Anime

:This article is about Japanese animation. For the oleo-resin, see Animé (oleo-resin).

Terminology

The Japanese term for animation is アニメーション

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(animēshon, pronounced: {{IPA|/ɑnimɛːʃɔn/}}), written in katakana. It is a direct transliteration of the English term "animation." The Japanese term is abbreviated as アニメ (anime, pronounced: {{IPA|/ɑnimɛ/}} ). Both the original and abbreviated forms are valid and interchangeable in Japanese. The term is a broad one, and does not specify an animation's nation of origin or style.

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In turn, the English word anime is a transliteration of the abbreviated version of this Japanese term, and it is typically pronounced as {{IPA|/ˈænɪˌmei/}}. Some non-Japanese speakers theorize the word comes from the French animé ("animated") or "les dessins animés" (animated drawings.) As with a few other Japanese words such as Pokémon and Kobo Abé, anime is sometimes spelled as animé in English with an acute accent over the final e to cue the reader that the letter is pronounced as {{IPA|}}. For example, "Abe" can be mistaken as a nickname for Abraham, in which the e is silent.

Related Topics:
English - Transliteration - Japanese - French - Pokémon - Kobo Abé - Acute accent

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Internationally, anime once bore the popular name Japanimation, but this term has fallen into disuse. It saw the most usage during the 1970s and 1980s, which broadly comprise the first and second waves of anime fandom. The term survived at least into the early 1990s but seemed to fade away shortly before the mid-1990s anime resurgence. In general, the term now only appears in nostalgic contexts. The term Japanimation is much more commonly used in Japan to refer to domestic animation. Since anime or animeshon is used in Japan to describe all forms of animation regardless of national origin, Japanimation is meant to distinguish Japanese work from that of the rest of the world.

Related Topics:
1970s - 1980s - Fandom - 1990s

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In more recent years, anime has also frequently been referred to as manga in Europe, a practice that may stem from the Japanese usage. In Japan, manga refers to both animation and comics. Among English speakers, manga usually has the stricter meaning of "Japanese comics". An alternate explanation is that it is due to the prominence of Manga Entertainment, a distributor of anime to the US and UK markets. This term is much more common in Europe since Manga Entertainment started out in the UK.

Related Topics:
Manga - Manga Entertainment

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The voice actors for anime usually bear the Japanese equivalent designation, seiy?.

Related Topics:
Voice actor - Seiy?

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