The Japanese animated art form known as Anime dates back to 1917, when Oten Shimokawa created the first Anime film. The film was a 5 minute feature called Mukuzo Imokawa the doorman.
Today Anime is a massive part of Japanese Culture. In recent years has become popular in many countries around the world, thanks to the video game revolution and characters like Astro Boy and Pokemon.
The Japanese Anime has a distinct character and style which makes it stand out from other forms of animation. The art form is an evolution of Manga and other Japanese comic forms. Anime usually deals with totally fictitious storylines with science fiction, erotica or hentai as it is called, and fantasy being the most popular forms of anime. The films usually involve a strong action themed base.
Soundtracks used in Anime have become an enormous business in recent years with many of the big names of Japanese Pop and Rock writing songs for soundtracks. One of the most popular series in recent years has been Neon Genesis Evangelion, where there has been several chart topping hits.
With the introduction of DVD in recent years, Anime has become more popular than ever. Many of the collections come in distinctive packaging and beautiful collector edition sets. Huge video stores in major centres have floors dedicated to this popular for of entertainment.
Anime is a fairly simplified form of animation, unlike Disney or any other US movie houses, the animation is kept fairly simple. The artwork is extraordinarily beautiful and quite detailed, but the movement is often limited to small sections like focusing on the mouths and eyes.
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