Published: April 11, 2025 | Last Updated: June 25, 2025
ANIME DEFINITION & MEANING
Anime are animated TV shows and movies from Japan, either hand-drawn or digital. It stands out for its sharp character designs (think big eyes and wild hair), over-the-top emotional cues (like sweat drops or nosebleeds), and stories that mash up genres, such as sci-fi mixed with romance, or action mixed with weird surreal stuff. Outside Japan, “anime” just means Japanese animation.
Where anime comes from
Anime goes way back, Japan’s first confirmed animated short, Namakura Gatana, was released in 1917. It took cues from Western cartoons but filtered them through Japanese styles like manga and ukiyo-e, leaning more on emotion and metaphor than strict realism.
By the 1960s, Astro Boy (by Osamu Tezuka) set the blueprint for anime on TV. He used tricks like animating fewer frames and reusing backgrounds to cut costs, but kept the emotional punch and cinematic feel.
What makes anime different?
Anime isn’t just a look, it’s a whole production method and way of telling stories.
Most anime uses:
- Stylized character designs – big eyes, sharp silhouettes, wild hair, built for clarity and emotion.
- Limited animation techniques – animating on “threes” (one drawing every three frames), using still shots or repeated frames to save time without losing impact.
- Budget-saving tricks – sliding backgrounds, long dialogue scenes with little motion, reused assets, so animators can focus detail on the big moments.
- Serialized storytelling – character arcs that evolve over dozens of episodes, or film series connected more by vibe than plot.
- Sound and editing do heavy lifting – voice acting, music, and sharp cuts often carry the emotional weight when visuals are minimal.
Classic anime films and shows
Some anime have become internationally iconic, i.e., not just as “animation,” but as film and narrative milestones:
- Akira (1988, TMS/Toho): Cyberpunk dystopia with hyper-detailed motion and mature political themes. Put anime on the global map. It’s one of my favorites!
- Spirited Away (2001, Studio Ghibli): A surreal coming-of-age story blending folklore and childhood fear, still the only anime to win an Oscar. See my curated list of Studio Ghibli movies to watch.
- Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995, Gainax): A psychological spiral in mecha form. Breaks its own genre open with raw emotional chaos.
- Dragon Ball (1986, Toei) and One Piece (1999–, Toei): Long-running shonen icons that shaped action pacing, power-up tropes, and serialized world-building.
If you want to study anime more in-depth, I’ve created this list of 30 important anime movies.
How anime is made
Anime runs on a streamlined, but pretty intense production pipeline. The process usually goes like this:
script → storyboard → layout → key animation → inbetweens → coloring → compositing.
Each stage is handled by different teams, often spread across multiple studios. Big names like MAPPA, Toei Animation, and Studio Ghibli lead full in-house teams, but they still outsource a lot, especially the in-between animation, to hit deadlines.
Most anime is animated on “threes,” meaning one new drawing every three frames (around eight drawings per second). That saves time without killing the vibe.
For faster motion or big moments (like punches or explosions), animators switch to “ones” or “twos” to smooth and sharpen the movement.
Here’s a good video showing and explaining the difference between animating on “ones”, “twos”, “threes”, and even “fours”.
Anime vs Western animation
What sets anime apart from Western animation isn’t just frame count, but also the rhythm.
Anime isn’t afraid to hold on a single frame for a long time. You’ll get long shots of a face barely moving, or static dialogue scenes that ride entirely on voice acting and music. It focuses on emotion and atmosphere instead of constant movement, which also helps stretch limited budgets without losing impact.
Anime vs. cartoons
Anime isn’t simply “Japanese cartoons.” While cartoons like The Simpsons or SpongeBob focus on comedy or episodic plots, anime spans a broader emotional and tonal range, from quiet realism to high-concept fantasy. It’s also aimed at multiple age groups, not just children.
American series like Avatar: The Last Airbender or The Boondocks are anime-inspired, but most Japanese and international fans do not consider them true anime since they are not produced in Japan.
Genres and themes
Anime spans every genre imaginable: shonen (action/adventure), shojo (romance), seinen (mature drama), isekai (alternate world), slice-of-life, horror, mecha, and beyond.
This is also part of what sets anime apart: how flexible it is with tone. A coming-of-age drama might include time travel. A war epic might pause for a cooking montage. The emotional arc always drives the narrative shape.
Summing up
Anime is Japanese animation defined by its visual style, pacing, emotion, and genre range. It embraces minimalism when needed, goes big when it counts, and values internal character arcs as much as over-the-top action. Whether hand-drawn or digitally produced, anime continues to expand what animation can do.
Read Next: Want to explore the full range of animation styles and techniques?
Start with our Complete Guide to Animation Styles and Techniques , from traditional hand-drawn to motion capture and CGI workflows.
Or browse all animation articles for practical tutorials, creative tools, and deep dives into both 2D and 3D processes.
