Jun Maeda ( 麻枝 准 , Maeda Jun , born January 3, 1975 ) is a Japanese writer and composer. He is a co-founder of the visual novel brand Key under Visual Arts . He is considered a pioneer of nakige visual novels, and has mainly contributed as a scenario writer, lyricist , and musical composer for the games the company produces.
166-606: Angel Beats! is a 13-episode Japanese anime television series produced by P.A. Works and Aniplex and directed by Seiji Kishi . The story was originally conceived by Jun Maeda , who also wrote the screenplay and composed the music with the group Anant-Garde Eyes, with original character design by Na-Ga ; both Maeda and Na-Ga are from the visual novel brand Key , who produced such titles as Kanon , Air , and Clannad . The anime aired in Japan between April 3 and June 26, 2010, on CBC . An original video animation (OVA) episode
332-533: A Studio Ghibli feature film directed by Hayao Miyazaki , won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards . It later became the highest-grossing anime film , earning more than $ 355 million. Since the 2000s, an increased number of anime works have been adaptations of light novels and visual novels ; successful examples include The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Fate/stay night (both 2006). Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
498-494: A similar style to Japanese animation are also produced outside Japan. Video games sometimes also feature themes and art styles that are sometimes labelled as anime. The earliest commercial Japanese animation dates to 1917. A characteristic art style emerged in the 1960s with the works of cartoonist Osamu Tezuka and spread in following decades, developing a large domestic audience. Anime is distributed theatrically, through television broadcasts, directly to home media , and over
664-460: A "school comedy written by a game scenario writer" and was shocked after taking the director's position to discover Maeda was the screenwriter. Kishi commented how, far from just being a comedy, the series contains many different aspects, including flashy action scenes, live musical performances, and drama. Kishi stated that normally he would be hard pressed to cover this range of aspects, but was motivated by Maeda's uncompromising attitude in regards to
830-852: A band score book ranked at No. 14 on the Oricon albums chart, selling just under 9,000 copies in its first week. The Angel Beats! Original Soundtrack ranked at No. 9 on the Oricon albums chart, selling about 13,300 copies in its first week. Anime Anime ( Japanese : アニメ , IPA: [aꜜɲime] ) (a term derived from a shortening of the English word animation ) is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan . Outside Japan and in English, anime refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, anime describes all animated works, regardless of style or origin. Many works of animation with
996-465: A bound volume released on June 23, 2010, and included an additional chapter along with the other eight chapters. The chapter titles for the stories are taken from song titles from various musical artists. The first chapter was posted online with illustrations by ASCII Media Works. ASCII Media Works published the Angel Beats! Official Guidebook on December 22, 2010. The guidebook contains story summaries of
1162-406: A common characteristic of American streaming television shows during the " Peak TV " era. The animation industry consists of more than 430 production companies with some of the major studios including Toei Animation , Gainax , Madhouse , Gonzo , Sunrise , Bones , TMS Entertainment , Nippon Animation , P.A.Works , Studio Pierrot , Production I.G , Ufotable and Studio Ghibli . Many of
1328-686: A dark shade is used. However, not all anime characters have large eyes. For example, the works of Hayao Miyazaki are known for having realistically proportioned eyes, as well as realistic hair colors on their characters. Hair in anime is often unnaturally lively and colorful or uniquely styled. The movement of hair in anime is exaggerated and "hair actions" is used to emphasize the action and emotions of characters for added visual effect. Poitras traces hairstyle color to cover illustrations on manga, where eye-catching artwork and colorful tones are attractive for children's manga. Some anime will depict non-Japanese characters with specific ethnic features, such as
1494-612: A degree in psychology from Chukyo University , Maeda contributed to the scripts and scores of games released under the Tactics brand of Nexton : Moon and One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e . He has contributed both to writing music and scripts to most games released under the Key brand, notably writing the majority of Air and Clannad . He also served as a screenwriter and composer for several anime series produced by P.A. Works , such as Angel Beats! and Charlotte . Jun Maeda started writing at
1660-414: A distinct set of conventions. Unlike Disney animation, where the emphasis is on the movement, anime emphasizes the art quality and let limited animation techniques make up for the lack of time spent on movement. Such techniques are often used not only to meet deadlines but also as artistic devices. Anime scenes place emphasis on achieving three-dimensional views, and backgrounds are instrumental in creating
1826-672: A diverse range of genres targeting an adult audience. Shōjo and shōnen anime sometimes contain elements popular with children of all genders in an attempt to gain crossover appeal. Adult anime may feature a slower pace or greater plot complexity that younger audiences may typically find unappealing, as well as adult themes and situations. A subset of adult anime works featuring pornographic elements are labeled "R18" in Japan, and are internationally known as hentai (originating from pervert ( 変態 , hentai ) ). By contrast, some anime subgenres incorporate ecchi , sexual themes or undertones without depictions of sexual intercourse , as typified in
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#17328547996981992-482: A duet for the encore. An event titled "Angel Beats! Fes.: Thousand Bravers" was held on August 1, 2010, at Studio Coast in Shingiba, Koto, Tokyo featuring singers Lia, Tada, Marina, LiSA and Karuta, as well as several voice actors from the anime. A national concert tour featuring LiSA titled "Girls Dead Monster starring LiSA Tour 2010: Keep The Angel Beats!" was held across Japan on August 3 and September 2, 2010; all of
2158-633: A fixed iconography that is used as shorthand for certain emotions and moods. For example, a male character may develop a nosebleed when aroused. A variety of visual symbols are employed, including sweat drops to depict nervousness, visible blushing for embarrassment, or glowing eyes for an intense glare. Another recurring sight gag is the use of chibi (deformed, simplified character designs) figures to comedically punctuate emotions like confusion or embarrassment. The opening and credits sequences of most anime television series are accompanied by J-pop or J-rock songs, often by reputed bands—as written with
2324-534: A girl also known as Angel with supernatural powers. Key worked in collaboration with Dengeki G's Magazine published by ASCII Media Works to produce the project into a media franchise . Four manga series are serialized in Dengeki G's Magazine and Dengeki G's Comic : two illustrated by Haruka Komowata and two drawn by Yuriko Asami. A series of illustrated short stories written by Maeda and illustrated by GotoP were also serialized in Dengeki G's Magazine between
2490-492: A major cel production company, announced it would stop cel production, producing an industry panic to procure cel imports and hastening the switch to digital processes. Prior to the digital era, anime was produced with traditional animation methods using a pose to pose approach. The majority of mainstream anime uses fewer expressive key frames and more in-between animation. Japanese animation studios were pioneers of many limited animation techniques, and have given anime
2656-540: A major role in this, through over time many legal alternatives appeared which significantly reduced illegal practices. Since the 2010s streaming services have become increasingly involved in the production, licensing and distribution of anime for the international markets. This is especially the case with net services such as Netflix and Crunchyroll which have large catalogs in Western countries, although until 2020 anime fans in multiple developing countries, such as India and
2822-404: A monthly basis and the story started to gradually progress. Aniplex wanted Maeda to write a screenplay that would be very "Key-like, with touching moments of laughter and tears," but initially Maeda found himself at a loss to write a story more amusing than Little Busters! , because he thought that he had reached a limit with Little Busters! in regards to a "Key-like story". However, one day Maeda
2988-509: A myth derived from the popularity of anime in France in the late 1970s and 1980s. In English, anime —when used as a common noun —normally functions as a mass noun . (For example: "Do you watch anime?" or "How much anime have you watched?") As with a few other Japanese words, such as saké and Pokémon , English texts sometimes spell anime as animé (as in French), with an acute accent over
3154-448: A period of one month, Maeda wrote a long, 300-page erotic story, intending to sell it to an adult game developer. He first tried with AliceSoft , makers of the popular Rance series, but finally ended up working for the company Scoop. At Scoop in 1997, he contributed as the main scenario writer for the company's first game, Chaos Queen Ryōko ; however, Maeda was not happy with the work environment and promptly filed his resignation with
3320-555: A positive worldwide image and improve its relations with other countries such as its East Asian neighbours China and South Korea . In 2015, during remarks welcoming Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the White House, President Barack Obama thanked Japan for its cultural contributions to the United States by saying: This visit is a celebration of the ties of friendship and family that bind our peoples. I first felt it when I
3486-532: A pronounced nose and jutting jaw for European characters. In other cases, anime feature characters whose race or nationality is not always defined, and this is often a deliberate decision, such as in the Pokémon animated series. Anime and manga artists often draw from a common canon of iconic facial expression illustrations to denote particular moods and thoughts. These techniques are often different in form than their counterparts in Western animation, and they include
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#17328547996983652-512: A requisite for a work to be considered "anime". The etymology of the term anime is disputed. The English word "animation" is written in Japanese katakana as アニメーション ( animēshon ) and as アニメ ( anime , pronounced [a.ɲi.me] ) in its shortened form. Some sources claim that the term is derived from the French term for animation dessin animé ("cartoon", literally 'animated drawing'), but others believe this to be
3818-403: A rise in sales of shows to television stations in Japan, caused by late night anime with adults as the target demographic . This type of anime is less popular outside Japan, being considered "more of a niche product ". Spirited Away (2001) was the all-time highest-grossing film in Japan until overtaken by Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train in 2020. It was also
3984-512: A slight increase in production costs and animator pays during the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout 2020 and 2021 the American streaming service Netflix announced that it will greatly invest and fund the anime industry as well as support training programs for new animators. On April 27, 2023, Nippon Anime Film Culture Association (NAFCA) was officially founded. The association aims to solve problems in
4150-550: A sponsorship from the Imperial Japanese Navy . The 1950s saw a proliferation of short, animated advertisements created for television. In the 1960s, manga artist and animator Osamu Tezuka adapted and simplified Disney animation techniques to reduce costs and limit frame counts in his productions. Originally intended as temporary measures to allow him to produce material on a tight schedule with inexperienced staff, many of his limited animation practices came to define
4316-493: A television series produced by Gainax and directed by Hideaki Anno , began another era of experimental anime titles, such as Ghost in the Shell (1995) and Cowboy Bebop (1998). In the 1990s, anime also began attracting greater interest in Western countries; major international successes include Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z , both of which were dubbed into more than a dozen languages worldwide. In 2003, Spirited Away ,
4482-455: A whole, they do share some similar attributes in terms of animation technique and character design. Anime is fundamentally characterized by the use of limited animation, flat expression, the suspension of time, its thematic range, the presence of historical figures, its complex narrative line and, above all, a peculiar drawing style, with characters characterized by large and oval eyes, with very defined lines, bright colors and reduced movement of
4648-533: A young age; while attending elementary school, Maeda wrote his first amateur gamebook . Maeda was initially inspired by the Grailquest series of gamebooks by J.H. Brennan, especially the first two books in the series The Castle of Darkness and The Den of Dragons . Through junior-high school, Maeda worked on the school newspaper and even had some short stories published in the paper. Once attending Mie high school, he started to write lyrics and compose music . It
4814-591: Is mecha , with the Gundam metaseries being iconic. The diverse fantasy genre includes works based on Asian and Western traditions and folklore; examples include the Japanese feudal fairytale InuYasha , and the depiction of Scandinavian goddesses who move to Japan to maintain a computer called Yggdrasil in Ah! My Goddess . Genre crossing in anime is also prevalent, such as the blend of fantasy and comedy in Dragon Half , and
4980-467: Is an art form that comprises many genres found in other mediums; it is sometimes mistakenly classified as a genre itself. In Japanese, the term anime is used to refer to all animated works, regardless of style or origin. English-language dictionaries typically define anime ( / ˈ æ n ɪ m eɪ / ) as "a style of Japanese animation" or as "a style of animation originating in Japan". Other definitions are based on origin, making production in Japan
5146-489: Is largely credited with popularizing anime in the Western world during the early 1990s, before anime was further popularized by television shows such as Pokémon and Dragon Ball Z in the late 1990s. By 1997, Japanese anime was the fastest-growing genre in the American video industry. The growth of the Internet later provided international audiences with an easy way to access Japanese content. Early on, online piracy played
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5312-449: Is now its largest industry sector). By 2025 the anime industry is expected to reach a value of $ 30 billion with over 60% of that revenue coming from overseas. Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) valued the domestic anime market in Japan at ¥2.4 trillion ( $ 24 billion ), including ¥2 trillion from licensed products, in 2005. JETRO reported sales of overseas anime exports in 2004 to be ¥2 trillion ( $ 18 billion ). JETRO valued
5478-511: Is prevalent in the scenarios Maeda has written for visual novels , there are recurring themes related to the concept of a family and the bonds that hold it together. Most prevalent are the maternal bonds felt between a mother and daughter relationship, as can be seen strongly in Kanon , Air , and Clannad . However, in one of his earliest works, Moon , there was a conflict between the female protagonist and her late mother. Another recurring theme
5644-423: Is reinstated as student council president in accordance with their plan. They are joined by Hinata and Naoi, with the former helping Yui move on by fulfilling her desire for marriage. Mysterious shadow-like entities begin appearing, attacking the residents of the afterlife by turning them into NPCs. Otonashi reasons with the other SSS members and many of them agree to pass on in lieu of becoming an NPC. Yuri destroys
5810-600: Is that of magical realism , or adding fantastical elements into a story that would appear otherwise to be normal, such as with the concept of the illusionary world in Clannad , or the use of magic in Air and supernatural elements in Charlotte . Similarly, the concept of the switching between a real-life setting and the mystical Eternal World from One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e has been compared to Haruki Murakami's novel Hard-Boiled Wonderland and
5976-477: Is used to distinguish and identify Japanese animation. Emakimono and shadow plays ( kage-e ) are considered precursors of Japanese animation. Emakimono was common in the eleventh century. Traveling storytellers narrated legends and anecdotes while the emakimono was unrolled from the right to left in chronological order, as a moving panorama. Kage-e was popular during the Edo period and originated from
6142-524: The Guinness World Record for the "Most in-demand animated TV show" with a global demand rating 71.2 times than that of the average TV show, previously held by Attack on Titan . Anime differs from other forms of animation by its art styles, methods of animation, its production, and its process. Visually, anime works exhibit a wide variety of art styles, differing between creators, artists, and studios. While no single art style predominates anime as
6308-524: The Philippines , had fewer options for obtaining access to legal content, and therefore would still turn to online piracy. However beginning with the 2020s anime has been experiencing yet another boom in global popularity and demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic and streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video , HBO Max , Disney+ , Hulu and anime-only services like Crunchyroll and Hidive , increasing
6474-560: The Tokyo International Forum . A four-episode Internet radio show to promote Angel Beats! called Jun Maeda's Brutal Radio ( 麻枝准の殺伐ラジオ , Maeda Jun no Satsubatsu Rajio ) aired between May 30, 2009, and March 31, 2010. The show was hosted by Jun Maeda, though guests did make appearances, such as Yōsuke Toba, one of the series' producers, and Na-Ga. One month after each regular broadcast, an additional shorter broadcast called Postwar Disposition ( 戦後処理 , Sengo Shori )
6640-616: The United Kingdom wanting to get a degree in the Japanese language . The word anime alongside other Japanese pop cultural terms like shonen , shojo and isekai have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary . Various anime and manga series have influenced Hollywood in the making of numerous famous movies and characters. Hollywood itself has produced live-action adaptations of various anime series such as Ghost in
6806-450: The highest-grossing anime film worldwide until it was overtaken by Makoto Shinkai 's 2016 film Your Name . Anime films represent a large part of the highest-grossing Japanese films yearly in Japan, with 6 out of the top 10 in 2014 , 2015 and also in 2016 . Anime has to be licensed by companies in other countries in order to be legally released. While anime has been licensed by its Japanese owners for use outside Japan since at least
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6972-581: The real robot genre. Robot anime series such as Gundam and Super Dimension Fortress Macross became instant classics in the 1980s, and the genre remained one of the most popular in the following decades. The bubble economy of the 1980s spurred a new era of high-budget and experimental anime films, including Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise (1987), and Akira (1988). Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995),
7138-675: The "fathers of anime") produced numerous films, the oldest surviving of which is Kōuchi's Namakura Gatana . Many early works were lost with the destruction of Shimokawa's warehouse in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake . By the mid-1930s, animation was well-established in Japan as an alternative format to the live-action industry. It suffered competition from foreign producers, such as Disney , and many animators, including Noburō Ōfuji and Yasuji Murata , continued to work with cheaper cutout animation rather than cel animation . Other creators, including Kenzō Masaoka and Mitsuyo Seo , nevertheless made great strides in technique, benefiting from
7304-529: The 1960s, the practice became well-established in the United States in the late 1970s to early 1980s, when such TV series as Gatchaman and Captain Harlock were licensed from their Japanese parent companies for distribution in the US market. The trend towards American distribution of anime continued into the 1980s with the licensing of titles such as Voltron and the 'creation' of new series such as Robotech through
7470-522: The 1980s and 1990s. These mass imports influenced anime popularity in Latin American , Arabic and German markets. The beginning of 1980 saw the introduction of Japanese anime series into the American culture. In the 1990s, Japanese animation slowly gained popularity in America. Media companies such as Viz and Mixx began publishing and releasing animation into the American market. The 1988 film Akira
7636-405: The 1980s, the medium has also seen widespread international success with the rise of foreign dubbed , subtitled programming, and since the 2010s due to the rise of streaming services and a widening demographic embrace of anime culture, both within Japan and worldwide. As of 2016, Japanese animation accounted for 60% of the world's animated television shows . As a type of animation , anime
7802-438: The 1990s. Since this practice raises concerns for copyright and piracy issues, fansubbers tend to adhere to an unwritten moral code to destroy or no longer distribute an anime once an official translated or subtitled version becomes licensed. They also try to encourage viewers to buy an official copy of the release once it comes out in English, although fansubs typically continue to circulate through file-sharing networks. Even so,
7968-463: The 2020s anime songs have experienced a rapid growth in global online popularity due to their widened availability on music streaming services like Spotify and promotion by fans and artists on social media. In 2023, the opening theme " Idol " by Yoasobi of the anime series Oshi no Ko topped the Billboard Global 200 Excl. U.S. charts with 45.7 million streams and 24,000 copies sold outside
8134-527: The Afterlife Battlefront ( 死んだ世界戦線 , Shinda Sekai Sensen ) , or SSS, an organization she founded and leads which rebels against an unseen God for their unfair circumstances in life. Their enemy is Angel, the student council president, who has supernatural powers and is believed to be God's associate. After joining the SSS, Otonashi meets other members, including Hideki Hinata, the co-founder; Masami Iwasawa,
8300-461: The BDs on Oricon. Volume one ranked at No. 5, volume two at No. 10, volume three at No. 13, volume four at No. 11, volume five at No. 8, volume six at No. 12, and volume seven at No. 15. The opening and ending theme song single "My Soul, Your Beats! / Brave Song" debuted at No. 3 on Japan's Oricon weekly singles chart, selling about 80,000 copies in its first week of sales. "My Soul, Your Beats! / Brave Song"
8466-510: The DVD format which offered the unique advantages; including multiple subtitling and dubbing tracks on the same disc. The DVD format also has its drawbacks in its usage of region coding ; adopted by the industry to solve licensing, piracy and export problems and restricted region indicated on the DVD player. The Video CD (VCD) format was popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan, but became only a minor format in
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#17328547996988632-505: The End of the World , which uses a similar dichotomy between reality and fantasy. After the production of Moon with its melancholic storylines, Maeda decided to shoot for what has later become known as a "crying game", starting with One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e . A crying game in this sense is a type of bishōjo game which can make the player cry for the characters, and thus give a more profound impact on
8798-539: The Global TV Demand Awards. Attack on Titan became the first ever non-English language series to earn the title of "World's Most In-Demand TV Show", previously held by only The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones . In 2024, the anime series Jujutsu Kaisen won the award of "Most In-Demand TV Series in the World 2023" in the Global TV Demand Awards. Rising interest in anime as well as Japanese video games has led to an increase of university students in
8964-560: The Internet . In addition to original works, anime are often adaptations of Japanese comics ( manga ), light novels , or video games . It is classified into numerous genres targeting various broad and niche audiences. Anime is a diverse medium with distinctive production methods that have adapted in response to emergent technologies. It combines graphic art, characterization, cinematography, and other forms of imaginative and individualistic techniques. Compared to Western animation, anime production generally focuses less on movement, and more on
9130-462: The Internet has led some animators to distribute works online in a format called " original net animation " (ONA). The home distribution of anime releases was popularized in the 1980s with the VHS and LaserDisc formats. The VHS NTSC video format used in both Japan and the United States is credited with aiding the rising popularity of anime in the 1990s. The LaserDisc and VHS formats were transcended by
9296-454: The Japanese film market, above the 4.6% market share for live-action works. The popularity and success of anime is seen through the profitability of the DVD market, contributing nearly 70% of total sales. According to a 2016 article on Nikkei Asian Review , Japanese television stations have bought over ¥60 billion worth of anime from production companies "over the past few years", compared with under ¥20 billion from overseas. There has been
9462-623: The May 2010 issue. The manga ended serialization in the magazine's May 2014 issue and continued serialization in Dengeki G's Comic between the June 2014 and December 2016 issues. Heaven's Door is based on the Angel Beats! Track Zero short stories. ASCII Media Works published 11 volumes for Angel Beats! Heaven's Door between December 18, 2010, and December 17, 2016. Heaven's Door was available in English on Kadokawa Corporation 's ComicWalker website and app , and
9628-506: The Movie: Mugen Train became the highest-grossing Japanese film and one of the world's highest-grossing films of 2020. It also became the fastest grossing film in Japanese cinema, because in 10 days it made 10 billion yen ($ 95.3m; £72m). It beat the previous record of Spirited Away which took 25 days. In 2021, the anime adaptations of Jujutsu Kaisen , Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and Tokyo Revengers were among
9794-455: The November 2009 and May 2010 issues. Two Internet radio shows were produced to promote Angel Beats! . A visual novel adaptation titled Angel Beats! 1st Beat was produced by Key and released for Windows on June 26, 2015. Angel Beats! received generally positive reviews from critics. The integration of various individual elements together, such as musical performances, humor and action,
9960-516: The Oricon singles chart, respectively, both selling about 35,000 copies in their first week of sales. The Girls Dead Monster album Keep The Beats! ranked at No. 6 on the Oricon albums chart, selling about 51,000 copies in its first week of sales. Keep The Beats! was awarded a Gold disc by the RIAJ in September 2010 for shipping over 100,000 copies. The version of Keep The Beats! with instrumental tracks and
10126-460: The Oricon singles chart, selling about 28,000 copies in its first week of sales. "Thousand Enemies" sold over 18,000 more copies over the next two weeks after its release. Girls Dead Monster's third single "Little Braver" debuted at No. 2 on the Oricon singles chart, selling about 38,800 copies in its first week of sales. Girls Dead Monster's fourth and fifth singles, "Last Song" and "Ichiban no Takaramono (Yui final ver.)", ranked at No. 2 and No. 3 on
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#173285479969810292-486: The Shell , Death Note , Dragon Ball Evolution and Cowboy Bebop . However most of these adaptations have been reviewed negatively by both the critics and the audience and have become box-office flops . The main reasons for the unsuccessfulness of Hollywood's adaptions of anime being the often change of plot and characters from the original source material and the limited capabilities a live-action movie or series can do in comparison to an animated counterpart. One of
10458-528: The U.S. "Idol" has become the first Japanese song and anime song to top the Billboard Global chart as well as taking the first spot on the Apple Music 's Top 100: Global chart. Anime are often classified by target demographic, including children's ( 子供 , kodomo ) , girls' ( 少女 , shōjo ) , boys' ( 少年 , shōnen ) , young men ( 青年 , Seinen ) , young women ( 女性 , josei ) and
10624-596: The United States that was closely associated with bootleg copies. A key characteristic of many anime television shows is serialization, where a continuous story arc stretches over multiple episodes or seasons. Traditional American television had an episodic format, with each episode typically consisting of a self-contained story. In contrast, anime shows such as Dragon Ball Z had a serialization format, where continuous story arcs stretch over multiple episodes or seasons, which distinguished them from traditional American television shows; serialization has since also become
10790-408: The United States was worth approximately $ 2.74 billion in 2009. Dubbed animation began airing in the United States in 2000 on networks like The WB and Cartoon Network 's Adult Swim . In 2005, this resulted in five of the top ten anime titles having previously aired on Cartoon Network. As a part of localization, some editing of cultural references may occur to better follow the references of
10956-451: The Viking and Barbapapa , which aired in various countries. Italy , Spain , and France grew a particular interest in Japan's output, due to its cheap selling price and productive output. As of 2014, Italy imported the most anime outside Japan. Anime and manga were introduced to France in the late 1970s and became massively popular in spite of a moral panic led by French politicians in
11122-659: The Year . In the United States, anime films compete in the Crunchyroll Anime Awards . There were also the American Anime Awards , which were designed to recognize excellence in anime titles nominated by the industry, and were held only once in 2006. Anime productions have also been nominated and won awards not exclusively for anime, like the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature or the Golden Bear . In recent years,
11288-513: The afterlife after achieving satisfaction through her music. After the SSS manages to demote Angel from her position, Otonashi partially regains his memories with the aid of deputy president Ayato Naoi's hypnosis . He later befriends Angel, whose real name is Kanade Tachibana, and remembers the rest of his past while in her presence. Otonashi helps her make peace with the SSS and learns of the afterlife's true purpose. He subsequently offers to aid Kanade in helping other SSS members to pass on, and Kanade
11454-475: The afterlife to help others move on. However, Kanade reveals that her regret was being unable to thank her heart's donor, Otonashi, for extending her life. Otonashi is heartbroken after she thanks him and passes on, leaving him alone in the afterlife. Later, two people resembling Otonashi and Kanade encounter each other on the street in the real world. In an alternate epilogue, Otonashi becomes the high school's student council president and helps lost souls depart from
11620-558: The afterlife while waiting to see Kanade again. The original creators of Angel Beats! , Jun Maeda and Na-Ga of Key , were interviewed in the July 2009 issue of ASCII Media Works ' Dengeki G's Magazine . Around the time Key completed the first release of their sixth visual novel Little Busters! , Yōsuke Toba of Aniplex (himself a fan of Key's works ) approached Maeda around October 2007 about collaborating to produce an original anime series. Maeda began meeting with Toba and Aniplex on
11786-406: The anime merchandising market was valued at about $ 950 million with the figurine segment accounting for most of the share and is expected to reach a value of over $ 2 billion by 2030. The global anime market size was valued at $ 26.055 billion in 2021 with 29% of the revenue coming from merchandise . It is expected that the global anime market will reach a value of $ 47.14 billion by 2028. By 2030
11952-466: The anime episodes including the OVA, information on the cast of characters, interviews from the voice acting cast and production staff, and illustrations featuring art from the anime. A four-panel comic strip manga , illustrated by Haruka Komowata and titled Angel Beats! The 4-koma: Bokura no Sensen Kōshinkyoku ( Angel Beats! The4コマ 僕らの戦線行進曲♪ , Angel Beats! The 4-koma: Our Battlefront March Song ) ,
12118-495: The anime industry has been accused by both Japanese and foreign media of underpaying and overworking its animators. In response the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida promised to improve the working conditions and salary of all animators and creators working in the industry. A few anime studios such as MAPPA have taken actions to improve the working conditions of their employees. There has also been
12284-494: The anime market in the United States at ¥520 billion ( $ 5.2 billion ), including $ 500 million in home video sales and over $ 4 billion from licensed products, in 2005. JETRO projected in 2005 that the worldwide anime market, including sales of licensed products, would grow to ¥10 trillion ( $ 100 billion ). The anime market in China was valued at $ 21 billion in 2017, and is projected to reach $ 31 billion by 2020. In Europe
12450-529: The anime series The Day I Became a God in 2020, contributing as the planner and writer. In 2021, Maeda published his first novel, Nekogarizoku no Osa . In December of that year, Maeda posted a message on Twitter saying that he had considered hanging himself following poor reception and online harassment surrounding his The Day I Became a God series, and stated the following day that he would retire from writing stories for anime projects. He had previously deactivated all of his social media accounts earlier in
12616-597: The anime series and mixed media project Angel Beats! as the planner and writer, as well as composing the anime's music. Maeda worked on Key's ninth game Rewrite with the composition of the game's music and as the quality checker. In 2015, Maeda designed and co-wrote the scenario for the Angel Beats! visual novel, as well as composing some of the game's music. Maeda once again collaborated with Na-Ga, Dengeki G's Magazine , P.A. Works , and Aniplex to produce his second anime series Charlotte in 2015, contributing as
12782-540: The anime's cast, were released with the first, fourth and sixth limited edition BD/DVD volumes. The seventh BD/DVD volume featured an original video animation (OVA) episode, as well as a bonus short which serves as another epilogue to the series. Each of the BD/DVD volumes contained commentaries by the characters performed by the voice cast and written by Maeda. A BD box set was released in Japan on June 24, 2015, and also included another OVA episode. Sentai Filmworks licensed
12948-402: The anime, and along with distributor Section23 Films , released the series on BD/DVD on July 26, 2011. Siren Visual licensed the anime for Australia and New Zealand. The series has also been licensed in the United Kingdom by Manga Entertainment and released the series on BD/DVD on June 25, 2012. In November 2017, Sentai Filmworks announced the release of the series would go out-of-print, and
13114-455: The atmosphere of the work. The backgrounds are not always invented and are occasionally based on real locations, as exemplified in Howl's Moving Castle and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya . Oppliger stated that anime is one of the rare mediums where putting together an all-star cast usually comes out looking "tremendously impressive". The cinematic effects of anime differentiates itself from
13280-424: The awards jury of the 14th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2010. Angel Beats! is set in the environment of a high school in the afterlife, a type of limbo for people who have experienced trauma or hardships in life and must overcome them before passing on and being reincarnated. The story follows Yuzuru Otonashi, a boy with amnesia who ends up in the afterlife. He meets Yuri Nakamura, a girl who invites him to join
13446-419: The black headband , taken from the character Yukiko Amagi from Persona 4 , who was Maeda's favorite heroine from that game. The length of Yuri's hair and the addition of a green ribbon were decided at production committee meetings. Angel's original concept began with the idea of a brave, fighting girl. Maeda cited that Angel's image had changed considerably over the development process and that originally she
13612-424: The case of Girls Dead Monster member Sekine and particularly the cryptic "character who speaks in puzzling English phrases" for TK. The Aniplex producer of Angel Beats! , Yōsuke Toba, was interviewed in the November 2009 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine , where he commented that a 13-episode anime with about 21 minutes per episode was not enough to tell the whole story of Angel Beats! Maeda had envisioned. Therefore,
13778-532: The character designs near the beginning of 2008. Na-Ga was worried that other computer graphics (CG) work for Key would get delayed, but he took the position because of his accumulated experience in CG. Maeda nominated Na-Ga because of the popular characters he designed in Little Busters! , and because of his frankness. Na-Ga designed Yuri based on her personality as a leader, though it was per Maeda's request that he added
13944-426: The comedic or harem genres; due to its popularity among adolescent and adult anime enthusiasts, the inclusion of such elements is considered a form of fan service . Some genres explore homosexual romances, such as yaoi (male homosexuality) and yuri (female homosexuality). While often used in a pornographic context, the terms yaoi and yuri can also be used broadly in a wider context to describe or focus on
14110-470: The company shortly after finishing his work on the scenario. Around this time, Jun Maeda was inspired by Hiroyuki Kanno 's pioneering 1996 eroge visual novel YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World . It demonstrated the storytelling potential of the visual novel medium, and influenced Maeda's later works. After leaving Scoop in 1997, Maeda went to work for the newly formed brand Tactics under
14276-576: The detail of settings and use of "camera effects", such as panning, zooming, and angle shots. Diverse art styles are used, and character proportions and features can be quite varied, with a common characteristic feature being large and emotive eyes. The anime industry consists of over 430 production companies , including major studios such as Studio Ghibli , Kyoto Animation , Sunrise , Bones , Ufotable , MAPPA , Wit Studio , CoMix Wave Films , Madhouse, Inc. , TMS Entertainment , Pierrot , Production I.G , Nippon Animation and Toei Animation . Since
14442-439: The early 20th century, when filmmakers started to experiment with techniques pioneered in France, Germany, the United States, and Russia. A claim for the earliest Japanese animation is Katsudō Shashin ( c. 1907 ), a private work by an unknown creator. In 1917, the first professional and publicly displayed works began to appear; animators such as Ōten Shimokawa , Seitarō Kitayama , and Jun'ichi Kōuchi (considered
14608-451: The early-2010s due to the advent of legal streaming services which simulcast new anime series often within a few hours of their domestic release. Since the 2010s, anime has become a global multibillion industry setting a sales record in 2017 of ¥2.15 trillion ($ 19.8 billion), driven largely by demand from overseas audiences. In 2019, Japan's anime industry was valued at $ 24 billion a year with 48% of that revenue coming from overseas (which
14774-498: The end of the series it's quite a different show than what it was at the beginning." Both Martin and Sinnott agree that a major flaw in the anime is that it is too short, and does not go into detail for a large number of characters. Stig Høgset at THEM Anime Reviews, however, panned the series in part because it "overloads the story with too many elements in an attempt to please as many people as possible." Høgset went on to describe Angel Beats as not having "any compelling characters" and
14940-493: The ending theme is "Brave Song" sung by Aoi Tada . The single containing both songs titled "My Soul, Your Beats! / Brave Song" was released on May 26, 2010, in limited (CD+DVD) and regular (CD) editions; the limited edition's DVD contains the opening and ending videos without the credits. The in-story band Girls Dead Monster is made up of the real-life singers Marina as Masami Iwasawa and LiSA as Yui. Five singles for Girls Dead Monster were released in 2010. The first, "Crow Song",
15106-461: The few particular exceptions to this includes Alita: Battle Angel , which has become a moderate commercial success, receiving generally positive reviews from both the critics and the audience for its visual effects and following the source material. The movie grossed $ 404 million worldwide, making it director Robert Rodriguez 's highest-grossing film. Anime and manga alongside many other imports of Japanese pop culture have helped Japan to gain
15272-409: The final e , to cue the reader to pronounce the letter, not to leave it silent as English orthography may suggest. Prior to the widespread use of anime , the term Japanimation , a portmanteau of Japan and animation, was prevalent throughout the 1970s and 1980s. In the mid-1980s, the term anime began to supplant Japanimation ; in general, the latter term now only appears in period works where it
15438-486: The first release on the label is the single "Killer Song" by Nagi Yanagi released in December 2011. Flaming June released an original concept album with Yanagi on April 25, 2012 titled Owari no Hoshi no Love Song . Maeda released the concept album Long Long Love Song featuring Anri Kumaki on July 26, 2017. In 2021, Maeda wrote and composed one song for The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls: Starlight Stage titled "Beat of
15604-403: The first televised and first color anime to debut. It was not until the 1960s when the first televised series were broadcast and it has remained a popular medium since. Works released in a direct-to-video format are called " original video animation " (OVA) or "original animation video" (OAV); and are typically not released theatrically or televised prior to home media release. The emergence of
15770-580: The first three episodes of P.A. Works' True Tears (2008), however, he was shocked at the high quality and immediately went to P.A. Works' studio in Toyama Prefecture to meet with the production staff in the hope that one day Aniplex could collaborate with them on a project together. The following week, Maeda brought up the subject of deciding on an animation studio for Angel Beats! and mentioned that he too had seen True Tears and had become interested in P.A. Works. Shortly after that, Toba formally made
15936-773: The first time in history. The anime industry has several annual awards that honor the year's best works. Major annual awards in Japan include the Ōfuji Noburō Award , the Mainichi Film Award for Best Animation Film , the Animation Kobe Awards, the Japan Media Arts Festival animation awards, the Seiyu Awards for voice actors, the Tokyo Anime Award and the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of
16102-422: The global anime market is expected to reach a value of $ 48.3 Billion with the largest contributors to this growth being North America , Europe, Asia–Pacific and The Middle East . The global anime market size was valued at $ 25.8 Billion in 2022 and is expected to have a market size of $ 62.7 Billion by 2032 with a CAGR of 9.4%. In 2019, the annual overseas exports of Japanese animation exceeded $ 10 billion for
16268-460: The goal of having music that would be useful as BGM tracks, which caused problems during the creation process. Iida realized that it was important for the music and the visuals to combine to create a synchronization between the two. Toba first took notice of Angel Beats! character designer and chief animator Katsuzō Hirata during the production of Gurren Lagann (2007) with his skill as an artist and ability to finish work quickly, but thoroughly. It
16434-450: The head; many chibi characters are two to four heads tall. Some anime works like Crayon Shin-chan completely disregard these proportions, in such a way that they resemble caricatured Western cartoons . A common anime character design convention is exaggerated eye size. The animation of characters with large eyes in anime can be traced back to Osamu Tezuka, who was deeply influenced by such early animation characters as Betty Boop , who
16600-462: The incorporation of slapstick humor in the crime anime film Castle of Cagliostro . Other subgenres found in anime include magical girl , harem, sports, martial arts, literary adaptations, medievalism , and war. Early anime works were made for theatrical viewing, and required played musical components before sound and vocal components were added to the production. In 1958, Nippon Television aired Mogura no Abanchūru (" Mole's Adventure "), both
16766-496: The industry, including the improvement of conditions of the workers. Anime has become commercially profitable in Western countries , as demonstrated by early commercially successful Western adaptations of anime, such as Astro Boy and Speed Racer . Early American adaptions in the 1960s made Japan expand into the continental European market, first with productions aimed at European and Japanese children, such as Heidi , Vicky
16932-432: The international availability of the amount of new licensed anime shows as well as the size of their catalogs. Netflix reported that, between October 2019 and September 2020, more than 100 million member households worldwide had watched at least one anime title on the platform. Anime titles appeared on the streaming platform's top-ten lists in almost 100 countries within the one-year period. As of 2021, anime series are
17098-450: The label, Maeda produced three singles and one album where he wrote and composed all the songs which include: " Natsukage / Nostalgia ", " Birthday Song,Requiem ", " Spica/Hanabi/Moon ", and Love Song ; the songs on the first three were sung by Lia and the fourth was sung by Riya . Maeda wrote and composed the two songs "Doll", performed separately by Lia and Aoi Tada , and "Human", performed by Lia; both versions of "Doll" were used as
17264-404: The laid back regulations of the Japanese animation industry tend to overlook these issues, allowing it to grow underground and thus increasing its popularity until there is a demand for official high-quality releases for animation companies. This has led to an increase in global popularity of Japanese animation, reaching $ 40 million in sales in 2004. Fansub practices have rapidly declined since
17430-433: The lead vocalist of a four-girl rock band, Girls Dead Monster (GDM); and Yui, a younger fan of GDM. Other than the SSS members, the afterlife is populated by fabricated students and teachers, whom Yuri refers to as " non-player characters " (NPCs). Otonashi participates in several SSS operations and missions, despite still questioning the morality of their actions. During one of GDM's diversion concerts, Iwasawa passes on from
17596-497: The lips. Modern anime follows a typical animation production process, involving storyboarding , voice acting , character design , and cel production . Since the 1990s, animators have increasingly used computer animation to improve the efficiency of the production process. Early anime works were experimental, and consisted of images drawn on blackboards, stop motion animation of paper cutouts, and silhouette animation . Cel animation grew in popularity until it came to dominate
17762-597: The lyrics. Due to this, Maeda pointed out that the opening and ending theme songs for Angel Beats! , which Maeda also composed, sound like they were composed by a different person compared to the Girls Dead Monster songs. In regards to bringing in P.A. Works as the animation studio, Toba had taken notice of the company back when they provided in-between animation and production assistance for Fullmetal Alchemist (2003–4) and Darker than Black (2007), respectively; Aniplex helped produce both series. After watching just
17928-436: The main ending theme songs for the second season of the anime series Gunslinger Girl in 2008, while "Human" was used for the final episode. Maeda's first involvement as a main composer was with the 2008 visual novel 5 by Ram where he composed about twenty background music tracks. Maeda also wrote and composed the opening and ending themes used in 5 . Maeda formed his own record label named Flaming June in 2011, and
18094-464: The medium's style. Three Tales (1960) was the first anime film broadcast on television; the first anime television series was Instant History (1961–64). An early and influential success was Astro Boy (1963–66), a television series directed by Tezuka based on his manga of the same name . Many animators at Tezuka's Mushi Production later established major anime studios (including Madhouse , Sunrise , and Pierrot ). The 1970s saw growth in
18260-447: The medium. In the 21st century, the use of other animation techniques is mostly limited to independent short films , including the stop motion puppet animation work produced by Tadahito Mochinaga , Kihachirō Kawamoto and Tomoyasu Murata. Computers were integrated into the animation process in the 1990s, with works such as Ghost in the Shell and Princess Mononoke mixing cel animation with computer-generated images. Fuji Film ,
18426-413: The most demanded foreign-language television shows in the United States accounting for 30.5% of the market share. (In comparison, Spanish-language and Korean-language shows account for 21% and 11% of the market share, respectively.) In 2021 more than half of Netflix's global members watched anime. In 2022, the anime series Attack on Titan won the award of "Most In-Demand TV Series in the World 2021" in
18592-509: The move of many characters of the anime and manga series Naruto . In April 2021, Peruvian politicians Jorge Hugo Romero of the PPC and Milagros Juárez of the UPP cosplayed as anime characters to get the otaku vote. On October 28, 2024, The Vatican unveiled its own anime-styled mascot, " Luce ", in order to connect with Catholic youth through pop culture. Jun Maeda After graduating with
18758-468: The music for all of Key's titles except for Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet and Rewrite Harvest festa! . He also composed and wrote the lyrics to the ending theme song for the Clannad anime series, and similarly for the opening theme song for the Clannad After Story anime series. Music that Maeda composes for Key titles is published on Key's record label Key Sounds Label . On
18924-407: The non-Japanese culture. The cost of English localization averages US$ 10,000 per episode. The industry has been subject to both praise and condemnation for fansubs , the addition of unlicensed and unauthorized subtitled translations of anime series or films. Fansubs, which were originally distributed on VHS bootlegged cassettes in the 1980s, have been freely available and disseminated online since
19090-455: The past three years. The Angel Beats! anime was selected as a recommended work by the awards jury of the 14th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2010. Each of the Angel Beats! Blu-ray Disc (BD) compilation volumes ranked in the top three on Japan's Oricon weekly BD sales chart. Volumes one and four ranked at No. 1, volumes two and five ranked at No. 2, and volumes three, six and seven ranked at No. 3. The DVD volumes, however, ranked lower than
19256-490: The patronage of the government, which employed animators to produce educational shorts and propaganda . In 1940, the government dissolved several artists' organizations to form the Shin Nippon Mangaka Kyōkai . The first talkie anime was Chikara to Onna no Yo no Naka (1933), a short film produced by Masaoka. The first feature-length anime film was Momotaro: Sacred Sailors (1945), produced by Seo with
19422-411: The planner, writer, and composing the anime's music. In 2016, Maeda revealed that he was suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy , and that to recover from this condition, he would need a heart transplant . Maeda is credited for the original concept and the composition of the music for Key's visual novel Summer Pockets . Maeda collaborated with Na-Ga, P.A. Works, and Aniplex for a third time to produce
19588-503: The players. When working on Kanon with a similar goal, Maeda worked in depressing elements to the two heroines' stories he wrote for: Makoto Sawatari , and Mai Kawasumi . Jun Maeda composes and writes lyrics for songs and background music featured in games he works on. At Nexton , he composed a single piece of music for Moon , but did not contribute to the music in One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e . At Key, Maeda has worked on
19754-439: The popularity of manga, many of which were later animated. Tezuka's work—and that of other pioneers in the field—inspired characteristics and genres that remain fundamental elements of anime today. The giant robot genre (also known as " mecha "), for instance, took shape under Tezuka, developed into the super robot genre under Go Nagai and others, and was revolutionized at the end of the decade by Yoshiyuki Tomino , who developed
19920-408: The proportions of the human body in reality. The height of the head is considered by the artist as the base unit of proportion. Head to height ratios vary drastically by art style, with most anime characters falling between 5 and 8 heads tall. Anime artists occasionally make deliberate modifications to body proportions to produce chibi characters that feature a disproportionately small body compared to
20086-420: The proposal to P.A. Works to animate the project. Maeda focused on making jokes an important part of Angel Beats! , leading Toba to seek out Seiji Kishi to be the director, because of his experience in directing and his pulling power influence on the staff of P.A. Works, where there are many that are still young. Kishi was ultimately approached by P.A. Works representative director Kenji Horikawa about working on
20252-440: The publisher Nexton . There, he went to work on the scenario and musical composition of Tactics' second game Moon , followed by his work on the scenario for their third game One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e in 1998. After realizing the positive reception received for both titles, Maeda and much of the staff who made both Moon and One , including Itaru Hinoue , Shinji Orito , Naoki Hisaya , and OdiakeS , left Tactics to work under
20418-439: The rest of the character routes. However, in the afterword of the 11th volume of Angel Beats! Heaven's Door released in December 2016, Maeda revealed that subsequent volumes had been cancelled, with the content that had been planned for future games used as a basis for the manga Angel Beats! The Last Operation . Angel Beats! received generally positive reviews. In a review by Anime News Network , reviewer Theron Martin praised
20584-470: The scenario for Key's next title Air , along with again working as the lyricist and one of the composers for the music featured in the game. After a period of four years in 2004, Key released their third and longest game Clannad where Maeda did a vast amount of the writing for the game; in all, Maeda put in around 75% of the work that went into the creation of Clannad . Also in 2004, Maeda began writing his first manga entitled Hibiki's Magic , which
20750-445: The scenario of Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life and Little Busters! . The art director and character designer is Na-Ga. Rated for all ages, Angel Beats! 1st Beat was released on June 26, 2015, for Windows . The scenario covers up to the tenth episode of the anime as well as Iwasawa's, Matsushita's and Yui's routes with Otonashi as the main protagonist. Six total volumes were initially planned, with subsequent volumes covering
20916-484: The scenario staff for Key any longer. However, in an interview in the December 2007 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine , Maeda said that he would still be working on the music for Key's next game. In 2007, Maeda also composed the ending theme for the game Himawari no Chapel de Kimi to for the company Marron, and he was on the music staff for Ram's game 5 released in July 2008. Maeda worked in collaboration with Na-Ga and ASCII Media Works ' Dengeki G's Magazine to
21082-494: The script, and found it difficult to write an entire script by himself, since he had never done that before with any of the games he produced as a member of Key. It was only after the script was done that Maeda was able to work on the music, which he greatly enjoyed and never tired of it. Maeda composed about 15 songs for Girls Dead Monster and spent about two days each composing each song. He made sure to create songs for Girls Dead Monster that high school girls would compose, including
21248-492: The script. The decision to add in the all female band Girls Dead Monster was due to Maeda's intent to add in many different and interesting elements into the series. Kishi specifically requested that sound and music director Satoki Iida work on the project, who also helped with the proofreading of the script due to Maeda's fixation on the music production. Iida was interviewed in the April 2010 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine , where it
21414-429: The series for integrating individual elements together, including the Girls Dead Monster musical performance scenes, scenes where humor dominates, and action scenes. A common theme in supernatural anime, according to Martin, are souls discontent with their former lives, but the concept of Angel Beats! is described as "quite unusual" because it features all the main characters as such souls and gathers them in one place. In
21580-540: The series in mind—but are also aimed at the general music market, therefore they often allude only vaguely or not at all, to the thematic settings or plot of the series. Also, they are often used as incidental music ("insert songs") in an episode, in order to highlight particularly important scenes. Future funk , a musical microgenre that evolved in the early 2010s from Vaporwave with a French house Euro disco influence, heavily uses anime visuals and samples along with Japanese City pop to build an aesthetic. Since
21746-549: The series was later removed from their catalogue and online streaming service Hidive. Crunchyroll later added the series to its catalog in the Americas, the United Kingdom and Ireland in 2019. The anime's music is composed by Maeda and the group Anant-Garde Eyes, who also provided the musical arrangement . The music is released on Key's record label Key Sounds Label . The opening theme is "My Soul, Your Beats!" sung by Lia and
21912-437: The series' humor is largely thought to be annoying. However, Høgset praised P.A. Works for the animation of the action sequences, as did Martin, who added that there is "great detail work on the weapons and instruments used." The sixth episode of Angel Beats! , which aired on May 8, 2010, on Osaka's MBS station in Japan, achieved a record 4.9% rating for an anime series broadcast during the late-night "Anime Shower" timeslot in
22078-492: The series, "maintaining distinctiveness is essential for survival as an individual," which Martin calls a "sly condemnation of the rigorous conformity impressed upon students by Japanese schooling." Overall, Angel Beats! was lauded for "requir[ing] no great familiarity with anime to enjoy." On the DVD Talk website, reviewer John Sinnott praised the plot for advancing and changing in unexpected ways: "The plot evolves quickly and by
22244-634: The shadow plays of China. Magic lanterns from the Netherlands were also popular in the eighteenth century. The paper play called kamishibai surged in the twelfth century and remained popular in the street theater until the 1930s. Puppets of the Bunraku theater and ukiyo-e prints are considered ancestors of characters of most Japanese animation. Finally, manga were a heavy inspiration for anime. Cartoonists Kitzawa Rakuten and Okamoto Ippei used film elements in their strips. Animation in Japan began in
22410-565: The source of the shadows, which were created by computers programmed to activate when love was detected in the afterlife to prevent it from becoming a paradise. Her affection for the members of the SSS allow her to finally overcome her regret, and by this time, the only other ones who have not passed on are Otonashi, Kanade, Hinata and Naoi. The five remaining students hold a graduation ceremony before Naoi, Yuri and Hinata pass on leaving only Otonashi and Kanade. Otonashi confesses to Kanade that he has fallen in love with her and wants them to remain in
22576-426: The stage plays found in American animation. Anime is cinematically shot as if by camera, including panning, zooming, distance and angle shots to more complex dynamic shots that would be difficult to produce in reality. In anime, the animation is produced before the voice acting, contrary to American animation which does the voice acting first. The body proportions of human anime characters tend to accurately reflect
22742-519: The studios are organized into a trade association , The Association of Japanese Animations . There is also a labor union for workers in the industry, the Japanese Animation Creators Association . Studios will often work together to produce more complex and costly projects, as done with Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away . An anime episode can cost between US$ 100,000 and US$ 300,000 to produce. In 2001, animation accounted for 7% of
22908-540: The themes or the development of the relationships themselves. Anime's genre classification differs from other types of animation and does not lend itself to simple classification. Gilles Poitras compared the labeling of Gundam 0080 and its complex depiction of war as a "giant robot" anime akin to simply labeling War and Peace a "war novel". Science fiction is a major anime genre and includes important historical works like Tezuka's Astro Boy and Yokoyama 's Tetsujin 28-go . A major subgenre of science fiction
23074-405: The top 10 most discussed TV shows worldwide on Twitter. In 2022, Attack on Titan won the award of "Most In-Demand TV Series in the World 2021" in the Global TV Demand Awards. Attack on Titan became the first ever non-English language series to earn the title of World's Most In-Demand TV Show, previously held by only The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones . In 2024, Jujutsu Kaisen broke
23240-1054: The use of source material from several original series. In the early 1990s, several companies began to experiment with the licensing of less child-oriented material. Some, such as A.D. Vision , and Central Park Media and its imprints, achieved fairly substantial commercial success and went on to become major players in the now very lucrative American anime market. Others, such as AnimEigo , achieved limited success. Many companies created directly by Japanese parent companies did not do as well, most releasing only one or two titles before completing their American operations. Licenses are expensive, often hundreds of thousands of dollars for one series and tens of thousands for one movie. The prices vary widely; for example, Jinki: Extend cost only $ 91,000 to license while Kurau Phantom Memory cost $ 960,000. Simulcast Internet streaming rights can be cheaper, with prices around $ 1,000–2,000 an episode, but can also be more expensive, with some series costing more than US$ 200,000 per episode. The anime market for
23406-414: The various additional media, such as the illustrated short stories and manga , contain some of the story that was unable to make it into the anime because of time constraints. Toba wanted fans of the series to be able to enjoy it to the fullest by exploring all of the media types. Maeda found it tiring to go back and forth between Osaka and Tokyo for business meetings when he was in the process of writing
23572-435: The venues ultimately sold out. A BD/DVD video album box set titled Girls Dead Monster starring LiSA Tour 2010 Final: Keep The Angel Beats! of the tour's final performance was released on June 1, 2011, by Key Sounds Label bearing the catalog numbers KSLV-0001–0003 . The last concert of Girls Dead Monster was held on December 27, 2010, at an event called "Girls Dead Monster Last Live: Final Operation" featuring Marina and LiSA at
23738-435: The video game publishing company VisualArt's where they formed the company Key . After forming Key, Maeda worked on the music and scenario for their first title Kanon released in 1999, which proved to be very popular in the adult game market in Japan. Beside Maeda, the majority of Kanon 's scenario was written by Naoki Hisaya, but he quit Key shortly after Kanon was produced. Following this, Maeda wrote most of
23904-532: The year for a similar reason. His most recent work, Heaven Burns Red , was released in Japan in February 2022 for iOS and Android . It is a turn-based role-playing game with visual novel and gacha game elements created in tandem with Wright Flyer Studios. Maeda deactivated his social media accounts for a second time following criticism of his writing quality on an event story within Heaven Burns Red . As
24070-698: Was 6 years old when my mother took me to Japan. I felt it growing up in Hawaii, like communities across our country, home to so many proud Japanese Americans... Today is also a chance for Americans, especially our young people, to say thank you for all the things we love from Japan. Like karate and karaoke . Manga and anime. And, of course, emojis . In July 2020, after the approval of a Chilean government project in which citizens of Chile would be allowed to withdraw up to 10% of their privately held retirement savings, journalist Pamela Jiles celebrated by running through Congress with her arms spread out behind her, imitating
24236-472: Was after Toba saw Hirata's work as chief animator of Strike Witches (2008), however, that he pursued Hirata to join the Angel Beats! staff; Maeda also gave his seal of approval to Hirata. The 13-episode Angel Beats! anime television series is directed by Seiji Kishi and produced by P.A. Works and Aniplex . It aired in Japan between April 3 and June 26, 2010, on the CBC television network. The first episode
24402-584: Was at this time that he became immersed in the fantasy genre of fiction. While attending Chukyo University , Maeda managed to get some short stories published in Kadokawa Shoten 's light novel magazine The Sneaker . Finally, when he was writing his graduation thesis, he started listening to techno music. While still attending university, Maeda sought to begin working as a musical composer for video games, and desired to work at big-name companies like Nihon Falcom Corporation , Namco , and Capcom , but he
24568-593: Was awarded a Gold disc by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) in May 2010 for shipping over 100,000 copies. Girls Dead Monster's single "Crow Song" debuted at No. 7 on the Oricon singles chart, selling approximately 16,400 copies in about four days. "Crow Song" sold over 25,000 more copies over the next three weeks after its release. "Crow Song" was awarded a Gold disc by the RIAJ in November 2011 for shipping over 100,000 copies. The Girls Dead Monster single "Thousand Enemies" debuted at No. 4 on
24734-416: Was commended in one review but panned in another, saying that the story was overloaded with too many elements. P.A. Works was praised for the animation of the action sequences and attention to detail with the weapons used. A major flaw noted by critics, however, was the length of the anime, with its short run leaving many of the characters' back-stories unexplored. The anime was selected as a recommended work by
24900-403: Was drawn with disproportionately large eyes. Tezuka is a central figure in anime and manga history, whose iconic art style and character designs allowed for the entire range of human emotions to be depicted solely through the eyes. The artist adds variable color shading to the eyes and particularly to the cornea to give them greater depth. Generally, a mixture of a light shade, the tone color, and
25066-449: Was first conceived as a short story he wrote as a student. In 2005, Maeda worked on the scenario and music for Key's fifth game Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life , followed by Key's sixth title Little Busters! released in July 2007 which he also worked on in regards to the scenario and music. Maeda was reported to say in the February 2007 issue of Comptiq that after the completion of Little Busters! , he would not be working on
25232-644: Was licensed in North America by Seven Seas Entertainment , but only the first volume was released. Asami also illustrates the Angel Beats! The Last Operation manga, which began serialization in the October 2017 issue of Dengeki G's Comic . Dengeki G's Comic ceased publication with the May 2019 issue sold on March 30, 2019, but The Last Operation continued on ComicWalker and Niconico Seiga in April 2019 until March 2020. Four volumes were released for The Last Operation between January 26, 2018, and March 27, 2020. It
25398-563: Was on April 24, 2010, at the Tower Records in Shibuya, Tokyo where Marina and LiSA performed four songs. The first two, "Crow Song" and "Alchemy", were duets, while the third song "My Song" was sung by Marina, and LiSA sang "My Soul, Your Beats!". On June 5, 2010, at the same venue, Lia and Aoi Tada sang their songs from "My Soul, Your Beats! / Brave Song", Tada and LiSA sang "Crow Song" as a duet, and Lia and LiSA also sang "My Soul, Your Beats!" as
25564-546: Was previewed on March 22, 2010, to a selected number of people who participated in a lottery held earlier that month. The screenplay was written by Jun Maeda, who originally conceived the series. Chief animator Katsuzō Hirata based the character design used in the anime on Na-Ga 's original designs. Sound and music direction was headed by Satoki Iida. The series was released in seven BD / DVD compilation volumes between June 23 and December 22, 2010, in limited and regular editions. Three drama CDs , written by Maeda and performed by
25730-504: Was published by ASCII Media Works on December 18, 2010. Komowata also illustrated the Angel Beats! The 4-koma: Osora no Shinda Sekai kara ( Angel Beats! The4コマ お空の死んだ世界から ) four-panel comic strip manga, which was serialized between the December 2013 and January 2016 issues of Dengeki G's Magazine . Two volumes were released between October 24, 2014, and April 26, 2016. A manga illustrated by Yuriko Asami, titled Angel Beats! Heaven's Door , began serialization in Dengeki G's Magazine in
25896-406: Was released in December 2010, and a second OVA was released in June 2015. The story takes place in the afterlife and focuses on Otonashi, a boy who lost his memories of his life after dying. He is enrolled into the afterlife school and meets a girl named Yuri who invites him to join the Afterlife Battlefront, an organization she leads which fights against the student council president Kanade Tachibana,
26062-468: Was released on April 23 featuring songs sung by Iwasawa (Marina). The second and third singles, "Thousand Enemies" and "Little Braver", followed on May 12 and June 9, respectively, with songs sung by Yui (LiSA). The fourth single was "Last Song" by Iwasawa (Marina) and the fifth single was "Ichiban no Takaramono (Yui final ver.)" ( 一番の宝物～Yui final ver.～ ) by Yui (LiSA); both singles were released on December 8. A Girls Dead Monster album titled Keep The Beats!
26228-431: Was released on June 30, 2010. A version of Keep The Beats! containing instrumental tracks was released on July 28, 2010, bundled with a 256-page band score book. The anime's original soundtrack was released on July 28, 2010, as a two-CD set. A Girls Dead Monster mini-album titled Rare Tracks was released on December 28, 2014. There were several live performance events to promote the music from Angel Beats! . The first
26394-617: Was released. Another Internet radio show to promote the series titled Angel Beats! SSS Radio had a pre-broadcast on March 18, 2010, and had 51 regular weekly broadcasts between April 1, 2010, and March 31, 2011. Produced by Hibiki Radio Station, the show was hosted by Harumi Sakurai (the voice of Yuri), Kana Hanazawa (the voice of Angel) and Eri Kitamura (the voice of Yui). Seven CD compilation volumes containing all 51 episodes were released between June 23, 2010, and July 29, 2011. A series of seven illustrated short stories written by Jun Maeda and drawn by GotoP titled Angel Beats! Track Zero
26560-411: Was reported in 2010 that Jun Maeda was writing the scenario for a visual novel video game adaptation of Angel Beats! , and the game was officially announced in September 2013. Developed by Key , Maeda led the production team as the designer and one of the scenario writers. Two additional writers included Kai, who previously contributed to the scenario of Clannad , and Leo Kashida, who had worked on
26726-543: Was serialized between the December 2009 and October 2013 issues of ASCII Media Works' Dengeki G's Magazine . Komowata was also in charge of illustrating a manga which showcased the progress of the Angel Beats! project and was serialized between the September 2009 and July 2010 issues of Dengeki G's Magazine . Four tankōbon volumes for Angel Beats! The 4-koma were released between December 18, 2010, and November 27, 2013, under ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Comics EX imprint . An anthology titled Angel Beats! Comic Anthology
26892-423: Was serialized between the November 2009 and May 2010 issues of ASCII Media Works 's Dengeki G's Magazine . Track Zero is a prequel to Angel Beats! featuring Hinata as the main character and tells the story of how the SSS was formed. A special extra chapter focusing on Girls Dead Monster was published in the sixth volume of Dengeki G's Festival! Deluxe on March 29, 2010. The short stories were collected into
27058-458: Was similar to Shiki Ryōgi from Kara no Kyōkai . Eventually, Angel's concept changed to being a "silent and mysterious girl". Before Na-Ga decided on Otonashi's design, Maeda told him that anything would be fine and to just draw something, and eventually drew up a prototype for Otonashi and Hinata, among others. Some of the characters had vague initial conditions given by Maeda, such as asking Na-Ga to draw an " all female band bass guitarist " in
27224-453: Was stated that Maeda and the group Anant-Garde Eyes received Iida's approval to employ a minimalist approach to the background music (BGM) used throughout the anime. Iida admitted that it was uncustomary to use this music genre in anime and that he had to go through various trials and errors with Maeda and Anant-Garde Eyes to get the music right. Maeda and Anant-Garde Eyes strove to create individual quality music tracks, while Iida pursued
27390-464: Was struck by inspiration, where he thought up the initial idea of a story set in the afterlife. Furthermore, with everyone already dead, Maeda conceived of flashy battles where the combatants go all out without fear of death. According to Maeda, the theme of the series is "life", which in Angel Beats! is depicted as a precious and wonderful thing, despite the characters in Angel Beats! who fight against their fate. Maeda nominated Na-Ga to begin work on
27556-480: Was unsuccessful. He eventually was able to be granted an interview with the video game developer TGL, but was unable to supply correct documentation, and did not get the job. As he was unable to get a job working with music, Maeda decided to change his occupational choice to that of a scenario writer for a video game company. At the time in the mid-1990s, scenario writers for consumer video games were inexperienced, so Maeda decided to shoot for adult games instead. During
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