Anime
Anime, the Japanese term for animated films, refers to Japanese animation. Since the early 1950s, when the father of anime, Tezuka Osamu (1928–1989), created such famous series as Jungle taitei (known in the United States as "Kimba the White Lion") and Tetsuon atomu (known in the United States as "Astro Boy"), Japan has produced a stream of innovative and original animated films. Artistically, anime are known for their use of color, their textured and detailed backgrounds and foregrounds, and their complex camera points of view, which approximate those of acted films. Sympathetic characters are often depicted with enormous eyes, oddly colored hair, and childlike features. Story lines tend to be complex, and many anime appear as long series of episodes, with a multitude of characters and subplots.
Anime often have their roots in manga (comic books, or graphic novels), though not always; in recent times computer games have also inspired anime, as in the case of Pokemon. Other children's anime that have crossed the Pacific to intrigue U.S. audiences include Mach Go! Go! Go! (U.S. "Speed Racer"), Uchu senkan Yamato (U.S. "Starblazers"), Dragonball Z, and Sailor Moon. There are also many anime aimed at an older audience, which feature graphic sex and violence. Some anime are serious films; Princess Mononoke, the 1999 U.S. version of a full-length animated film by Japan's premier anime director, Miyazaki Hayao, received critical acclaim in the United States.
Cinema—Japan
Further Reading
"A Brief History of Anime." Retrieved 20 July 2001, from: http://gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/~koulikom/his tory.html.
Napier, Susan J. (2000) Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation. New York: Palgrave.
Schodt, Frederick L. (1983) Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics. Tokyo, New York, and San Francisco: Kodansha International.
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