BEGINNING OF WESTERN ANIME
According to Wired.com, The Japanese cartoon art form has grabbed the attention of American entertainment companies looking for new ideas. Game developers, television executives and movie directors have been scouring Asia looking for the next Spirited Away, which won the Oscar for best animated feature film in 2003. Video games may have been the biggest influence on anime in America. Nintendo and Sega both revitalized the stagnant domestic video-game market by releasing games based on popular anime franchises in the mid-1980s.
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POKEMON
Everyone knows Pokemon. Pokemon is the most successful and most popular anime show in America. This popular anime show features the main character Satoshi travels around the Pokemon world with a group of friends collecting new Pokemon and meeting new people. The main character in the American version of Pokemon is Ash. The animations of both versions of the shows are pretty much identical, but there are key differences between the American show and the Japanese show. One big change is that in the American version lively music is played throughout the show. while in the Japanese cartoon music is only used occasionally. Also, the characters have very different personalities. James, an enemy of Ash in both versions of the cartoon, is said to be sinister and sober, in the Japanese version. While for Americans, James is comical, and flashy. Another key difference, James Pokemon Meowth is considered something like an Eastern Philosopher in Japan, while in America Meowth speaks clownishly, with a tough-guy New York accent. This shows the difference between the tastes of Japan and America. Pokemon in America is a huge industry for the U.S. Reshaping each Pokémon cartoon for American audiences takes up to three months and costs nearly $100,000. Is it worth it? Millions of American children say yes. Pokémon is now the number one children's program in America, and in most areas is broadcast every weekday as well as twice each Saturday. Meanwhile, Pokémon products have inspired a trading frenzy, with rare Japanese originals in high demand.
SPEED RACER
Speed Racer is an English adaptation name of the Japanese manga and anime, Mach Go Go Go which centered on automobile racing. Mach Go Go Go was originally serialized in print form in Shueisha's 1958 Shonen Book, and was released in tankōbon book form by Sun Wide Comics, re-released in Japan by Fusosha. From 1967 to 1968 it ran as a television series in the United States, with 52 episodes.The manga spawned an anime adaptation which became a bigger success than the manga which was created around the same time as its appearance. This is just another great example of how anime has had a big influence in the west, particularly the United States. According to The manga spawned an anime adaptation which became a bigger success than the manga which was created around the same time as its appearance. In 1997, Tatsunoko produced a modernized version of Mach GoGoGo which aired on TV Tokyo and lasted for 34 episodes. An English adaptation of this remake was produced by DiC titled Speed Racer X, which aired in 2002 on Nickelodeon, but only the first 11 episodes were adapted due to licensing disputes between DiC and the Speed Racer Enterprise. Like Pokemon, some changes were made from the original Japanese version of Speed Racer to the Americanized version. For example, Speed Racer's name was changed from Toshiro to Go. Major editing and dubbing was performed to suit the American liking, as well as the melody of the theme song was completely changed for the American version. In an effort to squeeze the complicated plots into existing lip movements, the frantic pace of the dubbing made Speed Racer famous and famously parodied, for its quirky fast dialogue and constant gasping.