15 Awesome Facts about Anime

What is the difference between manga and anime?

In a nutshell, manga refers Japanese comic books and graphic novels, while anime is the term given to Japanese animation. Anime includes animated television series, comics, short films and full-length feature films. Now that you know the basics, here are 15 awesome facts about anime programs such as Naruto and One Piece and information on the Japanese animation business.

Facts about Anime:

1. The first full-length anime feature film was released in 1945. The movie, Umi no Shinpei (Momotaro, Sacred Sailors), was funded by the Japanese Navy in 1945, the final year of World War II as a propaganda film.
2. The most expensive anime film ever made was The Tale Of Princess Kaguya. With a budget of $49.3 million, the Studio Ghibli film is the most expensive Japanese film to date. Released in 2013, the movie was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 87th Academy Awards. The Tale Of Princess Kaguya was the final film directed by Studio Ghibli, co-founder Isao Takahata.
3. The highest grossing Anime film of all time is Demon Slayer: Mugen Train (aka Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba). The film grossed over $500 million at the worldwide box office and was the highest-grossing film of 2020. This marked the first time a non-Hollywood production topped the annual box office. In addition to being the highest-grossing anime Demon Slayer: Mugen Train is also the highest grossing Japanese film of all time.
4. The anime Haikyuu!! was created to make volleyball popular. In a 2014 interview, Haruichi Furudate, the developer of Haikyuu!!, stated that he intended to show people that volleyball was ‘fun and cool.’ After the show aired, there was a noticeable increase in high school students joining volleyball groups, indicating that he accomplished his goal. 
5. Everyone in Code Geass loves pizza because the series was sponsored by Pizza Hut. If you’re curious why several Britannians in Code Geass enjoy pizza, it’s because Pizza Hut in Japan financed the show. Pizza Hut’s Japanese mascot, Cheese-kun, may be seen all through the show. BIGLOBE, a Japanese broadband provider, is another Code Geass sponsor who features heavily in the anime.
6. Death Note is banned in China. Death Note joins Assassination Classroom, Tokyo Ghoul, Black Butler, and Attack on Titan on a list of 38 manga and anime the Chinese Ministry of Culture has designated as “severely improper content”. China claims that these works contain situations that go against the public ethics and encourage viewers to adopt inappropriate ideas. Some children, for example, began writing the names of their professors in their notes after viewing Death Note.
7. There is an anime that began in the 60s and is still going. With over 7800 episodes, the anime Sazae-san is the the longest-running animated television series in the world. Sazae-san first aired in 1969 and is still running. As unbelievable as it may seem, it has been on the air for over 50 years!
8. Astronaut Akihiko Hoshide recorded his dub for the anime Space Brothers while in outer space. Hoshide recorded his voice session while aboard the International Space Station in 2012. It marked the first time voice acting lines have been recorded in space. Hoshide’s scene appeared in the anime’s 31st episode entitled ‘Rocket Road’.
9. The film Spirited Away was the first anime to ever win an Academy Award. Spirited Away, a cinematic marvel, is among the most beloved animated films of all time. The film provides a fantastic sensation of excitement for audiences of all ages by combining hand-drawn animation skills with seamless computer-generated blends. In 2003, Spirited Away won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. It was the very first anime movie to be nominated.
10. Attack on the Titan was based on drunk people – Hajime Isayama, Attack on the Titan’s creator, drew inspiration for the Titans after he had an interaction with a drunk customer at and internet cafe. Isayama appeared Japan’s Nihon TV’s Zip! program and stated that a drunk individual made him realize how “difficult it can be to communicate with someone despite being the same species.”
11. Naruto was originally intended to be a chef, not a fox. Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto, was working on a story about a character called Naruto who was studying to become a chef. However, he scrapped the idea but kept the name instead of focusing on a little child who could turn into a big fox. Remnants of the idea remained in the series as Naruto’s love for ramen as did his name, which comes from a fish cake served in ramen.
12. There is an anime character who has had 22 different voice actresses. Eucliwood Hellscythe, a figure from Kore wa Zombie Desu ka (Is this a Zombie?), was recorded by 22 different people. She never spoke and instead communicated by writing her thoughts on notepads throughout the series. Still, there were occasional fantasy segments of her talking during the anime. A different person voiced each of these segments.
13. Fifty new colors were created for Akira. 50 new colors were created just for the 1988 Japanese anime Akira. Of the 327 colors used in the anime film, 50 were produced just for it. Back in 1988, Akira wasn’t only a game-changer for confronting the kid-friendly Western notion of animation. The highly acclaimed animation film was also a technological triumph for Japan’s anime industry. Akira included 2,212 shots and 160,000 individual images. This is around 2-3 times the typical anime film. 
14. Authors of two well-known shows married each other – Celebrity weddings are notoriously short-lived, but that isn’t the case for manga writers in love. Naoko Takeuchi, the creator of Sailor Moon, and Yoshihiro Togashi, the creator of Yu Yu Hakusho and Hunter x Hunter, were wedded on January 6, 1999.
15. The average Japanese animator earns below minimum wage. The global anime market is valued at close to $25 billion and is predicted to hit nearly $50 billion by 2030. Despite these gaudy figures the wages for entry level artists can be as low as 1.1 million yen (about $9,500) annually.

If you liked these facts about ANIME, check out these facts about K-pop.

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