Anime Primer
Anime is the Japanese word for animation. Like many Japanese words, it is a loan word, i.e. borrowed from another langauge, in this case French. In the United States, the word anime is used to refer specifically to animation produced in Japan. Semantics aside, the following is a short introduction to Anime, followed by a brief description of what I feel are some of its more important characteristics.
I. Background Information
Before you can get a full appreciation of Anime, it is important that you understand the important role that the Japanese comic book industry plays in its production. Manga is the Japanese word for comic, and it is a booming industry which supercedes its American counterpart it terms of distribution, genres, and audience. In Japan, Manga is popular among all age groups, including adults, and range in subject matter from romance, action, sports, and even office politics. Almost every Anime production begins life as a Manga. Based on the popularity of a Manga series, it may or may not be produced into an Anime. More taboo subjects such as homosexuality and incest, rarely seen in any form of American media, are quite popular in Manga. There is even a special category of Manga devoted to stories about homosexual men called Shounen Ai, (literally "Boy Love"). These stories are usually aimed at teenage girls and generally contain innocent stories of forbidden love. Manga generally aimed at this young female audience are called Shoujou Manga (Girl Comic), while Manga aimed at boys are not suprisingly called Shounen Manga (Boy Comic). Shoujou Manga usually revolve around romantic themes, though they frequently contain elements of mystery, action, mysticism, and violence. The main character is usually female and she is a typical girl whom the reader can easily indentify with. Regardless of the story, the main focus is on this and the other main characters' emotions and struggles. Their development as a person is often just as important as the action happening around them. What results is a feeling of unique personality surrounding each character, and it is their realistic interactions with eachother that make the stories so enjoyable. Shakespearean plays are timeless because, regardless of their historical context, they deal primarily with enduring emotions such as love, jealously, and revenge, which can be appreciated by any human being. Such is the case with Manga. Most Americans have little understanding of Japanese culture, but they can immediately identify with a characters hopes and fears in a world far removed from theirs.
Anime takes these conventions to produce stories which are emotionally and visually advanced beyond the point of most live action cinema. The following is a brief description of some of the distinguishing characteristics of this media.
II. What Makes Anime Special
One of the most important characteristics of Anime are the stylistic conventions that are employed in the vast majority of productions. Anyone watching Anime for the first time will immediately notice that the general appearance of the characters does not resemble anything that they have seen produced in the United States. Many characters, especially females, have proportionately larger eyes, i.e. non-Asian, in relation to the rest of their head. This leads many people to erroneously assume that these characters are supposed to be of Western decent. In fact, the character's eye size is generally a reflection that character's innocence or youth. These large eyes are used to convey a wide variety of emotions that are often more successfully portrayed through non-verbal rather than oral communication. It is not uncommon for a character to gaze longinly at something as the light glistens across their pupils. By employing this effect, the feelings of admiration, love, or desire are effectively expressed without the utterance of a single word.
The eyes are heavily emphasized.
Characters are usually thin with elongated limbs, there is a general feeling of smoothness and slickness to their bodies. Even when doing the most mundane things, they have a sense of grace and elegance. Many Anime series have artbooks produced about them which contain original pictures of the characters in quasi-fashion model poses. Characters, costumes can range from everyday garb to fanciful attire. Hair color and style can be relatively normal or completely outrageous. Some viewers are undoubtedly confused at characters who have blue or green hair but otherwise seem quite normal visually. The reason for the drastic hair colors is actually two-fold. Besides giving a character personality, it is really a convention borrowed from Manga artists. Because Manga are printed in black and white, artists give characters different shades of hair in order to make it easier to differentiate between them. These different shades then were translated into different colors when the characters designs are tweaked for animation. Men may have long hair and appear very androgynous, though still behave quite masculine. This is undoubtedly influenced from Shounen Ai Manga (see above). Noses are usually very small and pointed. Mouths are also usually quite small, but can become obscenely large when a character is yelling angrily.
Aside from the actual appearance of the characters, the direction and cinematography of the productions are very unique. Tight close ups and radical perspectives are usually favored over wide, expansive scenes. A characters face or even just their eyes can fill the
Long, slender limbs are the norm.
entire frame when they are
thinking or are nervous. There are frequently many pregnant pauses in scenes where the character remains still to allow the tension to build. The perspective in a scene can change dramatically from frame to frame, shifting from level to overhead to below a character in a matter of seconds, depending on the mood and ongoing action. Even the most seemingly banal or insignificant moments are adorned with splendid composition usually reserved for only the most poignant parts of a story.
Hairstyle and color can vary tremendously.