Manga your way to Anime

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Anime begins to dominate : Influence felt on all aspects of life - fashion to music, action movies and TV shows!

Anime, slang for Japanese animation, has always been a part of entertainment, even if it wasn’t slated under a particular genre. A decade ago, this art would have been blindly characterised as a ‘cartoon’. But now, it is a separate category incorporating real and human elements that don’t make it all about entertainment, but also about education and imagination. This began with Miyazaki’s animated feature “Spirited Away”, which cap tured hearts in 2001. Most anime characters are defined by a very large head, big colourful eyes and usually flamboyant costumes that in itself, define the characters’ personality. In the Anime “Inuyasha”, the character Sesshoumaru dresses all in white, with white hair and slit eyes, indicating that he is a deadly, cold and merciless warrior. Most Anime is derived from manga, Japanese comic books. Once the manga has gained a fairly large fan base, it is made into an Anime.

Anime Expos are held all over the U.S. to raise awareness about anime and promote Japanese music, which heavily influences Anime. At these Expos, people also have the opportunity to dress up as their favourite anime character, in an art known as Cosplay.
Dressing up



In Japan, every Saturday, one can see people dressed up on the streets, either as a Lolita figure from the Anime “Rozen Maiden” or a samurai from “Rurouni Kenshin”. Fan Fiction is also an integral part of the Anime world. Fan fiction is a genre of literature where fans of an already published and patented work write their own stories involving the characters. In fact, producers have commented on how some works of fan fiction have inspired them to write new episodes for anime!
In Japan, anime has become a staple of day-to-day life and influences many around people: from fashion to music, even to live action movies and TV shows. Anime is now beginning to dominate the world: from music to games to novels, Anime is overtaking media, as we know it. Anime has finally made a foray into India, with the arrival of the TV channel Animax.
Animax showcases some of the greatest modern Anime shows like Inuyasha, Rurouni Kenshin, Yu Yu Hakusho! and Trinity Blood. In addition, manga has also made an entry into Indian bookstores. Manga and Anime can educate one about the Japanese and history, with content that is strong historically and accurate too.