New to Anime?

A little confused about what this site is all about?  Not to worry.  Below are some basic definitions, as well as a short description of some anime series represented on this site.

Anime: Anime is Japanese animation.  Somewhat akin to 'cartoons' in the U.S., anime is generally more beautifully drawn, more detailed, and aimed towards a wider audience than cartoons.  Anime is an art form that can be expressed in several ways.  The first, and most common is television episodes.  The second, is OVA (Original Video Animation) which are series that are usually more compact, have higher budgets (therefore usually higher quality) and may or may not be aired.  The third is in theatrical movies.

Manga: Manga is the Japanese version of a comic book.  Many anime series start out as a manga series, then are made into an anime series as well.  The resulting anime series may or may not stay completely true to it's original manga counterpart though.

Sailor Moon Series: A detailed manga and anime series witch is part of the magical girl genre of Japan's anime history.  Created by Naoko Takeuchi, it is one of the most popular anime series.  The original manga, Bishojo Senshi Sailormoon, was introduced in February of 1992 in Japan in a publication entitled Nakayoshi (a monthly Shojo manga collection).  The anime version soon followed, airing on television just one month later.  Sailormoon is a combination of the magical girl genre that was popular among girls, and the sentai (team fighter) genre that was popular among boys.  The series ran for a total of five years, displaying 200 television episodes, 3 movies, and several live-action musical plays.  Focusing on maturing characters and their relationships, Sailor Moon is a deep story that can hardly be summed up with just a few words.  Overall, it includes an encompassing past/present/future destiny romance, as well as action, and comedy. It is the story of a female heroine and her senshi companions fighting evil in addition to dealing with every day situations when they encounter them.

Tenchi Series: An awesome manga and anime series created by Hitoshi Okuda.  The series consists of 2 OVA series (13 episodes in the original OVA titled Tenchi Muyo), 3 movies, and 2 seasons of television aired anime episodes with 26 episodes each, as well as an extensive manga collection.   Tenchi intertwines action, space battles, fantasy, comedy, and love in it's story.  The story reinvents itself with each season, which makes for an interesting twist. 

Ah My Goddess Series: A short anime series created by Fujishima Kousuke, consisting of 5 OVA episodes, a few super-deformed character episodes, and some manga.  Possessing a comical and romantic plot, Ah My Goddess is refreshing comedy about a boy who calls for some take-out, and ends up with a goddess as a girlfriend instead.  The title was later changed to Oh My Goddess for the English version of the anime.

Fushigi Yuugi Series: It's name meaning 'The mysterious play', Fushigi Yuugi seems almost to be just that.  The series was created by Yuu Watase.  It consists of 2 anime seasons, 3 OVA series, and 18 volumes of manga.  The story is one of action and romance, exploring a wide range of human emotion.  Two girls (best friends) get pulled into a book and end up in ancient China.  There, each is made the priestess of a kingdom, however, through circumstances, they end up enemies.  One of them falls in love, while the other is consumed by hate and jealousy.