2 replies to this topic

[wood]

A question I was pondering during my commute this morning.  I didn't want to inject something so blatantly topic destroying into the other Anime thread so I started this one.  There seemed to be the beginnings of a what counts and what doesn't as anime definition and I just wanted to fan that into a full discussion.  So anything animated that comes out of Japan?  Specific subject matter?  What are the defining characteristics?

[Sabreman]

As far as I'm concerned it's simply the Japanese term for animation, taken from the western word. So if you are Japanese then anything animated is Anime, just the way most people from my country would refer to them as cartoons. I don't think a particular stylistic or thematic choice determines whether something is classed as Anime (though that has become a prevailing school of thought in the west, usually by the type of people who seem desperately unhappy that they weren't born Japanese).

I've watched a fair bit of Anime, some of it excellent, a lot of it barely worth my time. I don't watch it because it's 'Anime'. I watch it because I enjoy animation regardless of it's origin, and I'm always on the lookout for something good.

[PrejudiceSucks]

Anime = Animated
Manga = Book

IIRC, anyway.