Category: Understanding Anime

Anime is famous for its unrealistic hair color. Okay, we can dye our hair to match anime colors now. Anyway, originally the wild colors of hair were used as a way to distinguish one character from another. Manga also didn’t have color since it is a black and white medium. However, over time hair color…

Normally cliches are something best avoided. Cliches are methods, characters, and story elements that are used to the point of becoming meaningless or losing the original meaning. After reading this post from Mainichi Anime Yume ( a great anime blog for those who haven’t read it yet), I realized there is a place for cliches….

I wrote about the visual language of anime a while back. However, there are a few things I left out. Anime also has a large range of facial expressions. Although generally facial expressions are easier to understand than visual shorthand like speed lines, there are some that just make you wonder how they came about….

We love to hate ’em. They come from a family with more money than the entire nation of Japan. Usually blonde, they are stuck up, prissy, and yet deep down pretty sweet girls. The Snooty Girl is another shorthand staple in high school anime. They are often the main source of headache for the protagonist….