Here is another one of my "more than you really wanted to know" posts.
From AnimeNfo’s Anime 101
http://www.animenfo.com/animemenu.php
If you do a search on 'what is anime' or 'anime introduction' using a web search engine, you'll find tons of links and descriptions. What I am going to do here is to sum them up. So, what is anime?
Anime is the most common word used by fans to refer to Japanese Animation.
Is anime the same as cartoon? Technically yes, however for anime fans, anime is not cartoon. See the definition above,
anime refers to Japanese animation. So, the rule of thumb is as simple as: if it's not originated from Japan then it's not an anime (while the contrary is not true).
People usually think that anime is the animated version of japanese comic (manga). While in most cases this is true, however,
not all anime is based on manga. For example, some anime are based on video games like Sakura Taisen and Tales of Eternia.
From Anime News Network.com’s Lexicon
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclo ... exicon.php
Japanese word for cartoon and animation. In Japan, "anime" refers to any and all animation or cartoon - regardless of the genre, style, or nation of origin.
Outside of Japan the word "anime" has come to refer specifically to animation of Japanese origins. Because of this, it is pronounced the Japanese way: "a-nee-may".
While it is clear that the word anime derives from a western term, there is some debate as to its exact origin. One very common interpretation is that it comes from the French term for cartoon, "dessin animé", which translates literally to "animated drawing". However, others believe it's simply a contraction of the word "animation" as pronounced in English.
While the French origin is perhaps the most widely spread theory, it may simply be a myth related to the popularity of anime in France in the late 70s and the 80s which was so spectacular it even led to some French-Japanese co-productions. But animation in Japan has existed for longer than that, and the full word for animation there is アニメション (animeshon) which follows the English pronunciation, not the French one. Combined with the fact that
Japanese have a habit of incorporating English words into their language much more often than other western languages, this makes a strong case that "anime" is actually the short form of the Japanization of the English word "animation".
See also: Japanimation, Manga
From the Anime Café’s encyclopaedia
http://www.abcb.com/ency/a/anime.htm
What Is Anime?
The term
anime refers to a distinctive tradition of Japanese animation that is almost immediately recognizable by its superior artistic quality as well as by the somewhat mannered artistic conventions anime artists employ, such as the preference for child-like, large eyes. But it's not just the art that grabs one's attention.
In contrast to the flat, Good vs. Evil plots in U.S. cartoons,
many anime stories deal with complex, thought-provoking themes, presenting complex characters that change as the stories progress. There's a ready acceptance of the reality of death. In some anime, even those intended for kids, main characters sometimes die. Although there's as much silliness and trash in anime as in any other popular medium, it's a fair generalization to say that it's a more intelligent genre than American cartoons. For anyone used to Disney's predictable plots and platitudes, one's first encounter with anime produces shock, followed by fascination. It's serious stuff.
Anime also provides a window into another culture. In ways that many anime fans scarcely guess, anime draws strongly from Japanese and wider Asian mythology and symbolism generally, and specifically from the rich Japanese traditions of Shinto, the martial arts, and Zen.
Perhaps that's one of the reasons anime deals so successfully with fantasy themes, as fans of Record of the Lodoss War, illustrated here, will readily attest. But there's more.
Responsible for some of the world's best technology at present, the Japanese seem to be out in front in another way, too: Thinking seriously about the implications of advanced technology.
Some of the most interesting anime explore the implications of technologies that blurs the distinctions between machine and person, male and female, good and evil, leaving the characters groping to find their moorings. In contrast to American explorations of advanced technology (as in Star Wars and the Terminator films), which subsume all the issues under the "absolute good vs. absolute evil" and "happy ending" tropes, anime deeply explores the moral and spiritual ambiguities of life and culture in a world pushed over the edge by rampaging technological progress.
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