Quote Originally Posted by Stunt View Post
Anime, being of Japanese origin, should mean the Japanese are right, no? Why do we need to erect flags of definition when they all aim to do the same thing in essentially the same way.

Why can't anything be easy?
Because most Western fans of Japanese animation use it as a way to distinguish between Western Animation and Japanimation. It's not complicated.

Keep in mind that many words that make their way into English from other languages have meanings that are subtly different from their meaning in their original language. And because of the influence of anime on it's western fanbase, it's quite pronounced.

I can think of a few other examples. For instance - hentai, which pretty much everybody in the west uses to refer to animated pornography. But the actual meaning of the word in Japan is quite different, and doesn't actually apply to pornography at all, animated or otherwise. In Japanese, depending on how you use the word hentai refers to perversion or abnormality.

I've heard that the fact that references to erotic works as hentai is actually cause for offense, but I have no idea how true this is.

Quote Originally Posted by Saint_Dee View Post
I think I'm going to start calling all animated works anime. I wonder how many people that's going to annoy
You won't annoy me. I'll just ignore you as the unsophisticated and uneducated barbarian that you are. Of course, I'll do my best to lead any infidel towards enlightenment.