This might sound like a horribly stupid question..but what is anime?..I mean I went to a store that sold mainly anime video tapes and I couldn't find any Aeon Flux or Wizards (Ralph Bakshi), The lady there told me to go to some other place because what I asked for wasn't anime. Is anime strictly Japanese?

-- mike D (mdoyle@rollins.edu), April 02, 2002

Answers

yes

-- Logo (Vosepherus@aol.com), April 02, 2002.

Yes and no... Anime (pronounced: ah-nee-may) is the Japanese word for animation, but in the US, the word "anime" (an-nih-may) refers to Japanese animation. Gotta love our language (odder still, in the UK and France Japanese animation is called "manga" -- which is the Japanese word for comic!).

Aeon Flux and Wizards? You have good taste, my friend.

-- Inu (paul@nadisrec.com), April 02, 2002.

Where you may be confused Mike is in thinking that all adult oriented animation is anime. I guess Disney is largely to blame for this for being the only animation powerhouse in this country for a good half century and only making animation films marketed toward children, or at least something "the whole family can enjoy." Bakshi made the attempt to expand the potential of animation, but I think most of his films have only a cult following. Aeon Flux and most Bakshi films are definitely more suited toward an adult audience, but they are no less American than Disney. Bakshi in particular is about as far from Japanese animation as you can get in terms of technique.

For the record though, I read somewhere that the term "japanimation" has actually caught on in Japan even though it has kind of been phased out here as being slightly un-pc.

-- Logo (Vosepherus@aol.com), April 03, 2002.

I really appreciate the help guys

-- Mike D (mdoyle@rollins.edu), April 03, 2002.

Many people assume that anime is purely Japanese. It's total nonsense. Granted that its film techiniue was developed in Japan, but its art style was influenced by American animations and comics. I recommend "Japanese Comickers" published by HarperCollins for further detail.

-- Henry park (injenius57@sbcglobal.net), July 26, 2003.