Anime Gains Ground

Anime, one of the most recent, popular imports from Japan is gaining popularity with today's youth, but many people still don't even know what Anime is. Anime is a type of Japanese animation with several distorted features, for example most characters have bigger eyes than real people, but even as Anime gains popularity, it is still often confused by older adults, who usually refer to Anime shows as cartoons. However, anime fans have a strong opinion about this reference; cartoons are usually for young children, while Anime is an entirely different Genrç focused around older teenagers with much more complex plots and abstract ideas.

Fortunately for Anime fans, the term and the genrç itself is slowly becoming more mainstream. Any major bookstore, such as Barnes & Noble or Borders, has an extensive Anime section, containing a wide variety of Manga, which is the type of Japanese comic that most Anime are influenced by. Popular book vendors have also developed their own Manga, as Harlequin has done with Harlequin Pink.

Anime Conventions, large gatherings of Anime-fans, have also grown in popularity. According to AnimeCons.com, there will be nearly 150 Anime conventions in 2007, most last for an average of three days each and average 500-1000 attendees each. A free, user-editable encyclopedia, Wikipedia, lists articles for nearly 50 Anime conventions as of March 2007, and most of these conventions had more than 1,000 visitors at the last convention.

Anime has also been playing on American television networks for several years, but can rarely be found during prime time. Networks such as Cartoon Network bolster the connection between Anime and traditional cartoons, as Cartoon Network's Adult Swim is the most widely-received programming block to play Anime. Most of the Anime shows that are played during this late-night hour can now be purchased on DVDs at big-box retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target.

There have however been setbacks that hurt Anime's expansion in America. The biggest problem stems from the difficulty of translating Japanese to English, and the high costs associated with translation. Another large problem the industry faces are bootleggers who either make and sell illegal DVD copies from Taiwan or make subtitled episodes available on the Internet.

Although it is uncertain if the problems Anime faces as a whole will ever go away entirely, Anime still has been gaining significant ground with American audiences. Anime has been pervading American youth culture for several years now, and is beginning to enter the mainstream.