What is Anime and Manga?
Anime
(pronounced “ani-may”) originated at the start of the 20th century in
Japan, typically known to the world as Japanese Animation. It was made
popular by Osamu Tezuka, who was, at least in part, inspired by Walt
Disney feature films, pushing Tezuka to adapt and simplify Disney
techniques in order to reduce production costs of animations. Before
long, Japanese animation separated from Western roots and created a
genre all its own, especially with its history in distinct cartoonish
art. This is important to remember, as some might mistakenly credit
Western vision for Japan’s innovation. |  | | | In
reality, Japan’s history presents us with ancient art displaying simple
lines and stylized features very similar to today’s anime and manga.
Manga (pronounced “mon-ga”) are comics in black and white, with similar
characteristics to that of anime.
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Anime
typically utilizes the big round eyes, flowing hair, and often rather
unrealistic or idealized body proportions. There are also conventional
images such as the mallet that a character may summon from nowhere for
the sake of humor, or the sweat drop that is almost universally
recognized now as a sign of stress or embarrassment in anime
characters.
Male characters also tend to nose-bleed around
attractive females, while anger produces a bulge of veins in the
forehead for both genders.
Exaggeration is what Anime is all about but that’s what constitutes much of the fun of making and reading it. |  |
| | Manga
Manga
are comics in black and white, with similar characteristics to that of
anime. Their style consists of print cartoons, some in color, that find
a reading audience of all ages in Japan.
Outside the country,
“manga” is used to refer to comics originally published in Japan. So
why is it often associated with anime? Manga often either results in an
anime, if it finds a wide audience, or is based on existing films.
Interestingly,
the term manga literally translates to “whimsical pictures,” a fitting
description for what both anime and manga represent. In terms of
characteristics, manga and anime follow each other quite closely,
sharing most, if not all, of the typical pictorials. |  | | | | The differentiations found within either manga or anime tend to present
themselves more in various artists’ unique styles rather than in the two
different production pieces (anime vs. manga) themselves. |
| | TEC Anime Website
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