How words change...an observation

[Nagi Naoe]

I was having a conversation with some friends and I started to notice a change in how we seem to look at certain words. Some of which were considered strange to the people outside the communities I'm part of. 

 

Okay, let me start with this, I have studied linguistics a few times and yes, I know words do evolve in some sense based on the usage and also what it was used for originally. So I'm going to start with Anime, okay, first off the word Anime is French for animation. It was later adopted by some standard groups to mean any animation that was not from the US or Canada was considered Anime. I can list quite a few that will fall under that list, and believe it or not, they're not Japanese.

 

1. Fantastic Planet (French, made back in the 1970s)

2. Wizard (Israel and US combination)

3. American Pop (Israel and US combination, or hybrid)

4. Lord of the Rings (Israel and US hybrid)

5. Cyber 6 (Brazil) 

 

Yeah, as you can see, these are considered animation from other countries, there are huge amount of animation that falls under that. Considering that later in years, other animation which was American actually fall off the radar and were suddenly considered Anime status. For one, the reason was because the animation was so different from what was considered standard. I can tell you this, Fritz the Cat and also Heavy Metal were suddenly given Anime status simply because there was some how a higher standard of animation and thought that went into it. 

 

Considering that yes, I have watched Fritz the Cat and would say if you are an adult, please do watch it, it maybe be smutty as hell, but at least it has some artistic value to it. R. Crumb was not some idiot and he was dealing with his own personal ideas about how animation and cartooning could be taken from the child stream to adult stream. 

 

Another great form from the animation gods are Heavy Metal, truth is if you watched the animation it is no way it could be considered just regular animation, it is anime. The art of some of the most amazing comic book geniuses like Mark Gonzalas and some of the others who worked for Heavy Metal were considered some of the finest animators in that the US had to offer. 

 

So yes, the word and terms changed in anime, now though some kids have changed it to "strictly" Japan, um...I'm not of that mind, in truth, I respect and love most animators from other countries. I have always thought the Triplets of Baniville was funny considering that one of the girls used a gerunade to go fishing. 

 

I have seen the terms and I have seen people misuse the word too. Just because it is animated in Japan doesn't always make it art. Sorry for those who simply just love Naruto, I actually grew very annoyed with it. I also grew annoyed with some of it. The story is good, but it sure as hell taking a long time to finish out. 

 

I do have a real problem with the idea of saying Milk-chan and Crayon Shin-chan is anime, considering that yes they are Japanese, but they are entirely not meant for the US or even most children in its home country. Though Shin-chan is popular among fans here in the US and also Japan, I'm not impressed with it really, it actually annoys the hell out me. I was kind of turned off by how it seemed almost like watching an adult version of Rugrats. 

 

Yes, there is a fine gray line in the definition of the word, Anime is simply a term and also a word that most people are still having trouble with. There are so many definitions and also I consider using the online use of the Urban dictionary and other sources without actually doing the research, is pretty damn pointless. 

 

So I'm going to say, the word Anime means any animation that is from other nations, not solely Japan, many different styles and also considered that even some American animation has fallen into this.

[Nagi Naoe]

I'm a fan of anime, mostly the stuff I consider with good story, I like things like Rurouni Kenshin which has a defined plot. I detest Spongebob because it doesn't make sense to me. And in truth, Anime is not entirely bad in some sense, though I think there are terrible examples, I think that Naruto and Bleach kind of made me a little bit hate it. I prefer stuff that is dark and rather gory, then again Ninja Scroll is not the kind with the big eyed girl, neither is Vampire Hunter D...