10 Anime Facts

1. The word "anime" (pronounced ahn-e-may) is synonymous with, and often used to describe the art of Japanese animation, in fact, an abbreviated pronunciation of Animation in Japan.
2. Anime is not synonymous with 'cartoon' despite the popular belief held by the uneducated masses. Anime is considered to be an art form by those who appreciate it, and is not specifically intended for children like American cartoons often are. A wide range of audiences are targeted with complicated, in-depth, and emotional story lines.
3. In Japan, there are more than 40 new animes appear on television per week
4. In Japan more paper are used to print manga than toilet paper.
5. Anime began in 1917 by Japanese artists: Shimokawa Oten, Jun’ichi Kouchi, and Seitarō Kitayama.
6. In Japanese manga means 'whimsical pictures'
7. All manga is drawn by hand, Anime can be computer animated or hand drawn. They both exist.
8. Tezuka Osamu is the most famous manga artis in Japan
9. It was in 1917, the first animation was introduced in Japan and it slowly developed and when in 1960s Osamu Tezuka’s work on the characteristic anime style came out, it became very well known outside Japan around 1980s.
10. The oldest anime that existed was first screened in 1917. It was about two minutes and was about a Samurai testing his sword on a target but fails in that.