Terminology

Japanese write the English term "animation" in katakana as アニメーション (animēshon, pronounced [animeːɕoɴ]), and the term アニメ (anime, pronounced [anime] ( listen) in Japanese) emerged in the 1970s as an abbreviation.^[16] Others claim that the word derives from the French phrase dessin animé.^[3] Japanese-speakers use both the original and abbreviated forms interchangeably, but the shorter form occurs more commonly.

The pronunciation of anime in Japanese, [anime], differs significantly from the Standard English /ˈænɪmeɪ/, which has different vowels and stress. (In Japanese each mora carries equal stress.) As with a few other Japanese words such as saké, Pokémon, and Kobo Abé, English-language texts sometimes spell anime as animé (as in French), with an acute accent over the final e, to cue the reader to pronounce the letter, not to leave it silent as English orthography might suggest.

Word usage

In Japan, the term anime does not specify an animation's nation of origin or style; instead, it serves as a blanket term to refer to all forms of animation from around the world.^[17][18] English-language dictionaries define anime as "a Japanese style of motion-picture animation" or as "a style of animation developed in Japan".^[19][20]

Non-Japanese works that borrow stylization from anime are commonly referred to as "anime-influenced animation" but it is not unusual for a viewer who does not know the country of origin of such material to refer to it as simply "anime". Some works result from co-productions with non-Japanese companies, such as most of the traditionally animated Rankin/Bass works, the Cartoon Network and Production I.G series IGPX or Ōban Star-Racers; different viewers may or may not consider these anime.

In English, anime, when used as a common noun, normally functions as a mass noun (for example: "Do you watch anime?", "How much anime have you collected?").^[21] However, in casual usage the word also appears as a count noun. Anime can also be used as a suppletive adjective or classifier noun ("The anime Guyver is different from the movie Guyver").

Synonyms

English-speakers occasionally refer to anime as "Japanimation", but this term has fallen into disuse. "Japanimation" saw the most usage during the 1970s and 1980s, but the term "anime" supplanted it in the mid-1990s as the material became more widely known in English-speaking countries.^[22] In general, the term now only appears in nostalgic contexts.^[22] Since "anime" does not identify the country of origin in Japanese usage, "Japanimation" is used to distinguish Japanese work from that of the rest of the world.^[22]

In Japan, "manga" can refer to both animation and comics. Among English speakers, "manga" has the stricter meaning of "Japanese comics", in parallel to the usage of "anime" in and outside of Japan. The term "ani-manga" is used to describe comics produced from animation cels.^[23]