CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

It strikes me as funny that there are so many threads here about "japanese food", and "what place other than Tokyo do you want to visit". Also, does anyone ever wonder why just about all anime shows originate in japan? Do they have like an international copyright on the style? XD

I mean, most of the people here are from TEXAS for pete's sake, you'd think ... I dunno maybe I'm just being weird

If I'm not mistaken, anime is short for Japanese animation or Japanamation, so it is by definition Japanese. It is also quite likely that those who watch anime have a greater respect and/or interest in other aspects of Japanese culture, such as food, history, martial arts, etc.

There are some American shows that are starting to imitate the traditional style of anime (although I can't think of any off the top of my head ), so I suppose it is possible that in the future, anime will be more broadly defined simply as animation not intended exclusively--or even primarily--for a younger audience, regardless of its country of origin.

This is an interesting question, which ties into the other thread about dictionary.com's definition of anime. What is your definition of anime? Why do you like it? Do you have any interest in other areas of Japanese/Asian culture?

Well, technically, anime is the Japanese word for animation of any sort. So in Japan, Mickey Mouse would be called an anime char.

But, as others have stated, in the US it means cartoons that were made in Japan.

And as far as all the Japanese stuff, it helps to understand anime if you understand the culture it comes from. It also happens to be a very interesting culture too.

Cephas, I did not quite understand you last paragraph, but I was not in any way trying to make fun of Texans, and I apologize if anyone took it that way.

>>What is your definition of anime?
The style I guess.

>>Why do you like it?
I like the anime hairstyles and faces a lot more than those of any other forms of animation.

>>Do you have any interest in other areas of Japanese/Asian culture?
Not really, no.

edit:
Also, I agree with yoda.. "anime" sounds a lot more like "animation" than "japanese animation"

Cephas wrote:As for the Texan thing.... I'd like to stop making fun of them.

AMEN!!!

I wish I could make fun... I don't really know too much about Texas though

good!

*looks confused

<I don't really know too much about Texas though>

All you need to know is; really hot sauce, bad margaritas, and southern accents. Oh, and Texas was a country at one point.

BTW, I like Texas people.

<Geez, Michael, you missed a bunch of cliches! Bad Michael! What about lots of four-legged livestock, cowboys, big hats, chili, and lots of stupid little towns with too-high taxes? Oh wait...that last one isn't a "cliche" it's just personal experience...>

Nobody farms there anymore. Go to Kentucky for that. "Maw, them goats got out 'gain!"

[quote="Michael"]<I don't really know too much about Texas though>

All you need to know is]

Not all Texans have accents... or maybe I'm just surrounded so much by it I don't know the difference.

I do know some people with really thick accents though, and they can be a bit hard to understand.

JediSonic wrote:It strikes me as funny that there are so many threads here about "japanese food", and "what place other than Tokyo do you want to visit". Also, does anyone ever wonder why just about all anime shows originate in japan? Do they have like an international copyright on the style? XD

I mean, most of the people here are from TEXAS for pete's sake, you'd think ... I dunno maybe I'm just being weird

Anime shows are not all one style. When we refer to anime, most of us mean "Animation from Japan" though it is true that in Japan the term anime [button="Rant"]which is short for animeshon, don*t argue with me, the term animeshon existed long before the term anime and the french term with the same roman spelling is not pronounced the same way, and that means it wouldn*t have received that spelling when it came to Japanese, but would have been spelled phonetically, which is what animeshon is[/button] refers to ALL animation, in the US we use that term specifically for Japanese animation... Meaning that Reign is NOT anime by my terms, since it's Korean and not Japanese...

BTW, a lot of people consider the term "Japanimation" to be offensive, because it sounds like a racial slur "Jap-animation" and not "Japan-imation" (and racist sentiments often get spouted by anti-anime people, so this isn't that far off even if a lot of people don't mean it like that)

It's true that a lot of anime fans aren't interested in Japanese culture beyond the animation, but it's also true that there are many who ARE interested beyond anime... It makes sense that fans would research more into something they're interested in. As for me, I'm going to move to Japan once I get my foot in the door in the Game industry. Not everyone is going to be that drastic, though... It's just fun to learn things about another culture.

Not everyone is moving to Japan? YA THINK? lol jk

Good luck in the gaming industry, I may end up there one day

All you need to know is; really hot sauce, bad margaritas, and southern accents. Oh, and Texas was a country at one point.

Didja miss any stereo-types there cowpoke? Pardon me, gotta go round up my doggies with this here lasso and chaps and my horse Bess, then sing some whiny songs about how my feller left me for some beer. (goes off laughing)

Anyway, about the original question, I agree with what others said about interest in a thing spawning interest in related things. But I also think that since anime comes from Japan, the more cultural knowledge you have about the place the more you are likely to understand. Heck, I know friends of mine who are so into anime they have taught themselves fluent Japanese and dyed their hair black. They also write only in kanji. (yes, they are obsessed )...but my point is they learned Japanese and about Japanese culture to better understand this art form that fascinated them.

Well, it is true that there is a certain accent in texas... It's not as strong as other southern states, except for people like "King of the Hill"s Boomhaeur. There really are people like that, too.

But, other things I know about Texas is it's REALLY humid and they have a much stronger work ethic there than in California, and respect is a bigger issue there than here... If I EVER so much as FROWNED at a customer when I was in Round Rock, they'd drop kick me to Idaho. I think the wind was aiding them in that direction, is why...^_^

I've learned a little bit about Japanese culture relating to my love of anime, but I haven't gone "overboard" yet... like... I have yet to try to learn Japanese. (I want to finish learning Spanish first). I like learning various things about a lot of diffrent cultures, just generally. I find Japanese culture facinating, I find Hispanic cultures facinating... I find my own American culture facinating (and also, sometimes, obnoxious).

drawing style currently being enjoyed around is not just exactly from japan only; because people drew them ages, ages ago. no one knows for sure who exactly started drawing them (like Australian Aboriginal drawings on caves and so forth) but it's clear it's Asia.

so saying anime = from Japan is utterly wrong. it makes more sense to say it originates from locations near Japan.

heck, there's manhwa, if you can say, Korean manga. it's old as manga's history, and you can barely tell the difference between the two.

btw, Koreans still call their animated manhwa, manhwa. no difference in words, both mean the same.

Bobtheduck wrote:Well, it is true that there is a certain accent in texas... It's not as strong as other southern states, except for people like "King of the Hill"s Boomhaeur. There really are people like that, too.

But, other things I know about Texas is it's REALLY humid and they have a much stronger work ethic there than in California, and respect is a bigger issue there than here... If I EVER so much as FROWNED at a customer when I was in Round Rock, they'd drop kick me to Idaho. I think the wind was aiding them in that direction, is why...^_^

Off Topic: I had some customers come through my line at work the other day, one of them was a kid that sounded EXACTLY like King of the Hill's Bobby. And yeah, it is VERY humid here... Winter I can stand, but Summer I hate.

LorentzForce wrote:so saying anime = from Japan is utterly wrong

It depends on what you mean by anime... I say anime not for a certain style, but as being animation from Japan, regardless of style.

Also, the standard stereotypical stlyes that make up anime (namely the big eyes) really started with Walt Disney... It was definately NOT a Japanese invention. The relatively more anatomically correct (more than most american animation) figures was peculiar, since Walt Disney was NOT doing that much, but hyper-accurate figures were made in Disney's war propaganda films, which doesn't look anything like what most of us associate with anime/manga. The diminishing of the noses and even the fondness (but not origins) for enlarging the eyes stems from Japanese culture's views on the body and face. The eyes are considered the most important part of the face, and the nose is the least... The nose does little to nothing to display emotion, while the eyes do most of the work... Though they didn't start it, making the eyes larger helped to demonstrate emotion. The smaller noses weren't as common until later on, but having a smaller nose draws attention to the important parts of what you're watching.

While these issues of style didn't originate in Japan, it's not the style that I consider "anime", instead since we got our word anime as a way to refer to Japanese animation, "anime" should refer to animation from Japan, and not to a style. To say that anime is a particular style is to perpetuate stereotypes that many of us have to fight off with a stick...

i take anime and anything animated, usually drawn by hand or similarily with a computer.

i think it's all about when/where/how you use the word anime that changes its meaning entirely. like all other words in this world with two or more meanings following them.

For the Love of GOSH!

I've read up on a few articles that talk on the issue about what is called anime in Japan. From what I have read, the Japanese differentiate from where it comes from. So for America you will have American anime. If I remember correctly many of the people in the anime industry call American cartoons- well -cartoons, American cartoons.

That's all I'm going to talk about anime right now. I've just noticed this gets batted around a bit here and just wanted to add what little money I have to the jar.

lately there have been some very good mangas published which are actually korean. Technically they're "manwha" or so,mehting of the sort. FOr instance: INVU or Ragnorak

LOL, well what can we crazy "save the planet" folk say? -> "Gotta blame it on someone" And yes, The green hearted hate Bush and all he stands for. Well I don't hate him, I just think he's really a robot. A Microsoft robot, that has many many bugs. No human in thier right mind would make the decisions he does. So I assume he's a robot..

Can we lay off the political stuff please? I don't want to be forced to post a long rant defending conservatism, so let's stay on topic. Ok?

The Silence wrote:lately there have been some very good mangas published which are actually korean. Technically they're "manwha" or so,mehting of the sort. FOr instance: INVU or Ragnorak

Yeah, this is true. I think there's quite a lot of stuff there, isn't the online MMORPG the same thing as the Ragarok manga?

Animation came from America, When japanese immagrants brought it back to japan the word anime came from Animation. The japanese developed thier own inexpensive syle and called thier cartoons thier own.

Can I ask where you pulled this information from?

yes, the game was based on the Korean manga. just like Priest, which is either being developed or is already out as a game. also a MMORPG.

I notice that all the manga is written and drawn by japanese people. There are none that I know of that are by Americans. But I will make my own one day.