Definition of Anime

Michael Badzik mike at vena.com
Thu Apr 22 23:23:54 EDT 1999


While this topic seems to have generated a lot of interest, so far no one 
has covered what I think is the most fundamental point in Aaron's 
arguement:

> It includes many non-cel animation forms which do not, in 
> any way, come under the rubric "anime."

Though no anime expert, I cannot consider classifying "claymation", 
puppetry, or any of many other lesser known (and seen) synthetic methods 
of movement creation, as "anime" -  even though I can comfortably refer 
to them as "animation". I have also noticed that a number of Japanese 
movies have been called "animeeshon" and not "anime", suggesting that the 
creators may think that the words are not neccessarily interchangeable. 
But since we are talking about Japanese words (that they are borrowed 
words is completely irrelevant here) I hope that we will hear how native 
speakers define them. (A further complication is that "anime" was 
borrowed back by people outside of Japan, leading to a third set of 
definitions that does not have to be equivalent to the others. But it is
the 
Japanese usage that should be used in studying Japanese film, isn't it?)


Michael Badzik
mike at vena.com






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