Below are 15 incredible facts that you definitely didn't know about anime. They are not only about famous episodes of series such as Naruto or Death Note, but also about the Japanese anime industry in general.
Are you ready to think? Well then, because these 15 facts about anime will probably surprise you a lot. Which of these facts was the most unpredictable for you? Vote for the fact that turned out to be the most unexpected.
In Code Geass, all the characters love pizza because Code Geass was sponsored by Pizza Hut.
If you're still surprised that British Empire characters are constantly munching on pizza, it's because all the anime series in Japan were sponsored by Pizza Hut. However, when the version with English subtitles was released, the company logo was removed and yet Cheese-kun, the Japanese mascot for Pizza Hut, remained in the series.
The titans in Attack on Titan were based on a drunkard.
How did Hajime Isayama find the image of such a terrible creature as the Titan in his manga "Attack on Titan"? In one of the television shows, Isayama revealed a secret: one of the most terrifying monsters in the history of anime is based on the image of a drunk customer in an Internet cafe. Isayama was unable to communicate with him and this fact inspired him to create the famous manga about the most common and at the same time the most terrible animal in the world - man.
Spirited Away is the only anime to win an Academy Award.
The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature usually goes to Disney or Pixar, but in 2003, Spirited Away was awarded the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards. However, to the confusion of Haao Miyazaki's audience, the film's director did not attend the ceremony due to his opposition to the Iraq War.
Death Note inspired Chinese schoolchildren to write down the names of their teachers
When it comes to banning material that is inappropriate and, in the opinion of the authorities, provocative, China does not stand aside and does not hesitate to ban many anime from viewing. The authorities of this country have imposed a ban on such popular anime series as “School of the Dead”, “Attack on Titan”, “Psycho-Pass”. As for Death Note, it was banned not because of the excessive number of scenes of violence, but because schoolchildren kept special notebooks, like the Death Note, where they began to write down the names of those teachers whom they hated most.
The authors of "Sailor Moon" and "Spirit Riot Report" are married
Celebrity marriages rarely last. In this they are unlike manga creators. Naoko Takeuchi, author of Sailor Moon, and Yoshihiro Togashi, author of Spirit Runaway Report and Hunter Hunter, were married on January 6, 1999. The wedding ceremony was attended not only by fellow manga creators, but also by actors who voiced roles from the anime series “Sailor Moon” and “Report on Spirit Violence.”
Bleach might not have happened
In 2016, the anime series "Bleach" came to an end, but initially "Bleach" as a manga was not accepted even into the famous Shonen Jump anthology, published weekly in Japan. Series creator Tite Kubo sent Bleach to a publisher, but the series was rejected because other publications had a full schedule and there simply wasn't room for a new manga. However, Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama wrote a letter to Kubo to continue working on Bleach. So Toriyama was involved in the future success of Bleach.
Studio Ghibli is named after a World War II aircraft
There's much more to Hayao Miyazaki's love of airplanes than the creation of the 2013 anime series The Wind Rises. The name of the legendary Japanese animation studio Ghibli comes from a model of an Italian aircraft from World War II, which was called the Ca.309 Ghibli. Studio Ghibli even immortalized this fact by mentioning the name of the plane's creator, Giovanni Battista Caproni, in The Wind Rises itself.
Anime character with 22 voices
As noted in The Simpsons, the magic of animation is that if the creators change a character's voice simply at will, no one will notice the slightest difference. For the anime "Isn't This a Zombie?" The difference, however, is quite noticeable especially for the necromancer character, Eucliwood Halsite, who was voiced by as many as 22 actors over the course of just two seasons.
The heroine herself is mute in most cases, but her lines are “selfishly imagined by weak-willed heroes,” which as a result also affected Yu’s voice.
50 new colors were created for Akira
Akira wasn't just a turning point for the West in 1989. The acclaimed anime also became a milestone on the technological path. Japanese anime industry. This anime consists of 2212 frames and 160,000 individual pictures - this is 2-3 times larger than a regular anime. Akira not only broke the record for the use of different colors, with a total of 327, but also 50 new, unique colors were created specifically for this anime.
But what was the reason for such records? Most of Akira's scenes take place at night. This is a time that anime creators usually try to avoid due to the increasing demands on colors.
Your Name is the highest-grossing anime film worldwide
The critical and commercial success of Makoto Shinkai's Your Name cannot be overstated. This anime brought the creators not only a lot of dollars, but also generally exceeded the income of even Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away. Before the release of Your Name, Spirited Away held the box office record at $289 million, but Your Name grossed even more than $355 million.
Naruto characters were inspired by the Japanese film industry
In the Naruto anime series, Naruto summons the giant ninja toad Gamabunta to help him. The name Gamabunta comes from the name of the famous Japanese actor Bunta Sugawara, who played the role of a member of the Yakuza in the films "Battles Without Honor and Pity". The director of these films about the yakuza group, Kinji Fukasaku, was also not forgotten by the creators of Naruto. The eldest ninja toad, Fukasaku, is named after him.
Sazae-san is the longest running anime series that is still running to this day.
When Europeans think of the longest-running anime series, names like "The Simpsons" or "SpongeBob SquarePants" come to mind. And in Japan, none of these shows can compete with Sazae-san with its 2,500+ episodes that will make you really wonder if you are watching the right series.
This series began airing back in 1969 and is still ongoing. The Guinness Book of World Records has named Sazae-san the longest-running animated television series in the world.
The first anime about a magical girl came out in the 60s
Sailor Moon may be considered synonymous with the magical girl anime genre, but it was hardly the first example of the genre. The first show about a magical girl was Sally the Witch, which aired in 1966-1967 in Japan. Some elements of this anime can also be considered to belong to the shojo anime genre.
Japanese astronaut recorded his cameo while in space
In space, no one can hear you scream....unless it's an anime. For Episode 31 of the Space Brothers anime series, real Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide recorded his audio while aboard the International Space Station. Hoshide thus became the first voice actor whose voice was recorded in outer space. Here's what he thought about it: "It was quite difficult, but I did my best. I'm very interested in what will come of it and what kind of episode it will turn out to be."
Secret origin of the name "Gundam"
Have you ever wondered where the name Gundam came from? According to Bandai South Asia original title for military robots there was Gundom, a linguistic portmanteau of two words: "gun" ("weapon") and "freedom" ("freedom"). However, the creator of the series, Yoshiyuki Tomino, changed the name to Gundam, which changed the meaning itself, because now it used the word “dam”, meaning “dam”, “dam”, which gave a second meaning to robots, as mechanized creatures capable of holding back the enemy.
Initially, anime began as an adaptation of comics aka manga for those who cannot/do not want to read. Over time, all this grew into something grandiose, large-scale and became a whole layer of animation culture. Anime is liked by people regardless of their gender and age. Japanese animation is a boundless world with its own history. Catch a horizon-expanding information post about him.
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Anime is an exclusively Japanese genre of animated animation, which is aimed primarily at an adult audience. Anime series like Pokemon and a couple of others are an exception.
60 percent of all animation that exists on our planet is Japanese anime.
The first anime to become famous outside of Japan was the 1963 Astro Boy series.
The first anime that was shown in the USSR was "Flying Ghost Ship".
The Japanese invented hair and body drawing in anime, and the eye style was copied from Walt Disney, which the Japanese, by the way, do not deny.
According to the unspoken law of anime, the more important the hero, the more detailed his eyes are drawn.
In Japan, printing comic books uses more paper than producing toilet rolls.
Unlike American and European comics, which are read mainly by teenagers and nerds, manga is created for people of all ages.
In Japan, the term "otaku" is used negatively to describe people who are obsessed with something. Not only anime, as is customary in Russia.
Hair color in anime is not chosen at random. Everything here is cunning and thoughtful: hair color indicates certain personality traits of the hero. There is even a certain conspiracy theory.
Red - love adventure, passionate;
Green - tolerant, quiet, soft, sometimes envious, but not aggressive;
White is the most iconic, embodies the connection with the cosmos, maturity, the character exists as if outside the world of people;
Purple - often means a threat; basically they are secretive, withdrawn, often suffer from narcissism, and are stingy in showing emotions;
Blue - intellectually developed, reason dominates feelings, polite, calm, shy;
Pink - they always stand out from the crowd in some way, are ardent in battle, have not heard about the rules and conventions;
Red - cunning, temperamental, possessed;
Brown - soft, touching, not capable of offending, often with a tragic past;
Blue - iron-disciplined, persistent, calm, restraining feelings.
Ghost in the Shell had a huge impact on cinema. He inspired the Wachowskis to create The Matrix, gave a great push to the development of sci-fi, and Cameron and Spielberg do not hide the fact that they are not childish fans of the film and would rather watch it than waste time on some expected blockbuster.
Pokemon was originally a GameBoy game (if you don't know what that is, don't forget to pack your bag and do your homework for tomorrow). Only then did manga and anime catch up.
Evangelion was created to test what was acceptable in anime and what was not. And everything would be ok - but the ending...
The longest running anime series is Sanzae-san, which has been running since 1969 to this day. It has more than 7 thousand episodes. The vaunted "Santa Barbara", for comparison, is almost 3.5 times shorter.
The Soviet "The Adventures of Little Penguin Lolo" was filmed jointly with Japanese animation studios. That is, technically this cartoon can be considered Russian anime.
Death Note was banned in China because local fans of the anime began buying notebooks in droves and writing down the names of everyone they hated in hopes that they would die.
The publisher of "Big Jackpot" was afraid that the series would not survive even 5 years. Meanwhile, outside the window is 2016 - the 19th year of the manga’s existence.
The highest-grossing anime ever is “Spirited Away” by Hayao Miyazaki. The film grossed $275 million worldwide.
In 1814, the first manifestations of this genre began to appear. A Japanese artist drew a couple of engravings to create a comic. These prints were called “manga,” which translates as “funny pictures.” The pictures captivated readers so much that they began to copy this artist. This is how such a genre as “manga-eiga”, which means “film comics,” was born. The first cartoons and anime began to be produced in 1917.
The only person to have won an Academy Award in the genre of anime is Hayao Miyazaki, the leading creator of anime.
Fun fact: Anime in comics is usually read from right to left. It is important to know that this way of reading is typical for all residents of Japan, regardless of the text.
This genre is developing very quickly. It’s enough just to pay attention to how often anime began to be released on screens, for example, by Korean or American directors. However, leaders have always been and remain at the moment specifically Japanese paintings.
The word “manga” was coined by the famous artist Katsushika Hokusai in 1814 for a series of his prints. It means “grotesque”, “strange (or funny) pictures”, so the term “manga” refers exclusively to Japanese comics. And in 1917, the first anime cartoons began to be produced.
"Anime" is Japanese animation. The word “anime” itself is nothing more than a Japaneseized abbreviation for English animation, and the term itself appeared relatively recently. Before this, the expression "manga-eiga" ("movie-comic") was used, which is still used by older generation anime fans.
As you know, in Japan they read from right to left. Manga from right to left is read all over the world.
Using characters' big eyes to convey emotions was not invented in Japan. Osamu Tezuka, the man considered the founder of the anime tradition, did not deny the fact that he borrowed this technique from Walt Disney. By the way, according to the canons of anime, it is believed that the more significant the hero, the more better artists draw his eyes. The exception is for villains - sometimes they can simply have black “pits” attached to them.
Voice actors in anime are called voice actors in Japanese. The seiyu profession is popular and developed in Japan, thanks to which voice acting for anime series compares favorably with similar work in other countries. Many voice actors are also pop performers.
The longest anime series, Sazae-san, began airing in 1969 based on the manga by Machiko Hasegawa, and its run has not yet finished. Several generations of Japanese have grown up watching the adventures of Sazae and her family.
Based on the age of the viewership, anime is divided into:
Kodomo is a manga and anime intended for children (up to 12 years old). Distinctive feature This genre - in its “childishness”, there is no (sometimes simply greatly simplified) ideological content. You can also add a characteristic pattern here. Often Kodomo anime is very close to the European or American animation school and is very different from other types of anime not only in drawing, but also in the construction of the series.
Shonen is an anime for older boys and young men (from 12 to 16-18 years old). The main features of the genre: rapid development and pronounced dynamism of the plot (especially in comparison with shojo). The works contain many humorous scenes, based on the themes of strong male friendship, any kind of rivalry in life, sports or martial arts.
Shoujo - anime and manga for older girls and young women (from 12 to 16-18 years old). In the plot shoujo anime, as a rule, are present love relationship to varying degrees proximity, depending on the age of the target audience, much attention is paid to the development of character images.
Seinen is an anime for adult men (from 18 to 25-40 years old). The characteristic features of this genre are elements of psychology, satire, erotica, and more attention is paid to character development.
Josei is an anime or manga for women. The plot most often describes daily life women living in Japan.
By genre: in addition to the standard Comedy, Action, History, Martial Arts, Drama, Detective, Science Fiction, there are also...
Mechs are complex mechanisms, usually self-propelled, without real prototypes. This term usually refers to “giant humanoid fighting robots,” huge human-controlled combat machines.
Cyberpunk is a world of the future, the life of which is completely determined by computer technology. At the same time, pictures of the future seem gloomy and dystopian.
Dobutsu is an anime about humanoid “furry” creatures. Derived from the Japanese word "doubutsu", which means "animal". Dobutsu includes anime with creatures “neko” (feline), “kitsune” (fox), “usagi” (rabbit), etc.
Idols is an anime that revolves around pop stars and the music business.
Hentai/Ecchi are pornographic or erotic anime or manga, respectively. Works can also be at the intersection between hentai and other genres and have a fairly well-developed plot.
Yaoi is a genre of anime depicting male homosexual relationships, usually aimed at women and girls.
Yuri is a genre of anime depicting female lesbian relationships, usually aimed at women and girls.
Shotakon is a genre of anime that describes sexual relationships involving young boys of primary school and preschool age.
Lolicon is a genre of anime that depicts sexual relationships involving little girls.
Shoujo-ai is a genre of anime that describes the love of a girl for a girl. It differs from yuri in the absence of explicit scenes.
Shonen-ai is a genre of anime that describes the love of a young man for a young man. It differs from yaoi in the absence of explicit scenes.
Good morning, afternoon or any other time, dear totoriki!
In the vastness of the great and mighty RuNet, any avid anime fan can find gigabytes of anime. But what do we know about this amazingly colorful and eventful (including fillers) world?
Let's start with a portion of six of the most delicious facts about anime. Bend the fingers of your right hand if you knew about the fact, with your left - if you didn’t know. If the fingers of your own right or left hand are not enough, involve friends, younger brothers/sisters and other assistants, because finding out your anime skill is the main task of this evening (or whatever you have now?). Well, let's start!
1. The word " Anime" is Japanese animation. The word itself is a Japaneseized abbreviation of the English word “Animation” (reproduction of a cartoon, inspiration, liveliness). English word old, but the term “anime”, derived from it, appeared quite recently. Before this, the phrase "manga-eiga" ("movie-comic") was used, which is still used by old-school anime fans to this day.
2. The word " Manga” was invented by the famous artist Katsushika Hokusai back in 1814 for a series of his prints. This artist was one of the most famous Japanese engravers in the West, a true master of Japanese woodcuts (what a word, but these are just drawings on wood). The word "mango" means "strange (or funny) pictures" and is only used to name Japanese comics.
3. And who? Tell me, who doesn't know a great anime director? Hayao Miyadaki? Find this person and send his photo! We'll figure out where... ahem ahem... Miyazaki is the only anime director to win an Oscar. At the 62nd Venice Film Festival, he even received the Golden Lion for his contribution to world cinema.
4. Another great animator of all time left his mark on the world of anime. You won't believe it - this is Walt Disney! The author of Mickey Mouse, Bambi and the most beautiful princesses has played almost the most important role in anime culture. The Japanese figured out how to draw the hair and bodies of their heroes themselves, and the style of the eyes was copied from the characters of Walt Disney. By the way, none of the residents of the island of Japan hides this fact. At the same time, I propose to shake the old days and guess the Disney princesses by their eyes.
5. " Pokemon"was originally a game for the GameBoy (something like prehistoric Tetris. Well, Tetris, you know?). Even more interesting is the fact that “Pokemon” became the second most popular game in the world. computer game after Mario. Only later, manga and anime were made from the virtual adventure. Hmm... Which game would you make an anime out of?
6. Ask your moms and dads about a simple Soviet cartoon " The Adventures of Little Penguin Lolo", full of kindness and cuteness. Little did they know that the Soviet adventures of the penguins were filmed jointly with Japanese animation studios (at the very beginning you can even see which ones). Of course, the cartoon is Russian, and everyone speaks Russian, and there are no Japanese words at all, but this wonderful cartoon can be considered one of the first Russian anime.
How many fingers were bent right hand“I knew”?
One of the most mysterious and isolated cultures in the world is Japanese. Despite the fact that after World War II, Japan made a giant leap in technological development and integration into the world community, this nation remains one of the most mysterious in the world. We offer you a selection of anime that will help you understand the history and culture of this country.
Grave of the Fireflies, 1988
Grave of the Fireflies is considered one of the best war films. It is based on the autobiographical novel by Akiyuki Nosaka, who buried two sisters one after another in the spring and summer of 1945. According to the plot of the novel, a boy and his younger sister They are trying to survive in a war-weakened, hungry Japan.Nobody needs children; Four-year-old Setsuko eats rocks while her older brother Seita tries to get some food. After Setsuko's death, 14-year-old Seita realizes that he has nothing left to live for and soon dies of exhaustion in Kobe. The novel on which Grave of the Fireflies is based is an important attempt to understand Japanese militarism in the first half of the 20th century and its dire consequences for the nation.
Grave of the Fireflies: Trailer
Ghost in the Shell, 1995
In Japan, a huge amount of anime is filmed on dystopian stories about the near future - just take the series “Animatrix”, connected to the blockbuster by Lana and Lilly Wachowski. But 1995’s “Ghost in the Shell” is deservedly considered a classic of the genre. 
The film follows Major Motoko Kusanagi, who works in the counter-cyberterrorism department and questions her humanity. The editors of uznayvsyo.rf also note that in 2017, in the film adaptation of Ghost in the Shell, the role of Motoko was played by Scarlett Johansson.
Ghost in the Shell has been filmed several times
Spring and Chaos, 1996
This film is an animated declaration of love to the Japanese children's writer Kenji Miyazawa, who would have turned 100 years old the year Spring and Chaos was released. Miyazawa worked school teacher and wrote poems and stories. He was a follower of Buddhism and died early from tuberculosis. A significant part of his works was published after his death. 
In the film "Spring and Chaos", all the characters are represented as cats, just like Miyazawa's character himself. The film tells the story of an eccentric teacher in a small Japanese town who tries to instill in his students a Buddhist view of the world and teach them to see beauty everywhere.
Trailer for the cartoon “Spring and Chaos”
My neighbors Yamada, 1999
Despite the fact that the comedy about a Japanese family is filled with a specifically Japanese flavor, the situations are recognizable to people not familiar with this culture. The Yamadas are represented by four generations, and the stories told in the cartoon give a more or less complete picture of how a modern Japanese family lives. 
Interestingly, My Neighbors Yamada contains references to Japanese mythology; for example, the head of the family finds his son in a giant peach - this is a quote from the fairy tale about Momotaro, a hero who resembles the European Thumb; Father Yamada finds a girl in a bamboo stalk - this is from the myth of Princess Kaguya.
“My Neighbors Yamada”: trailer
Spirited Away, 2001
The editors of the site believe that in a story about anime it is impossible not to mention the patriarch of Japanese animation, Hayao Miyazaki. The founder of Studio Ghibli has made many masterpieces over the years. Spirited Away is one of them, which won an Oscar. 
There is an opinion that Chihiro's story is an allegorical satire on the Japanese sex industry, which does not disdain child labor. It's no secret that Japanese men have specific sexual tastes, and most "adult films" in the country are made involuntarily.
Spirited Away is one of the most famous anime in the world.
Aoi Bungaku, 2009
The Aoi Bungaku series is based on the works of Japanese writers, including texts from recognized classics of the 20th century - for example, the 1914 novel “Heart” by Natsume Soseki. This is a novel about the growing up of a young man and his dialogues with an unnamed Teacher. There is also a love conflict in the short story, based on the novel. 
Aoi Bungaku includes two short stories based on texts by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, a powerful Japanese author who gained recognition quite early in the country and then abroad, and wrote several dozen short stories and novellas. Akutagawa committed suicide at the age of 35 in 1927.
Aoi Bungaku: trailer
House of Five Leaves, 2010
The twenty-episode film is dedicated to the end of the Edo era (early-mid 19th century), when the number of ronin - samurai without a suzerain - in Japan increased sharply. Many of them became robbers or wanderers. 
The House of Five Leaves tells the story of the ronin Akitsu Masanotsuke, who cannot get hired and joins a semi-gangster group. This series is one of the easy and enjoyable ways to get acquainted with the history of Japan during the decline of the Edo era.
"House of Five Leaves" is one of the most unusual anime
The Tale of Princess Kaguya, 2013
The film is based on the ancient national legend of the 10th century about the Princess of the Moon, who was found by peasants in a bamboo stalk. “The Tale of Princess Kaguya” received an Oscar nomination and for good reason – it is a stunningly beautiful and convincing cartoon. 
The best thing about the story is the rhythm and the change in manner of depiction depending on the mood. In the scene where Kaguya runs distraught from the palace, neat watercolor strokes give way to sweeping charcoal strokes; In addition, one cannot help but note the typically Japanese minimalism, when a huge story is hidden under one or two strokes.
So, in the initiation episode (they want to turn Princess Kaguya into a beauty with blackened teeth and no eyebrows), the older woman brings tweezers to her eyebrow and pulls out the first hair - and in the frame we see a tear rolling down the princess’s cheek.
"The Tale of Princess Kaguya" - an anime of amazing beauty
In addition to the fact that Japan is one of the most beautiful countries in the world with a carefully cultivated attitude towards ecology and nature, it is also an amazing place where protected places of wondrous beauty have been preserved on several islands. We invite you to read about the most beautiful islands in the world.
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