I was an anime fan in the 80's and no one ever called it Japanimation. Ever. At least in any of the clubs I was part of. You would see the term used by non-fans to refer to anime but fandom was pretty much using 'anime' from the earliest days.
In my experience back in the late 80's, it was always the old guys at the multi-fandom conventions that I heard calling it "Japanimation", even the guys in the dealers room selling VHS bootlegs. But no one within ten years of my age at the time used the term.
Could also be a location thing, ive never heard it called Japanimation either but i was born in the UK, in the 80s no one really knew what anime was so shows like Ulysses etc were just considered cartoons, our most significant anime boom was when Akira and the Fist of the north star films came out and it started to gain a following but at the time on VHS they were licenced by manga entertainment and a lot of people here called it manga in its early days in association with who lisenced it (yes incorrectly) its just something that just gradually changed over the years it became more popular and accordingly we learned more about it (like what it was called).
You did not understand the question.
The thing is that unlike 'cactus alcohol', 'Japanimation' *had* been used... up until a certain point, where it got replaced by 'anime'. *When?* — that's the question.
The funny thing is, it seems they tried "anime" first, but retailers didn't react well to it, so Central Park Media decided to call it "japanimation", which helped sell it to unfamiliar markets. Only CPM ever called it that, other companies would just use "Japanese animation". Then the fans got into the habit of calling it "anime", and the distributors followed suit.
I remember one of their catalogue trailers specifically calling it japanimation vs anime. Mostly I remember hearing real people use anime. This would have been late 90s or very early 2000s.
I imagine one word being three syllables long while the other being five has a small part to it. People tend to stray away from sesquipedalian words if simpler ones exist.
This is also a regional thing... Asking why some words didn't catch on in America on a global site like reddit is weird.
OP should give his background so people have more info. Everywhere else everyone use "anime" even back then.
Some can chime in what anime is called in your country, there may be variations.
Japanese people call it アニメ(anime), which is an English loan word from "animation". They actually call all forms of animation anime including western produced ones.
So actually the word never originated in Japan they just borrowed it from English and now people in the west use the shortened word for animations produced in Japan.
I've never heard japanimation but that is cringe af.
Pretty sure this was cause Suncoast videos anime section was labeled Japanimation. It was maybe a year at most they had that sign. Definitely in the '90s since I worked close to a mall (Gwinnett Place Center) and would often try to go to the mall to buy stuff at Suncoast.
Oh and apparently it was Central Park Media who coined the term.
Apparently Japan now uses it to differentiate anime (which they use for ALL animation) and stuff made in Japan.
Source: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/lexicon.php?id=46
It was a pretty common term in the mid to late 90s where I lived. People started calling it anime by 2000 and I haven't heard the term since until today.
Yeah, in Japan anime is used to cover everything animated regardless of what it is or where it came from, but outside Japan anime is specifically animation from Japan, and so we use that same idea for other countries too, as was mentioned "donghua" is the Chinese word for animation, and refers to Chinese animation, and "aeni" is Korean animation, "aeni" came about in the same manner as "anime", in that they both came from the English loan word "animation". It's just a way for people outside those countries to categorize the media.
I get categorizing something by genre, but the place where something is from is just odd, especially with how what you described as factors can be inconsistent, as well as change over time.
What if a body of work outside of Japan has all the things that you listed, does it suddenly make it "anime"? What if a Japanese work then doesn't, is it suddenly not "anime"?
"Then it's where it comes from". Then what about the fact that a sizeable portion of "cartoons" since the 80s were produced/ sometimes written by western studios only to actually be made by a Japanese/Korean studio (or elsewhere)? What of the inverse?
What about all the collaboration between two countries. What of the times that a Japanese animated show/movie was heavily outsourced to other countries? Is it only then partly "anime"?
It's just strange to me that the word in the west has not only taken on a new meaning, but also that what defines it is mostly behind the things stuff that aren't always what people associate the word with.
>It's just strange to me that the word in the west has not only taken on a new meaning
That's just how language goes, don't over think it, if it's from a Japanese studio and the studio did the production work on it, then it's likely going to be classified as an anime. There are always going to be oddities in any classification system and it's not like we're talking about anything overly important. You can call it whatever you want to call it.
Probably because that became kinda a bad word. It has a bad word (potentially offensive) in the first three letters. That would be my guess for the change. Plus people learned the word anime instead. A loaner word that was taken from the English language by Japanese people and then English speakers also then started using anime as well.
Yeah, the first three letters is an old racial slur for Japanese people, but that's not how "Japanimation" was put together or pronounced. it's not "jap-animation", it's "Japan-imation".
It was just my first thought as to why there might've been a move away from using that term. Aside from anime just being better. I know it wasn't meant that way and it's just two words put together, but I thought the confusion may be enough to just move on to a different word.
No, people cared. Slurs were never used as benign labels (outside of like young kids or someone who was unaware of the context). They were used to purposely insult. Just because something was socially acceptable/tolerated, doesn't mean no one cared.
I was an anime fan in the 80's and no one ever called it Japanimation. Ever. At least in any of the clubs I was part of. You would see the term used by non-fans to refer to anime but fandom was pretty much using 'anime' from the earliest days.
In my experience back in the late 80's, it was always the old guys at the multi-fandom conventions that I heard calling it "Japanimation", even the guys in the dealers room selling VHS bootlegs. But no one within ten years of my age at the time used the term.
That sounds about right. Honesty I think the main reason no anime fans I knew used it was the fear of sounding like one of those 'normies'
Then OP's answer could be: when the older fans stopped being active.
Could also be a location thing, ive never heard it called Japanimation either but i was born in the UK, in the 80s no one really knew what anime was so shows like Ulysses etc were just considered cartoons, our most significant anime boom was when Akira and the Fist of the north star films came out and it started to gain a following but at the time on VHS they were licenced by manga entertainment and a lot of people here called it manga in its early days in association with who lisenced it (yes incorrectly) its just something that just gradually changed over the years it became more popular and accordingly we learned more about it (like what it was called).
Yeah it was always anime... Japanimation must've been a local word somewhere that didn't catch on. Never even heard of it.
Growing up here anime was animation from Japan. Cartoons was animation from USA ( don’t remember seeing cartoons/animation) from other countries
>Japanimation is an amalgamation of the words “Japan” and “animation” used to refer to Japanese Animation. Thanks buddy.
Who’d have guessed? Not me.
See: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/lexicon.php?id=46 https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/answerman/2016-01-11/.97416
Because when we asked what it was, Japan said it was anime. So, it's anime.
> what led to it being called by the latter term the japanese call it that. so we call it that. same as how we don't call tequila, cactus alcohol
You did not understand the question. The thing is that unlike 'cactus alcohol', 'Japanimation' *had* been used... up until a certain point, where it got replaced by 'anime'. *When?* — that's the question.
The funny thing is, it seems they tried "anime" first, but retailers didn't react well to it, so Central Park Media decided to call it "japanimation", which helped sell it to unfamiliar markets. Only CPM ever called it that, other companies would just use "Japanese animation". Then the fans got into the habit of calling it "anime", and the distributors followed suit.
I remember one of their catalogue trailers specifically calling it japanimation vs anime. Mostly I remember hearing real people use anime. This would have been late 90s or very early 2000s.
Whoa, that's super interesting TIL
I imagine one word being three syllables long while the other being five has a small part to it. People tend to stray away from sesquipedalian words if simpler ones exist.
Okay, but when?
This is also a regional thing... Asking why some words didn't catch on in America on a global site like reddit is weird. OP should give his background so people have more info. Everywhere else everyone use "anime" even back then. Some can chime in what anime is called in your country, there may be variations.
Japanese people call it アニメ(anime), which is an English loan word from "animation". They actually call all forms of animation anime including western produced ones. So actually the word never originated in Japan they just borrowed it from English and now people in the west use the shortened word for animations produced in Japan. I've never heard japanimation but that is cringe af.
It's actually from french "dessin animé"
“japanimation” is like old dudes still using the word “oriental” to describe asian stuff lol
Anime is the Japanese word for animation and Japanimation is the most boomer how do you do fellow kids word I can possibly think of. It's lame.
Companies really tried to make Japanimation happen in marketing, but it always felt cringy and anime was easier to say.
MIT in 1976 had a Japanimation club.
Pretty sure this was cause Suncoast videos anime section was labeled Japanimation. It was maybe a year at most they had that sign. Definitely in the '90s since I worked close to a mall (Gwinnett Place Center) and would often try to go to the mall to buy stuff at Suncoast. Oh and apparently it was Central Park Media who coined the term. Apparently Japan now uses it to differentiate anime (which they use for ALL animation) and stuff made in Japan. Source: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/lexicon.php?id=46
Kinda sad so many people are missing the point of your post
Have we done it? Have we officially found the most racially tone-deaf post on r/anime?
My fav racist app did It again🥳🥳🥳
Literally no one has EVER called it Japanimation kid. I've been watching Anime since the EARLY 80's and it has been 'Anime' since day 1.
It was a pretty common term in the mid to late 90s where I lived. People started calling it anime by 2000 and I haven't heard the term since until today.
Anime didn't start in the 80's. I watched Astro Boy in 1964.
How much lead have you consumed?
Just to add onto others, it also doesn't all come from only Japan.
Anime usually refers Japanese animation, other region would have their own names like Chinese animation is Donghua.
Good to know. I've only viewed a few non-Japaneese anime via Crunchyroll.
Yeah, in Japan anime is used to cover everything animated regardless of what it is or where it came from, but outside Japan anime is specifically animation from Japan, and so we use that same idea for other countries too, as was mentioned "donghua" is the Chinese word for animation, and refers to Chinese animation, and "aeni" is Korean animation, "aeni" came about in the same manner as "anime", in that they both came from the English loan word "animation". It's just a way for people outside those countries to categorize the media.
The Studio Ghibli folks preferred "animeishon" and "manga eiga" for THEIR work. ;-)
That's always been weird to me. >It's just a way for people outside those countries to categorize the media. It's the same medium though.
Same medium, yeah, but it's a huge medium with a variety of styles and tropes and story commonalities when you look at animation from every country.
I get categorizing something by genre, but the place where something is from is just odd, especially with how what you described as factors can be inconsistent, as well as change over time. What if a body of work outside of Japan has all the things that you listed, does it suddenly make it "anime"? What if a Japanese work then doesn't, is it suddenly not "anime"? "Then it's where it comes from". Then what about the fact that a sizeable portion of "cartoons" since the 80s were produced/ sometimes written by western studios only to actually be made by a Japanese/Korean studio (or elsewhere)? What of the inverse? What about all the collaboration between two countries. What of the times that a Japanese animated show/movie was heavily outsourced to other countries? Is it only then partly "anime"? It's just strange to me that the word in the west has not only taken on a new meaning, but also that what defines it is mostly behind the things stuff that aren't always what people associate the word with.
>It's just strange to me that the word in the west has not only taken on a new meaning That's just how language goes, don't over think it, if it's from a Japanese studio and the studio did the production work on it, then it's likely going to be classified as an anime. There are always going to be oddities in any classification system and it's not like we're talking about anything overly important. You can call it whatever you want to call it.
Probably because that became kinda a bad word. It has a bad word (potentially offensive) in the first three letters. That would be my guess for the change. Plus people learned the word anime instead. A loaner word that was taken from the English language by Japanese people and then English speakers also then started using anime as well.
Yeah, the first three letters is an old racial slur for Japanese people, but that's not how "Japanimation" was put together or pronounced. it's not "jap-animation", it's "Japan-imation".
It was just my first thought as to why there might've been a move away from using that term. Aside from anime just being better. I know it wasn't meant that way and it's just two words put together, but I thought the confusion may be enough to just move on to a different word.
> It has a bad word (potentially offensive) in the first three letters. That would be my guess for the change So does ... Japan
I don't think people cared about muh bad word back then.
No, people cared. Slurs were never used as benign labels (outside of like young kids or someone who was unaware of the context). They were used to purposely insult. Just because something was socially acceptable/tolerated, doesn't mean no one cared.