Some anime are outsourced to studios outside of Japan.
Some anime’s source materials are written outside of Japan.
This means anime doesn’t have to be written OR animated in Japan to be anime.
Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries define “anime” as “a style of Japanese film and television animation, typically aimed at adults as well as children”. Meanwhile, if you ask “what’s an example of an anime?” from someone living in Japan, they are just as likely to name Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) as Spongebob Squarepants — because for them, “animation” is entirely synonymous with “anime”.
So clearly, the same term means different things in Japan and outside of it. And over the years, the exact moment of cutoff where a thing becomes (or stops being) an anime, became somewhat of a heated topic.
The cutoff
Okay, so let’s say an animated show was fully written and animated in Japan. This, of course, makes it an anime, regardless of who you ask. But what if the show was outsourced to a South Korean studio to animate? For example, the second season of the Rising of the Shield Hero (Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari) was partially outsourced to DR Movie — does it make this entire mess of a show not anime? Maybe just the second season?
For another example — how about a show that was written outside of Japan, but animated by an anime studio? Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is based on a Western comic and animated by Science SARU (Ping Pong the Animation, Devilman: Crybaby, Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!). Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is based on a Western-made game and animated by Studio Trigger (Kill la Kill, BNA: Brand New Animal, Promare). Solo Leveling (Ore dake Level Up na Ken) is based on a Korean manhwa, and animated by A-1 Pictures (Mashle, Sword Art Online). Are these not anime because of the source material?
We’d say that neither means much for this classification. All of these, for better (Solo Leveling), or worse (Shield Hero) have to be considered anime. Though that does lead to another question…
How far is too far?
If an anime doesn’t have to be made in Japan (Shield Hero), doesn’t need to have a Japanese source material (Solo Leveling), or even LOOK too much like anime (Scott Pilgrim) — then doesn’t it mean that anime could be practically anything?
Avatar: the Last Airbender is an American show done using visuals that would not have been out of place in Japanese animation. It has many of the same tropes, and a lot of animation work was even outsourced to three South Korean studios — DR Movie (same Shield Hero S2 people), JM Animation (who collaborated on Fairy Tail, Macross Frontier and some of the Pokemon movies) and Moi Studios (Berserk: Golden Age Arc key animations).
Similar things could be said about the Boondocks — an American animation series that was animated by some of the same South Korean studios, and could even unofficially boast collaboration with studio Madhouse.
Is there a cutoff at all?
Okay, let’s be frank — if we were asked to “recommend an anime”, we wouldn’t answer with the Powerpuff Girls, Spongebob Squarepants, or even the eternal classic that is Batman TAS. Even Teen Titans (2003) would probably be stretching it a bit too far, despite its clear anime inspirations.
However, we also feel like “if you have to check where it’s made to tell if it’s an anime”, it’s an anime. Shield Hero is an anime. Solo Leveling is an anime. AtLA and Boondocks are both anime. Some of them are bad anime (Shield Hero), but that’s an entirely different story.
Is Spongebob an anime?
Is Spongebob an anime?
Summary:
Some anime are outsourced to studios outside of Japan.
Some anime’s source materials are written outside of Japan.
This means anime doesn’t have to be written OR animated in Japan to be anime.
Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries define “anime” as “a style of Japanese film and television animation, typically aimed at adults as well as children”. Meanwhile, if you ask “what’s an example of an anime?” from someone living in Japan, they are just as likely to name Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) as Spongebob Squarepants — because for them, “animation” is entirely synonymous with “anime”.
So clearly, the same term means different things in Japan and outside of it. And over the years, the exact moment of cutoff where a thing becomes (or stops being) an anime, became somewhat of a heated topic.
The cutoff
Okay, so let’s say an animated show was fully written and animated in Japan. This, of course, makes it an anime, regardless of who you ask. But what if the show was outsourced to a South Korean studio to animate? For example, the second season of the Rising of the Shield Hero (Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari) was partially outsourced to DR Movie — does it make this entire mess of a show not anime? Maybe just the second season?
For another example — how about a show that was written outside of Japan, but animated by an anime studio? Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is based on a Western comic and animated by Science SARU (Ping Pong the Animation, Devilman: Crybaby, Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!). Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is based on a Western-made game and animated by Studio Trigger (Kill la Kill, BNA: Brand New Animal, Promare). Solo Leveling (Ore dake Level Up na Ken) is based on a Korean manhwa, and animated by A-1 Pictures (Mashle, Sword Art Online). Are these not anime because of the source material?
We’d say that neither means much for this classification. All of these, for better (Solo Leveling), or worse (Shield Hero) have to be considered anime. Though that does lead to another question…
How far is too far?
If an anime doesn’t have to be made in Japan (Shield Hero), doesn’t need to have a Japanese source material (Solo Leveling), or even LOOK too much like anime (Scott Pilgrim) — then doesn’t it mean that anime could be practically anything?
Avatar: the Last Airbender is an American show done using visuals that would not have been out of place in Japanese animation. It has many of the same tropes, and a lot of animation work was even outsourced to three South Korean studios — DR Movie (same Shield Hero S2 people), JM Animation (who collaborated on Fairy Tail, Macross Frontier and some of the Pokemon movies) and Moi Studios (Berserk: Golden Age Arc key animations).
Similar things could be said about the Boondocks — an American animation series that was animated by some of the same South Korean studios, and could even unofficially boast collaboration with studio Madhouse.
Is there a cutoff at all?
Okay, let’s be frank — if we were asked to “recommend an anime”, we wouldn’t answer with the Powerpuff Girls, Spongebob Squarepants, or even the eternal classic that is Batman TAS. Even Teen Titans (2003) would probably be stretching it a bit too far, despite its clear anime inspirations.
However, we also feel like “if you have to check where it’s made to tell if it’s an anime”, it’s an anime. Shield Hero is an anime. Solo Leveling is an anime. AtLA and Boondocks are both anime. Some of them are bad anime (Shield Hero), but that’s an entirely different story.
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