Japanese animation has quickly become an international craze and continues to grow with each passing year. It's from the sensational anime market's ever-growing world impact that term "Otaku" was derived and incorporated; the coined loanword that fans choose to identify themselves by.Once thought to be a uniquely Japanese form of animation, anime has quickly spread across the globe and become an internationally recognized art form with a rabid following and loyal fans hailing from every country. Anime has inspired new forms of media and art and reinvented old ones.
Perhaps the greatest intrigue that anime has to offer is its unique art form and style. Using a mix of painted backgrounds and drawn characters, anime brings a foreign medley of artistic doctrines into a singular form of media. With outlandish plot devices and artistic sequences and a fast-paced animation style, anime brings fresh and fun styles to western animation.
Following plot lines that are varied and diverse, anime covers a wide range of topics and genres within itself. In Japan the Shinto religious beliefs have continued through the years and have contributed widely to the strange, often surreal but contemporary settings that many anime series take place in.
Anime dates back into the 1930's when it was little more than black and white animated cinema. It has evolved over the years with assistance and impacts from western animators such as Disney. When Snow White debuted in the 1960's, Japanese animators used it was a springboard for their fledgling industry and by the 1970's anime was seeing a surging growth. The real break for anime came in the 1980's when the animation industry was booming and by 2000, Japan had become a world leader in animation.
Anime's popularity has only grown over the years and in the modern day anime is an internationally recognized term with dedicated internet communities and fan followings. Conventions for anime fans are routinely held and attract thousands upon thousands of devoted fans each year.
The most devoted and obsessed fans of anime usually refer to themselves as "Otaku", a loanword from the Japanese language which is used to describe a level of fandom and interest that is taken to an extreme. Affectionately embracing the title, fans eagerly take to the term "Otaku" with pride and dedication.
