Forum - View topicWould you consider anime a medium or genre of entertainment?
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11440 Location: Frisco, TX |
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After replying to that "A.N Roman" thread, I was thinking about how people categorize anime, as a medium or a genre.
I may be misinformed, but I always thought a "medium" was a source or means of providing some kind of information. For instance, The Media (not to be confused with "media" the plural form of "medium") provides people with information through outlets like newspapers, magazines, news on TV, etc; or, how Film provides entertainment or expresses ideas through movies, TV shows, other video recordings, and so on. As for "genre," I usually define it as a term or phrase that tries to describe a general idea or concept that is shared between a group of media. For example, in The Media, you could call a majority of sports news "Sports," or if you had information about celebrities (which is a bad example, I'm sorry), you could call it "Gossip." Better examples I can think of would be in Film, like "action/adventure," "romance," "dramas," and "sci-fi." You know, terms that categorize the kind of Film. But my question is, where does anime fall into this arguement? In my other post, I'm saying anime is a genre. I believe that since any kind of animation is a type of film, that it should be categorized as being a "division" of the Film medium. However, ironically, I had tried arguing that anime could in fact be a medium itself when I wrote a (really small) book/big paper on anime for my Technical Writing class last semester  . I think I argued how anime was so different from live action recordings and how the composition of anime was so different since it was drawn on paper and wasn't confined to the limitations of physics and reality.
But then I thought about how it is technically all filmed, I wasn't sure how to think of it from that point on. In addition to my labeling anime as a medium, I also provided examples of genres to describe how each title could express a specific setting or story for every kind of demographic. Actually, I provided 2 genres (shounen and shoujo) and then broke it down into sub-genres (like fantasy, romantic comedies, mecha, sci-fi, etc.). I would like to stand by my original idea in thinking anime is its own medium of entertainment, but I'm not too sure because I've gone to web sites that sell both live action and anime titles, yet in addition to the genre labels for the live movies, they list anime as a genre itself. So here I am stuck back at which side to choose. Part of the problem though may be because as anime fans, we whole-heartedly already accept anime as a medium since we watch it so much, but to the rest of the world, it may not be as widely recognized. Well then, have any opinions? 
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Nagisa
Moderator
 Posts: 6128 Location: Atlanta-ish, Jawjuh |
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It's somewhere in the middle; it's too small to be its own medium, but much too large to be a simple genre. It's more...I liken it to "foreign film." Foreign film isn't a genre, nor is it a medium, but it describes a collection of films made outside of the US/Canadian realm, which are easily grouped together based on their place of origin even though some have nothing in common with each other. Anime's the same, only instead of describing international animation in general, it describes that which comes from a specific country. Animation is the medium, action, drama, et al are the genres, and anime is a variety of animation that can easily grouped together based on its place of origin.
Rather than use that long-winded explanation every time I discuss anime casually though, I'll usually just call it either a "category" or "medium." It's probably closer to being a medium than a genre, plus saying it's a genre kinda bends to the common stereotype of anime being mindless sex & violence with nothing else to offer, IMO. |
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DragonofHeaven
 Posts: 115 |
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A medium is not necessarily a source of information as you said; true, newscasts, morning papers, and magazines are media but "medium" has other meanings are well... 2 : a means of effecting or conveying something: as a (1) : a substance regarded as the means of transmission of a force or effect (2) : a surrounding or enveloping substance (3) : the tenuous material (as gas and dust) in space that exists outside large agglomerations of matter (as stars) Media can be a source of information, yes; it is also a form of entertainment though. I would think that anime is a medium because video entertainment can be split into live-action and animation. From there branches off the various genres and subgenres. Now back to the validating my reasons for believing that animation is more of a medium rather than a genre. Live-action productions are filmed and actually shot with cameras and then patched up with computer graphics and editing; in other words, a different medium from the drawing and computer imaging anime uses.
Well, I am not much for online purchases but I have found that most of the websites that I go to have two sections: anime and movies, and then they break those down into genres. Of course, all of those sites had the same layout(Sam Goody, Suncoast, the mall stores) so I don't consider them separate sources.
I wouldn't say that anime is too small to be a medium; anime technically encompasses all animation so that would make it broad like live-action. Japanimation in America is defintely more limited then live-action though; you are correct. |
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ParaParaJMo
 Posts: 333 Location: Gilbert, AZ, USA |
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I feel anime as it grows begins to have it's own identity. Mostly being as a form of animation from Japan with it's easy distinction of the big eyes and all that other stereotypical stuff. But on the other hand, it tends to vary more with western animation. Nearly 100% of animation here in America is mostly for a young audience, though it can be family orientated, and even adults can enjoy it and not feel ashamed.
While with Japanese animation, you got all kinds to watch and choose from. You can have romance, mech/military, action, adventure, and hell, even sports. I think anime stands out by having seperate genres within it's own realm which is why it tends to stick out with this kind of identity. |
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CrackaJax
 Posts: 250 Location: Mount Olympus, Syracuse University |
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I would agree with the idea of anime being a genre. The horror genre consists of several different sub areas:
-Suspense (the Village) -Action (Dawn of the Dead) -Psychological (The Birds) A medium is really more like film, television, print, electronic. Anime does fall under three mediums, though (film, tv, and print), which is an interesting concept. Hmm...now I need to start a discussion at school about this. I'll come back with more thoughts later. |
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Perfectsword
 Posts: 527 Location: Somewhere in NY |
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Anime is definitaly a medium. a genre classifies horror,thriller ect. Anime is a style of cartooning, which is a medium.
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Ken Hayashi
 Posts: 752 Location: Singapore |
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If you strictly consider anime in the sense that it encompasses only animation that is "made" in Japan, then I would think that anime is a genre within the broader animation medium. From there, you get the different sub-genres of romance, mech, comedy, etc.
Animation is different enough from live action that I think it can be considered a separate medium. It uses no live actors, and production methods are different enough. So I would consider anime a genre within the animation medium. Hope this makes sense. |
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YUGI
Posts: 173 |
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Anime is part of the whole animation median. It's to classify a certain title made form a certain ocuntry.
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 11440 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Ah, right  . I actually meant to put the rest of that in the original definition, but I was in a hurry and just lumped it in with my example of Film.
Yes, let me restate that now. A medium can be a source or means of information, as well as entertainment, expression, or communication. Thanks, and sorry about the mix up...  .
I also believe Tempest put it very nicely one time by saying what makes anime so easy to stand on its own is the fact that anime has such a wide array of different genres for every kind of demographic imaginable. At least, I think that's what he said...  .
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CrackaJax
Posts: 250 Location: Mount Olympus, Syracuse University |
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Yes! That definitely is it. Nail on the head. If I could give you a cookie, I would. |
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Tempest
 I Run this place.ANN Publisher  Posts: 10455 Location: Do not message me for support. |
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I generally consider anime to be a sub-medium of animation. Itself a sub-medium of the moving-picture, itself a medium of entertainment, communication and artistic expression. |
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Mitsuhide A.
Posts: 200 Location: somewhere where you aren't |
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I always thought that a medium was a physical means by which something is conveyed, broadcast, transported (i like science too much). For example, movies, video games, music, television are all entertainment mediums while something like comedy is a genre. With that said, anime, to me, is a genre not a medium. It does not provide means to provide entertainment rather, it is another type of entertainment.
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ShellBullet
 Posts: 1051 Location: I hit things, with my fist. |
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Even live action films are not constrained to follow the laws of physics. As far as the medium/genre question, I would argue it qualifies as a medium. Think of the medium we know as painting. Clearly the differance between, say, oil paintings and acrylic is not all that great. They are both the same basic animal. Yet anyone would refer to the two as different mediums. The same with anime; film is a medium and cartoons would be a sub-medium of films. Of course, I don't think you could really divide anime and cartoons into two seperate media; they are just two seperate catagories of the animation medium. |
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shadow_guyver
 Posts: 307 Location: Tokyo, Japan |
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I see it as a genre, sort of. It has to do with how I define anime. I see anime (and manga) as a style of art that just happens to have originated in Japan. Because of this, I say genre.
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TF
 Posts: 357 Location: Belgium |
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well, for me, there are 3 media:
1) radio 2) television, movies, ... 3) magazines, papers, ... (the written stuff) and anime is just a genre of the 2nd group. Like you have televisionseries, movies, and so. Anime is just a part in that bigger whole. |
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