Japanese Animation

Japanese Animation

While some people think Anime is a genre, it is in fact, actually an art form that incorporates all genres found in television and books. The plots range from romantic comedies to science fiction and even action adventures. Anime is released in three forms: TV shows, Movies, and OVA. What is an OVA you may wonder, OVA stands for Original Video Animation. An OVA is an anime released straight to video because of financial or social circumstances.

What is it about Anime that makes them special, unique, and different? If you compare Anime to our American cartoons it is very different. In America, you usually have a happy ending, the loved ones don't get killed when faced with potentially dangerous villains or hit men, they are saved by the hero/heroine but that is not the case for the Japanese. In Anime it is not unusual to see a character lose a love one or even their whole family [e.g. Tamahome in Fushigi Yuugi]. The characters are much more complex, villains can have some redeeming qualities and just as well, good guys can perform some horrendous acts. There are social problems portrayed in Anime, such as abuse, neglect, homelessness, crime, juvenile delinquents, and infidelity.

America for a long time tried to maintain children's innocence and youth, and therefore their primary entertainment - cartoons, have not really ever displayed any thought provoking issues. The majority promoting Judeo-Christian views that there is a "good" side and a "bad" side, with one "right" answer in the end. The line dividing these two sides is strong and never fades. They are designed to be an escape from the harsh world of reality from which we all want to protect our children. Recently however several American cartoons have broken the mould and chosen to tackle real world problems and issues, while still maintaining a cartoon persona. Cartoons like The Simpson's, Family Guy, South Park or Spawn have come to the forefront and some have even been labeled for a mature audience. The ways these cartoons depict society is interesting in itself. One great difference between Japanese and American TV Series is that the Japanese TV Series are designed to last only one or two seasons, 13 or 26 episodes and then come to a climactic and definite ending.

If you approach