What Makes Anime so Special?

Most anime fans can sum this up in two words: "It's different." Anime is as unlike most American cartoons like "Batman" and "Spider-Man" are different from the comics that run in daily papers. These differences show up in many ways including the artwork storytelling, breadth of material and even cultural nuances exhibited by the characters.

Anime art styles range from the flamboyant and outlandish in shows like "Samurai Champloo" and " FLCL" to the simple and direct in shows like "Azumanga Daioh!." That said, even shows with more "basic" artwork can still be visually striking.

Anime has this way of making everything look fresh and new.

It doesn't shy away from epic storylines, either, which often run for dozens (sometimes hundreds) of episodes. The best anime, though, no matter what their length, all demand great emotional involvement from the viewer.

The sheer range of anime shows out there means a fan of most any other kind of TV or movie can find an anime series that mirrors its style.