The Rise of Anime Popularity in The World

Anime is a type or a style of animation that originated in Japan. The word anime is an abbreviation of the word animation and is written as “アニメ” in Japanese. Animes are usually TV shows or movies. The very first Japanese animation was titled Katsudō Shashin and was roughly four seconds long. In those four seconds featured a boy taking off his sailor hat and bowing. It was created in 1907. Although it was extremely simple, it was speculated that rich people kept this small animation on a small film as it was revolutionary to the Japanese at the time. It is considered the “father of anime” by some. The first widely popular anime in Japan was titled Astro Boy and debuted in 1963. It is important because you can start to see the unique Japanese style that anime uses even up to date. Astro Boy was based off a manga, a japanese comic book. This would soon be a trend that many anime studios would follow. For example, “Naruto”, a popular anime, was also based off a manga. Anime is an animation with a truly unique background.

At first glance, anime is just like any other western cartoon but there is a staggering difference. As I said earlier, anime is still a cartoon but it’s the style that gives anime the flavor it needs to please the countless fans around the world. If you wanted to create an anime, you would focus more on the details, especially the characters, rather than the fluidity of the animation, what western cartoons seem to focus on. By reducing the movement, anime allows you to focus on the art and the scenery. To grasp the concept better, if Steamboat Willie from the start of Disney movies was drawn in an anime style, he wouldn’t move around as much but it wouldn’t be rigid either. Similar to how we move when we do simple actions. He would also be drawn more akin to human proportions. Anime has a very special style that can be recognised easily and is unique in many ways.

Anime is indefinitely integrated into our society and pop culture in many ways. Anime has managed to become popular in places all around the world but how, and why? One of the reasons being, anime can be enjoyed by any age. From animes directed toward children, like Pokémon, to animes directed towards more mature audiences. This is unlike most western cartoons, as they are seen as childish once you grow older. To add on to that, anime can be as serious as live action TV shows because anime can have genres such as romance or horror. Fantasies that live actions can’t act out can easily be created in the form of an anime. Nowadays, you can find anime anywhere, on Netflix, on YouTube, streaming sites and more! Animation truly opens up many possibilities.