Anime

From ArticleWorld

Anime is defined as a style of cartoon animation that originated in Japan. Different styles characterize anime with special attention to the character and background, which can be hand drawn or generated with the help of a computer. Several anime series have reached high degrees of popularity in the world with DragonBall Z and Pokemon as two of the ones that are still played today and are much appreciated.

History

Anime development started in the early years of the 20th century. Several Japanese filmmakers started to experiment with the techniques that were already used in Western countries. A turning point in Japanese cartoon animation evolution was taken in the seventies. The creators started to detach from all influences and developed unique genres like mecha. Anime experienced a boom in the eighties in Japan and became accepted and popular in other countries during the nineties and the 2000s.

Characteristics

Generally speaking anime is characterized by vivid colors, vibrant characters, different settings and storylines and is aimed towards a wide range of audiences. Anime needs to be characterized by talking about genres used and music, together with the animation style. The genres used are numerous because they aim to spread towards a larger audience. Popular genres include drama, science fiction, romance, children’s stories, fantasy, horror, action, occult and a special genre is the erotic one which has a special name, Hentai. A common practice in anime is mixing genres, bringing in many elements from them. This is combined with an often long and complicated story line. Only in rare cases will an anime cartoon be aimed towards only one audience. Music is a very important artistic tool used in this style of cartoon animation. Japan houses a big business in anime music and it is profitable. The theme song of such a cartoon can become a hit song and all episodes from the series will use it as an introduction. As expected, the theme song will be in tone with the type of cartoon and it is very popular for well known musical celebrities in Japan to perform them. Anime CDs called Image Albums or Drama CDs sell very well and include several songs from the given show. The main theme is very important and a common technique that is also used is creating a special theme for each main character in the movie.