If you haven't heard of anime or manga before or you have just heard the names then here is some background information that might give you an idea of why I like anime.

First, the basics. 'Anime' is Japanese animation, 'manga' is the Japanese equivalent of a comic book although these come in book format in Japan as opposed to the few pages you get over here. Unfortunately one of the first companies to bring anime to the western world choose to call itself 'Manga Entertainment' and anime fans have been trying to explain the difference to people ever since.

Next, anime is NOT all guns, sex and violence. Regrettably the early anime companies decided that this is what would sell and hence that is all they brought over. The fact that his was a very small part of the anime industry in Japan didn't seem to occur to them at all. Only recently have a few companies been bringing over good quality (in my opinion) anime but we now have a long way to go before anime is ever accepted properly.

In short, the anime/manga industry in Japan is massive. Anime even gets prime time television slots. Hence, with this much time and effort put into the development of the media it is hardly suprising that animation and comics in Japan are far beyond almost anything we have here.

Don't get me wrong. I actually enjoy most of the Disney movies and some of the cartoons that are made in the west and I will quite happily admit that there is a lot of anime that is complete rubbish but when it comes down to it, cartoons over here are aimed almost exclusively at children. Hence for dramatic impact, storyline and character development they can't even compete.