Japan Culture : Japanese Cartoons : Japanese Anime

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Anime

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Anime is a style of animation originating in Japan. It is sometimes referred to by the portmanteau Japanimation. Anime is characterized by stark, colorful graphics and stylized, colorful images depicting vibrant characters in a variety of different settings and storylines, aimed at a wide range of audiences. Anime may be broadcast on television, distributed on media such as DVDs or published as console and computer games. Anime is often influenced by Japanese comics known as manga.

History

The history of anime begins at the start of the 20th century, when Japanese filmmakers experimented with the animation techniques that were being explored in the West. During the 1970s, anime developed further, separating itself from its Western roots, and developing unique genres such as mecha. In the 1980s, anime was accepted in the mainstream in Japan, and experienced a boom in production. The 1990s and 2000s saw an increased acceptance of anime in overseas markets.

Characteristics

Anime features a wide variety of artistic styles which vary from artist to artist. Anime also features a large number of genres as well--at least as many as traditional cinema. This is an important contrast to most western-produced animation. While most western animated titles are made expressly for younger children, anime has a significantly broader range of appeal. While some anime is made expressly for young children, most titles are targeted towards a young adult or older audience.

Target audience

Anime is often an explicitly commercial art form; producers and marketers often aim for very specific audiences, with focused categories for shonen (boys) and shojo (girls) genres, as well as for teenagers and adults. Other target audiences are described below.

Genres

Anime has as many genres as live action cinema, including adventure, science fiction, children's stories, romance, medieval fantasy, erotica (hentai), occult/horror, action, and drama.

Most anime includes content from several different genres, as well as a variety of thematic elements. This can make categorizing some titles very difficult. A show may have a seemingly simple surface plot, but at the same time may feature a far more complex, deeper storyline and character development. It is not uncommon for a strongly action themed anime to also involve humor, romance, and even poignant social commentary. The same can be applied to a romance themed anime in that it may involve a strong action element.

Some anime titles are written for a very specific audience, even narrower than those described above. For example, Initial D and éX-Driver concerns street racing and car tuning. Ashita No Joe is about boxing. Hanaukyo Maid Team is based on the French maid fantasy.

Animation style

The drawing style used in anime is counter productive to the animation process, having far too many details and subsequently making it difficult to keep the number of drawings comparable to other cartoons with design ethics that stress simplicity. This may be due to a philosophy of applying more effort into a each of a few drawings than less effort into one of many.

Osamu Tezuka adapted and simplified many Disney animation precepts to reduce the budget costs and number of frames in the production, though it should be noted that Disney films made in the west are not anime. This was intended to be a temporary measure to allow him to produce one episode every week with an inexperienced animation staff. Anime studios have since perfected techniques to draw as little new animation as possible, using scrolling or repeating backgrounds, still shots of characters sliding across the screen, and dialogue which involves only animating mouths while the rest of the screen remains absolutely still, a technique not wholly unfamiliar to Western animation. The overall effect of these techniques, such as reduced frame rate, several still shots and scrolling backgrounds, has led some critics to accuse anime of choppiness or poor quality in general. (See also limited animation.)

There are often scenes where the frame rate of the animation far exceeds the quality of the rest of the production. These are commonly referred to as "money shots" outside of Japan, where more effort is put into the animation of one scene to give it emphasis over the rest of the work. Animator Yasuo Otsuka was the pioneer of this technique.

Exceptions to these rules are early classic films, such as those produced by Toei Animation up until the mid 1960s, and recent big budget films, such as those produced by the enormously successful Studio Ghibli. These movies have much higher production values, due to their anticipated success at the box office. Some animators in Japan overcome production values by utilizing different techniques than the Disney or the old Tezuka/Otsuka methods of animating anime. Directors such as Hiroyuki Imaishi (Cutey Honey, Dead Leaves) simplify backgrounds so that more attention can be paid to character animation. Other animators like Tatsuyuki Tanaka (in Koji Morimoto's Eternal Family in particular) use squash and stretch, an animation technique not often used by Japanese animators; Tanaka makes other shortcuts to compensate for this. Some higher-budgeted television and OVA (Original Video Animation) series also forego the shortcuts found in most other anime.

While different titles and different artists have their own unique artistic styles, many stylistic elements have become extremely common. Some examples have become so common that they are often described as being definative of anime in general, and have been given names of their own. The most common is the large eyes style drawn on many anime characters, common mainly due to the influence of Osamu Tezuka, who was inspired by the exaggerated features of Western cartoon characters such as Betty Boop and Mickey Mouse and from Disney's Bambi. Tezuka found that large eyes allowed his characters to better express their emotions. Some Western audiences have interpreted such stylized eyes as more Caucasian. Cultural anthropologist Matt Thorn argues that Japanese animators and audiences do not perceive them as inherently more or less foreign. [Do Manga Characters Look "White"?. URL accessed on December 5, 2005.] When Tezuka began drawing Ribbon no Kishi, the first manga specifically targeted at young girls, Tezuka further exaggerated the size of the characters' eyes. Indeed, through Ribbon no Kishi, Tezuka set a stylistic template that later shojo artists tended to follow. Another variation of this style is "chibi" or "super deformed"; which usually feature huge eyes, an enlarged head, and small body.

Other stylistic elements are common as well; often in comedic anime, characters that are shocked or surprised will perform a "face fault", in which they display an extremely exaggerated expression. Angry characters may exhibit a "vein" or "stressmark" effect, where lines representing bulging veins will appear on their forehead. Angry women will sometimes summon a mallet from nowhere and strike someone with it, leading to the concept of Hammerspace. Male characters will develop an inexplicable bloody nose around their female love interests (typically to indicate arousal). Embarrassed characters will invariably produce a massive sweat-drop, which has become something of a stereotype of anime.

The degree of stylization varies from title to title. Some titles make extensive use of common stylization: FLCL, for example, is known for its wild, exaggerated, stylization. In contrast, titles such as Only Yesterday, a film by Isao Takahata, take a much more realistic approach, and feature no stylistic exaggerations.

Another unique aspect of anime not found in other commercial animation markets is the lack of a directoral system. In most animation produced around the world animators are all forced to conform to a set style by the director or animation director. In Japan starting with the animation director Yoshinori Kanada (as a means to save time and money) each animator brings his/her own style to the work. The most extreme examples of this can be found in Mindgame or The Hakkenden. The Hakkenden is particularly extreme, showing constantly shifting styles of animation based upon the key animator that worked on that particular episode. This approach combined with Otsuka's "money shots" make key animators important individuals in the style and production of an anime film.

Many non-Japanese cartoons are starting to incorporate mainstream anime shortcuts and symbols to appeal to anime's tremendously growing fanbase and cut costs.

Music

Much like western live-action cinema, anime uses music as an important artistic tool. Anime soundtracks are big business in Japan, and are often times met with similar demand as chart topping pop albums. It is for this reason that anime music is often composed and performed by 'A-list' musicians, stars, and composers. Skilled BGM composers are highly respected in the anime fan community. Anime series with opening credits use the opening theme song as a quick introduction to the show.

The most frequent use of music in Anime is background music or BGM. BGM is used to set the tone of a given scene, for example Neon Genesis Evangelion 's "Decisive Battle" is played when the characters are making battle preparations and it features heavy drum beats and a militaristic style which highlights the tension of the scene and hints at the action to follow.

The theme song (also referred to as the Opening song) usually matches the overall tone of the show, and serves to get the viewer excited about the upcoming program. Insert songs and ending songs often make commentary about the plot or the program as a whole, and are often times used to highlight a particularly important scene. Opening and ending themes, as well as insert songs, are frequently performed by popular musicians or Japanese idols, so in this way, songs become a very important component of an anime program.