Japanese animation, or anime as it is more commonly referred to, has become a cult cultural phenomenon in America in the last few years.

Although not a native Japanese word, the word is actually a ‘borrowed’ slang word from the western word for animation.

Anime first came into Japanese homes in the mid 50’s and has since evolved into a beautiful art form that is revered by animators throughout the world.

Actually, Japanese comics, or manga as they are called there, are more popular than animation per se.

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Comic art and drawings have always been a large part of Japanese culture, and often you can find many people of all ages, from a 40 year-old working man to a 7 year-old student reading mangas of all genres. Some of the most famous figures in Japanese animation started out or have worked in manga.

Osamu Tezuka (Astro Boy, Metropolis), called the “God of Manga” in Japan got his start in the late 50’s drawing manga and eventually stepped into the production of anime.

Famous anime film director Hayao Miyazaki has done both manga and anime at the same time. Before and after finishing his first film, ‘Kaze no Tani no Naushikaa’ (Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind), he had been writing and drawing the manga of the same name. With Nausicaa, Miyazaki also created a world famous production house, known as Studio Ghibli.

Hayao Miyazaki's SPIRITED AWAY (DVD)with it's magical qualities, has received rave reviews as one of the best animated film in recent years.
Anime comes in many shapes and sizes and in all colors and textures. It can be watched in three different formats:

As an episodic TV series, with as few as 13 episodes to epic series spanning several hundred episodes - The famous Dragon Ball Z series has more than 400 episodes.

Another common form of production is an "OVA", an acronym for Original Video Animation. These can also be known as “straight to video” series; they have fewer episodes than a TV series (usually fewer than 15) but have higher production values. Bubblegum Crisis or FLCL are some common examples of an OVA production.

There are of course the animated feature length films for which Japanese animation has become famous such as Miyazaki’s beautifully animated epic Princess Mononoke (DVD)or thrillers like Perfect Blue.

In recent years, the once underground fan base has grown by vast margins. The airing of TV series such as Gundam W and (dare I say) Pokemon on American TV has brought this animation genre into the mainstream US media market.

In 1994, you could go to a video store and find little nuggets of anime joy such as VHS tapes of the Robotech series tucked away in a remote corner of the store. This is how I discovered Anime.

Fast forward to 2007 and you now find entire sections of video stores devoted not just to the genre, but manga, related media and paraphernalia from Japan, such as magazines or candy. Pocky is a personal favorite!

Fans everywhere have learned to appreciate other aspects of Japanese traditional and pop culture as well - such as Japanese music, live action TV and movies.

Whether “old school” otaku such as myself like this new surge of fandom or not, it has happened, and in a way it’s a good thing.

Droves of teenagers and college students are now in tune with a different culture - the Japanese culture - and beautiful art form. It’s helping diversify the way we think. Not to mention, anime is fun to watch!