What is Anime? – the Visual Definiton is a major anime video project that I began working on in December ’07 and finally posted online this month. To give an idea of what the project is, it basically consists of 1-hour and 40-minutes of various anime opening clips from 50 different anime series’. But instead of having the opening clips play one after another, in between each clip a page of information will come up showing the anime’s title, genre, and a brief synopsis of the story and plot. My main purpose in creating this project is to promote anime to people who do not understand anime’s appeal; in other words, I’m hoping that other anime fans like myself will use it to help spread the awareness of anime’s appeal to others.
I made an entire page on the main AnimeYume.com site about the project, but if you want to get a quick idea of what it’s like right now, you can watch the first 18 minutes on Veoh here (there’s 6 minutes of introduction before the actual anime clips start):
So yeah, that’s basically what the project is except the full version is about 1-hour and 46-minutes long and consists of 43 more anime series’. If you liked the 18-minute preview and are interested in watching the entire project, visit the main project page here for more info about the project and ways to watch/download it. Any feedback about it would be much appreciated too ^_^
Wow, truly amazing job on that, Yumeka! It’s like a feature-length fanmade documentary…
I have yet to watch the whole thing, but after I do, I’m going to see if I can get this screened at AnimeNEXT this year.
Once again… amazing. That takes true dedication right there.
Sweet! I think that’s a great concept; however, I have two issues with it.
Firstly, you have billed it as a ‘visual presentation’ but anime OPs are often poorly representative of how anime anime actually appears when watching it. They often are either non representative (Cowboy bebop, Kemonozume) or highly polished (Death note, Lucky star). Though, in this case the polish would be nice, and openings do give some feel for the show, it’s characters and art. I just don’t think it’s the best visual presentation of anime.
Secondly, if this video is intended to introduce people to the appeal of anime, I would be more careful about the titles I select.
I would present anime that have the most mainstream crossover appeal, and if they take to those well enough you could later try showing them more typical or hardcore titles and see how they take to that. They may just feel comfortable as a casual fan, so showing them more specialized anime would not be an appealing introduction.
I would emphasize OVAs and movies due to their higher budgets and thus higher production standards, as well as more mature themes and content. Movies can show a closer parallel to Hollywood entertainment that the general public may find appropriate for all audiences. Whereas anime television shows will frequently look more childish compared to American sitcoms, medical dramas and game shows due to bias here in the US about the role of animation and television that’s suited to different demographics.
That said, I’d pick movies such as Steamboy, Akira, Ghost in the shell, CB the movie, the artsy movie Mind game, Princess Mononoke, Satoshi kon movies, Girl who lept thru time, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind,
Samurai X, Animatrix, Grave of the Fireflies, Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust, Jin roh, Battle angel, Macross Plus, Angel’s egg, Spriggan, and The Castle of Cagliostro.
I’d include some television shows: Death note, FMA, Mushishi, paranoia agent, Boogiepop Phantom, Witch hunter robin, Berserk, Beck, Gankutsuou, Utena, and Planets.
Shows like FLCL, Afro samurai and Samurai champloo are good if the person is young and hip.
That’s just a few ideas to start.
I think it’s also important to steer away from moe shows and lolis as well as shonen shows such as Bleach or Naruto that are indeed massively marketed kids shows. This would not improve the reception of anime as mature. On the other hand avoid shows with gratuitous violence or fanservice, this does not promote maturity.
Still, I applaud your ambition and effort, and I’ll go check out the full video now.
Tom,
My aim for the video was not so much to introduce anime’s appeal but more so it’s variety; that’s why I chose to use both mainstream shows and more otaku-oriented shows. I wanted to focus on all kinds of anime to suit all tastes and to show people the kind of variety that exists. And yes, I agree that anime OPs can be misleading, but they suited my purpose for the project more or less; I don’t think using actual episode scenes or still images would have had as much of an impact on viewers if they haven’t actually seen the show.
Oh, very well then. I only wonder who you are trying to show this variety to and for what purpose.
I can agree about OPs having more impact, and it’s good and well for making a refined impression.
I thought everythig on this site was so kawii. (cute)
Im a anime/ manga freak, so i love checking out other people site that have anything to do with anime/ manga.
one question though, when I first came to your site, I saw a girl with wings.. who is she and what anime?
If I am not mistaken, that girl is Misuzu, from the visual novel and it’s anime adaptation, Air.
I thought it was great :3
I made a small one as well on youtube but its basic of the basics :/
Good job ^.^
great one dude!!!!! came to know about some never heard titles also…will give them a try, and ya i tried to show it to my friends, some liked and others just u know……anyway thanks man