Pokemon Episode 1

How Anime has influenced the rest of the world

Anime has definately influenced how the western world gets their profit from entertainment. Anime like Pokémon and Dragon Ball which still continue to this day, have given and still give opportunities to the west for products like action figuresand cuddly toys, but also making movies, adaptations and video games for these anime.

Since the 19th century, people from the west have shown particular interest to Japan. Anime hugely increased this interest and the number of people interested. Because of this, other aspects of Japanese culture have been increasingly better known. People all over the world have developed an interest in Japan, mainly through anime.

In the early 1990s, anime conventions started appearing, such as; Animethon, Otakon and Anime Expo. Nowadays, these anime conventions happen annually in major cities all over the world. At these events, people tend to dress up as their favourite anime series characters. This has seriously influenced how we live because people have this to be interested in.

Individual anime series and how they have done

Naruto was first a manga, which wasn't made into anime until three years after it started. It lasted 220 episodes, from 2002 until 2007. It was later adapted into 'Naruto: Shippuden'.

Dragon Ball was also originally a manga, which was made into anime in 1986. It went on, going through different names; Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, Dragon Ball Kai (which is still going, as it began in 2009. There have been 17 films made about it, and also a real life american film based on the story of Dragon Ball.

Pokémon is slightly different. It started as a video game franchise owned by nintendo in 1996 released for the Nintendo Game Boy (handheld video-game console). It was made into an anime Tv series for kids, but the story was made up seperately, based on the world that Nintendo had created. This series is still going.

Classics that influenced the rest of the world

Although there were anime in markets outside Japan in the 1960s, they seemed to be making much more money as an export in the 80s and 90s. The market in the US alone is nearly 4 and a half billion dollars! (according to the Japan External Trade Organization)

The most famous and successful of these anime that I know of are: Naruto, Dragon Ball, Pokémon. As you read these titles, you might think, 'Oh yes I know that' or 'I saw that movie' or 'played that video-game.'

In the next post I go into detail of these classics.

How Anime came about

Anime started appearing in the 20th century, the same as the Western world started cartoon animations. Japanese filmmakers experimented with the kind of things that were being done in America, France, Germany and Russia.

The earliest known anime was made in 1917; a 2 minute long video of a samurai testing his sword, but then he dies. By the 1930s, anime became a new media way of telling stories. Although cutout animation seemed to be doing better.

In 1933 came the first talking anime clip, and in 1945 there was the first movie length anime clip called Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors, made by the Japanese navy.

In the 1970s, mangas became very popular, and many of them became animations. Anime like Gundam became instant classics by the 1980s. By this time anime became more mainstream, but still not as much so as manga. International successes in the 1980s caused more appreciation of anime in the west through the 90s and even more so in the 21st Century.

Introduction - What is Anime?

Anime doesn't actually mean anything. It is a modern, western word used to describe a certain style of art used in animation that originated in Japan. This form of art is mainly based on manga (Japanese Comics). People usually recognize this kind of art if they see characters with big hair, large eyes and exaggerated facial expressions.

Anime is recognized all over the world but is particularly popular in Japan. It can be distributed just the same as any animation or video; on TV, internet or video. It can be both hand-drawn or computer-animated. Its used in every kind of visual entertainment; TV, Movies, Video-games, internet services, and much more.