The basics of Anime

Anime is Japanese for 'animation'. The word was originally borrowed from the French when animation was introduced. Animation as an industry is much larger in Japan than it is in North America, being of the same order of magnitude as the 'live-action' film industry there. Anime separates itself from Amerian animation in many ways. In America animation is commonly perceived as children's entertainment, as American animation is designed for generally a younger audience. In Japan however, animation is not merely viewed as a form of children's entertainment, but as a visual medium and artform that can be used and manipulated to tell stories in a way that could not be possible with live-action. Anime works covers nearly all film and television genres one could possibly imagine. While anime varies in quality according to both production techniques and artistic merit, the level of sophistication is, in general, far superior to it's counterpart outside Japan, the 'cartoon'. The beauty and appeal of anime is most likely due to the fact that there is a show for nearly any interest and any age group. Anime is distributed in three forms, TV episodes, Original Video Animation (often called OVAs or OAVs), and full length feature films.

Cowboy Bebop