Anime on Animation

[Silvia Groniewicz]

Among Anime-fans there has been a lot of talk about the similiarity between
some Disney movies and anime, namely "The Lion King" = "The Jungle Emperor"
and "Atlantis" = "Nadia and the Secred of Blue Water". Some call it
influence and some plagiarism :)

Anime has recently taken off in German children TV and it is incredible to
see how far it has come in just 3 years. As far as I can tell there have
been no cuts made to the material even with series like Ranma 1/2 (nudity)
and Dragonball Z (violence). There has been an effort to translate at least
the opening songs in a proper way and in "Detective Conan" the songs that
play during an episode are left in Japanese. A special mascot has been
invented to present Anime and keep the kids updated. Even a small Japanese
lesson is included each day.

To get back to the topic. I have seen a lot of comics being influenced by
manga and anime lately. Not necessarily in the actual drawing, but in the
way panels are used trying to make the story more cinematic. Artists who
are drawing manga-style are also an important part of the industry now
(Adam Warren, Ben Dunn). A comic called "Witch" by Disney was drawn in
manga-style and even had a "magical girl" theme very similar to "Sailor
Moon". It was/is extremely popular with girls. It seems that Disney knows
it's anime and manga well :)

Greetings,
Sil