Anime is a serious art

There are many types of art. One of which is animation. The Japanese made use of this and created anime. Anime is a serious art form. It may be different from many other art forms, but that is what makes it unique.

Anime is a popular art form that started in Japan and has spread worldwide. It has highly exaggerated features such as big eyes, crazy/pretty hair, and long legs and arms. They also have exaggerated expressions that are quite funny. Each character is well thought out and has its own personality. The way they dress, speak, and react to things is different in each character. This requires a lot of planning and sketching. Just like any other art, this requires a creative mind.

After watching The Place Promised in Our Early Days in the theater at the Japan Society, I was impressed by the animation and details of the characters and scenery with sharp clean lines. Every movement of the character is well thought out and represents the Japanese culture. The story was kind of confusing at first (being trapped in a dream), but after I understood it, I thought it was an interesting story. Watching it in Japanese and reading subtitles made it more difficult, so I watched it again at home in English (http://bit.ly/gV4TI ). The storyline is not normal, and that is Japanese anime. The imagination runs wild and results in fascinating plots. A whole new world is created. It’s a fantasy world that does not exist, but anime brings it to life. There are many other amazing things at the exhibition KRAZY!: The Delirious World of Anime + Manga + Video Games. 

Manga consists of anime characters that are not animated on screen. They tell a story on paper. This is also called graphic novels and is similar to comic books. At the Japan Society, there are hundreds of anime books to browse through. A lot of them I have never heard of, but some that I’ve encountered are Naruto and Bleach. It does take artistic skill to be able to draw so well and to tell a story by the drawings. There is also dialogue and that is presented in speech bubbles. There is also a creative process that needs to be done just like any other art piece. The Japan Society also showcased original sketches done by anime artists. I found this to be very interesting because it is rare to see the hand drawn version when I mainly see the digitized version. 

The video game room at the Japan Society was my favorite. This brings back memories of when I use to play video games like Mario. A game that I played was Super Mario World. Again here is another interesting made up fantasy world. I can jump on turtles and fly in the clouds. It’s also pretty addicting I must say. 

Anime is a serious art that is fun! It takes a lot of creativity, hard work, and a large imagination to successfully create anime. It is an art and worthy enough to be showcased in museums worldwide.