What is an "anime"?

What is an "anime"?

I am a big fan of anime movies, series and culture. As every big anime fan I also have my top anime list, that I wish to share with you, because I believe that these animes deserve to be popular and watched by many people as possible. I will give you the title of the anime and a short presentation of the movie itself.

But firstly lets start by explaining the meaning of the word "anime" and then I will give you my top 10 list in another post in this category.

What is an ''anime''?

"Anime" is a short version of the word "animation". Anime is a word used only outside of Japan for the Japanese animations. The anime s are animations with a specific style of drawing that is typical for Japan and Japanese artworks. These animations are created for growing up or adult audience. The Japanese animation is famous all over the world and has thousands of names, so the word anime became the unique name of the genre responsible for the Japanese animation.

Some animes are entirely created by hand, but the new technologies makes it possible for anime artists to use computer animation. Which is better, is still a matter of taste. Often the animes are representing a tv adaptation of Japanese comics called "manga". Many animes are adapted for films such as "Dragon Ball" and "The Last Airbender".

"Anime" history

The history of Japanese animation begins in the beginning of the 20th century when the Japanese animators start to experiment with different animation techniques. Animes start to grow on popularity in contrast with the underdeveloped film industry. At that time the film industry in USA is having big budgets, but that doesn't stop the Japanese animators to create quality animes with smaller budgets. The animes give a lot of space for imagination, fantasy, action, drama, romance and much more, all this with no expensive actors, decors or special effects.

The growth of new animes and new anime genres continues and in the 21th century. Here is a list of all the known anime genres and if I missed some please tell me in the comments :)

Anime genres

Action - a lot of action, blood and violence

Mystery - tangled animes with an unpredictable ending

Horror - brutal animes with a lot of blood, gore and scary stuff

Samurai - battles involving samurai warriors based on a real or fictional persons

Ecchi - these animes are mostly for adults. They contain nudity and erotic scenes.

Mecha - Mecha comes from "mechanical". These are animes for robots or machines.

Sports - these are animes made for different type of sports like soccer, box, american football etc.

SciFi - these are unreal fantasy animes which also includes other genres

Deamons - animes in this category include characters like demons, devils, vampires and other creatures

Cyber Punk - this genre includes all high-tech animes, hacking, cyborgs, cybernetics and stuff like that

Game - these are animes based on video games

Bishonen - beautiful boys

Bishoujo - beautiful girls

Shounen-Ai - love between boys with no sex..

Yaoi - love between boys including sex..

Shounen - this is a genre including specifically animes made for boys - basically action animes

Shoujo-Ai - love between girls with no sex..

Yuri - love between girls including sex..

Shoujo - this is a genre including specifically animes made for girls - basically drama/romance animes

Mahou Shoujo - animes for girls with magical powers

Seinen - a genre directed at the adult men auditory

Josei - a genre directed at the adult women auditory

Music - it is a genre with a lot of music, dancing, singing and a big soundtrack

Kodomo - a genre for the little kids, nice anime with happy ending

Drama - a sad and gray animes with a bad ending

Djibli - fairy-tales by the Djibli studio

Martial Arts - it is an anime based on martial arts, fighting and combat techniques

Parody - parodies based on an existing animes

Historical - animes based on historical characters or events

Dementia - these animes are based on psychological illnesses

School - animes that are based on the events in a school or around it

Mahou shoujo (Magic girl)

Lol sweat is dripping from my forehead, but I will continue with the description of the word "anime". Our next stop is:

Anime terminology

Anime Music Video (AMV) - a music video based on an anime

Chibi - this is an unusual style of drawing which is characterized with an unpropitious body parts

Hentai - this is an anime with a clear pornographic content

J-pop - Japanese pop music

Original Video Animation ( OVA) - these are animes directly produced on dvd or VHS and not shown on TV

Cosplay - comes from costume play and it is the act of dressing like an anime character and wearing these clothes

Opening/Ending - the intro for the anime and the ending of the anime

Manga-ka - expert on the manga art

So I have explained the basics in the world of "Anime". I hope that this article was helpful for you and that you understood something from it.

References - this is a very important part of an article and I will try not to miss it.

Don't forget to leave your comments bellow :)

I will be posting a second part of this post in which I am going to give you my top 10 animes list.