About Anime & Fancruft
About Anime
Note: Except as otherwise noted, all terms are defined as they are typically used outside of Japan in English.
What is the nature of anime? How is it different than American animation?
“Anime” is Japanese animation. Although anime tends to have features and motifs that repeat across producers, not all animes have all features. It would therefore be misleading to say that all animes have any given feature.
In general, anime has a visual style which includes bodies which are more realistically proportioned than in American animation, but still not completely realistic; the build of anime characters is usually idealized to at least some extent. In some cases, bodies are drawn in very unrealistic proportions, sometimes as fanservice (see below). The facial features of anime characters are usually exaggerated to make it easier to draw and discern emotions. Hair styles and dress are quite imaginative and the unnatural hair colors that anime characters sometimes have are famous.
Shading for characters is usually limited to one or two tones of the the base color in most scenes,while the shading for backgrounds is usually more complex. Cromartie High School, Record of Lodoss, and the Hellsing TV series both feature some shading which is done with cross-hatching.
In order to reduce costs, animes sometimes use various “tricks”, such as arranging shots to avoid showing characters’ legs (which are more difficult to animate), reusing brief segements of footage, looping frames, or showing stills (a single unanimated frame) of a character or a scene.
Many animes are based on manga (very roughly, comics), and can be part of a large franchise including such manga, live action or anime movies, video games and the anime’s soundtrack. Care and attention is usually given to the music of anime series and soundtracks are available in both the U.S. and Japan. These soundtracks can also include dramas, consisting of spoken Japanese. Yoko Kanno is one of the leading composers, arrangers, and performers of music for anime.
What are some conventions of anime that might seem puzzeling at first?
Animes sometimes uses conventions which make sense to those who already know them, but are puzzling when first seen. These include, but are not remotely limited to, a handkerchief over the head tied below the nose to indicate that a character is “disguised” and sneaking around, large exaggerated sweat drops on character’s heads, especially drawn over the hair at the back of the head, and chibi characters.
What is chibi?
Chibi refers to a super-deformed style of drawing. Characters are usually only a few heads high, noses are not drawn, and heads are much larger than the bodies. The style is used to highlight a light-hearted feeling or the humor of a scene.
What is fanservice?
Fanservice refers to content, epecially sexual content, which does not add artistically to the value of an anime. A very common form or excuse for fanservice, depending on your point of view, is for a TV show to have a beach episode where the characters are shown in swimsuits.
What is hentai/ecchi? What is the age appropriateness of anime?
Hentai is anime with explicit sexual content. This content may consist of only a few scenes (e.g., the uncensored version of the Mezzo movie), or the entire anime may be porn. The existence of hentai has occasionally caused confusion over the nature of anime itself among those not familiar with the art form. Basically, most anime is not hentai, but at the same time most anime is not intended for children, as is often the case with traditional American animation. I have noticed that when anime series are given ratings by the MPAA or by The TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board, they often receive ratings indicating appropriateness for a teen or older audience, such as PG, PG-13, TV-PG, or TV-14. Unbroadcast anime released on DVDs often include an age suggestion on the back of the box from the publisher. Note that the age appropriateness of anime varies wildly from title to title.
What’s an otaku?
This term is used among anime fans for hard-core fans.
What’s the best way to find anime?
Although the purpose of Fancruft is to help you find anime that you like, there are plenty of other ways as well. Talk to friends that have watched anime and ask what they liked. Use the personalized recommendations of websites that you get anime from. Read anime magazines.
How many anime are there?
Short answer: “A lot.” It’s impossible to know for sure. I estimate that most large, team-created anime databases contain between 2,000 and 4,000 entries; many anime are not released outside Japan. For example, as of January 2006, the Anime News Network’s Encyclopedia has information on 3,618 animes, with 2,372 of those listed as “liscenced,” and Wikipedia’s Anime Category has 783 articles (not all of which are about unique anime titles). The anime checklist, an especially large database, is aware of 4,006 anime titles (April 2006).
What’s the worst anime ever made?
It’s hard to say. Of non-Hentai, professionally produced titles, M.D. Geist, Big Wars, and Knights of Ramune are all contenders for this title, IMHO.
What’s the best anime ever made?
It’s equally hard to say. The RahXephon series is my personal favorite.
About Fancruft
What is Fancruft?
Fancruft is an online database of anime run by Nic “RedWord” Smith at http://fancruft.com, officially opened in January 2006. The name of the website comes from the term “fancruft” among some of the editors of the Wikipedia project, refering to large amounts of prose dedicated to trivial or inconsequential details of interest only to the most dedicated fans of a fictional work. Wikipedia has an essay about the term.
What are key factors?
Each anime in the fancruft database is rated on many factors, including six key factors: angst, evil overlord, mech, experimental, weird/universe resets, and action. These key factors are shown on the information screen for each anime in order to present an “at a glance” overview of the title.
Are there any tips or hints for finding anime on FanCruft?
Yes. When asking FanCruft for similar anime, if you don’t have a preference, have a look at both the filtered and unfiltered list. My general experience has been that either one list or the other has better results. Also, the list of similar animes can be bookmarked, and will change when you return in the future to reflect new and updated reviews on FanCruft.
Why does Fancruft have screenshots?
The screenshots present at Fancruft have the purposes of allowing the anime to “speak for itself” with its visual style, allowing readers to visually identify the anime (which is useful in the case of alternate titles or identifying an anime quickly on TV or in a store) and assess it, and adding some lighthearted commentary on the title (the captions are usually intended to be funny). Note that only thumbnail-sized pictures are usually available on Fancruft; clicking on them is not supposed to give a wallpaper or larger version as on some other sites.
Is Fancruft for sale?
Not at this time. The site is in a state of transition from being run by a single person to being a community-driven site; a sudden and complete change in management would be a very bad idea.
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