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Background about Anime

Anime is a style of traditional or computer animation of Japanese origin.

In its beginnings, Japanese animation was called senga eiga (literally "line-drawn movies"), later it was known by the term Doga (moving images) and, finally, around 1960 it was originally called animeeshon. Hence it is shortened to "anime". On the other hand it is believed that it is a word of French origin. Anime is a medium of great expansion in Japan, being at the same time a product of commercial and cultural entertainment, which has caused a cultural phenomenon in popular masses and a form of technological art. It is potentially aimed at all audiences, from children, adolescents, adults; to classification specializations essentially borrowed from the existing one for manga, with base classes designed for socio - demographic specifications such as employees, housewives, students, etc. Thus, they can tackle subjects, themes, and genres as diverse as love, adventure, science fiction, children's stories, literature, sports, horror, fantasy, comedy, and many others.

Anime is traditionally drawn by hand and at the beginning the processes carried out digitally were very specific (retouching and editing). However, currently the most common tasks in the production of an animation, such as coloring or visual effects (brightness, shadows, ambient light, etc.), are done with digital applications, which allow greater control. On the work and help speed up the work of artists to levels unsuspected in a traditional animation process. His scripts include a large part of the fiction genres and are broadcast through audiovisual media (television broadcast, distribution in home video formats and movies with audio). The relationship between anime and manga is close, since most of the stories of anime animated series come from manga. In addition, it is also closely related to graphic novels of Japanese origin.

Anime is a diverse medium with distinctive production methods that have been adapted in response to emerging technologies. It combines graphic art, characterization, cinematography and other forms of imaginative and individualistic techniques. Compared to Western animation, anime production generally focuses less on movement and more on setting details and the use of "camera effects" such as panning , zooming, and angled shots. Since the 1980s, the medium has also enjoyed international success with the rise of foreign-dubbed and subtitled programming and its increasing distribution through streaming services. As of 2016, Japanese animation accounted for 60% of the world's animated television shows.

Anime Details

Etymology

The most credible hypothesis is that the term anime comes from the abbreviation of the Japanese transcription of the English word "animation". Hence it is shortened to "anime".

Internationally, anime once bore the popular name " Japanimation ", but this term has fallen out of use. Fans pronounced the word preferably as an abbreviation for the phrase "Japanese Animation". It saw its greatest use during the 1970s and 1980s, generally comprising the first and second waves of anime fandom. The term survived until at least the early 1990s, but seemed to die out just before the anime revival of the mid-1990s.

In the United States, anime was also defined as cartoon japanese, which means Japanese cartoons. In general, the term Japanimation is widely used in Japan to distinguish animations made there (Japanimation) from animations in general (Anime, in Japan).

History

Precursors

Emakimono and Kagee are considered precursors to Japanese animation. Emakimono was common in the 11th century. Traveling storytellers narrated legends and anecdotes as the emakimono unrolled from right to left in chronological order, like a moving panorama. Kagee was popular during the Edo period and originated from China's shadow play. Magic lanterns from the Netherlands were also popular in the 18th century. The paper play called Kamishibai emerged in the 12th century and remained popular in street theater until the 1930s. Bunraku theater puppetry and ukiyo-e printsthey are considered ancestors of characters from most Japanese animations. Finally, the manga was a great inspiration for Japanese animation. Cartoonists Kitzawa Rakuten and Okamoto Ippei used cinematic elements in their strips.

Pioneers

A still from Namakura Gatana (1917), the earliest Japanese animated short film made for theaters. Animation in Japan began in the early 20th century, when filmmakers began experimenting with techniques pioneered in France, Germany, the United States, and Russia. An earliest claim to Japanese animation is Katsudō Shashin (c. 1907), a private work by an unknown creator. In 1917 the first professional and publicly exhibited works began to appear; animators such as Ōten Shimokawa , Seitarō Kitayama , and Jun'ichi Kōuchi (considered the "fathers of anime") produced numerous films, the oldest of which is Kōuchi's Namakura Gatana. Many of the early works were lost with the destruction of the Shimokawa warehouse in the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923.

By the mid-1930s, animation was well established in Japan as an alternative format to the live action industry. It suffered from competition from foreign producers (such as Disney ), and many animators, including Noburō Ōfuji and Yasuji Murata, continued to work with cheaper cut-out animation instead of cel animation. However, other creators, including Kenzō Masaoka and Mitsuyo Seo, made great strides in the technique, benefiting from government sponsorship, which employed animators to produce educational shorts and propaganda. In 1940, the government dissolved various artists' organizations to form Shin Nippon Mangaka Kyōkai. The first sound anime was Chikara to Onna no Yo no Naka(1933), a short film produced by Masaoka. The first anime feature film was Momotaro : Sacred Sailors (1945), produced by Seo with sponsorship from the Imperial Japanese Navy. The 1950s saw a proliferation of short animated advertisements created for television.

Anime short film in 1917

Modern era

In the 1960s, manga artist and animator Osamu Tezuka adapted and simplified Disney's animation techniques to cut costs and limit the number of frames in his productions. Originally intended as temporary measures to allow him to produce material on a tight schedule with an inexperienced staff, many of his limited animation practices came to define the style of the medium. Three Tales (1960) was the first anime film broadcast on television; the first anime television series was Instant History (1961–64). An early and influential success was Astro Boy(1963–66), a television series directed by Tezuka based on his manga of the same name. Many animators from Tezuka's Mushi Production later established major anime studios (including Madhouse, Sunrise, and Pierrot).

The 1970s saw a growth in the popularity of manga, many were later animated. Tezuka's work, and that of other pioneers in the field, inspired features and genres that remain foundational elements of anime today. The giant robot ("Mecha") genre, for example, took shape with Tezuka, became the superrobot genre with Go Nagai and others, then was revolutionized at the end of the decade by Yoshiyuki Tomino, who developed the true robot genre. Robot anime series like Gundam and The super Dimension Fortress Macross became classicsinstants in the 1980s, and the genre remained one of the most popular in the following decades. The bubble economy of the 1980s spurred a new era of high-budget, experimental anime films, including Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise (1987), and Akira (1988 ).

Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995), a television series produced by Gainax and directed by Hideaki Anno, began another era of experimental anime titles, such as Ghost in the Shell (1995) and Cowboy Bebop (1998). In the 1990s, anime also began to attract increased interest in Western countries, with major international hits including Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z, both of which were dubbed into more than a dozen languages ​​worldwide. In 2003, Spirited Away, a Studio Ghibli feature film directed by Hayao Miyazaki, won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film at the 75th Academy Awards. It later became the highest-grossing anime film, earning over $355 million. Since the 2000s, a greater number of anime works have been adaptations of light novels and visual novels; successful examples include The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Fate/stay night (both 2006). Kimetsu no Yaiba (the movie): Mugen Train became the highest grossing Japanese film and one of the highest grossing films in the world in 2020. It also became the highest-grossing film in Japanese cinema, grossing 10 billion yen ($95.3 million; £72 million) in 10 days. It surpassed the previous record for Spirited Away, which took 25 days.

Anime in Japan is now distributed in theaters, on direct-to-home television broadcasts, on cable channels, DVD, Blu-ray, and massively over the Internet to the rest of the world; classifying itself in numerous genres aimed at various general and specialized audiences.

Where to Read and Watch anime for free online?

If you are interested to find out more about animes and watch all your favorite animes for free then head over to Crunchyroll Anime now. Here you can find all the updated information about all the latest animes and manga. You will also find out where to watch your favorite animes and read your beloved manga. Following are some of the useful links from Crunchyroll Anime that you can refer.

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