Anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, anime refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, anime describes all animated works, regardless of style or origin. Many works of animation with a similar style to Japanese animation are also produced outside Japan. Video games sometimes also feature themes and artstyles that can be considered as "anime".
Spirited Away is a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Tohokushinsha Film, and Mitsubishi and distributed by Toho. Spirited Away tells the story of Chihiro "Sen" Ogino, a ten-year-old girl who, while moving to a new neighborhood, enters the world of kami. After her parents are turned into pigs by the witch Yubaba, Chihiro takes a job working in Yubaba's bathhouse to find a way to free herself and her parents and return to the human world.
The history of anime can be traced back to the start of the 20th century, with the earliest verifiable films dating from 1912. Before the advent of film, Japan already had a rich tradition of entertainment with colourful painted figures moving across the projection screen in utsushi-e (写し絵), a particular Japanese type of magic lantern show popular in the 19th century. Possibly inspired by European phantasmagoria shows, utsushi-e showmen used mechanical slides and developed lightweight wooden projectors (furo) that were handheld so that several performers could each control the motions of different projected figures.
Ryoka Yuzuki is a Japanese actress and voice actress. She has played voice roles in a number of Japanese anime including Satsuki Kiryūin in Kill la Kill, Ino Yamanaka in Naruto and Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Shamal in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's, Temari in Shugo Chara!, Risa Momioka in To Love-Ru, Akio Fudou in Trinity Seven, Minagi Tohno in Air, Shizuka Hiratsuka in My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected, Tomoe Mikagura in Tailenders, and Uruoi-chan in Pururun! Shizuku-chan.
Junichi Suwabe is a Japanese voice actor from Tokyo. He is affiliated with Haikyō. His popular roles include Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez in Bleach, Omega Zero in Megaman Zero 3, Keigo Atobe in The Prince of Tennis, Victor Nikiforov in Yuri!!! on ICE, Freed Justine in Fairy Tail, Yami Sukehiro in Black Clover, Ryomen Sukuna in Jujutsu Kaisen, Archer in Fate/stay night, Ren Jinguji in Uta no Prince-sama, Undertaker in Black Butler, Leone Abbacchio in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, Daiki Aomine in Kuroko's Basketball, Jurota Shishida and Shōta Aizawa in My Hero Academia, Dandy in Space Dandy, Bercouli Synthesis One in Sword Art Online, Akira Hayama in Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma, Dark Choco Cookie in Cookie Run: Kingdom and Shoei Barou in Blue Lock.
Kōji Morimoto is a Japanese anime director. Some of his works include being an animator in the Akira film; shorts in Robot Carnival, Short Peace, My Last Day and The Animatrix; and key animation in anime such as Kiki's Delivery Service, City Hunter, and Fist of the North Star. He is the co-founder of Studio 4°C. He has hosted the independent creative team 'phy' since 2009.
Macross Frontier is a Japanese anime television series and the third Japanese anime television series set in the Macross universe. It was broadcast on MBS from April 4, 2008 to September 26, 2008.
Hiromasa Yonebayashi, nicknamed Maro (麻呂), is a Japanese animator and director, formerly for Studio Ghibli. After his directorial debut with Studio Ghibli, he became the youngest director of a theatrical film produced by the studio. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2015 for his second film, When Marnie Was There.
Trigger Inc., also known as Studio Trigger, is a Japanese animation studio founded by former Gainax employees Hiroyuki Imaishi and Masahiko Ōtsuka in 2011. It has produced anime works including Kill la Kill (2013), Little Witch Academia, Promare (2019), BNA: Brand New Animal (2020), and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (2022).
Japan Animator Expo or Japan Anima(tor)'s Exhibition is a weekly series of original net animations released as part of a collaboration between Hideaki Anno's Studio Khara and Dwango, consisting of various anime shorts produced by many directors. The project began release from 7 November 2014 to 9 October 2015 and is streamed worldwide on Niconico. As of December 2018, the website alongside with all materials and contents related to it have been temporarily closed off to the public. They make mention of reuploading this content at a later date under a new domain.
Yoshiaki Nishimura is a Japanese lead film producer formerly of Studio Ghibli and founder of the company Studio Ponoc. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2014 for The Tale of Princess Kaguya and received a consecutive Oscar nomination at the 88th Academy Awards for When Marnie Was There in the same category.
Napping Princess: The Story of the Unknown Me is a 2017 Japanese animated fantasy adventure film. It was produced by Signal.MD, written and directed by Kenji Kamiyama, and stars Mitsuki Takahata. It was released in Japan by Warner Bros. Pictures on March 18, 2017. An English dubbed version was released in the United Kingdom on August 16, 2017, and in the United States a month later. The theme song for the film is a cover of The Monkees' "Daydream Believer" performed by lead actress Mitsuki Takahata.
Mary and the Witch's Flower is a 2017 Japanese animated fantasy film co-written and directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, produced by Studio Ponoc founder Yoshiaki Nishimura, animated by Studio Ponoc, and distributed by Toho in Japan. Based on the 1971 book The Little Broomstick by Mary Stewart, it was Studio Ponoc's first feature film. It stars the voices of Hana Sugisaki, Yūki Amami and Fumiyo Kohinata.
Studio Ponoc is a Japanese animation studio based in Musashino, Tokyo, Japan. The company was founded in April 2015 by Yoshiaki Nishimura, former lead film producer of Studio Ghibli. Its first feature film, Mary and the Witch's Flower, was released on July 8, 2017, throughout Japan with the film's main character Mary Smith serving as the company's mascot in their logo, similar to Studio Ghibli's mascot, Totoro.
Modest Heroes is a 2018 Japanese animated anthology film produced by Studio Ponoc. The film is the first volume in the studio's Ponoc Short Films Theatre anthology, and includes films written and directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, Yoshiyuki Momose, and Akihiko Yamashita.
Godzilla Singular Point is a Japanese anime television series directed by Atsushi Takahashi and written by Toh EnJoe. Produced by the animation studios Bones and Orange and licensed by Netflix, the series premiered on March 25, 2021, on Netflix in Japan, and on Tokyo MX and other channels on April 1 to June 24, 2021. The series is part of the Godzilla franchise and features monsters from its Shōwa era (1954–1975). In 2023, EnJoe suggested that a second season of the series may be produced.
Star Wars: Visions is an animated anthology series created for the American streaming service Disney+. Produced by Lucasfilm, the series consists of original animated short films set in, or inspired by, the Star Wars universe, with each episode being a self-contained narrative produced by various studios.
The Imaginary is a 2023 Japanese animated fantasy film directed by Yoshiyuki Momose from a screenplay written by Yoshiaki Nishimura, who also produced the film, and animated by Studio Ponoc. Based on A.F. Harrold's 2014 novel of the same name, it is Studio Ponoc's first full-length animated film since Mary and the Witch's Flower (2017). The Japanese voice cast includes Kokoro Terada, Rio Suzuki, Sakura Ando, Riisa Naka, Takayuki Yamada, Atsuko Takahata and Issey Ogata. The narrative focuses on Rudger, a boy who is one of the invisible entities known as Imaginaries, created by a girl named Amanda who is coping with emotional loss.
Teasing Master Takagi-san is an anime series adapted from the manga of the same title by Sōichirō Yamamoto. The third season was officially announced in September 2021 after it was first teased with the release of the sixteenth volume of the manga, alongside an animated film. The third season aired on the Super Animeism block on MBS and TBS, and other networks from January 8 to March 26, 2022. The opening theme is "Straight Ahead" performed by Yuiko Ōhara. Like the first two seasons, the ending themes consist of covers by Rie Takahashi: "Yume de Aetara" (夢で逢えたら) by Eiichi Ohtaki, "Over Drive" by Judy and Mary, "Himawari no Yakusoku" (ひまわりの約束) by Motohiro Hata, "Gakuen Tengoku" (学園天国) by Finger 5, "Joyful" (じょいふる) by Ikimonogakari, "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" (サンタが町にやってくる), "Snow Magic Fantasy" (スノーマジックファンタジー) by Sekai no Owari, and "Hana" (花) by Orange Range. Muse Communication secured the distribution rights for the third season in Southeast Asia. On December 28, 2021, Sentai Filmworks announced it had acquired the rights to the third season and the film for worldwide distribution excluding Asia, and is streaming it on HIDIVE.
