Japanese Invasion

The Japanese invasion - anime and manga. This is the one of the coolest influence from the East that now became part of a western kid's or teen's lifestyle (thus I should say it is now part of the American way of life).

Anime is the abbreviated pronunciation in Japanese of the word animation and manga refers to Japanese comics. Both are hand drawn or computer animated. The characters you see in these two styles of art form can be seen on television, video games, films and even commercials. If you are familiar with anime and manga you will also notice the very stylized way on how the characters are drawn - large eyes or very small dot eyes, big hair, small body or long neck, strange creatures that you cannot even tell what type of animal it is and vivid colors. The facial expressions are usually exaggerated. The stories are generally fiction or sci-fi. Sometimes there is also drama or feel-good story anime that teach the kids and the viewers good lessons in life.

Anime and manga as an art form, is a different take and style of animation from what we have in the west. Famous Japanese anime that are popular in the States are Pokemon, Jin-roh, Pikachu and a lot more. Manga (comics) abound in American bookstores. Some of the stories can be graphic - violent or sexual or a combination of both. The biggest fan of these two art forms are teens and young adults. Every now and then I see young men reading a manga or teens playing anime inspired characters on video games and sometimes I see young girls or girls in their teens with printed manga characters on their bags or girly backpacks.

The style also became part of the Japanese youth's lifestyle as in their way of dressing. Some kids really breath anime and manga. Somehow it also influenced fashion trends in Europe wherein some designers based their collection on an anime character's dress, hair and makeup. Personally, I am not a big fan of anime/manga inspired fashion because they look like costumes unless the design is wearable.

My favorite anime are Voltes Five, Mazinger Z and Naruto. Should I admit that anime/manga is a great art form? well indeed...they are very original. Is it part of today's modern lifestyle? yes it is. Can it influence fashion trends? Yes it already did and it still is. How about you what do you think of anime and manga?

Photo Credit: Untitled Anime Illustration
Photographer: Kim Idogava
Photo Link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sandipkim/