a glossary on anime blanca oria
Osamu Tezuka is the father of an invention that started off in Japan and which has succeeded in captivating people, mostly young, from the four corners of the planet. His Astro Boy (1963) was the first successful series to be screened on American TV, and it opened up the door to what is currently one of the most exported Japanese singularities: Anime. That and what came along with it. We're talking about printed comics: Manga. When Miyazaki won the Gold Bear in Berlin and then the Oscar in 2003 for his Spirited Away, Western industry finally gave a definitive yes to “Japanese cartoons” and laid the foundations for a relationship whose future is still hard to envisage. What we can do now is take a look at the denominations used, half in Japanese, half in English, that you have to know if you mean to have a half-decent specialised conversation on the topic of Anime. The Japanese borrowed the word Anime from the French to describe their more than blossoming animation industry. As well as the mentioned Hayao Miyazaki and Osamu Tezuka, we soon come across Katsuhiro Otomo (father of Akira, 1988), Isao Takahata (Miyazaki's partner and responsible along with the same for the unforgettable Heidi in its beginnings), Mamoru Oshii (passionate fan of cyber-aesthetics and creator of such imaginative future universes as Ghost in the shell), Rin Taro (Metropolis, 2002), Hiroyuki Kitakubo (Blood: The Last Vampire, 2000), Hiroyuki Okiura (Jin Roh, 1999), Yoshiaki Kawajiri (Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, 2001), Hideaki Anno, Satoshi Kon... Dozens of names whose creative universes are hidden away in different parts of Japan where teams of artists with lots of imagination and not too many means have developed all types of styles and genres. The have been able to perfect all of this by using the technology available and they touch upon topics that vary from samurais, vampires, space, the reality that surrounds us, magic, terror, the future and this slipping game between the real and the unreal where the characters handle themselves like true experts.
But it's not just names that we're talking about because Anime has invented language of its own. An Otaku, Japanese for a formal “You”, becomes a definition of something that goes a bit further than the word fan. This denomination, which has a derogatory undertone to it in Japan, is used in the West to describe a type of Anime fan whose interest is not limited by language barriers or by whatever possible difficulties in always finding out that little bit more.
They are the people behind Fan-Sub, subtitled Anime that is distributed through alternative channels. These fans use the new technologies available nowadays to spread the word on their hobby-obsession. They've come up with words like CasPlay which are basically meets at Anime festivals where fans dress up as their favourite heroes.
This mini-glossary wouldn't be complete without the word Manga where a great deal of the animated films have originated and whose origin is to be found in a country where artistic expression is intimately tied to illustration. One of the fundamental characteristics of Mangas is serialisation which means that you have never-ending stories that create strong loyalties among fans as they progress. In Anime this leads to series and OVAs...
The topics touched upon in both Manga and Anime are as varied as the creators and through their stories we get to know Bishonen, stories starring good-looking males; Kamis, gods or spirits; Shaja Anime, stories about personal relationships; Mecha, adventures with mechanical freaks, robots...; Cyborgs, half-humans/half-machines for whom feelings are an unfinished business. There is no limit to these denominations or topics and technological advances have done nothing but encourage the creativity of these Anime artists who have had no problem whatsoever with taking the jump from paper to the screen. What they have created so far, they have done so with their own market in mind. They haven't been aware that the West is also crying out for Anime.
But it's not just names that we're talking about because Anime has invented language of its own. An Otaku, Japanese for a formal “You”, becomes a definition of something that goes a bit further than the word fan. This denomination, which has a derogatory undertone to it in Japan, is used in the West to describe a type of Anime fan whose interest is not limited by language barriers or by whatever possible difficulties in always finding out that little bit more.
They are the people behind Fan-Sub, subtitled Anime that is distributed through alternative channels. These fans use the new technologies available nowadays to spread the word on their hobby-obsession. They've come up with words like CasPlay which are basically meets at Anime festivals where fans dress up as their favourite heroes.
This mini-glossary wouldn't be complete without the word Manga where a great deal of the animated films have originated and whose origin is to be found in a country where artistic expression is intimately tied to illustration. One of the fundamental characteristics of Mangas is serialisation which means that you have never-ending stories that create strong loyalties among fans as they progress. In Anime this leads to series and OVAs...
The topics touched upon in both Manga and Anime are as varied as the creators and through their stories we get to know Bishonen, stories starring good-looking males; Kamis, gods or spirits; Shaja Anime, stories about personal relationships; Mecha, adventures with mechanical freaks, robots...; Cyborgs, half-humans/half-machines for whom feelings are an unfinished business. There is no limit to these denominations or topics and technological advances have done nothing but encourage the creativity of these Anime artists who have had no problem whatsoever with taking the jump from paper to the screen. What they have created so far, they have done so with their own market in mind. They haven't been aware that the West is also crying out for Anime.
