Anime is more than a style of animation. Over the past two decades, many fans have built a diverse culture around anime, manga, games, music, cosplay, art, collecting, conventions, and independent creations.
What is ‘anime’
‘Anime’ is a term commonly used for Japanese animation, encompassing everything from action and adventure to romance, comedy, fantasy, science fiction, and everyday stories. While anime can be enjoyed by people of all ages, it has grown into a diverse global culture that extends beyond watching shows and movies. Fans connect through manga, games, music, cosplay, art, collectibles, and events. Many fans connect online and through social media forming their own communities all wanting to find find their own way to enjoy and participate in anime culture.
Music and Performances
A large portion of the anime culture comes from the songs, music and performances. Often times, certain anime will have dances that become popular and many fans will do their own covers of said songs or performances. They can range from vocal covers, instrumental and dance covers. Many of said fans eventually form their own groups and perform at various events and conventions.
Merch and Collecting
A big part of anime culture is collecting merch. Many anime series (Code Geass, Cardcaptor Sakura, Bleach, etc.) will have merch made by various companies of characters ranging from plushies to figurines to Music CDs. Many fans might focus on obtaining one type of merch or one character or of one series. Still others may create a ‘shrine’ to their favorite character or characters. It is not uncommon to see fans post ‘con hauls’ of the amount of merch they’ve collected as a way to show their love for a character or series.
What is ‘cosplay’?
Cosplay comes from the combination of ‘costume’ and ‘playacting’. Many fans like to dress up as their favorite character from their favorite series, manga or game to show their love for the series and the character. Cosplays (referring to the costumes themselves) can range from simple to very elaborate, and from store bought to custom made. Often times at events, there are contests to see who made the best costume and who represented and ‘played’ the character the best.
Gaming
While not strictly ‘anime’ gaming is a large part of the anime community as many fans enjoy mobile gaming, PC Gaming, tabletop and more. Many of the games have an anime-like aesthetic, and many animes have games which have spun off from them.
