On The 8th Day God Created Anime
-- Chapter One: The Origins of Anime --

You are one of two things.

You are an Otaku. You sleep, live, breathe and if you could eat anime and manga. You remember your favourite characters bloodtype, own a myriad of anime DVD’s and it is your life’s goal to speak fluent Japanese.

Or

You are about to become an Otaku. Regardless of the fact that you haven’t the slightest idea what an Otaku is, it is your destiny. You have stumbled across this article and now it is too late.

Whichever you are, you need the same thing, knowledge. You need to know what anime is, where it came from and what events caused its birth. The basic core information that sadly many Otaku’s lack. Well here it is, written down in one article, your core basics for living an Anime life. Ok, so let’s start of with a simple definition of Anime as written in Websters dictionary.

Main Entry: an·i·me
Pronunciation: 'a-n&-"mA, 'ä-nE-
Function: noun
Etymology: Japanese, animation, short for animation, from English
Date: 1988
: a style of animation originating in Japan that is characterized by stark colorful graphics depicting vibrant characters in action-filled plots often with fantastic or futuristic themes

Anime is short for Japanese Animation, and as the definition states is a particular style of animation which originated in Japan and features well developed characters, thick plots and a variety of themes. Now, note the date that the entry was created, 1988. This does not mean that anime was created in 1988, this simple means that Webster’s dictionary officially accepted Anime as a word in that year.

So how did anime begin? Did it pop up over night? Here in North America, it certainly seemed like it did. In the early nineties, it was not the most common thing in the world for your local video rental place to be carrying anime. So, where did it all come from? In order to answer this we’re going to have to take a look at a Japanese cultural phenomenon called “manga”. Now manga, is much like a comic book. There are, however, certain subtle differences. Most notable is the style of drawing, manga has a very specific, yet very identifiable look to it. We’ll get more into that in the next chapter. The other difference is in characters, plot and theme. Most North American comic books, centralize around a super-hero, and don’t go much further. There are the odd exceptions such as Archie, that is a comic based on teenagers and their everyday life, but for the most part, our most famous comics are our superhero comics. Manga, on the other hand has themes and plots that can vary any which way, only a small portion is concentrated on superhero’s, while others extend to skating competitions, alien visits, or even murder mysteries. Now the term manga was said to have been created by two artists. The Japanese artist Hokusai is the one who created the term manga, meaning “whimsical picture”. It was not, however, until the early 1900’s when manga began to take root and grow. The Japanese seeing the immense success of the North American style of comic book decided that they too should create their own comic book creation. In the beginning, manga styled art was used not only for comic books but for advertisements and ever war posters. It’s cultural success although notable, was nothing spectacular. This changed with the another artist named Osamu Tezuka, began to alter the manga which had until then been predominant. He began his own series called “New Treasure Island” and focused on giving the series much deeper characters and his own exaggerated art style. Tezuka had been greatly influenced by Walkt Disney, and wished to give his human characters the same exaggerated features that Walt was able to give to Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. He series was an extreme success in Japan and eventually led up to having “New Treasure Island” as well as another of his works "Tetsuwan Atom" adapted into an animated version on television. He worked with Toei Animation, a company which still produces some of the finest anime today. Thus, we have the first manga and anime dual development. Tezuka later went on to develop another famous anime series “Kimba the White Lion.”

In the 1970’s, Anime began to increase in popularity. Some of the earliest and best anime series were founded in the 1970’s. Shows such as “Lupin Sansei” and “Moble Suit Gundam” were both created in the 1970’s. Both shows became very successful, and eventually had at east one season translated into English. Characters stereotypes found in many anime’s and manga’s were laid down by the shows in the 70’s. “Mobile Suit Gundam” with the help of another series “Mazinger Z” helped to bring out the idea of the giant robot suit, or “mecha”. “Lupin Sansei” developed the character of the not so pure, good-guy.

Finally in the 1980’s Anime started to touch at an international level. One of the first successful and influential female manga artists Rumiko Takahashi, creator of “Ranma ½” came into great success in the 80’s. A few series made it to the North American shores by the late eighties including, Dragonball, Kyatto Ninden Teyande (known better as Samurai Pizza Cats) and Speedracer. Two of the largest known anime movies were also produced during the eighties: Ghost in the Shell and Akira.

Now anime has become a phenomenon, approx. 1/3 of books published in Japan are manga. Unlike in North America, where the comic book and cartoon are looked at as geared towards children, in Japan manga and anime and geared to all people of all ages. It is not an uncommon site to see 50 year old men sitting on the bullet train ready some manga, or women on the street talking about what happened in the last episode of their favourite anime. They both vary in themes so greatly that they capture all viewer and reader attention. In North America, the anime craze is always growing, and with each passing year more anime is available to us. We can buy an assortment of anime DVD, watch it on television and view episodes and various anime clubs located around the continent.

That’s it for this week. Stay tuned for Chapter Two: Graphic Uniqueness

-- Andria Bancheri, Otaku Aniverse