Anime (アニメ) refers to the animation style originating in 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) is Japanese for "comics" or "whimsical images". 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 and read from top to bottom and then right to left, similar to the layout of a Japanese plain text. Financially, manga represented 2005 a market of ¥24 billion in Japan and $180 million in the United States. Manga was the fastest-growing segment of books in the United States in 2005. 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 at almost $250 million.
Anime and manga share many characteristics, including exaggerating (in terms of scale) of physical features, to which the reader presumably should pay most attention (best known being "large eyes"), "dramatically shaped speech bubbles, speed lines and onomatopoeic, exclamatory typography..." Some manga (a small percentage) are adapted into anime, often with the collaboration of the original author. Computer games can also be adapted into anime. 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 anime franchises sometimes include full-length feature films. Some anime franchises have been adapted into live-action films and television programs.
An anime television adaptation titled Azumanga Daioh: The Animation was produced by J.C.Staff and aired in Japan between April and September 2002, consisting of 130 four-minute segments compiled into 26 episodes. The compiled episodes were released on DVD and Universal Media Discs (UMDs) by Starchild Records, and an English-language version was produced by ADV Films. Before the series, a theatrical short and an original net animation were also produced. Several soundtrack albums were released, as well as three Azumanga Daioh video games. (Full article...)
The episodes of the Fate/stay nightanime is based on the visual novelvideo gameFate/stay night by Type-Moon. The episodes are directed by Yuji Yamaguchi, animated by Studio Deen and produced by the Fate Project, which included Geneon Entertainment, TBS, CREi, Type-Moon and Frontier Works Inc. The plot of the episodes is primarily based on the Fate storyline in the Fate/stay night visual novel, although certain elements of the other two storylines, Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven's Feel, are incorporated into the plot of the episodes.
The episodes were originally aired between January 2006 and June 2006 in Japan on Chiba TV, MX TV, Sun TV, TV Aichi, TV Kanagawa, and TV Saitama. The series later received its international television premieres on the anime television network Animax in 2007, also receiving its English-language television premiere on Animax's English networks in Southeast Asia from June 2007, as well as its other networks in South Korea, Hong Kong and other regions. (Full list...)
An artwork depicting shōnen-ai. Unlike yaoi manga, shōnen-ai manga focus more on romance and do not include explicit sexual content, although they may include implicit sexual content.
