the Ace!
The first anime television series based on "Aim for the Ace!" was produced by Tokyo Movie, which used Madhouse studio to create the animation. It was originally broadcast between October 5, 1973, and March 29, 1974, by Mainichi Broadcasting System (MBS). Osamu Dezaki served as the general director of all 26 episodes. It was dubbed into French, Spanish and Italian. Due to its initial poor ratings in Japan, the series was cancelled with half the original intended number of episodes. However, a few years later with high ratings in reruns of the series, a remake was announced. The second anime series was also produced by Tokyo Movie and was directed by Minoru Okazaki. Titled , it was broadcast by Nippon Television from April 10, 1978, to March 31, 1979.
One Piece
The anime adaptations have also been very well-received. The first episode of the anime adaptation earned a viewer ratings percentage of 12.4, behind "Pokémon" and ahead of "Ojamajo Doremi". As of 2017, "One Piece" is among the top 10 anime in viewer ratings every week in Japan. On several occasions the "One Piece" anime has topped Japan's DVD sales.
RWBY
Reaction to Matt Hullum's statement made on August 15, 2014, about "RWBY" being anime has been mixed. Lindsay Jones said "Funnily enough, we showed our Japanese cohorts "RWBY" and they started arguing about whether it was anime or not! But seeing the reception from audiences is so surreal, and we never expected it." A Movie Pilot blog listed the "RWBY" as anime topic among its "flame wars you don't want to be part of". Anime News Network writers Paul Jensen and James Beckett wrote: "We don't have any formal reviews of RWBY here on ANN, but it is kind of cool to see an American production make it to the release encyclopedia." Michael Mauer of "The Cornell Daily Sun" wrote that the issue was still being debated among the anime community, while Sabrina Pyun of ComicsVerse wrote "The show is known for many things, from its dubious status as an anime to its unique 3D animation style." However, mainstream news articles dated after Hullum's statement and previewing later seasons and the franchise have referred to "RWBY" as an American anime, including "Variety", Collider, iDigitalTimes, "Entertainment Weekly", "Adweek", and "Deadline Hollywood".
Dōjinshi
John Oppliger of AnimeNation stated that creating "dōjinshi" is largely popular with Japanese fans, but not with Western fans. Oppliger claimed that because Japanese natives grow up with anime and manga "as a constant companion", Japanese fans "are more intuitively inclined" to create or expand on existing manga and anime in the form of "dōjinshi". Since Western fans experience a "more purely" visual experience as most Western fans cannot understand the Japanese language, the original language of most anime, and are "encouraged by social pressure to grow out of cartoons and comics during the onset of adolescence", most of them usually participate in utilizing and rearranging existing work into anime music videos.
Kodomo anime and manga
Kodomo anime and manga can be divided into four categories. The first category consists of anime and manga adaptations of Western stories, such as "World Masterpiece Theater". Most of them are TV series. Despite being popular, they are less representative of traditional Japanese anime. Instead, they are modeled after classical American or Soviet cartoons.
Anime-influenced animation
Although outside Japan, "anime" is specifically used to mean animation from Japan or as a Japanese-disseminated animation style often characterized by colorful graphics, vibrant characters and fantastical themes, there is a debate over whether the culturally abstract approach to the word's meaning may open up the possibility of anime produced in countries other than Japan. While some Westerners strictly view anime as a Japanese animation product, some scholars suggest defining anime as specifically or quintessentially Japanese may be related to a new form of orientalism.
Jonathan Clements
Clements speaks both Chinese and Japanese, and many of his works relate to East Asia. He wrote his Master's degree at the University of Stirling on manga and anime exports, predicting the rise of several trends in the international industry including back-to-front printing, direct American investment in anime, and the proliferation of attempts to substitute non-Japanese products. Subsequently, he translated over 70 anime and manga works for British distributors, and worked as a voice director and actor. He wrote his PhD at the University of Wales on the industrial history of Japanese animation, later published by the British Film Institute as "Anime: A History".
Homosexuality in Japan
Lesbian-romance themed anime and manga is known as "yuri" (which means "lily"). It is used to describe female-female relationships in material and is typically marketed towards straight people, homosexuals in general, or lesbians despite significant stylistic and thematic differences between works aimed at the different audiences. Another word that has become popular in Japan as an equivalent term to Yuri is "GL" (short for "Girls' Love" in opposite to "Boys' Love"). There are a variety of yuri titles (or titles that integrate yuri content) aimed at women, such as "Revolutionary Girl Utena", "Oniisama e...", "Maria-sama ga Miteru", "Sailor Moon" (most notably the third season, as well as the fifth season), "Strawberry Shake Sweet", "Love My Life", etc.; and there are a variety of yuri titles of anime such as "Kannazuki no Miko", "Strawberry Panic!," "Simoun", and "My-Hime". "Comic Yuri Hime" is a long-time running manga magazine in Japan that focuses solely on yuri stories, which gained merges from its other subsidiary comics and currently runs as the only Yuri Hime named magazine. Other magazines and anthologies of Yuri that have emerged throughout the early 21st century are "Mebae", "Hirari", and "Tsubomi" (the latter two ceased publication before 2014).
Pornography in Japan
Animated erotica (known in the West as "hentai" but in Japan as "adult anime") is a popular genre in Japan and generally maintains the same style of animation seen in other popular forms of Japanese animation (anime). The term "hentai" literally means "metamorphosis" or "transformation", but in alternate use and in context to the situation of lewdness, it means "perverse manner" or "pervert".
List of action anime
This is a list of action anime television series, films, and OVAs. While not all inclusive, this list contains numerous works that are representative of the genre. For accuracy of the list, the most common English usage is followed by Japanese name and romaji version. The column for year represents the first premiere of the work, in the case of series the year of the first release.
KimiKiss
The anime, titled "KimiKiss: Pure Rouge", began airing in Japan on October 6, 2007. The series is produced by J.C.Staff and directed by Ken'ichi Kasai. The series focused more on the girls and their daily lives with a more romantic genre. North American anime distributor Section23 Films released KimiKiss: Pure Rouge on DVD, October 5, 2010.Kouichi Sanada wakes from a dream where his younger self was crying. When he goes to answer the door, he finds a beautiful woman standing in front of him. She quickly enters while reacquainting herself with things in the house, and even enters the shower. A confused Kouichi tries to remember if he knew a girl like this in the past, while trying to remember his friend Kazuki Aihara comes in. A misunderstanding is caused when the girl comes out of the bathroom, but she suddenly realizes who Kazuki is. Kazuki also realizes who the girl is: his childhood friend Mao Mizusawa. Finally realizing this, Kouichi welcomes Mao back. When Kouichi's mother begins talking to Mao about her living in France, Kouichi notices how much Mao has changed. The story then continues with them going to the same school. Many relationships are formed with different people during their school years but always thought to be a mistake as Mao realizes her true feelings toward Kouichi while Sakino and Futami develops feelings for Kazuki.
Prince Planet
Prince Planet is the English-language title given to one of the earliest Japanese anime television series, , when it was transmitted on American television in the United States in the mid-1960s. It currently runs on "The Works" television network. A 52-episode monochrome anime series, it tells the story of a member of the Universal Peace Corps, originally from the planet Radion, coming to Earth on a mission to determine if this world meets standards for membership in the Galactic Union of Worlds and assist its inhabitants during his stay. While on his mission, Prince Planet adopts the identity of an Earth boy named Bobby and gains comrades who work together alongside him fighting forces of evil, both alien and terrestrial.
Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke
Other anime mentioned include "Speed Racer", "Doraemon", "Pokémon", "Sailor Moon", "Perfect Blue", "Heidi, Girl of the Alps", "Tenchi Muyo!", "Astro Boy", "Kimba the White Lion", "Space Battleship Yamato", "Pom Poko", "Saber Marionette", "Whisper of the Heart", "Cutie Honey", "Vampire Princess Miyu", "Miss Machiko", "Iron Man No. 28", "Gundam", "Super Dimension Century Orguss", "Future Boy Conan", "Castle in the Sky", "Porco Rosso", "Rurouni Kenshin", "Ninja Scroll", "Appleseed", and "Grey".
History of anime
Few complete animations made during the beginnings of Japanese animation have survived. The reasons vary, but many are of commercial nature. After the clips had been run, reels (being property of the cinemas) were sold to smaller cinemas in the country and then disassembled and sold as strips or single frames. The first anime that was produced in Japan was made sometime in 1917, but there it is disputed which title was the first to get that honour. It has been confirmed that was made sometime during February 1917. At least two unconfirmed titles were reported to have been made the previous month.
Anime
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. A claim for the earliest Japanese animation is "Katsudō Shashin", an undated and private work by an unknown creator. 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. 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.
History of anime
During this period, Japanese animation reached continental Europe with productions aimed at European and Japanese children, with the most-pronounced examples being the aforementioned "Heidi" but also "Barbapapa" and "Vicky the Vikings". Italy, Spain and France grew an interest in Japan's output, which was offered for a low price.
Pokémon (anime)
, abbreviated from the Japanese title of and currently advertised in English as Pokémon the Series, is a Japanese anime television series, which has been adapted for the international television markets, concurrently airing in 124 countries worldwide. It is part of the "Pokémon" media franchise, based on Nintendo's "Pokémon" video game series. New episodes and movies air in the United States on Disney XD, with the entire library available on the DisneyNow app.
History of anime
The history of anime can be traced back to the start of the 20th century, with the earliest verifiable films dating from 1917.
Moomin (1990 TV series)
During the early 1990s, the first anime series has also been dubbed into British English for Children's BBC (later renamed as CBBC) in the United Kingdom under the title "Moomin". The series was distributed by Maverick Entertainment, while the dubbing was recorded at Cardiff's Eco Studios. The full voice cast includes Susan Sheridan, Toni Barry, Pat Starr, Peter Whitman, John Chancer, David Graham, Garrick Hagon, Jeff Harding and Stacey Jefferson. The series has never aired in the United States with the exception being Hawaii, where the series has been called The Tales of Moomin Valley and aired on television station K-5. Despite the different opening and ending themes, Hawaii airings featured the British dub from Children's BBC.
After the high success of the first anime series in Japan, a sequel series titled was made. TV Tokyo aired it in Japan from October 10, 1991 to March 26, 1992. Consisting 26 more episodes, the sequel series does not feature any adaptations of Jansson's books but some of its episodes were based on Moomin comic strips. Outside Japan only a few countries have aired "Tanoshii Mūmin Ikka: Bōken Nikki" and it has usually been featured as a new season of "Moomin". The sequel series has been aired for example in Tove Jansson's home country Finland (but only in Finnish dub), Israel, Norway and Poland. The sequel series has never been dubbed to English and it hasn't been aired on CBBC. Producer Dennis Livson was later highly critical towards the sequel series and stated that "we had nothing left to mine from by way of Tove’s own stories."
Japanese popular culture
The success of the Pokémon franchise has been credited by people such as Nissim Otmazgin and sociologist Anne Alison as popularizing anime in the United States. The anime market has also been described as owing greatly to the crucial role of fans as cultural agents, the dereterritorializing effects of globalization, the domestication and heavy editing of animé to suit local tastes, and being part of the wider global flow of Japanese pop culture and "soft power". Otmazgin argues that the rise of anime in the United States is a result of the sophisticated graphic quality, a wide thematic diversity, and an inclination to reject the Disney convention of a happy ending – even when the animé is produced entirely in America. He further states that animé was a tool in which the Japanese could gain popularity in their pop culture and give Americans a taste of something unique and interesting in the media.
1990s
Anime was popular in the 1980s, and expanded to a worldwide audience by the 1990s, for its expansive spectrum of story subjects and themes not limited to comedy and superhero action found in the US, and well produced, and well written, visual and story content, that held emotional and intellectual depth and integrity to its viewers, and which also expanded to older and adult ages in the medium of animation. TV shows such as "Sailor Moon", "Digimon", "Pokémon", "Tenchi Muyo!", "Dragon Ball Z", "Gundam Wing", "Neon Genesis Evangelion", "Ranma 1/2", "Dirty Pair", "Slayers", "Rurouni Kenshin", "Gunsmith Cats", to anime movies such as "Akira", "Vampire Hunter D", "My Neighbor Totoro", "Princess Mononoke", "Castle in the Sky", "The Castle of Cagliostro", and imports by various distributors such as Viz, AnimEigo, Central Park Media, A.D. Vision, Pioneer Entertainment, Media Blasters, Manga Entertainment, and Celebrity, helped begin the mid to late 1990s and early to mid-1900s introductory anime craze in the US, and the Cartoon Network anime block Toonami in 1997.
Marvel Anime
Marvel Anime is a series of four anime television series and two direct-to-video films produced in collaboration between Marvel Entertainment and Japanese animation studio Madhouse. The four twelve-episode series, based on "Iron Man", "Wolverine", "X-Men", and "Blade", aired in Japan on Animax between October 2010 and September 2011. An English-language version aired in North America on G4 between July 2011 and April 2012. Each of the series, guided by writer Warren Ellis, largely features Japan as the setting for the storyline.
Gate (novel series)
In June 2017, it was reported that the novels have sold over 4.2 million copies in Japan. Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network reviewed the first twelve episodes of "Gate" where she praised the anime's unique premise of a modern military fighting against fantasy races in another world, having its main protagonist being an older man rather than a teenager and its unique cast of characters, but also criticized the anime for being too political and glorifying the Japanese military. Theron Martin of Anime News Network also praises the anime for a being the opposite of "Outbreak Company", another anime with a similar premise about modern Japan discovering a fantasy world. While he found the story and some of the characters entertaining and praised some of the English voice actors, he also criticized how some character stories were much weaker than others, the English script was changed from the original Japanese, and found "Gate" political views in the anime were "graceless and heavy-handed".
History of anime
Following the launch of Toonami on Cartoon Network and later Adult Swim, anime saw a giant rise in the North American market. Kid-friendly anime such as "Pokémon", "Yu-Gi-Oh!", "Digimon", "Doraemon", "Bakugan", "Beyblade", and the 4Kids Entertainment adaptation of "One Piece" have all received varying levels of success. This era also saw the rise of anime-influenced animation, most notably "" and its sequel "The Legend of Korra", "Ben 10", "Chaotic", "Samurai Jack", "The Boondocks", "RWBY" and "Teen Titans".
List of anime distributed in the United States
Viz which was already successful with its manga translation of Rumiko Takahashi's "Ranma ½", bought the rights to the anime and released it via direct-to-video starting in 1993. "Ranma ½" enjoyed success in the VHS market and was the first anime title in the 1990s to have this level of success and one of the first titles to be recognized as an "anime". Viz also began publishing a magazine called "Animerica" in the 1990s which featured manga as well as articles on Japanese culture, fashion, manga, anime and video games, this helped spread the "otaku" subculture to Americans. Fansubs were also popular during this period.
List of romance anime
This is a list of romantic anime television series, films, and OVAs. While not all inclusive, this list contains numerous works that are representative of the genre. For accuracy of the list, the most common English usage is followed by Japanese name and romaji version. The column for year represents the first premiere of the work, in the case of series the year of the first release.
Fansub
Despite numerous attempts, any efforts to convince US companies to license Japanese animation fail with the exception of a handful of companies that were intent on "carving up" any series rewriting them into kiddy cartoons. Sean Leonard states that entertainment executives at the time mistakenly assumed that since anime are cartoons, they must be marketed at young children; furthermore Japanese cartoons were much too violent and complex in plot for children. Leonard states that the most notorious example was the translation of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind airing in the US in April 1986 that left its creators Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata appalled; Takahata exclaimed licensing Nausicaä was a huge error and no further Studio Ghibli produced films would be licensed internationally. These edits however were no worse than most other non-Disney animation films that were available in the US. Fans who obtained the Japanese originals of "Nausicaä" were inspired so as to organize an anime tour to Tokyo in 1986 to see Miyazaki's "" and landmarks in anime.
The Legend of Korra
While "The Legend of Korra" was produced in the United States and therefore not a work of Japanese animation ("anime") in the strict sense, "The Escapist" magazine argued that the series is so strongly influenced by anime that it would otherwise easily be classified as such: its protagonists (a superpowered heroine, her group of talented, supporting friends, a near-impervious villain who wants to reshape the world), its themes (family, friendship, romance, fear, and death) and the quality of its voice acting as well as the visual style are similar to those of leading anime series such as "", "Bleach" or "Trigun". A notable difference from such series is the absence of lengthy opening and ending sequences set to J-pop songs; to save broadcast time, "The Legend of Korra"s openings and endings last only a few seconds. The series mostly abstains from using the visual tropes characteristic of anime, but does occasionally use exaggerated facial expressions to highlight emotions for comic effect.
Japanese pop culture in the United States
Anime culture in the United States began as a niche community that had a grassroots foundation built by groups of fans on the local level. Some of the earliest televised anime to air in the United States were "Astro Boy, Speed Racer," and "Gigantor," which gained popularity with many American audiences during the late 1960s. Small patches of isolated communities started to form around collective interest towards this new medium, which seemed reminiscent of familiar Disney visuals and Warner-Brothers narratives. One of these communities was the first anime fan club called the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization (C/FO), formed in Los Angeles, California during 1977; club actives involved monthly meets in order to watch newly aired anime. The early popularity was driven by fan-subtitled content and remained that way until much later, when inter-connected entrepreneurs from Japan and the United States saw an opportunity for business through this new medium. These business opportunities eventually led to the founding of Streamline Pictures, the United States' first anime import company in 1989, thus starting anime's widespread commercialization. Over the next dozen years, anime fans became more connected through fan-held conventions and the internet. These groups began to develop new social identities, centered around what they saw as an overall interconnected community.
Animax
Animax's programming is dedicated to anime, and it has been acknowledged as the largest 24-hour anime-only network in the world. In its original network in Japan, it has exclusively premiered several anime, which have aired first on Animax, including "" and its sequel "", "", "Aishiteruze Baby", "Wangan Midnight" and the 2010 anime adaptation of Marvel's "Iron Man" by Madhouse Studios. In addition, its English language network, Animax Asia, aired the first ever anime simulcast with their simulcast of "Tears to Tiara" on the same time as the Japanese premiere and the new "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood" series, on the same week as the Japanese premiere. Its viewer reach has been quoted as spanning over 89 million homes. across 62 countries and 17 languages.
Japanese popular culture
Anime (Japanese: アニメ) is a movie or television episode of sorts which utilizes animation as an art style iconic to Japan in order to convey a story. Unlike western cartoons, anime can be distinguished by its detail in character design, large array of facial expressions, in-depth character development, wide target audience and rare use of talking animals. These traits are used in order to better the connection between a viewer and the characters. Most of the time, anime is based on animated comics called manga, which is an ancient form of comic writing which dates back to the 12th century.
Anime
Anime are often classified by target demographic, including , , and a diverse range of genres targeting an adult audience. Shoujo and shounen anime sometimes contain elements popular with children of both sexes in an attempt to gain crossover appeal. Adult anime may feature a slower pace or greater plot complexity that younger audiences may typically find unappealing, as well as adult themes and situations. A subset of adult anime works featuring pornographic elements are labeled "R18" in Japan, and are internationally known as "hentai" (originating from ). By contrast, some anime subgenres incorporate "ecchi", sexual themes or undertones without depictions of sexual intercourse, as typified in the comedic or harem genres; due to its popularity among adolescent and adult anime enthusiasts, the inclusion of such elements is considered a form of fan service. Some genres explore homosexual romances, such as "yaoi" (male homosexuality) and "yuri" (female homosexuality). While often used in a pornographic context, the terms can also be used broadly in a wider context to describe or focus on the themes or the development of the relationships themselves.
Manga
In Japanese, "manga" refers to all kinds of cartooning, comics, and animation. Among English speakers, "manga" has the stricter meaning of "Japanese comics", in parallel to the usage of "anime" in and outside Japan. The term "ani-manga" is used to describe comics produced from animation cels.
History of anime
The 1960s brought anime to television and in America. The first anime film to be broadcast was "Three Tales" in 1960. The following year saw the premiere of Japan's first animated television series, "Instant History", although it did not consist entirely of animation. Osamu Tezuka's "Tetsuwan Atom" ("Astro Boy") is often miscredited as the first anime television series, premiering on January 1, 1963. "Astro Boy" was highly influential to other anime in the 1960s, and was followed by a large number of anime about robots or space.
Anime and manga fandom
series banded together to get "Space Battleship Yamato" back on the air after it stopped airing on Japanese television. In Japan, anime and manga are referred to collectively as the content industry: anime, video games, manga, and other related merchandise are different types of media focused around the same content.
Television in Japan
Japan has a long history of producing science fiction series for TV. Only a few of these series are aired outside Japan and even when aired, they tend to be edited, rarely retaining their original storyline. Non-anime science fiction are still largely unknown to foreign audiences. An exception is "Power Rangers" and their subsequent series that used battle sequences from the Super Sentai counterpart and combined them with American actors who acted out entirely original story lines.
List of Pokémon anime characters
"Pokémon", known in Japan as , is a Japanese anime television series based on the "Pokémon" video game series published by Nintendo. It began broadcasting on TV Tokyo in 1997. The show's central protagonist is Ash Ketchum, a ten-year-old aspiring "Pokémon master", who participates in competitions involving battles with creatures called Pokémon in the fictional regions of Kanto, the Orange Islands, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, and Kalos, and attends a school on Melemele Island in the Alola region which teaches classes about Pokémon. Ash is usually joined by his electric mouse partner Pikachu, and a regularly changing line-up of human friends. These friends are usually Pokémon trainers, such as Misty, Brock, Tracey Sketchit, May, Dawn, Iris, Cilan, Serena, Clemont, Lillie, Kiawe, Mallow, Lana, and Sophocles, though some of the friends Ash has adventures with, such as May's brother Max, and Clemont's sister Bonnie, are too young to raise and train Pokémon of their own.
Bubblegum Crisis
In North America, AnimEigo first released "Bubblegum Crisis" to VHS and Laserdisc in 1991 in Japanese with English subtitles. The series is notable in that it was one of the few early anime series that were brought over from Japan unedited and subtitled in English. While anime has become much more popular in the years since, in 1991, it was still mostly unknown as a storytelling medium in North America. "Bubblegum Crisis" was aired in the US when it first aired on PBS affiliate Superstation KTEH in the 1990s, and STARZ!'s Action Channel in 2000.
Anime music video
John Oppliger of AnimeNation has noted that fan-produced AMVs are popular mostly with Western fans but not with Japanese fans. One reason he cited was that Western fans experience a "more purely" visual experience inasmuch as most Western fans cannot understand the Japanese language, the original language of most anime, and as a result "the visuals make a greater impact" on the senses. The second reason he cited was that Westerners are "encouraged by social pressure to grow out of cartoons and comics during the onset of adolescence" whereas Japanese natives grow up with animation "as a constant companion"; as a result, English-speaking fans tend to utilize and reconstruct existing anime to create AMVs whereas Japanese fans "are more intuitively inclined" to create or expand on existing manga and anime.
Anime convention
An anime convention is an event or gathering with a primary focus on anime, manga and Japanese culture. Commonly, anime conventions are multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels or college campuses. They feature a wide variety of activities and panels, with a larger number of attendees participating in cosplay than most other types of fan conventions. Anime conventions are also used as a vehicle for industry, in which studios, distributors, and publishers represent their anime related releases.
Anime conventions have long and varied worldwide history. The original Comiket, mostly based on fan published manga called dōjinshi, started in 1975 with around 700 people in Tokyo. In recent years, Comiket has attracted over a half million people. Conventions in Japan are heavily sponsored by studios or publishing companies and are used as platforms for new releases. In addition to Japan, convention officials at venues such as AnimeJapan have been trying to reach out to overseas manga otaku. Anime conventions started showing up in the United States in the early 1980s. Project A-Kon first started in 1990, and is considered to be the first anime convention in the country, but this is disputed. It is also claimed that YamatoCon, a convention "devoted to Japanese animation" was first held in 1983 in Dallas Texas. Since then, multiple anime conventions have appeared in numerous states. Since the first anime convention which brought in a few hundred people, anime conventions have exploded in popularity. AnimeCon which was held in San Jose, California in 1991 is notable for being the first convention to break the 1,000 attendance mark. It was also the first convention to receive support from American and Japanese production studios. Anime Expo which has been held in California since 1992 is the largest anime convention in North America and attracted approximately 90,500 people in 2015. Anime conventions in other locations, such as Europe began to take off in the Mid-1990s. AUKcon was a one-day anime convention held in London, England in 1994, and was chaired by Helen McCarthy. Salón del Manga de Barcelona, first held in Barcelona, Spain in 1995 is also one of the largest European conventions. Japan Expo in Paris is the largest convention in Europe, and in the world outside Japan. Anime conventions later spread to Australia in the late 1990s with Manifest, first held in 1998.
Cinema of Japan
The number of movies being shown in Japan steadily increased, with about 821 films released in 2006. Movies based on Japanese television series were especially popular during this period. Anime films now accounted for 60 percent of Japanese film production. The 1990s and 2000s are considered to be "Japanese Cinema's Second Golden Age", due to the immense popularity of anime, both within Japan and overseas.
Samurai Champloo
Geneon licensed the show for distribution in North America almost a year prior to the show's airing in Japan. An English dub of the series premiered in the United States on the Adult Swim anime block on May 14, 2005. The version aired was edited and had foul language replaced with sound effects, in addition to cutting out blood and nudity. The final first run of the episodes concluded on March 18, 2006. "Samurai Champloo" debuted in Canada on December 24, 2006, on the digital station Razer. The series has also aired in the United Kingdom, France, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, Poland, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and Germany. Funimation has distributed "Samurai Champloo" for Geneon since they ceased in-house distribution of their titles in 2007. Geneon, in association with Funimation, re-released the entire 26-episode anime series in a box set in June 2009 and on Blu-ray in November 2009. As of November 26, 2010, Funimation has fully licensed the series and once again released the series under the Classics line on May 24, 2011.