Why do people like anime? Just like you love your favorite series or shows, people who like anime have their own reasons. Anime was thought supposed to be solely for children. It is also regarded as pornographic. Others think every anime are the same, but that’s not fairly true. Anime can be classed as comedy, drama, adventure, or action. There is something for everyone.
So, why do people like anime? The list goes on. Before we go any further, let’s define anime vs cartoon, as many people confuse the two. They are, in fact, worlds apart.
Anime vs Cartoon – Brief History
The earliest cartoon was made in 1499. It showed the pope, the Holy Roman Emperor, and the French and English Kings playing cards. Since then, several humorists and satirists have produced popular cartoon strips. Even today, one can access old and fresh cartoon archives on the web.
Anime, unlike cartoons, has a recent history. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was first shown in America in 1937. However, Momotaro’s Divine Sea Warriors was first shown in Japan in 1945. Since then, anime has become a lucrative business for many TV and filmmakers.
Anime vs Cartoon – Visual Qualities
Anime offers a wide range of facial expressions. Physical traits vary greatly. Characters’ physical characteristics are, in general, more realistic than those in cartoons. Cuter styles have larger eyes and smaller jaws.
While anime characters are usually proportionate to the rest of the body, cartoon figures tend to depart from reality more.
Topics / Themes
Anime, on the other hand, focuses on real situations or topics. They are more closely related to human emotion and have more violent and sexual themes. While cartoons are supposed to make people laugh, they are often more comical.
Origin and Length
Anime episodes are typically 22-25 minutes long. Full-fledged anime films, on the other hand, are likely to last far longer. Cartoons range in duration from 5 minutes to an hour. Anime and cartoons originated in Japan and the U.S., respectively.
Now let’s go back to our main topic – anime.
Brief History of Anime
Anime has been a major cultural force in Japan for almost a century, since the early 1900s. Before cel animation became the dominant production technology, a lot was done. Japanese animated films gained sound (and later color), multiplane camera techniques, and cel animation.
To be truthful, most animated films after the 1930s were either commercial or government propaganda.
Postwar Television Growth
- After WWII, in 1948, Toei became the first Japanese animation production company focused on entertainment. Their early films were definitely inspired by Disney’s (as popular in Japan as they were everywhere else).
- Shōnen Sarutobi Sasuke (1959), the first anime to be shown in a US cinema, was a perfect example (by MGM, in 1961). But it didn’t have the same impact as Akira Kurosawa’s Rashmon, which introduced the world to Japan’s film industry.
- Moving to television in the 1960s really drove animation in Japan.
- Toei’s first major animated TV shows were adaptations of popular manga. They are Sally the Witch by Mitsuteru Yokoyama and Tetsujin 28-go by TCJ/Eiken.
- Similarly, Shotaro Ishinomori’s hugely influential Cyborg 009 became a huge Toei cartoon franchise.
The First Exports of Anime
- A major animated export from Japan to the US in 1963, Astro Boy. He introduced Tezuka’s Kimba the White Lion on NBC. Based on Osamu Tezuka’s robot child manga. Despite its legendary originator, it became a nostalgic landmark for years.
- Tatsunoko used a domestic manga book in 1968.
- Speed Racer won (aka Mach GoGoGo). Peter Fernandez brought Speed to America.
- Carl Macek and Sandy Frank would eventually help bring English-speaking audiences to several renowned anime titles.
- Few noticed these episodes were remade for non-Japanese viewers. Regulators sometimes edited them after first English dubbing to remove unwanted content. It would be a long time before an audience requested the originals out of principle.
Diversification Makes People Like Anime
- Japan’s live and animated industries inspired.
- Former cinema animators aided TV’s rise.
- Anime clichés are the result of tremendous experimentation and artistic growth.
- Mecha animation was popular during the time.
- In Dango 28-go, a kid had a gigantic robot.
- Mazinger Z, along with Yamato and Gundam, produced a franchise that is still going strong today.
- More shows were coming to other countries. Star Blazers and Battle of the Planets, edited and reworked by Yamato and Gatchaman, were also successful in America.
- Robotech was the first anime series on DVD in America.
- Mazinger Z appeared in Spanish- and Arabic-speaking countries. It was also huge throughout Europe, Latin America, and even Turkey.
- Studio Ghibli was founded after the success of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away).
- GAINAX went from a convention animation group to a professional production company.
- The biggest ideas of this age failed. The Katsuhiro Otomo manga failed.
- Like most anime, these films attracted new viewers decades after their initial release.
Because There is a Growing Population of People Who Like Anime, Video Was Revolutionized
- In the 1980s, home video affected anime more than TV. Fanatics (otaku in Japan) could now gather more readily.
- More ambitious animation and storytelling originated as OAVs for video rather than TV (Original Animated Video).
- Due to censorship, the adult-only subgenre hentai has grown in popularity.
- LaserDisc is a playback-only format with excellent image and sound quality. LD’s market share never surpassed VHS’s.
- In the early 1990s, having an LD player and a huge disc collection was considered an anime fandom. That’s because few places rented LDs. They can carry both dubbed and subtitled shows due to several audio tracks.
- Even when home video became popular, anime exports remained limited. It was then that they organized unofficial tape-trading clubs with limited but loyal membership.
- AnimEigo and Streamline joined A.D. Vision in the 1990s (1992).
- Pioneer (later Geneon), the developers of the LaserDisc format, imported its own shows to America (Tenchi Muyo).
Online Evangelion, “Late-Night Anime”
- Director Hideaki Anno of GAINAX created the beloved anime Neon Genesis Evangelion in 1995. The mature issues and ambiguous endings of others have inspired them (revisited in two theatrical films). Adults might watch it on DVD or late-night TV.
- No more digging old newsletters or dusty books for anime stuff. A basic name search enabled the technique. Dissemination of ideas online becomes easier.
- Affordability of DVDs in Japan (to rent, not sell). Things from a few licensors are now online.
- TV broadcasts of popular anime titles in English dubs (Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, Pokémon) helped. It drew casual viewers.
- Suncoast Video has anime.
Challenges of the Millenium
- Dramatic changes in the 2000s threatened anime’s global expansion, prompting many to doubt its viability. As a result, numerous businesses have had to lay off employees or close.
- Budget restraints and dwindling industry revenue forced the industry to focus on sales.
- The popular manga and light novel titles (One Piece, Naruto, Bleach) ruled the charts.
- Disposable moneymakers like Clannad and Kanon Opportunistic TV shows replaced OAVs as the main focus. As a result, almost 90% of new animators leave the industry after three years of hard effort and little pay.
- Digital piracy was also an issue. Although dial-up could not upload gigabytes of video, the falling cost of bandwidth and storage allowed for season duplication.
- The late-2000s worldwide economic downturn led many more businesses to scale back or close. Lots of titles went to FUNimation from ADV Films and Geneon.
- Funimation became the largest English-language anime licensor with the enormously successful Dragon Ball franchise.
- Because of the declining market and the rise of online merchants like Amazon, shops cut anime floor space.
Reasons Why People Like Anime
Anime flourishes in difficult times. Convention attendance is up. About a dozen anime titles (full series, not single CDs) arrive monthly. Distributors are aggressively leveraging the same digital networks that enabled piracy to provide viewers high-quality legal versions of their shows.
For non-Japanese audiences, anime is today significantly more appealing than it was ten or even five years ago. And stations like Noitamina began to attract more experimental content. Notably, new series like Death Note and Fullmetal Alchemist keep coming out. This is because anime evolves with the civilization that developed it and the world that appreciates it.
Considering the previous information, you probably understand why people could prefer anime. If you are rather more interested to know more, here are several reasons we think why people like anime.
1. People Like Anime Because of Storytelling
Even though you may connect ‘cartoons’ with children, there can be blood and gore in anime. Characters perish. Weapons are employed and there are disturbing scenes. Anime contains a plethora of mature subjects. The majority of anime episodes and movies are about death, acceptance, morality, or even conflict.
The film Grave of the Fireflies is about two children who lose their mother during World War II. They are left to fend for themselves. The main character in Blood-C fights against horrifically aggressive creatures with a hunger for human flesh. The film Mardock Scramble is about a pre-teen prostitute who is brutally murdered by the man who took her in.
Anime has a plethora of narratives that will captivate you and keep you guessing. There are some sequences that will frighten you as much as any horror film you’ve ever seen. While others will make you cry for hours. You will feel true emotions even though you are not seeing real people.
Top 10 Anime With The Best Storyline according to the website AnimeSoulking.com
2. People Watch Anime for the Artwork
There will be many exciting battle sequences, realistic characters, and vivid backdrop images to develop. The reason was that every painting style is unique. You could watch a dozen different episodes and never see the same character portrayed in the same way twice.
Character designs in films like Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke are magnificent. While background artwork in films like Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke seems startlingly realistic at times.
However, this does not have to be the case all of the time. When it comes to anime, the possibilities are limitless. A character can have superhuman abilities, shape-shift, or any combination of these traits.
With anime, there are no boundaries. The sequences are not limited to what can feasibly be recorded on a set with real people. Thus, a program could have ghosts, pirates, samurais, or space cowboys. Anything is possible. And it will look lovely in the process. It can even make you want to start drawing yourself.
10 Anime With The Most Unique Art Styles according to the website CBR.com
3. People Like Anime Because of the Music
Anime will let you escape reality. You can forget about your difficulties while watching characters you adore deal with theirs. Shows like Cowboy Bebop and Attack on Titan have catchy music. Ghost in the Shell, and Samurai Champloo also have soundtracks you’ll want to keep listening to. The appropriate music can capture the mood. It can add to a sad scene and it can intensify a fighting scene.
Furthermore, it can add to a romantic scene. If you don’t have time to see new episodes, you can download the soundtracks. And then, listen to them while driving or studying.
The best part about anime is how many free shows and movies you can discover online, instead of being bored. Then you’ll understand why anime is so popular.
15 Anime Soundtracks That Are Worth Listening To On Repeat according to website CBR.com
The Best Anime Soundtracks Of All Time according to Ranker.com
Conclusion
We know that there are as many characters as there are persons. Each of us has distinct tastes, likes different things, and thinks differently than the other. In this article, we attempted to be as neutral as possible in answering the question of why people appreciate anime. Anime, as a sort of culture, contains a vast wealth that only individuals with similar inclinations can comprehend. But, whether you are an anime fan or not, we must all respect other people’s tastes, work, and culture.
Finally, according to a Quora discussion, anime is addictive. That is why because it provides a form of passive escapism to a nice place for individuals who are hurting. Neoteny is a fan of anime and manga. Even though they are adults, the characters have juvenile traits. They have wide eyes and large heads, as well as engage in youthful behavior.
