Destination: Rutland

The current world-wide accepted definition for the word "anime" is the following: a style of animation  that originates from Japan (Merriam-Webster, 2022). The mentioned animation can be hand-drawn (i.e. manga) or computerized (anime series). The unique characteristics of the Japanese anime are: characters development/design, artistic technique, language, complex storylines and music (in form of openings and endings). Over the last decade, animes have gotten a rise in popularity because of their eccentric and relatable characters and because of their epic narrative lines. The rise in popularity occurred because of a rise in viewership from young children and youth, thus we have seen a trend in favour of more 'age-appropriate' anime to target that specific audience. Another consequence of the rise of anime is that big streaming corporations such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have acquired the rights of distribution for some anime series. The principal legal anime streaming system is 'Crunchyroll' as it offers anime series as well as official manga and video games.

VIZ is an American publisher and distributor of manga that offers a platform to read popular stories through the Internet. For a given manga, some volumes (mostly the first couple of chapters) are offered as free samples and the remaining and latest ones have to be purchase. Each illustration are of high quality, interactive and user-friendly for any child that wants to start their manga journey.

Another website to consider before starting to watch an anime would be MyAnimeList as it gives a detail description of a given anime in terms of: rating (target audience), number of episodes, theme, genres, duration, global rank/popularity, reviews and recommendations. Regarding ratings, there are some terms you have to become familiar with (some terms are Japanese but I will try to explain them in English):​​
Anime Rating: 

• G: general audience, available for all ages

• PG: parental guidance suggested, some materials or content might not be suitable for children

• PG-13 (US only): parental guidance cautioned, some materials or content are inappropriate for children under 13

• 14A (Canada only): persons under 14 years of age must be accompanied by parent or adult guardian

• 18A (Canada only): persons under 18 years of age must be accompanied by parent or adult guardian

• R: restricted, under 17 (in US) and 18 (in Canada) requires the presence of a parent or adult guardian

• NC-17 (US only): adults only, no one under 17 are allowed

• A (Canada only): admittance only for people over 18 or at 18 

Anime Genres: 
Apart from the typical action, adventure, drama, sports, sci-fi genre:

• "Shounen/Shonen": anime centred around a male young/teen protagonist (range between 12-18) and contains a lot of action, adventure and fighting scenes. It also has some sort of comedic attributes.

  • Examples: "Naruto", "Naruto: Shippuden", "Attack on Titan", "Hunter x Hunter", etc.

• "Shoujo/Shojo": female counterpart of shounen/shonen as it focuses on female young protagonists. Apart from having action/adventure scenes, this type of anime also involves romance, relationships and emotions. 

  • Examples: Sailor Moon

• "Seinen": anime centred around a male young adult protagonist (range between 15-30s) and it contains more violent and psychological scenes.

  • Examples: Monster, Vinland Saga 

Additional Terminology: used by most anime series 

• OVA (Original Video Animation): anime episodes or shows exclusively for Blu-Ray and DVD. Typically OVAs are side stories or short stories that complement the main storyline of the anime. Sometimes they show a different perspective or route of the main anime. 

• ONA (Original Net Animation): anime episodes or shows exclusively for the Internet. ONAs also are alternate/side stories of the main franchise and are relatively smaller compared to OVAs. They are mainly use for special promotions of the anime or to celebrate anniversaries. 

• Canon: content that is considered official by the story creator/write and audience. In some cases it can refer to content that is deemed important for the development of the main story plot (in other words a must-watch episode, an episode that should not be skipped)

• Fillers: content that is included in the storyline of the anime but does not advance or directly affect the main story line. It can also refer to the inclusion of materials that are not present in the main source (manga) and are exclusive to the series. Fillers mostly involved fun development stories for secondary or casual characters of the main franchise (in other words an episode you can skip).

• Arc: series of episodes and chapters in an anime that have a common theme/topic/development.

• Dub: voices and sounds of anime are translated into a different language (most commonly English)

• AMV (anime music video): video clip (or clips) of an anime that fits the song or music that is playing in the background. The song or music does not have to be in Japanese.