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Welcome to
The Anime and Manga Portal
Introduction
Anime (アニメ) refers to animation originating from Japan. It is characterized by distinctive characters and backgrounds (hand-drawn or computer-generated) that visually and thematically set it apart from other forms of animation. Storylines may include a variety of fictional or historical characters, events, and settings. Anime is aimed at a broad range of audiences; consequently, a given series may have aspects of a range of genres. Anime is most frequently distributed by streaming services, broadcast on television, or sold on DVDs and other media, either after their broadcast run or directly as original video animation (OVA). Console and computer games sometimes also feature segments or scenes that can be considered anime.
Manga (漫画), Japanese for "comics" or "whimsical pictures", are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Manga developed from a mixture of ukiyo-e and Western styles of drawing, and took its current form shortly after World War II. Manga, apart from covers, is usually published in black and white but it is common to find introductions to chapters to be in color. It is typically read from top to bottom and then right to left, similar to the layout of Japanese plain text. In 2005, manga represented a market of ¥24 billion in Japan and $180 million in the United States, and was the fastest-growing segment of books in the United States in the same year. In 2020, Japan's manga industry hit a value of ¥612.6 billion due to the fast growth of the digital manga market, while manga sales in North America reached an all-time high of almost $250 million.
Anime and manga have a shared iconography, including exaggerating the scale of physical features to which the reader presumably should pay most attention, the best known being "large eyes". Manga are often adapted into anime, usually with the collaboration of the original author. Light novel series and video games can also be adapted into anime or manga. In such cases, the work's original story is often compressed or modified to fit the new format and appeal to a wider demographic. Popular franchises sometimes include full-length feature films, both animated and live-action, as well as live-action television programs.
Selected article
Sentō Bishōjo no Seishin Bunseki(Japanese: 戦闘美少女の精神分析; 'Psychoanalysis of the Beautiful Fighting Girl') is a 2000 book by the Japanese Lacanian psychiatrist Tamaki Saitō. It was translated into English in 2011 and published as Beautiful Fighting Girl. Saitō analyzes the psychology of the otaku—a Japanese subculture focused around manga and anime—and its relation to the archetype of the sentō bishōjo ('beautiful fighting girl'), a form of bishōjo ('beautiful girl') character archetype.
In contrast to prior social attitudes which generally saw otaku as socially immature and preferring fiction over reality, Saitō describes them as able to balance fiction and reality, embodied most directly by a characteristic ability to gain sexual release from fictional characters. He dismisses the connection between otaku's perverse fictional attractions (such as lolicon) and real-world sexual deviance, arguing that use a fictional environment as an outlet for their fantasies. Saitō compares it to the works of the American artist Henry Darger, then characterizes the sentō bishōjo archetype as a Japanese phenomenon enabled by the presence of sexuality within manga and anime. He argues that the archetype represents a "phallic girl" and fosters attraction among the audience by embodying the traits of the metaphorical phallus.
The book inspired a monograph analysis of otaku by scholar Hiroki Azuma in response to Saitō's claims the following year, which dismisses Saitō's focus on sexuality, arguing that otaku instead forgo sexuality in favor of an animalistic attraction to moe qualities. The 2011 English translation, produced by J. Keith Vincent and Dawn Lawson, features a lengthy foreword which defends the work as useful to a variety of disciplines. Academic responses have generally critiqued Saitō's avoidance of discussion on female otaku and disputed his claims that the 'beautiful fighting girl' is a Japanese archetype. (Fullarticle...)
The series debuted in Japan on July 19, 2000 with One Piece: Mezase Kaizoku Ou!. At the moment, the series contains 33 games, not counting Battle Stadium D.O.N, the title One Piece shares with its related anime series Dragon Ball Z and Naruto. The first game in the series to be released outside of Japan, One Piece: Grand Battle!, was released on September 7, 2005. The One Piece series received a mixed reception; assessments ranged from "slightly below or slightly above average" to "a grand video-game series". (Fulllist...)
