^Anime is the term we commonly use to describe japanese animation. This great art form has come a long road until it reached the way it is.

It's roots date to the early 20th century when Japanese graphic artists began to feel the influence of two very powerful Western inventions: the newspaper comic strip and the motion picture.

With its word balloons and linear story-line, the comic strip provided Japanese story-tellers with a structure that was readily accessible to the masses. Soon, popular cartoonists like Rakiten Kitazawa and Ippei Okamoto were producing their own serialized newspaper prints. These would eventually contribute to the development of the modern Japanese comic book or "manga".

In 1914, cartoonists were among the first Japanese artists to experiment with animated motion pictures. Japan's first world-wide success was Kitayama Seitaro's short film Momotaro (1918).

Although the Japanese animation industry continued to grow slowly, its one, last pre-war milestone was Chikara To Onna No Yononaka. Appearing in 1932, the short film was the first animated "talkie" in Japanese.

But the great influence to anime was the development of an american movie that constituted a shock to many people in the industry at the time. Few would imagine upon it's release that Walt Disney could produce a full-length animated movie of such high quality as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, that was a tremendous hit among the public back in 1937.

This work set a milestone to all the animation artists and shaped the future of anime. You see, animation was a viable alternative in japan, that always struggled back then to produce real-life movies and series due to budget and logistical deficits. They didn't have the machine of Hollywood and the sponsoring costs to take so many people to shoot in different parts of the world were severe, considering the historical moment - two great wars took a large toll to the country. But with anime they could create the characters, landscapes and story's they wanted with less trouble involved!

One person is responsible for the flourishing of both manga and anime in Japan: Osamu Tezuka.

Originally an aspiring animator, Tezuka became a cartoonist after World War II. He was only 20 years old when his first significant work, the novel-length Shintakarajima or "New Treasure Island", appeared in 1947. In just a few years, he became Japan's most popular manga artist, eventually earning the title "God of Manga."

Tezuka's approach was completely different from anything that had come before. Whereas, most contemporary manga stories were told in a straightforward, stage-like fashion, Tezuka's illustrations exploded with action and emotion. Borrowing techniques from French and German cinema, he stretched his stories out for hundreds of pages. To lend poignancy to a single emotional moment, a scene might unfold slowly over several pages. What Tezuka was doing was telling stories in the manner of a filmmaker. In the process, he was also teaching an entire generation of artists how to visualize and compose a story kinetically.

For manga and anime fans, Tezuka's most obvious contribution came in the design of his characters. The artist needed a vast emotional template to tell his often complex stories. Seeking inspiration, he returned to the pre-war Disney cartoons that he loved as a child. Just like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, Tezuka's animal and humans characters sported round heads with huge, expressive eyes. Although these features appeared simple and cartoonish, they actually allowed a character to express a wide range of emotions, from adulation to seething hatred.

Successive generations of manga and anime artists discovered the flexibility of Tezuka's character designs and adapted them into their own diverse works. This, in turn, led to today's "manga-style" character with his or her simplified facial features and Frisbee-sized eyeballs. Sailor Moon, Speed Racer, and even Ash Ketchumcan all thank Tezuka for their dashing good looks. Eventually, Tezuka's great success as a manga artist led to a more direct impact on the post-war animation industry.

In 1956, Hiroshi Okawa, president of the Japanese film company Toei, fulfilled a dream. He founded Toei Animation and, two years later, the company released its first full-length feature: The Tale of the White Serpent, a full-lenght animation movie similar to Disney's productions.

Based on a Chinese legend, The Tale of the White Serpent was considerably darker in tone than your typical Disney feature. It and Toei's follow-up films The Mischievous Prince Slays the Giant Serpent (1963); The Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun (1966); and Puss in Boots (1967) paved the way for a more serious and adult approach to animation than had previously been seen.

Tezuka, the undisputed giant of manga, formally entered the anime field in 1958 when he started working on the storyboards, screenplay, and character designs for a Toei feature based on Wu Cheng-en's the Pilgrimage to the West. [aka the Monkey King legend which would later inspire the hit Dragon Ball].

The transition from film to the television begun, not with Tetsuwan Atom (Astro boy), as many may believe, but to Otagi Manga Calendar or "Manga Stories Calendar," which featured short, historical cartoons.

Mushi Production's premiere series, Tetsuwan Atom, was second to air, but it's much more famous. In all its black-and-white glory, Tetsuwan Atom was the first regular animated program to contain a recurring cast performing in fictionalized stories. Based on Tezuka's manga series of the same name, Tetsuwan Atom followed the amazing adventures of a robot boy as he fights crime and protects his friends. The show became so popular that it was even distributed worldwide.

After Astro Boy several anime series were created, but almost all rellied on the good guy vs bad guy formula and were made to the children.

The paradigm started to change in the 70's when Lupin Sansei appeared out of nowhere, created by an artist with a funny name: Monkey Punch.

The show was part comedy and part jet-setting adventure and It featured a main character who was a master thief. Packed with adult humor and slapstick violence, Lupin Sansei was aimed squarely at an older audience. The program's infectious insanity went on to spawn two sequel TV series and several feature films.

After that, anime world went crazy and the genre started to diversify. Science fiction came in brute force with several quality animes like Uchu Senkan Yamato (Star Blazers), Huizu kaizoku Captain Harlock (Star Captain), the movies Galaxy Express 999 or Mobile Suit Gundam in 1979.

Then in the 80's the Big Bang occured. Anime started to be made in multiple genres, to appease all audiences.

Akira Toriyama made his name with works of legend such as Dr. Slump (a comedy anime featuring a maniac inventor and his main creation, a robot girl with super powers) and the incredible hit Dragon Ball.

Rumiko Takahashi made the anime nation burst to laughs with Urusei Yatsura and be mesmerized by the beauty of Ranma 1/2.

As for Takahashi was Go Nagain, he went on a different direction, creating the seeds to all the ecchi and hentai animation with series as Devilman TV and Kekko Kamen, which featured a naked super-heroine.

Altough it did touch (lightly) the western civilization, Anime only become a major hit after the release of Katshuiro Otamo 1988 masterpiece, AKIRA. It was a cyberpunk movie, incredibly action-packed (!) portraying an apocalyptic world in decadence where a group of youngsters get involved in major government conspiracies and discover a secret that will change their lives (and the face of the world) forever.

After Akira, USA accepted (and started to idolatrize) anime and this sentiment soon spread to the rest of the western hemisphere. Of course it helped that talented artists and studios continued to create great animes.

In the end of the last century and beginning of this century some names have to be mentioned:

Masamune Shirow with works such as Appleseed or Ghost in the Shell, where mature subjects were treated seriously (i.e. the impact of technology on human society and the thinner barrier between man and machine), inducing the audience to think in difficult morality and ethic issues.

Gainax, a studio that marked the golden era of animes, with epic works as Neon Genesis Evangelion, Gunbuster, No Umi no Nadia or the exquisite movie Wings of Honneamise.

Sunrise, another fantastic studio that produced multi-genre masterpieces as the shonen InuYasha, the futuristic Cowboy Bebop or the mystic mecha anime Vision of Escaflowne.

Studio Giblhi, producer of the most beautiful anime movies I ever seen, featuring top-notch animation and music, as well as strong characters and unforgettable scenes. Some of their multiple award winning works are Grave of the Fireflies, My Neighbour Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away or Howl's Moving Castle.

In conclusion, anime had some humble origins but it's now stronger than ever. With shows that appeal to all audiences, from the mega hit Pokemon aimed for the youngters, to the multi-layered complex anime as is Serial Experiments Lain everyone has an anime out there that will give them loads of enjoyment. Yes, even the perverted ones, have ecchis like Golden Boy or more hardcore Hentai, to satisfy their needs ^_^'

The future is bright to Anime! And for Anime fans like me that couldn't be better!