What Is Anime???

The term anime refers to a distinctive tradition of Japanese animation that is
almost immediately recognizable by its superior artistic quality as well as by
the somewhat mannered artistic conventions anime artists employ, such as the
preference for child-like, large eyes. But it's not just the art that grabs
one's attention.



In contrast to the flat, Good vs. Evil plots in U.S. cartoons, many anime
stories deal with complex, thought-provoking themes, presenting complex
characters that change as the stories progress. There's a ready acceptance of
the reality of death. In some anime, even those intended for kids, main
characters sometimes die. Although there's as much silliness and trash in anime
as in any other popular medium, it's a fair generalization to say that it's a
more intelligent genre than American cartoons. For anyone used to Disney's
predictable plots and platitudes, one's first encounter with anime produces
shock, followed by fascination. It's serious stuff.

Anime also provides a window into another culture. In ways that many anime fans
scarcely guess, anime draws strongly from Japanese and wider Asian mythology and
symbolism generally, and specifically from the rich Japanese traditions of
Shinto, the martial arts, and Zen.

Perhaps that's one of the reasons anime deals so successfully with fantasy
themes, as fans of Record of the Lodoss War, illustrated here, will readily
attest. But there's more.

Responsible for some of the world's best technology at present, the Japanese
seem to be out in front in another way, too: Thinking seriously about the
implications of advanced technology.



Some of the most interesting anime explore the implications of technologies that
blurs the distinctions between machine and person, male and female, good and
evil, leaving the characters groping to find their moorings. In contrast to
American explorations of advanced technology (as in Star Wars and the Terminator
films), which subsume all the issues under the "absolute good vs. absolute evil"
and "happy ending" tropes, anime deeply explores the moral and spiritual
ambiguities of life and culture in a world pushed over the edge by rampaging
technological progress.