board77

hmm... I think if you're arguing that it is or isn't anime, you're missing something. It's awesome, there's nothing else really to say about it.

Pips, see Castle in the sky subbed. I think it's one of his best.

So, I was going to ask, what is anime? Or rather, what isn't anime?

Is anime any cartoon made in Japan? I somehow doubt it's that simple. But then what's the rule? Is Maya the Bee anime?

I'd personally say the definition of anime was less nebulous than that of manga. If Maya the Bee was made in Japan, I guess it's anime.

Manga is easier to make and as such spawns more imitators, some of which are accepted amongst fans. Korean manga tends to be known as manhwa. A common term is OEL manga: Original English Language manga. It's really hard to say. Strictly manga should be any comic from Japan, but I'd find it hard to say that Megatokyo or Dramacon [American in origin] were less manga than Dame Oyaji [which bears little resemblance to 'traditional' manga-style drawings].

There's also the strange rise of American animation which badly wants to be anime. W.I.T.C.H. is something I've never seen which seems to be borrowing heavily from perception of anime style, and Avatar seems to be popular, borrowing many traits from long-running anime series.

*~Pips~*

Maya was made in Japan but for a German producer. Man, I loved that show. A sample episode: it's raining. Six bugs converge under a mushroom to get out of the rain. They talk. Two minutes before end, the earthworm starts to drown, there's drama, it is rescued, all is well.

All they did was talk, and yet it was FASCINATING.

So the Moomins are manga too...

The W.I.T.C.H. series is made by Disney but the original comic is Italian. And I did wonder- because there's something about it that screams MANGA! as well as something that screams NOT MANGA! And I can't decide which.

I won't light the 'all anime looks the same' fuse, I've got eyes. But from what little those eyes have seen, the backgrounds, characters and animation, though designed differently, have been designed according to the same techniques and rules. It's like there is only one standard approved school of animation in Japan, and while no one is forbidden to go their own way, an artist needs to be fluent in this school's method in order to get a job at a studio.

I'm wondering.. hm?

If there's any common roots for character design in Japanese animation, it's that all animators look up to Osamu Tezuka, and Osamu Tezuka looked up to Walt Disney. His early manga strongly resembles American cartoons of the early twentieth century. Cost-cutting at the first Japanese animation studios also had a strong imapct - for example it was found that large eyes helped animate expressions with minimal frames.

Maybe it's because I'm used to watching it, but I would say that there's huge variance in style within anime. I need to get some screenshots to back this up, but I really do.

*~Pips~*

A bunch of screenshots to draw comparisons from. This is all pretty much mainstream. Air was considered a bit too Japanese for translation, but the fans were proved wrong when it was licensed a couple of months ago.

Air [TV series only]


Great Teacher Onizuka


Robot design in Neon Genesis Evangelion


Robot design in Full Metal Panic


Early painting of characters from Black Jack, by the infamous Osamu Tezuka


Screenshot from a dated Black Jack OVA series


The first episode of Bleach


The first OVA of Bleach

Oh, of course I didn't mean character designs- but look at the backgrounds, and the way they're drawn. Even though they're all different I get the feeling that they're all done using the same method.

I don't know how to explain what I mean.

My first contact with anime was 70s series like Heidi and Mazinger Z, and I've liked the genre ever since, although I tend to prefer "classic" storytelling like Miyazaki's to "trendier" things like Akira.

Rose of Versailles! Oof. It's AGES since I last heard of that, when I was very much an active member of a manganime forum centered around 80s things like that and Candy Candy (anyone remember Candy? That was one tragic heroine), although I was never a fan of the CC anime, only the manga which IMO was far superior (content- and style-wise).

To-toro, to-to-ro, to-tor, to-to-ro *sings* Definitely feelgood.
(I realised the second time I watched it that "totoro" is simply a Japanese baby-talk pronunciation of "troll". )

Boromir looks through the open door:
'They've got a cave totoro!'

Everyone: 'Run!'

Then Totoro saunters into the Chamber of Mazarbul, carrying an umbrella...

Rodia wrote:

Oh, of course I didn't mean character designs- but look at the backgrounds, and the way they're drawn. Even though they're all different I get the feeling that they're all done using the same method.

I don't know how to explain what I mean.

If you figure it out, let me know. There is obviously something in the style that immediately lets you know it's anime and yet I can't figure out exactly what that is. One thing I've noticed is that anime almost always has thin black outlines (Pips' pics all do) but I know that's not the only style commonality. I've seen anime without the thin outlines that is still very blatently anime.

Berhael wrote:

Then Totoro saunters into the Chamber of Mazarbul, carrying an umbrella...