The Houston Chronicle 

November 04, 1999, Thursday 2 STAR EDITION 

SECTION: HOUSTON; Pg. 1 

LENGTH: 524 words 

HEADLINE: THE ANIME INVASION; 
Japanese animation leaps from cult status to mainstream 

SOURCE: Staff, Wire services 

BYLINE: BRUCE WESTBROOK 

BODY: 
   Anime - pronounced AH-ne-may - is a Japanese term adapted from the English 
"animation." But this serious brand of Japanese animation stands well apart. 

Not that many Americans are hip to its nuances. Here, anime's fans are largely 
limited to a cult following among teens and college students. 

To fans, anime is almost instantly recognizable by the way Japanese artists draw 
adult characters with oversized eyes. 

Yet in tone and content, anime ranges widely, unlike the kid-driven approach of 
most American animation. 

One dramatic example is "Princess Mononoke," opening Friday, an elaborate 
feature film directed by the genre's acknowledged master, Hayao Miyazaki. 

In contrast to its wondrous, adult-level adventure is "Pokemon," the children's 
power fantasy that began as a video game, morphed into a trading-card craze, is 
popular as a TV cartoon and will leap to the big screen with "Pokemon: The First 
Movie" on Wednesday. 

Beyond that are original animation videos - harshly violent and erotic anime 
films for adults, long a staple of private anime clubs and cultists around the 
world. 

Even such pornographic anime, called "hentai," usually fails to render its 
characters as recognizably adult. For this reason, parents are advised to 
inspect the boxes at video stores, which will usually state whether the film has 
violent or sexual content. 

All such work was spawned when anime arose amid Japan's postwar economic 
struggles. It was cheaper to tell stories in animation than as live-action 
films. 

Just as U.S. animation evolved from comic strips and cartoons, anime also has 
its roots in "manga," Japanese comic books that are as popular with adults as 
they are with children. 

The difference between American comics and "manga" is that the Japanese brand 
focuses on character development and story. 

Anime's themes are also less conventional than U.S. animated features. It's not 
uncommon for major characters to die or undergo transformations that render them 
evil. Even children's anime deals with complex ideas. 

The most popular anime tends to draw heavily from Asian folklore and symbolism, 
especially the ancient philosophies of Zen and Shinto and the martial arts. 

Many Americans got their first taste of anime in the 1960s when the series 
"Tetsuwan Atom" was dubbed - badly - with English voices and syndicated in the 
United States as "Astro Boy." In later years, anime series such as "Star 
Blazers" and "Speed Racer" also arose on television. 

In the past decade films such as "Akira" and "Ghost in the Shell" appeared in 
American theaters, while last year Disney issued "Kiki's Delivery Service" on 
video. 

Stone Bridge Press (www.stonebridge.com), which specializes in books about 
Japanese art and culture, has published a number of books on the subject, 
including Helen McCarthy's "Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation" ($ 
18.95) and "The Anime Companion" by Gilles Poitras ($ 16.95). 

In Houston, Planet Anime, 2439 Times, offers anime video and books. 

Filmographies, essays and information also are plentiful on the Web. A good 
place to begin is the Anime Cafe, www.abcb.com. 


GRAPHIC: Drawings: 1.-2. San and Ashitaka are voiced by Claire Danes and Billy 
Crudup in the American version of Hayao Miyazaki's "Princess Mononoke." Below 
left is a character from Miyazaki's "Kiki's Delivery Service." (color)