The term
anime is Japanese for
cartoon; it is borrowed from the French
animé, meaning
animated. Anime's trademark visual style is shared with
Manga (Japanese comic books and graphic novels); in both cases, it is inherited from the post-World War II work of
Osamu Tezuka, who is arguably the father of modern Japanese commercial art.
It may come as a surprise that the classic anime "style" is in fact lifted from
American animation. Tezuka was strongly influenced by the work of Walt Disney, and adapted the Disney style to Japanese sensibilities. (Other sources say the greatest influence was actually
Betty Boop
, who was one of Tezuka's favorite characters.) Subsequent creators of graphic works copied his style, resulting in the familiar "large eyes" look that characterized anime and manga for so many decades since the 1950s. (On this topic, fellow artist/author Shirow Masamune has said, "I've heard that some people complain about the large eyes and small noses and mouths in Japanese manga. But I don't see a whole lot of difference when I look at Disney characters.")
Tezuka's work essentially created both manga and anime as they are known today. His seminal creation — and the one most Americans are likely to be familiar with — was
Tetsuwan Atom (
Mighty Atom). It's perhaps better known in the English-speaking world as
Astro Boy.
Note that the creator of
Astro Boy remarked that the Japanese wanted to be blonde and blue-eyed. This is the best evidence of the reverse of what is happening today: the Japanese liked the drawings of Walt Disney (of humans) because of the American looking people, and the Japanese fascination with American culture of the time.
It's important to note that the western definition of "anime" differs from the Japanese definition. As suggested in the paragraph above, "anime" is really not a style but a term. In Japan, it refers to
all animation, whether it's eastern or western, cel or CG. Thus, you may see Disney movies filed under "Anime" on a Japanese website, such as
Amazon.co.jp. It's only
outside of Japan that "anime" strictly means "Japanese animation," while non-Japanese animation is called by the much more generic term "cartoons" or "animated features" or "Western animation". It's a recursive loanword, which naturally experienced this definition shift due to its redundancy with the original word.
Anime can be very addictive, and often invokes
Gratuitous Japanese. Try not to fall in too quickly. Many anime depend on Japanese culture for context, so try to learn
actual facts about Japan to balance things out, and maybe even set goals to actually learn Japanese. This will make the anime experience better in the long run. Be careful though; falling too deep could turn you into an
Otaku.
Anime films and series:
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