Anime is the genre name given to animated films of Japan. Once, in a battle as epic as BluRay vs HD DVD or VHS vs Beta (yeah, Anime goes back that far), the genre went by two different names, Anime and Japanimation. Personally, I thought Japanimation sounded more fun, but Anime won out. Using "Anime" makes sense, though, since it is the Japanese word for animation.
Going back as far as 1917, Anime is just Japanese animated movies and TV shows. The art style is often characterized by a similar themed look of its characters. Big eyes. Tall, slender characters, especially when they are villains. Facial expressions of surprise.
There's also the word "Manga". While Anime is Japanese animation used in movies and TV, Manga is typically the same art styles used in Anime, but it's the name given to that art as it appears in comic books and graphic novels.
Regardless where you see anime, you'll likely be watching something ... odd. The storylines of Anime are typically very strange. Like left-field, out of nowhere weird. In addition to freaky plot lines, many of which are hard to follow or make no sense at all, the stories are often ultra violent with graphic blood and gore. Many are also quite adult! Nudity. Sex scenes. Anime just does not care. Why? Because much of anime isn't for kids and, rather, is geared towards adults.
That doesn't explain why they make no sense though. Who knows why that is. Japanese horror movies, which have made quite the splash worldwide, often make extreme logic jumps as well. Hey, when you have awesome visuals, you don't need to make sense, I guess.
Either way, Anime and Manga are quintessentially Japanese and, thus, were a requirement for our world culture tour. The struggle, then, is finding somewhat family friendly anime to watch with kids.
Some of the more famous Anime movies, such as Akira, are too weird even for me. Wicked City is way too adult with tons of bad language.
There's Pokemon and all of the similar shows. Not wanting to get into a show, we watched Detective Pikachu. That, however, isn't traditionally animated.
So, I found Studio Ghibli. It's movies are generally safe for kids to watch and are often fun and fantasy filled, dreamlike adventures. Founded in 1985, Studio Ghibli has made movies like Castle in the Sky, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, and Ponyo.
We chose Ponyo and Spirited Away. Though quite strange, we were pleasantly surprised and happy with our choices.
However, I wanted to watch at least something of the Anime I remembered from when I was younger. I sought out IMDB's parents guide for the ones I remembered liking. Again, Wicked City was out. Ninja Scroll too. However, Fist of the North Star seemed to squeeze by, having only violent animation, as did Vampire Hunter D.
The boys liked the action of Vampire Hunter D, and though Fist of the North Star is quite bloodily action packed, they got bored with it due to the movie's overuse of...exploding heads.
Click to see more of the World Culture Tour!
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