Anime (US: /ˈænəmeɪ/, UK: /ˈænɪmeɪ/;[1] Japanese: アニメ [aɲime] ( listen), plural: anime),

[a]
 sometimes called Japanimation,[2][3][4] is hand-drawn and computer animation originating
from Japan. The term anime is derived from the English word animation, and in Japan is used to
refer to all forms of animated media.[5] Outside Japan, the term refers specifically to animation from
Japan or to a Japanese-disseminated animation style often characterized by colorful graphics,
vibrant characters and fantastical themes.[6][7] This culturally abstract approach to the word's meaning
may open the possibility of anime produced in countries other than Japan.[8][9][10]
The earliest commercial Japanese animation dates to 1917. A characteristic art style emerged in the
1960s with the works of Osamu Tezuka and spread in the second half of the 20th century,
developing a large domestic and international audience. Anime can be distributed theatrically, by
way of television broadcasts, directly to home media, and over the Internet. In addition to completely
original works, anime are often adaptations of Japanese comics (known as manga), light novels,
or video games.
Production methods and techniques related to anime have adapted over time in response to
emergent technologies. As a multimedia art form, it combines graphic
art, characterization, cinematography, and other creative techniques.[11] Anime production typically
focuses less on the animation of movement and more on the realism of settings as well as the use of
camera effects, including panning, zooming, and angle shots.[11] Diverse art styles are used, and
character proportions and features can be quite varied, including characteristically large or
realistically sized emotive eyes. Anime is classified into numerous genres targeting both broad and
niche audiences.
The anime industry consists of over 430 production studios, with major names including Studio
Ghibli, Gainax, and Toei Animation. Despite comprising only a fraction of Japan's domestic film
market, anime makes up a majority of Japanese DVD and Blu-ray sales. It has also seen
international success with the rise of English-dubbed and subbed programming. As of 2016,
Japanese anime accounted for 60% of the world's animated television shows.[12]

Contents

 1Etymology
 2Format
 3History
 4Attributes
o 4.1Animation technique
o 4.2Characters
o 4.3Music
o 4.4Genres
 5Industry
o 5.1Markets
o 5.2Awards
 6Globalization
o 6.1Fan response
o 6.2Anime style
o 6.3Media franchises
 7See also
 8References
o 8.1Notes
 o 8.2Sources
o 8.3Bibliography
 9External links

Etymology
Anime is an art form, specifically animation, that includes all genres found in cinema, but it can be
mistakenly classified as a genre.[13] In Japanese, the term anime is used as a blanket term to refer to
all forms of animation from around the world.[5][14] In English, anime (/ˈænəˌmeɪ/) is more restrictively
used to denote a "Japanese-style animated film or television entertainment" or as "a style of
animation created in Japan".[6][15]
The etymology of the word anime is disputed. The English term "animation" is written in
Japanese katakana as アニメーション (animēshon, Japanese pronunciation: [animeːɕoɴ])[7] and is アニ
メ (anime) in its shortened form.[7] The pronunciation of anime in Japanese differs from
pronunciations in other languages such as Standard English (pronunciation: /ˈænɪmeɪ/), which has
different vowels and stress with regards to Japanese, where each mora carries equal stress. As with
a few other Japanese words such as saké, Pokémon, and Kobo Abé, English-language texts
sometimes spell anime as animé (as in French), with an acute accent over the final e, to cue the
reader to pronounce the letter, not to leave it silent as Standard English orthography may suggest.
Some sources claim that anime derives from the French term for animation dessin animé,[16][17] but
others believe this to be a myth derived from the French popularity of the medium in the late 1970s
and 1980s.[7] In English, anime—when used as a common noun—normally functions as a mass
noun. (For example: "Do you watch anime?" or "How much anime have you collected?")[18] Prior to
the widespread use of anime, the term Japanimation was prevalent throughout the 1970s and
1980s. In the mid-1980s, the term anime began to supplant Japanimation.[16][19] In general, the latter
term now only appears in period works where it is used to distinguish and identify Japanese
animation.[20]
The word anime has also been criticized, e.g. in 1987, when Hayao Miyazaki stated that he despised
the truncated word anime because to him it represented the desolation of the Japanese animation
industry. He equated the desolation with animators lacking motivation and with mass-produced,
overly expressionistic products relying upon a fixed iconography of facial expressions and protracted
and exaggerated action scenes but lacking depth and sophistication in that they do not attempt to
convey emotion or thought.[21]

Format
The first format of anime was theatrical viewing which originally began with commercial productions
in 1917.[22] Originally the animated flips were crude and required played musical components before
adding sound and vocal components to the production. On July 14, 1958, Nippon
Television aired Mogura no Abanchūru ("Mole's Adventure"), both the first televised and first color
anime to debut.[23] It was not until the 1960s when the first televised series were broadcast and it has
remained a popular medium since.[24] Works released in a direct to video format are called "original
video animation" (OVA) or "original animation video" (OAV); and are typically not released
theatrically or televised prior to home media release.[25][26] The emergence of the Internet has led
some animators to distribute works online in a format called "original net anime" (ONA).[27]
The home distribution of anime releases were popularized in the 1980s with the VHS
and LaserDisc formats.[25] The VHS NTSC video format used in both Japan and the United States is
credited as aiding the rising popularity of anime in the 1990s.[25] The LaserDisc and VHS formats
were transcended by the DVD format which offered the unique advantages; including multiple
subtitling and dubbing tracks on the same disc.[28] The DVD format also has its drawbacks in its
usage of region coding; adopted by the industry to solve licensing, piracy and export problems and
restricted region indicated on the DVD player.[28] The Video CD (VCD) format was popular in Hong
Kong and Taiwan, but became only a minor format in the United States that was closely associated
with bootleg copies.[28]

History
Main article: History of anime

A cel from Namakura Gatana, the earliest surviving Japanese animated short made for cinemas, produced in
1917

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.[17] A
claim for the earliest Japanese animation is Katsudō Shashin, an undated and private work by an
unknown creator.[29] 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.[22][30][31] 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.[32]
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—like Noburō
Ōfuji and Yasuji Murata—still worked in cheaper cutout animation rather than cel animation.[33] 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.[34] The first talkie anime was Chikara to Onna no Yo no Naka,
produced by Masaoka in 1933.[35][36] By 1940, numerous anime artists' organizations had risen,
including the Shin Mangaha Shudan and Shin Nippon Mangaka.[37] The first feature-length animated
film was Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors directed by Seo in 1944 with sponsorship by the Imperial
Japanese Navy.[38]
A frame from Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors (1944), the first feature-length anime film

The success of The Walt Disney Company's 1937 feature film Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs profoundly influenced many Japanese animators.[39] The 1950s saw a proliferation of short,
animated advertisements made in Japan for television broadcasting.[40] In the 1960s, manga artist
and animator Osamu Tezuka adapted and simplified many Disney animation techniques to reduce
costs and to limit the number of frames in productions.[41] He intended this as a temporary measure to
allow him to produce material on a tight schedule with inexperienced animation staff.[42] Three Tales,
aired in 1960, was the first anime shown on television.[43] The first anime television series was Otogi
Manga Calendar, aired from 1961 to 1964.[44]
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"[45] and the "god of manga".[46][47] 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.[48] 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.
[49]
 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.

Attributes

Anime artists employ many distinct visual styles

Anime differs greatly from other forms of animation by its diverse art styles, methods of animation, its
production, and its process. Visually, anime is a diverse art form that contains a wide variety of art
styles, differing from one creator, artist, and studio.[50] While no one art style predominates anime as
a whole, they do share some similar attributes in terms of animation technique and character design.

Animation technique
Anime follows the typical production of animation, including storyboarding, voice acting, character
design, and cel production (Shirobako, itself a series, highlights many of the aspects involved in
anime production). Since the 1990s, animators have increasingly used computer animation to
improve the efficiency of the production process. Artists like Noburō Ōfuji pioneered the earliest
anime works, which were experimental and consisted of images drawn on blackboards, stop
motion animation of paper cutouts, and silhouette animation.[51][52] Cel animation grew in popularity
until it came to dominate the medium. In the 21st century, the use of other animation techniques is
mostly limited to independent short films,[53] including the stop motion puppet animation work
produced by Tadahito Mochinaga, Kihachirō Kawamoto and Tomoyasu Murata.[54][55] Computers were
integrated into the animation process in the 1990s, with works such as Ghost in the
Shell and Princess Mononoke mixing cel animation with computer-generated images.[56] Fuji Film, a
major cel production company, announced it would stop cel production, producing an industry panic
to procure cel imports and hastening the switch to digital processes.[56]
Prior to the digital era, anime was produced with traditional animation methods using a pose to pose
approach.[51] The majority of mainstream anime uses fewer expressive key frames and more in-
between animation.[57]
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.[58] Anime scenes place emphasis on achieving three-dimensional views, and
backgrounds are instrumental in creating the atmosphere of the work.[17] 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.[59][60] Oppliger stated that anime is one of the rare
mediums where putting together an all-star cast usually comes out looking "tremendously
impressive".[61]
The cinematic effects of anime differentiates itself from the stage plays found in American animation.
Anime is cinematically shot as if by camera, including panning, zooming, distance and angle shots to
more complex dynamic shots that would be difficult to produce in reality.[62][63][64] In anime, the
animation is produced before the voice acting, contrary to American animation which does the voice
acting first; this can cause lip sync errors in the Japanese version.[65]

Characters
Body proportions of human anime characters tend to accurately reflect the proportions of the human
body in reality. The height of the head is considered by the artist as the base unit of proportion. Head
heights can vary, but most anime characters are about seven to eight heads tall.[66] Anime artists
occasionally make deliberate modifications to body proportions to produce super
deformed characters that feature a disproportionately small body compared to t