It's a Jungle Out There

Anime is a colorful, detailed and highly stylized form of animation that originated in Japan in the 1950s. Osama Tezuka, known as the father of anime, was the first to employ techniques for reducing the cost and effort required to produce animation, thereby making it possible for animation to become widespread and popular, not only in Japan, but worldwide.

The advent of the anime craze in the United States was in 1995 with Ghost in the Shell, a futuristic sci-fi thriller featuring cyborg cops hunting a renegade AI program. Soon after, Disney and Miramax, in collaboration with Studio Ghibli, translated the first major anime motion picture to be released in the US, Princess Mononoke, an epic saga of a cursed prince who stumbles into a struggle between humans, gods and demons that he must help to resolve if he wishes to live. The film was met with resistance, as parents who took their children to see it in theaters complained that it was far too graphic for children. Thus, along with the American anime fan, was born the American anime critic.

Anime accounts for about half of all video sales in Japan, and about a third of the printed material. Anime and manga have their own sections in many American bookstores and video rentals. You can't turn a corner on the Web without bumping into an 'anime shrine'. You may be wondering, just what is so great about anime? Why has it turned into such a wide-spread and popular meduim?

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Why Anime?

Anime appeals to everyone. It appeals to every genre, from action adventure and science fiction to drama and romance, and appeals to every age group, from young children to adults. Therefore, anyone can enjoy anime. Anime is beautifully detailed, and realistically animated. Some Japanese animation companies go so far as to conduct physics experiments in order to study how objects in motion appear so that they can animate a more realistic scene.

That aside, in a world that stresses political correctness and propriety, anime pushes the envelope, daring to go places and say thing that you can't find other places. Of course, as one can imagine, this is fodder for anime critics, but those who watch responsibly and know how to regulate what younger viewers watch are exposed to a wide range of new ideas. Issues such as racism and homosexuality, as well as philosophical issues, questions of right and wrong and political and social issues are often addressed in many popular anime. Anime doesn't just entertain you, it also makes you think.

I can give you countless examples, but the only way to really understand is to see it for yourself. You can see anime on G4 Tech TV, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim, or you can rent or buy many anime at your local video stores.

posted by Jody at 9:37 AM 1 comments