Welcome to the
"What the heck is ANIME?" Page!
Good question... what is anime? In short, anime is any type of cartoons which
come from Japan. Examples of American anime would be Robotech, Dragon Warrior, Transformers,
Ronin Warriors, Dragon Ball, Samurai Pizza Cats, and SAILOR MOON... <G>
Originally, Japanese cartoonists were inspired by old Disney movies, and used
techniques derived from them (one such is the particularly LARGE eyes "cute"
anime have.
Generally, anime can be separated into two different categories:
Cute anime:
- characters have unusually large, cute eyes
- unrealistic expressions in some situations (ex: completely fall over, burn up, etc.)
- "cute" contact graphics (when someone hits something or when there's an explosion)
example: SD characters, things which don't have anything to do with the series, etc.
- "water" drops on the back of a character's head (usually signifying irony or sarcasm)
- sometimes has a warped physics when it comes to certain situations (a three story drop doesn't kill the guy? Or even hurt the guy?)
- usually has some sort of comedy
Examples of cute anime would be: Ranma 1/2, Tenchi Muyo, Sailor Moon, and Urusei Yatsura.
Serious anime:
- characters look realistic, like most American cartoons
- usually has realistic physics
- might have blood (cute anime tries to avoid spilling of blood... otherwise it wouldn't be cute ^_^)
- higher percentage of "good vs. evil" anime than cute anime
Examples of serious anime would be: Lupin 3rd, Ninja Scroll, Nausicaa, Robot Carnival, Porco Rosso,
Macross, Gundam, Ghost in a Shell, Wings of the Hommaniase, Transformers, Laputa, and Galaxy Express 999.
Sometimes, anime are a mix of the two.
Examples of this are Project A-Ko, and Dragon Ball.
Back to Al's Anime Page!
© Copyright 1997.
This page is LYNX friendly.
Last Updated: March 1, 1997