What’s the difference between “manga” and “anime?”
Here at MU we get lots of email inquiries with questions about everything from drawing manga faces to making Japanese-style lunches. But there are a few questions we get asked over and over that seem simple at first, but end up requiring a much more complex explanation. So we thought it was time to start bringing these questions to our blog, so we may share them with our readers and get all of you talking about them, too!
One question we regularly get is, “What is the difference between manga and anime?”
You may have your own explanation ready, but the answer isn’t so cut and dry: The difference between “manga” and “anime” depends on where you live!
In Japan, “manga”（漫画／まんが）is a very broad term that applies to anything that is drawn in a cartoon-style, whether it be animation, print, or interactive. Even American cartoons shown on Japanese TV (“Powerpuff Girls,” Disney movies, etc.) can be called “manga” in Japanese, because they aren’t live-action.
“Anime”（アニメ）is a Japanese word that’s an abbreviation of the English cognate “animeeshyon”（アニメーション). Anime, which translates literally to “animation” in English, can only be ascribed to things that are animated. A manga comic book that you would find in the bookstore would never be called anime in Japan.
In other parts of the world, however, the popularity of Japanese animated movies and TV shows in turn helped make manga in its print form so trendy. Therefore, outside Japan pretty much anything that’s drawn in a Japanese cartoon style can be called “anime” or “anime style.” However, very few people outside of Japan would ever use the word “manga” to describe anything but Japanese-style comic books.
Most important, though, is what the words “manga” and “anime” mean to you and your friends. Do you use these words like the Japanese, or do you feel that everything with big eyes and blue-spikey hair falls under the same category? Let us know what you think!
Wow, that’s so cool!
The funny thing is, I always thought that manga and anime were just different ways of drawing japanese style cartoon. Because manga looks sketchy and rough, where as anime looks soft and detailed.
Woahhh, learn something new everyday… D:
Wow!! I never new it was so complicated, I always thought that the difference was that manga was a comic style thing whilst anime was a japanese show, or a show of a manga. Well, you learn something new everyday!! Thanks for telling me what it really means! ^^
I think anything which is drawn like the Japanese comics is known as anime style. I’m myself working on a manga of my own but my characters do not have Japanese names.
Thank you so much! I’ve been wondering that for a while. My mom actually asked me what the difference was yesterday and now I can tell her.
I myself am from America, and most people deffer anime by saying…Anything “cartoonish” that is on television created by the Japanese..(inu yasha, DBZ, etc..things of the like) is anime and anything like simpsons and family guy is not…..but that is the round house view..I most likely do it incorrectly myself.
I always just thought that anime as the term for the animated version and manga was the comic book version. Technically that’s still what it is, but I didn’t know that the name varied depending on where you lived in Japan.
I personally use “manga” for the comics and the styles of any japanese art that is more vibrant ( colorful, more unrealistic shiny eyes, etc.) I use anime to describe the TV and any style that is more realistic (normal looking eyes, less colorful.)
i have always referred them differently, making anime the japanese animated. the tv shows like naruto shippuden. the manga however i always refuse to as the comics, like the comics you see on onemanga and mangafox. i haven’t seen much difference in styles except for the anime tends to be colored and the manga is usually black and white. most of the time people draw what i consider “manga” because they dont color it in very often, but i have seen people color it on photo shop and other art programs which makes it feal more like anime to me.
kinda a long discription for something so simple but… old habits die hard.
*go manga!!* ^_^
I find this interesting and confusing at the same time. I just refer manga to Japanese comics and anime into Japanese cartoons but the definitions are so bland.
Anime was the only thing popular here when I was a kid. Recently though, manga came along and the two are somewhat interchangeable here. A Filipino comic book artist once said that he tended to draw anime style(not the black and white with tones and all but computer colored art)
too me i use them diffrently because thats what my family refers it as i awlays refferd it to manga as in reading and anime as in watching!!!
I always thought manga was the japanese comics and stuff while the anime was a series like bleach or claymore.Haha now i can rub in my friends face and tell him the manga is actually all cartoonistic things….wierd
I think the only thing that I didn’t exactly know, was that American cartoons can be called manga.
I live in Hong Kong so our cultures are very similar.
We call manga \manhua\ and anime \donghua\
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhua
That gives some interesting insight. But overall, I don’t usually read local Manga… It’s mostly Japanese ones, and they sell it in the streets and in 7-11 like Japan so it’s all good. ^^
Yeah, it’s good to learn something new… I used to live in Hong Kong, but they never sold manga on the streets!
hahaha….
well…i never thought that anime and manga are juz de same thing..
now dat i can share it wit my friends ya noe…
its so much fun juz to get to noe something new..thanks a lot..
Anime that is an adaption of a manga will occasionally have thing cut out either for time, censorship or budget. Another difference is Manga is all in black and white most if not all of the time. Animes are in color. Also in some cases, Sailor Moon being one that instantly comes to mind, the will also change the names of the characters.
Hey that’s so cool. I actuallu assumed thought that manga was the comic book version and anime was the movie version…I suppose..I’m close enough. But hey..still learnt something new today =D
Hey that’s so cool. I just assumed that manga was the comic book version and anime was the movie version…I suppose..I’m close enough. But hey..still learnt something new today =D
OMG! that’s amazing, I never knew it was so complicated!
Where I live, me and my friends will say anime when we are talking about animated japanese cartoons, but we say manga when we are talking about japanese comic books. We say cartoon for american animations and comic for american comic book. It’s funny how expressions can have different meanings in different parts of the world.
woah. so i’m right..if it’s in comics, it’s a manga..but if it’s animated, of course it’s anime..cool..:)
I always thought they were just differtent styles :-S
Like, Manga was like REALLY exaggerated and big and stuff, whereas Anime was more lifelike and stuff… Oh well :/
I knew that anime and manga were completely different since I first started getting into it at the age of five, I just never really knew how the rest of the wprld saw it as, it’s nice to learn some new stuff once in a while.
That explains so many thing’s.
I was waaaaay off. I used to think Anime was Japanese animation, while Manga was American. I’m smart!
You learn something new everyday… I’ve always just used both words pretty interchangably
I knew it now I can go tell those jerks I was right there is a diffrence between the 2 ^^
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I thought that manga was basically a Japanese anime-style comic book read backwards, and anime was the animated adaptation of manga.
Does Avatar: The Last Airbender count as anime/manga? Because it’s drawn in that general style but it was made in America.
In the future, I think that the line between American television and anime/manga will become blurred and the two will intertwine somehow.
manga is like comic. anime is animation
Wow. I thought that anime was the tv version of manga/anime and that manga was the books.