Anime Anytime

Archive for December, 2009

Anime is a Japanese type of animation that is now rapidly gaining recognition around the world from both its hand-drawn and computer-generated forms.  Anime can be found in television shows, films, videos and video games, and can exist in all genres of fiction. From its 1917 debut in a two-minute film involving a samurai to Nintendo’s Pokémon’s franchise success greatly influenced by the spin-off anime series, it is no surprise that anime now represents a market worth $4.35 billion in the United States alone. In the United Kingdom, the channel AnimeCentral is solely dedicated to broadcasting anime.

Anime character design is highly complex. Generally, the body is proportional to that of the human body although body features can be exaggerated for effect. A most highly recognised feature of anime is that the characters possess large detailed eyes, a technique inspired by American cartoon characters such as Mickey Mouse and Betty Boop. Furthermore, facial expressions are fairly consistent among anime, with angry characters often appearing with a “vein” on their forehead and embarrassed characters producing a sweat-drop. With regards to the background, anime places a large emphasis on three-dimensional views and consequently there is often a changing of seasons.

Anime has a large impact on popular culture. For instance, the number of people studying Japanese has increased so much so that in 1984 the Japanese Language Proficiency Test was created to meet the demand. Anime conventions also started to appear in the 1990s, now held annually in various cities across America, Asia and Europe. In addition, anime clubs have become prevalent in universities, high schools and community centres, increasing the interest in anime and broadening Japanese cultural understanding.

Otaku is the Japanese name given to obsessive anime fans, although the negative connotation has been lost in Western culture, and replaced instead with a sense of pride amongst fans.