Anime characteristics
Anime is known for its variety of genres, unique artistic style and deep, emotional stories. As with live-action cinema, it spans various genres: adventure, science fiction, children's stories, romance, medieval fantasy, erotica (hentai) and others. Anime is an expressly commercial art form; most anime are produced and marketed for very specific audiences, with well-defined categories for shonen (boys) and shoujo (girls) genres, as well as teenagers and adults.
Critics contend that the name "anime" is very appropriate, for the cartoons are "almost animated". Anime is known for its almost miserly animation compared to the American style of animation, such as that of Disney. Anime studios have perfected techniques to draw as little new animation as possible, such as scrolling or repeating backgrounds, still shots of characters sliding across the screen and dialogue which involves only animating the mouths while the rest of the screen is absolutely still. Others argue that the best anime emphasize sophisticated direction over actual animation (character movement), providing an illusion of motion when there is none.
