Anime - Wikipedia

Anime (Japanese: アニメ, IPA: [aɲime](listen)) is hand-drawn and computer-generatedanimation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, anime refers specifically to animation produced in Japan.[1] However, in Japan and in Japanese, anime (a term derived from a shortening of the English word animation) describes all animated works, regardless of style or origin. Animation produced outside Japan with similar style to Japanese animation is commonly referred to as anime-influenced animation.
The earliest commercial Japanese animations date to 1917. A characteristic art style emerged in the 1960s with the works of cartoonist Osamu Tezuka and spread in following decades, developing a large domestic audience. Anime is distributed theatrically, through television broadcasts, directly to home media, and over the Internet. In addition to original works, anime are often adaptations of Japanese comics (manga), light novels, or video games. It is classified into numerous genres targeting various broad and niche audiences.
Anime is a diverse medium with distinctive production methods that have adapted in response to emergent technologies. It combines graphic art, characterization, cinematography, and other forms of imaginative and individualistic techniques.[2] Compared to Western animation, anime production generally focuses less on movement, and more on the detail of settings and use of "camera effects", such as panning, zooming, and angle shots.[2] Diverse art styles are used, and character proportions and features can be quite varied, with a common characteristic feature being large and emotive eyes.[3]
Etymology
As a type of animation, anime is an art form that comprises many genres found in other mediums; it is sometimes mistakenly classified as a genre itself.[6] In Japanese, the term anime is used to refer to all animated works, regardless of style or origin.[7] English-language dictionaries typically define anime (/ˈænɪmeɪ/)[8] as "a style of Japanese animation"[9] or as "a style of animation originating in Japan".[10] Other definitions are based on origin, making production in Japan a requisite for a work to be considered "anime".[11]
The etymology of the term anime is disputed. The English word "animation" is written in Japanese katakana as アニメーション (animēshon) and as アニメ (anime, pronounced [a.ɲi.me](listen)) in its shortened form.[11] Some sources claim that the term is derived from the French term for animation dessin animé ("cartoon", literally 'animated drawing'),[12] but others believe this to be a myth derived from the popularity of anime in France in the late 1970s and 1980s.[11]
In English, anime—when used as a common noun—normally functions as a mass noun. (For example: "Do you watch anime?" or "How much anime have you collected?")[13][14] As with a few other Japanese words, such as saké and Pokémon, English 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 may suggest. Prior to the widespread use of anime, the term Japanimation, a portmanteau of Japan and animation, was prevalent throughout the 1970s and 1980s. In the mid-1980s, the term anime began to supplant Japanimation;[15] in general, the latter term now only appears in period works where it is used to distinguish and identify Japanese animation.[16]
History
Precursors
Emakimono and kagee are considered precursors of Japanese animation.[17]Emakimono was common in the eleventh century. Traveling storytellers narrated legends and anecdotes while the emakimono was unrolled from the right to left with chronological order, as a moving panorama.[17]Kagee was popular during the Edo period and originated from the shadows play of China.[17]Magic lanterns from the Netherlands were also popular in the eighteenth century.[17] The paper play called Kamishibai surged in the twelfth century and remained popular in the street theater until the 1930s.[17] Puppets of the bunraku theater and ukiyo-e prints are considered ancestors of characters of most Japanese animations.[17] Finally, mangas were a heavy inspiration for anime. Cartoonists Kitzawa Rakuten and Okamoto Ippei used film elements in their strips.[17]
Pioneers
A frame from Namakura Gatana (1917), the oldest surviving Japanese animated short film made for cinemas
Animation in Japan began in the early 20th century, when filmmakers started to experiment with techniques pioneered in France, Germany, the United States, and Russia.[18] A claim for the earliest Japanese animation is Katsudō Shashin (c. 1907),[19] a private work by an unknown creator.[20] In 1917, the first professional and publicly displayed works began to appear; animators such as Ōten Shimokawa, Seitarō Kitayama, and Jun'ichi Kōuchi (considered the "fathers of anime") produced numerous films, the oldest surviving of which is Kōuchi's Namakura Gatana.[21] Many early works were lost with the destruction of Shimokawa's warehouse in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake.[22]
Modern era
In the 1960s, manga artist and animator Osamu Tezuka adapted and simplified Disney animation techniques to reduce costs and limit frame counts in his productions.[30] Originally intended as temporary measures to allow him to produce material on a tight schedule with an inexperienced staff, many of his limited animation practices came to define the medium's style.[31]Three Tales (1960) was the first anime film broadcast on television;[32] the first anime television series was Instant History (1961–64).[33] An early and influential success was Astro Boy (1963–66), a television series directed by Tezuka based on his manga of the same name. Many animators at Tezuka's Mushi Production later established major anime studios (including Madhouse, Sunrise, and Pierrot).
Attributes
Anime differs from other forms of animation by its art styles, methods of animation, its production, and its process. Visually, anime works exhibit a wide variety of art styles, differing between creators, artists, and studios.[38] While no single art style predominates anime as a whole, they do share some similar attributes in terms of animation technique and character design.
Anime is fundamentally characterized by the use of limited animation, flat expression, the suspension of time, its thematic range, the presence of historical figures, its complex narrative line and, above all, a peculiar drawing style, with characters characterized by large and oval eyes, with very defined lines, bright colors and reduced movement of the lips.[39][40]
Japanese animation studios were pioneers of many limited animation techniques, and have given anime a distinct set of conventions. Unlike Disney animation, where the emphasis is on the movement, anime emphasizes the art quality and let limited animation techniques make up for the lack of time spent on movement. Such techniques are often used not only to meet deadlines but also as artistic devices.[48] Anime scenes place emphasis on achieving three-dimensional views, and backgrounds are instrumental in creating the atmosphere of the work.[18] The backgrounds are not always invented and are occasionally based on real locations, as exemplified in Howl's Moving Castle and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.[49][50] Oppliger stated that anime is one of the rare mediums where putting together an all-star cast usually comes out looking "tremendously impressive".[51]
The cinematic effects of anime differentiates itself from the stage plays found in American animation. Anime is cinematically shot as if by camera, including panning, zooming, distance and angle shots to more complex dynamic shots that would be difficult to produce in reality.[52][53][54] In anime, the animation is produced before the voice acting, contrary to American animation which does the voice acting first.[55]
The body proportions of human anime characters tend to accurately reflect the proportions of the human body in reality. The height of the head is considered by the artist as the base unit of proportion. Head heights can vary, but most anime characters are about seven to eight heads tall.[56] Anime artists occasionally make deliberate modifications to body proportions to produce super deformed characters that feature a disproportionately small body compared to the head; many super deformed characters are two to four heads tall. Some anime works like Crayon Shin-chan completely disregard these proportions, in such a way that they resemble caricatured Western cartoons.
A common anime character design convention is exaggerated eye size. The animation of characters with large eyes in anime can be traced back to Osamu Tezuka, who was deeply influenced by such early animation characters as Betty Boop, who was drawn with disproportionately large eyes.[57] Tezuka is a central figure in anime and manga history, whose iconic art style and character designs allowed for the entire range of human emotions to be depicted solely through the eyes.[58] The artist adds variable color shading to the eyes and particularly to the cornea to give them greater depth. Generally, a mixture of a light shade, the tone color, and a dark shade is used.[59][60] Cultural anthropologist Rachel Thorn argues that Japanese animators and audiences do not perceive such stylized eyes as inherently more or less foreign.[61] However, not all anime characters have large eyes. For example, the works of Hayao Miyazaki are known for having realistically proportioned eyes, as well as realistic hair colors on their characters.[62]
Hair in anime is often unnaturally lively and colorful or uniquely styled. The movement of hair in anime is exaggerated and "hair action" is used to emphasize the action and emotions of characters for added visual effect.[63] Poitras traces hairstyle color to cover illustrations on manga, where eye-catching artwork and colorful tones are attractive for children's manga.[63] Despite being produced for a domestic market, anime features characters whose race or nationality is not always defined, and this is often a deliberate decision, such as in the Pokémon animated series.[64]
Anime and manga artists often draw from a shared iconography to represent particular emotions.
Anime and manga artists often draw from a common canon of iconic facial expression illustrations to denote particular moods and thoughts.[65] These techniques are often different in form than their counterparts in Western animation, and they include a fixed iconography that is used as shorthand for certain emotions and moods.[66] For example, a male character may develop a nosebleed when aroused.[66] A variety of visual symbols are employed, including sweat drops to depict nervousness, visible blushing for embarrassment, or glowing eyes for an intense glare.[67] Another recurring sight gag is the use of chibi (deformed, simplified character designs) figures to comedically punctuate emotions like confusion or embarrassment.[66]
The opening and credits sequences of most anime television series are accompanied by J-pop or J-rock songs, often by reputed bands—as written with the series in mind—but are also aimed at the general music market, therefore they often allude only vaguely or not at all, to the thematic settings or plot of the series. Also, they are often used as incidental music ("insert songs") in an episode, in order to highlight particularly important scenes.[68][better source needed]
Genres
Anime are often classified by target demographic, including children's (子供, kodomo), girls' (少女, shōjo), boys' (少年, shōnen), young men (青年, Seinen), young women (女性, josei) and a diverse range of genres targeting an adult audience. Shoujo and shounen anime sometimes contain elements popular with children of both sexes in an attempt to gain crossover appeal. Adult anime may feature a slower pace or greater plot complexity that younger audiences may typically find unappealing, as well as adult themes and situations.[70] A subset of adult anime works featuring pornographic elements are labeled "R18" in Japan, and are internationally known as hentai (originating from pervert (変態, hentai)). By contrast, some anime subgenres incorporate ecchi, sexual themes or undertones without depictions of sexual intercourse, as typified in the comedic or harem genres; due to its popularity among adolescent and adult anime enthusiasts, the inclusion of such elements is considered a form of fan service.[71][72] Some genres explore homosexual romances, such as yaoi (male homosexuality) and yuri (female homosexuality). While often used in a pornographic context, the terms yaoi and yuri can also be used broadly in a wider context to describe or focus on the themes or the development of the relationships themselves.[73]
Formats
Early anime works were made for theatrical viewing, and required played musical components before sound and vocal components were added to the production. In 1958, Nippon Television aired Mogura no Abanchūru ("Mole's Adventure"), both the first televised and first color anime to debut.[80] It was not until the 1960s when the first televised series were broadcast and it has remained a popular medium since.[81] Works released in a direct-to-video format are called "original video animation" (OVA) or "original animation video" (OAV); and are typically not released theatrically or televised prior to home media release.[82][83][better source needed] The emergence of the Internet has led some animators to distribute works online in a format called "original net animation" (ONA).[84][better source needed]
The home distribution of anime releases were popularized in the 1980s with the VHS and LaserDisc formats.[82] The VHS NTSC video format used in both Japan and the United States is credited as aiding the rising popularity of anime in the 1990s.[82] The LaserDisc and VHS formats were transcended by the DVD format which offered the unique advantages; including multiple subtitling and dubbing tracks on the same disc.[85] The DVD format also has its drawbacks in its usage of region coding; adopted by the industry to solve licensing, piracy and export problems and restricted region indicated on the DVD player.[85] The Video CD (VCD) format was popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan, but became only a minor format in the United States that was closely associated with bootleg copies.[85]
A key characteristic of many anime television shows is serialization, where a continuous story arc stretches over multiple episodes or seasons. Traditional American television had an episodic format, with each episode typically consisting of a self-contained story. In contrast, anime shows such as Dragon Ball Z had a serialization format, where continuous story arcs stretch over multiple episodes or seasons, which distinguished them from traditional American television shows; serialization has since also become a common characteristic of American streaming television shows during the "Peak TV" era.[86]
Anime has to be licensed by companies in other countries in order to be legally released. While anime has been licensed by its Japanese owners for use outside Japan since at least the 1960s, the practice became well-established in the United States in the late 1970s to early 1980s, when such TV series as Gatchaman and Captain Harlock were licensed from their Japanese parent companies for distribution in the US market. The trend towards American distribution of anime continued into the 1980s with the licensing of titles such as Voltron and the 'creation' of new series such as Robotech through use of source material from several original series.[94]
In the early 1990s, several companies began to experiment with the licensing of less children-oriented material. Some, such as A.D. Vision, and Central Park Media and its imprints, achieved fairly substantial commercial success and went on to become major players in the now very lucrative American anime market. Others, such as AnimEigo, achieved limited success. Many companies created directly by Japanese parent companies did not do as well, most releasing only one or two titles before completing their American operations.
Licenses are expensive, often hundreds of thousands of dollars for one series and tens of thousands for one movie.[95] The prices vary widely; for example, Jinki: Extend cost only $91,000 to license while Kurau Phantom Memory cost $960,000.[95] Simulcast Internet streaming rights can be cheaper, with prices around $1,000–2,000 an episode,[96] but can also be more expensive, with some series costing more than US$200,000 per episode.[97]
The anime market for the United States was worth approximately $2.74 billion in 2009.[98] Dubbed animation began airing in the United States in 2000 on networks like The WB and Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.[99] In 2005, this resulted in five of the top ten anime titles having previously aired on Cartoon Network.[99] As a part of localization, some editing of cultural references may occur to better follow the references of the non-Japanese culture.[100] The cost of English localization averages US$10,000 per episode.[101]
The industry has been subject to both praise and condemnation for fansubs, the addition of unlicensed and unauthorized subtitled translations of anime series or films.[102] Fansubs, which were originally distributed on VHS bootlegged cassettes in the 1980s, have been freely available and disseminated online since the 1990s.[102] Since this practice raises concerns for copyright and piracy issues, fansubbers tend to adhere to an unwritten moral code to destroy or no longer distribute an anime once an official translated or subtitled version becomes licensed. They also try to encourage viewers to buy an official copy of the release once it comes out in English, although fansubs typically continue to circulate through file-sharing networks.[103] Even so, the laid back regulations of the Japanese animation industry tend to overlook these issues, allowing it to grow underground and thus increasing the popularity until there is a demand for official high-quality releases for animation companies. This has led to an increase in global popularity with Japanese animations, reaching $40 million in sales in 2004.[104]
Since the 2010s anime has become a global multibillion industry setting a sales record in 2017 of ¥2.15 trillion ($19.8 billion), driven largely by demand from overseas audiences.[105] In 2019, Japan's anime industry was valued at $24 billion a year with 48% of that revenue coming from overseas (which is now its largest industry sector).[106] By 2025 the anime industry is expected to reach a value of $30 billion with over 60% of that revenue to come from
overseas.[107]
Markets
Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) valued the domestic anime market in Japan at ¥2.4 trillion ($24 billion), including ¥2 trillion from licensed products, in 2005.[108] JETRO reported sales of overseas anime exports in 2004 to be ¥2 trillion ($18 billion).[109] JETRO valued the anime market in the United States at ¥520 billion ($5.2 billion),[108] including $500 million in home video sales and over $4 billion from licensed products, in 2005.[110] JETRO projected in 2005 that the worldwide anime market, including sales of licensed products, would grow to ¥10 trillion ($100 billion).[108][110] The anime market in China was valued at $21 billion in 2017,[111] and is projected to reach $31 billion by 2020.[112] The global anime market size was valued at $26.055 billion in 2021 with 29% of the revenue coming from merchandise. It is expected that the global anime market will reach a value of $47.14 billion by 2028.[113][114] By 2030 the global anime market is expected to reach a value of $48.3 Billion with the largest contributors to this growth being North America, Europe, China and The Middle East.[115]
In 2019, the annual overseas exports of Japanese animation exceeded $10 billion for the first time in history.[116]
Working conditions
In recent years, the anime industry has been accused by both Japanese and foreign media for underpaying and overworking its animators.[118][119][120] In response the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida promised to improve the working conditions and salary of all animators and creators working in the industry.[121] A few anime studios such as MAPPA have taken actions to improve the working conditions of their employees.[122] There has also been a slight increase in production costs and animator pays during the COVID-19 pandemic.[123] On April 27, 2023, Nippon Anime Film Culture Association (NAFCA) was officially founded. The association aims to solve problems in the industry, including the improvement of conditions of the workers.[124][125]
Anime has become commercially profitable in Western countries,[127][128] as demonstrated by early commercially successful Western adaptations of anime, such as Astro Boy and Speed Racer. Early American adaptions in the 1960s made Japan expand into the continental European market, first with productions aimed at European and Japanese children, such as Heidi, Vicky the Viking and Barbapapa, which aired in various countries. Italy, Spain, and France[129][130] grew a particular interest into Japan's output, due to its cheap selling price and productive output. As of 2014, Italy imported the most anime outside Japan.[131] Anime and manga were introduced to France in the late 1970s and because massively popular in spite of a moral panic led by French politicians in the 1980s and 1990s.[132] These mass imports influenced anime popularity in South American, Arabic and German markets.[133]
The beginning of 1980 saw the introduction of Japanese anime series into the American culture. In the 1990s, Japanese animation slowly gained popularity in America. Media companies such as Viz and Mixx began publishing and releasing animation into the American market.[134] The 1988 film Akira is largely credited with popularizing anime in the Western world during the early 1990s, before anime was further popularized by television shows such as Pokémon and Dragon Ball Z in the late 1990s.[135][136] By 1997, Japanese anime was the fastest-growing genre in the American video industry.[137] The growth of the Internet later provided international audiences an easy way to access Japanese content.[104] Early on, online piracy played a major role in this, through over time many legal alternatives appeared. Since the 2010s various streaming services have become increasingly involved in the production and licensing of anime for the international markets.[138][139] This is especially the case with net services such as Netflix and Crunchyroll which have large catalogs in Western countries, although as of 2020 anime fans in many developing non-Western countries, such as India and Philippines, have fewer options of obtaining access to legal content, and therefore still turn to online piracy.[140][141] However beginning with the 2020s anime has been experiencing yet another boom in global popularity and demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic and streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, Hulu and anime-only services like Crunchyroll and Hidive, increasing the international availability of the amount of new licensed anime shows as well as the size of their catalogs.[142][143][144][145][146]
Netflix reported that, between October 2019 and September 2020, more than 100 million member households worldwide had watched at least one anime title on the platform. Anime titles appeared on the streaming platforms top 10 lists in almost 100 countries within the 1-year period.[147]
As of 2021, anime series are the most demanded foreign-language television shows in the United States accounting for 30.5% of the market share. (In comparison, Spanish-language and Korean-language shows account for 21% and 11% of the market share, respectively.)[148] In 2021 more than half of Netflix's global members watched anime.[149][150]
In 2022, the anime series Attack on Titan won the award of "Most In-Demand TV Series in the World 2021" in the Global TV Demand Awards. Attack on Titan became the first ever non-English language series to earn the title of "World's Most In-Demand TV Show", previously held by only The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones.[151][152]
Various anime and manga series have influenced Hollywood in the making of numerous famous movies and characters.[155] Hollywood itself has produced live-action adaptations of various anime series such as Ghost in the Shell, Death Note, Dragon Ball Evolution and Cowboy Bebop. However most of these adaptations have been reviewed negatively by both the critics and the audience and have become box-office flops. The main reasons for the unsuccessfulness of Hollywood's adaptions of anime being the often change of plot and characters from the original source material and the limited capabilities a live-action movie or series can do in comparison to an animated counterpart.[156][157] One particular exception however is Alita: Battle Angel, which has become a moderate commercial success, receiving generally positive reviews from both the critics and the audience for its visual effects and following the source material. The movie grossed $404 million worldwide, making it director Robert Rodriguez's highest-grossing film.[158][159]
This visit is a celebration of the ties of friendship and family that bind our peoples. I first felt it when I was 6 years old when my mother took me to Japan. I felt it growing up in Hawaii, like communities across our country, home to so many proud Japanese Americans... Today is also a chance for Americans, especially our young people, to say thank you for all the things we love from Japan. Like karate and karaoke. Manga and anime. And, of course, emojis.[163]
In July 2020, after the approval of a Chilean government project in which citizens of Chile would be allowed to withdraw up to 10% of their privately held retirement savings, journalist Pamela Jiles celebrated by running through Congress with her arms spread out behind her, imitating the move of many characters of the anime and manga series Naruto.[164][165] In April 2021, Peruvian politicians Jorge Hugo Romero of the PPC and Milagros Juárez of the UPP cosplayed as anime characters to get the otaku vote.[166]
In April 2023, the Japan Business Federation laid out a proposal aiming to spur the economic growth of Japan by further promoting the contents industry abroad, primarily anime, manga and video games, for measures to invite industry experts from abroad to come to Japan to work, and to link with the tourism sector to help foreign fans of manga and anime visit sites across the country associated with particular manga stories. The federation seeks on quadrupling the sales of Japanese content in overseas markets within the upcoming 10 years.[167][168]
A 2018 survey conducted in 20 countries and territories using a sample consisting of 6,600 respondents held by Dentsu revealed that 34% of all surveyed people found excellency in anime and manga more than other Japanese cultural or technological aspects which makes this mass Japanese media the 3rd most liked "Japanese thing", below Japanese cuisine (34.6%) and Japanese robotics (35.1%). The advertisement company views anime as a profitable tool for marketing campaigns in foreign countries due its popularity and high reception.[169]
Anime plays a role in driving tourism to Japan. In surveys held by Statista between 2019 and 2020, 24.2% of tourists from the United States, 7.7% of tourists from China and 6.1% of tourists from South Korea said they were motivated to visit Japan because of Japanese popular culture.[170] In a 2021 survey held by Crunchyroll market research, 94% of Gen-Z's and 73% of the general population said that they are familiar with anime.[171][172]
Anime clubs gave rise to anime conventions in the 1990s with the "anime boom", a period marked by anime's increased global popularity.[173] These conventions are dedicated to anime and manga and include elements like cosplay contests and industry talk panels.[174] Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is not unique to anime and has become popular in contests and masquerades at anime conventions.[175] Japanese culture and words have entered English usage through the popularity of the medium, including otaku, an unflattering Japanese term commonly used in English to denote an obsessive fan of anime and/or manga.[176] Another word that has arisen describing obsessive fans in the United States is wapanese meaning 'white individuals who want to be Japanese', or later known as weeaboo or weeb, individuals who demonstrate an obsession in Japanese anime subculture, a term that originated from abusive content posted on the website 4chan.org.[177] While originally derogatory, the terms "Otaku" and "Weeb" have been reappropriated by the anime fandom overtime and today are used by some fans to refer to themselves in a comedic and more positive way.[178]
Anime enthusiasts have produced fan fiction and fan art, including computer wallpapers and anime music videos (AMVs).[179]
Many fans will visit sites depicted in anime, games, manga and other forms of otaku culture, this behavior is known as "Anime pilgrimage".[180]
Anime style
One of the key points that made anime different from a handful of Western cartoons is the potential for visceral content. Once the expectation that the aspects of visual intrigue or animation being just for children is put aside, the audience can realize that themes involving violence, suffering, sexuality, pain, and death can all be storytelling elements utilized in anime just as much as other media.[191]
Traditionally only Japanese works have been considered anime, but some works have sparked debate for blurring the lines between anime and cartoons, such as the American anime-style productions Avatar: The Last Airbender and Avatar: The Legend of Korra.[192] These anime-styled works have become defined as anime-influenced animation, in an attempt to classify all anime styled works of non-Japanese origin.[193] Some creators of these works cite anime as a source of inspiration, for example the French production team for Ōban Star-Racers that moved to Tokyo to collaborate with a Japanese production team.[194][195][196] When anime is defined as a "style" rather than as a national product, it leaves open the possibility of anime being produced in other countries,[192] but this has been contentious amongst fans, with John Oppliger stating, "The insistence on referring to original American art as Japanese "anime" or "manga" robs the work of its cultural identity."[11][197]
A U.A.E.-Filipino produced TV series called Torkaizer is dubbed as the "Middle East's First Anime Show", and is currently in production[198] and looking for funding.[199] Netflix has produced multiple anime series in collaboration with Japanese animation studios,[200] and in doing so, has offered a more accessible channel for distribution to Western markets.[201]
The web-based series RWBY, produced by Texas-based company Rooster Teeth, is produced using an anime art style, and the series has been described as "anime" by multiple sources. For example, Adweek, in the headline to one of its articles, described the series as "American-made anime",[202] and in another headline, The Huffington Post described it as simply "anime", without referencing its country of origin.[203] In 2013, Monty Oum, the creator of RWBY, said "Some believe just like Scotch needs to be made in Scotland, an American company can't make anime. I think that's a narrow way of seeing it. Anime is an art form, and to say only one country can make this art is wrong."[204]RWBY has been released in Japan with a Japanese language dub;[205] the CEO of Rooster Teeth, Matt Hullum, commented "This is the first time any American-made anime has been marketed to Japan. It definitely usually works the other way around, and we're really pleased about that."[202]
Media franchises
In Japanese culture and entertainment, media mix is a strategy to disperse content across multiple representations: different broadcast media, gaming technologies, cell phones, toys, amusement parks, and other methods.[206] It is the Japanese term for a transmedia franchise.[207][208] The term gained its circulation in late 1980s, but the origins of the strategy can be traced back to the 1960s with the proliferation of anime, with its interconnection of media and commodity goods.[209]
^Leonard, Sean (September 1, 2005). "Progress against the law: Anime and fandom, with the key to the globalization of culture". International Journal of Cultural Studies. 8 (3): 281–305. doi:10.1177/1367877905055679. S2CID154124888.