Anime (アニメ) refers to the animation style originating in Japan. It is characterized by distinctive characters and backgrounds (hand-drawn or computer-generated) that visually and thematically set it apart from other forms of animation. Storylines may include a variety of fictional or historical characters, events, and settings. Anime is aimed at a broad range of audiences; consequently, a given series may have aspects of a range of genres. Anime is most frequently distributed by streaming services, broadcast on television, or sold on DVDs and other media, either after their broadcast run or directly as original video animation (OVA). Console and computer games sometimes also feature segments or scenes that can be considered anime.
Manga (漫画) is Japanese for "comics" or "whimsical images". Manga developed from a mixture of ukiyo-e and Western styles of drawing, and took its current form shortly after World War II. Manga, apart from covers, is usually published in black and white but it is common to find introductions to chapters to be in color and read from top to bottom and then right to left, similar to the layout of a Japanese plain text. Financially, manga represented 2005 a market of ¥24 billion in Japan and $180 million in the United States. Manga was the fastest-growing segment of books in the United States in 2005. In 2020, Japan's manga industry hit a value of ¥612.6 billion due to the fast growth of the digital manga market, while manga sales in North America reached an all-time high at almost $250 million.
Anime and manga share many characteristics, including exaggerating (in terms of scale) of physical features, to which the reader presumably should pay most attention (best known being "large eyes"), "dramatically shaped speech bubbles, speed lines and onomatopoeic, exclamatory typography..." Some manga (a small percentage) are adapted into anime, often with the collaboration of the original author. Computer games can also be adapted into anime. In such cases, the work's original story is often compressed or modified to fit the new format and appeal to a wider demographic. Popular anime franchises sometimes include full-length feature films. Some anime franchises have been adapted into live-action films and television programs.
Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by the manga artist group Clamp. It takes place in the same fictional universe as many of Clamp's other manga series, most notably xxxHolic. The plot follows how Sakura, the princess of the Kingdom of Clow, loses all her memories and how Syaoran, a young archaeologist who is her childhood friend, goes on arduous adventures to save her, with two other companions. The Dimensional Witch Yūko Ichihara instructs him to go with two people, Kurogane and Fai D. Flowright. They search for Sakura's memories, which were scattered in various worlds in the form of angelic-like feathers, as retrieving them will help save her very being. Tsubasa was conceived when four Clamp artists wanted to create a manga series that connected all their previous works. They took the designs for the main protagonists from their earlier manga called Cardcaptor Sakura.
The Naruto manga is written by Masashi Kishimoto and published by Shueisha in Weekly Shōnen Jump. The series began its serialization in 1999. Shueisha later collected these chapters in tankōbon volumes. The first 244 chapters are known as Part I, and constitute the first part of the Naruto storyline. All subsequent chapters belong to Part II, which continues the storyline from Part I after a two and a half year timeskip. Viz Media licenses the Naruto manga for an English adaptation in North America, where it is serialized in the American Shonen Jump and released in volume format.
Several adaptations based on Naruto have been made, including two anime series and five featured films, with a sixth film slated for release during the summer of 2009. The first anime series, also titled Naruto, covers the entirety of Part I over 220 episodes. The second, named Naruto: Shippuden (ナルト 疾風伝, Naruto Shippūden, lit. Naruto: Hurricane Chronicles), is based on Part II, and started airing on February 15, 2007. Both series are produced by Studio Pierrot and TV Tokyo, and air on TV Tokyo. (Full list...)
