• 3D computer graphics
• 4Kids Entertainment
• A-1 Pictures
• A.C.G.T
• Aardman Animations
• Act3animation
• Acute accent
• Adjective
• Adult animation
• Aesop's Film Fables
• Akanbe
• AKOM
• Amblimation
• Amine
• Ani-manga
• Animal Logic
• Animated cartoon
• Animation
• Animation Collective
• Animation director
• Animation Lab
• Animation Magic
• Animation studio
• Animator
• Animax
• Animax Entertainment
• Anime
• Anime club
• Anime convention
• Anime Expo
• Anime industry
• Anime licensing
• Anime music video
• Anime Network
• AnimeCentral
• Animethon
• Animé (oleo-resin)
• Anzovin Studio
• Arc Productions
• Arms Corporation
• Art form
• Artland (company)
• Asahi Shimbun
• Asterisk animation
• Astley Baker Davies
• Astro Boy
• Atomic Cartoons
• Augenblick Studios
• Australian
• Bambi
• Bank of Japan
• Barré Studio
• Bee Train
• Betty Boop
• Bird Studios
• Blanket term
• Bloody nose
• Blue Sky Studios
• Blue-Zoo Productions
• Bolexbrothers
• Bones (studio)
• Bonsai
• Book Animation
• Book Anime and Manga
• Boss Film Studios
• Brain's Base
• Bray Productions
• BreakThru Films
• Buzzco Associates
• Cabinet of Japan
• Cake Entertainment
• Cambria Productions
• Canadian
• Career woman
• Cartoon Network
• Cartoon physics
• Cartoon Pizza
• Cartoon series
• Category Animation
• Category Japan
• Cel animation
• Cel-shaded animation
• Character animation
• Charlex
• China
• Chinese animation
• Chinpokomon
• Cinema of Japan
• Cinematography
• CinéGroupe
• Circle 7 Animation
• Cities of Japan
• Classic Media
• Classical literature
• Clay animation
• Collingwood O'Hare
• Commercials
• Computer animation
• Copyright
• Cosgrove Hall Films
• Cosplay
• Count noun
• Crayon Shin-chan
• Crime in Japan
• Crowd simulation
• Culture of Japan
• Cuppa Coffee Studio
• Curious Pictures
• Cutout animation
• Cyberpunk
• Daume
• David Production
• DIC Entertainment
• Diet of Japan
• Diomedea (studio)
• DisneyToon Studios
• Districts of Japan
• Division of labor
• DNA Productions
• Dogakobo
• Dong Woo Animation
• DR Movie
• DreamWorks Animation
• Dubbing (filmmaking)
• DVD
• Dōjinshi
• East Asia
• Economy of Japan
• Edo period
• Education in Japan
• Eiken (studio)
• Elections in Japan
• EMation
• Emperor of Japan
• Etiquette in Japan
• Face fault
• Fandub
• Fansub
• Feature-length
• Feel (company)
• Fiction
• Film
• Film director
• Fine Arts Films
• Flash animation
• FLCL
• Flip book
• FUNimation Channel
• Gainax
• Gallop (studio)
• Gambling in Japan
• Geisha
• Genre
• Geography of Japan
• Global Mechanic
• Go motion
• Go Nagai
• Gonzo (company)
• Government of Japan
• Graphic animation
• Group TAC
• Gundam
• Guru Studio
• Hal Film Maker
• Hammerspace
• Hanna-Barbera
• Harem (genre)
• Hayao Miyazaki
• Heian period
• Heisei period
• Hentai
• History of animation
• History of anime
• History of Japan
• History of manga
• Hollywood
• Hong Ying Animation
• Hot Animation
• House of Cool
• House of Councillors
• Housing in Japan
• Human eye
• IGPX
• Ikebana
• Imagin (studio)
• Inbetweening
• Ink brush
• Internet
• Italy
• J.C.Staff
• Janimation
• Japan
• Japanese aesthetics
• Japanese Art
• Japanese calligraphy
• Japanese cuisine
• Japanese festivals
• Japanese folklore
• Japanese folktales
• Japanese games
• Japanese gardens
• Japanese history
• Japanese language
• Japanese literature
• Japanese mythology
• Japanese name
• Japanese painting
• Japanese Paleolithic
• Japanese yen
• Japanophile
• Jetix
• Jin-Roh
• Josei manga
• Jōmon period
• Kamakura period
• Kanji
• Kappa Mikey
• Kare Kano
• Katakana
• Katsuji Matsumoto
• Kawaii
• Kenzō Masaoka
• Khara (studio)
• Kihachirō Kawamoto
• King Rollo Films
• Kobo Abé
• Kodansha
• Kofun period
• Korean animation
• Kyoto Animation
• Kōichi Mashimo
• Late night anime
• Law of Japan
• Le Mani
• Leiji Matsumoto
• LGBT rights in Japan
• Limited animation
• List of animators
• Live-action
• LTL Production
• Lucasfilm Animation
• LuxAnimation
• Luxembourgian
• Machinima
• Madhouse (company)
• Magic Bus (studio)
• Magical girl
• Malaysian animation
• Mallet
• Manga
• Manga iconography
• Manga outside Japan
• Mangaka
• Manglobe
• March Entertainment
• Marvel Animation
• Mass noun
• Matt Thorn
• Mecha
• Mecha anime
• Media Factory
• Megafun
• Meiji period
• Melendez Films
• Mickey Mouse
• Ministries of Japan
• Mitsuyo Seo
• Model animation
• Mondo TV
• Montreal, Quebec
• Mook Animation
• Mora (linguistics)
• Motion capture
• MTV Animation
• Muromachi period
• Mushi Production
• Music of Japan
• Nara period
• Nelvana
• Nintendo
• Nippon Animation
• Nishinomiya, Hyogo
• Noburō Ōfuji
• Nomad (company)
• Noun
• Object animation
• Oh! Production
• Old wives' tale
• OLM, Inc.
• Omake
• Onsen
• Ordet (company)
• Osamu Tezuka
• Otakon
• Otaku
• Outline of Japan
• P.A. Works
• Passion Pictures
• Perfect Hair Forever
• Pilot (studio)
• Pinscreen animation
• Pixar
• Pixar (Canada)
• Pixel artist
• Pixilation
• Pokémon
• Pokémon (anime)
• Politics of Japan
• Portal Animation
• Portal Japan
• PowerPoint animation
• Prefectures of Japan
• Princess Knight
• Production I.G
• Production Reed
• Project A-Kon
• Propaganda
• Protoculture Inc.
• Puppetoon
• Q-version
• Qurios Entertainment
• Radix (studio)
• Ragdoll Productions
• Rainbow S.r.l.
• Rakuten Kitazawa
• Rankin Bass
• Re-edited film
• Real Robot
• Reference.com
• Regional lockout
• Regions of Japan
• Religion in Japan
• Renegade Animation
• Renga Media
• Rivers of Japan
• Robot
• Robotech
• Romanian animation
• Rotoscoping
• Russia
• Saint Seiya
• Saké
• Sand animation
• Satelight
• Scanlation
• Seinen manga
• Sentō
• Seven Arcs
• Sexuality in Japan
• Shaft (company)
• Sherbet Animation
• Shimokawa Oten
• Shin-Ei Animation
• Shoji Kawamori
• Short subject
• Shotaro Ishinomori
• Shōjo manga
• Shōnen manga
• Shōwa period
• Silhouette animation
• Skeletal animation
• Slapstick
• Smoking in Japan
• Solar power in Japan
• Sony
• South Korea
• South Park
• Southeast Asia
• Soyuzmultfilm
• Speed line
• Sport in Japan
• Spy Pictures
• Standard English
• Star Blazers
• Stop motion
• Storyboard
• Strata-cut animation
• Stress (linguistics)
• Studio 4°C
• Studio APPP
• Studio Comet
• Studio Deen
• Studio Fantasia
• Studio Ghibli
• Studio Hibari
• Studio Pierrot
• Sunrise (company)
• Super deformed
• Super Robot
• Suppletive
• SVG animation
• Syfy
• SynergySP
• Tadahito Mochinaga
• Taishō period
• Talkie
• Tatsunoko Production
• Television in Japan
• Television series
• Template Animation
• Tenchi Muyo!
• Terrytoons
• Tezuka Productions
• The Guyver
• The Washington Post
• Theatre of Japan
• TMS Entertainment
• TNK (company)
• Toei Animation
• Toondra
• Towns of Japan
• Tradition Studios
• Transport in Japan
• Triangle Staff
• Tsuchida Production
• TV Tokyo
• Ufotable
• UHF anime
• United Kingdom
• United States
• United States dollar
• Usavich
• Vanguard Animation
• VHS
• Video
• Video games
• Villages of Japan
• Voice acting
• Voltron
• Western world
• White Fox
• Wikipedia Link rot
• Women in Japan
• WP Books
• WP IPA for Japanese
• Xebec (studio)
• Y. R. Studio
• Yaoi
• Yaoi fandom
• Yasuji Murata
• Yayoi period
• Year 24 Group
• Yoshiyuki Tomino
• Yowza! Animation
• Yuri (genre)
• Zexcs
• Ōban Star-Racers
• 
  

• 
  China
  China (ⁱ/ˈtʃaɪnə/; Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó; see also Names of China), officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is the world's most-populous country, with a population of over 1.3 billion. Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, the East Asian state is the world's second-largest country by land area, and the third- or fourth-largest in total area, depending on the definition of total area.
  The People's Republic of China is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four directly controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau). Its capital city is Beijing. The PRC also claims Taiwan—which is controlled by the Republic of China (ROC), a separate political entity—as its 23rd province, a claim controversial due to the complex political status of Taiwan and the unresolved Chinese Civil War. The PRC government denies the legitimacy of the ROC.
  
  wn.com/China
• 
  Hollywood
  Hollywood is a district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema. Today, much of the movie industry has dispersed into surrounding areas such as the Westside neighborhood, and the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys, but significant auxiliary industries, such as editing, effects, props, post-production, and lighting companies remain in Hollywood, as does the backlot of Paramount Pictures.
  On February 16, 2005, California Assembly Members Jackie Goldberg and Paul Koretz introduced a bill to require California to keep specific records on Hollywood as if it were independent, although it is not the typical practice of the City of Los Angeles to establish specific boundaries for districts or neighborhoods. For this to be done, the boundaries were defined. The bill was unanimously supported by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and the Los Angeles City Council. Assembly Bill 588 was approved by the Governor of California on August 28, 2006, and now the district of Hollywood has official borders. The border can be loosely described as the area east of West Hollywood, south of Mulholland Drive, Laurel Canyon, Cahuenga Boulevard, and Barham Boulevard, and the cities of Burbank and Glendale, north of Melrose Avenue and west of the Golden State Freeway and Hyperion Avenue. This includes all of Griffith Park and Los Feliz^{[citation needed]} – two areas that were hitherto considered separate from Hollywood by most Angelenos. The population of the district, including Los Feliz, as of the 2000 census was 123,436 and the median household income was $33,409 in 1999.
  
  wn.com/Hollywood
• 
  House of Councillors
  Coordinates: 35°40′35.5″N 139°44′40.5″E / 35.676528°N 139.744583°E / 35.676528; 139.744583
  The House of Councillors (参議院, Sangiin^?) is the upper house of the Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war House of Peers. If the two houses disagree on matters of the budget, treaties, or designation of the prime minister, the House of Representatives can insist on its decision. In all other decisions, the House of Representatives can override a vote of the House of Councillors only by a two-thirds majority of members present.
  The House of Councillors has 242 members who each serve six-year terms, two years longer than those of the House of Representatives. Councillors must be at least 30 years old, compared with 25 years old in the House of Representatives. The House cannot be dissolved, as only half of its membership is elected at each election. Of the 121 members subject to election each time, 73 are elected from the 47 prefectural districts (by single non-transferable vote) and 48 are elected from a nationwide list by proportional representation with open lists. Up to the 1998 election, there were 252 members, 126 elected at a time: 76 from prefectural districts and 50 elected nationwide. At the 2001 elections these numbers were reduced and the total number was 247 (126 elected in 1998 and 121 elected in 2001) and the open list preference vote was introduced.
  
  wn.com/House_of_Councillors
• 
  Italy
  Italy ⁱ/ˈɪtəli/ (Italian: Italia [iˈtaːlja]), officially the Italian Republic or the Republic of Italy (Italian: Repubblica italiana), is a unitary parliamentary republic in south-central Europe. To the north, it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia along the Alps. To the south, it consists of the entirety of the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia–the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea–and many other smaller islands. The independent states of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within Italy, while Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland. The territory of Italy covers some 301,338 km² (116,347 sq mi) and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With 60.6 million inhabitants, it is the fifth most populous country in Europe, and the 23rd most populous in the world.
  Rome, the capital of Italy, was for centuries a political and religious centre of Western civilisation as the capital of the Roman Empire and site of the Holy See. After the decline of the Roman Empire, Italy endured numerous invasions by foreign peoples, from Germanic tribes such as the Lombards and Ostrogoths, to the Byzantines and later, the Normans, among others. Centuries later, Italy became the birthplace of Maritime republics and the Renaissance, an immensely fruitful intellectual movement that would prove to be integral in shaping the subsequent course of European thought.
  
  wn.com/Italy
• 
  Japan
  Japan ⁱ/dʒəˈpæn/ (Japanese: 日本 Nihon or Nippon; formally 日本国  Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku, literally the State of Japan) is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun".
  Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku, together accounting for ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 127 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.
  Archaeological research indicates that people lived in Japan as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other nations followed by long periods of isolation has characterized Japan's history. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and World War I allowed Japan to expand its empire during a period of increasing militarism. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since adopting its revised constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament called the Diet.
  
  wn.com/Japan
• Mondo TV
  Mondo TV is one of the major production and distribution animation companies in Europe. Founded by Orlando Corradi in 1985 and based in Rome, Mondo TV is a public company, quoted on the STAR segment of the Italian main stock exchange, Borsa Italiana, a part of the London Stock Exchange Group since 2007. It distributes and produces, on its own or in co-production with leading international networks, cartoon series and feature films for television and theatrical release. Mondo TV also operates in other related sectors such as music and audiovisual distribution, exploitation, media, publishing and merchandising.
  In 1964, Orlando Corradi and Kenichi Tominaga found DEA S.n.c., a company active in the audiovisual animation sector, with the aim of acquiring the rights to Japanese animated cartoons for distribution in Italy and Europe. In 1979 and 1980, respectively, Corradi and Tominaga created the companies DORO TV Merchandising. for large scale television networks, and Italian TV Broadcasting S.r.l., for smaller-size broadcaster. The period from the late 1970s to the early 1980s saw the rise in demand for Japanese animated cartoons and the growth of the Italian television market. The two companies started distributing feature films, TV series and sports events. Mondo TV S.r.l. was founded in 1985 in order to produce animated cartoon series.
  
  wn.com/Mondo_TV
• 
  Otakon
  Otakon (/ˈoʊtəkɒn/OH-tə-kon) is a fan convention in the United States focusing on East Asian popular culture (primarily anime, manga, music, and cinema) and its fandom. The name is a portmanteau derived from convention and the Japanese word otaku. Otakon is traditionally held on a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in late summer at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland's Inner Harbor district. Otakon is one of the longest-running Anime conventions in the United States, and the second largest, averaging over 22,000 paid attendees since 2005. Even so, the convention has expanded since then, with attendance above 26,000 in both 2008 and 2009 and attendance officially surpassing 29,000 in 2010.
  As one of the longest running and largest conventions of its type, Otakon offers a very broad range of programming, exhibits, and other events. Typical Otakon programming includes:
  While the idea of a four-day convention has some support among the general membership (especially among younger members), the idea has been summarily dismissed as unworkable by Otakon staff. It was attempted in 1995, over a holiday weekend, back when Otakon fit comfortably in a small hotel, and even then it was an exhausting prospect that didn't pay off. In those days, the entire convention could be set up in a matter of hours, while it currently takes two full days to prepare the site. At its current size and functional requirements, Otakon would face a significant additional expense in running an extra day, and both industry and dealers have said that it would not be worth their time and money to attend a fourth day. Finally, it is clear that few staffers would be able to afford the extra day (most staffers already use as much as a week of vacation time to help run the con). With almost zero support from staff, industry, or dealers, there is virtually no chance that Otakon will ever attempt a four-day convention again.
  
  wn.com/Otakon
• 
  Pixar
  Pixar Animation Studios /ˈpɪksɑr/ is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned twenty-six Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. It is best known for its CGI-animated feature films created with PhotoRealistic RenderMan, its own implementation of the industry-standard RenderMan image-rendering application programming interface used to generate high-quality images. Pixar began in 1979 as the Graphics Group, part of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm before it was acquired by Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs in 1986. The Walt Disney Company bought Pixar in 2006 at a valuation of $7.4 billion; the transaction made Jobs the largest shareholder in Disney.
  Pixar has produced twelve feature films, beginning with Toy Story in 1995. It was followed by A Bug's Life in 1998, Toy Story 2 in 1999, Monsters, Inc. in 2001, Finding Nemo in 2003, The Incredibles in 2004, Cars in 2006, Ratatouille in 2007, WALL-E in 2008, Up in 2009, Toy Story 3 (to date, the highest-grossing animated film of all-time, grossing over $1 billion worldwide) in 2010, and Cars 2 in 2011. Eleven of the films have received critical and financial success, with the notable exception being Cars 2, which received substantially less praise than Pixar's previous films. As of February 2012, its films have made over $7 billion worldwide, with its $602 million average gross by far the highest of any studio in the industry. In addition, all of the films produced by Pixar are among the top 50 highest-grossing animated films of all time, with Finding Nemo (#27), Up (#44), and Toy Story 3 (#8) all in the top 50 highest-grossing films of all time.
  
  wn.com/Pixar
• Portal Japan
  wn.com/Portal_Japan
• 
  Russia
  Russia ⁱ/ˈrʌʃə/ or /ˈrʊʃə/ (Russian: Россия, tr. Rossiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijə] ( listen)), also officially known as the Russian Federation (Russian: Российская Федерация, tr. Rossiyskaya Federatsiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijskəjə fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨjə] ( listen)), is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both via Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It also has maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, and the US state of Alaska by the Bering Strait. At 17,075,400 square kilometres (6,592,800 sq mi), Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than one eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Russia is also the eighth most populous nation with 143 million people. It extends across the whole of northern Asia and 40% of Europe, spanning nine time zones and incorporating a wide range of environments and landforms. Russia has the world's largest reserves of mineral and energy resources and is the largest producer of oil and natural gas globally. Russia has the world's largest forest reserves and its lakes contain approximately one-quarter of the world's fresh water.
  
  wn.com/Russia
• 
  South Korea
  South Korea ( listen), officially the Republic of Korea (Hangul: 대한민국; Hanja: 大韓民國; Daehan Minguk  listen), is a sovereign state in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. The name "Korea" is derived from Goryeo, a dynasty which ruled in the Middle Ages (an initial "G" in Korean is pronounced like an English "K").
  Its neighbors are China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the Korea Strait to the south. South Korea lies in the north temperate zone with a predominantly mountainous terrain. It covers a total area of 99,392 square kilometers and has a population of almost 50 million. The capital and largest city is Seoul, with a population of 9,794,304.
  Archaeological findings show that the Korean Peninsula was occupied by the Lower Paleolithic period.Korean history begins with the founding of Gojoseon in 2333 BC by the legendary Dan-gun. Following the unification of the Three Kingdoms of Korea under Silla 668 AD, Korea went through the Goryeo Dynasty and Joseon Dynasty as one nation until the end of the Korean Empire in 1910, when it was annexed by Japan. After liberation and occupation by Soviet and U.S. forces at the end of World War II, the nation was divided into North and South Korea. The latter was established in 1948 as a democracy, though political turmoil and times of military rule and martial law characterized much of the period until the foundation of the Sixth Republic in 1987.
  
  wn.com/South_Korea
• 
  Studio Ghibli
  Coordinates: 35°42′11.5″N 139°31′44.9″E / 35.703194°N 139.529139°E / 35.703194; 139.529139
  Studio Ghibli, Inc. (株式会社スタジオジブリ, Kabushiki-gaisha Sutajio Jiburi^?) is a Japanese animation and film studio founded in June 1985. The company's logo features the character Totoro (a large forest spirit) from Hayao Miyazaki's film My Neighbor Totoro. It has its headquarters in Koganei, Tokyo.
  Many anime features created by Studio Ghibli have won the Animage Anime Grand Prix award including: Castle in the Sky in 1986; My Neighbor Totoro in 1988; and Kiki's Delivery Service in 1989. In 2002, Spirited Away won a Golden Bear and an Oscar for Best Animated Feature which remains the only film made outside the English-speaking world to have done so.
  The name Ghibli is based on the Arabic name for the sirocco, or Mediterranean wind, which the Italians used for their Saharan scouting planes in the Second World War, the idea being the studio would "blow a new wind through the Japanese anime industry".
  Although the Italian/Arabic word is pronounced with a hard ɡ, the Japanese pronunciation of the studio's name is with a soft g, [dʑíbu͍ɾi] ( listen).
  
  wn.com/Studio_Ghibli
• 
  United Kingdom
  The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain) is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The country includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea.
  The United Kingdom is a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system, with its seat of government in the capital city of London. It is a country in its own right and consists of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are three devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, the capitals of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Associated with the UK, but not constitutionally part of it, are three Crown Dependencies. The United Kingdom has fourteen overseas territories. These are remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in 1922, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface and was the largest empire in history. British influence can still be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former territories.
  
  wn.com/United_Kingdom
• 
  United States
  The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.
  At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km²) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity). Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.
  
  wn.com/United_States

• 
  Emperor of Japan
  The Emperor of Japan is "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people" according to the 1947 Constitution of Japan, which dissolved the Empire of Japan when it was adopted by the Postwar Japanese government. He is a ceremonial figurehead under a form of constitutional monarchy and is head of the Japanese Imperial Family with functions as head of state. He is also the highest authority of the Shinto religion as he and his family are said to be direct descendants of Amaterasu.
  The Emperor is called the Tennō (天皇) in Japanese, literally meaning "heavenly sovereign". He is also referred to in English as the Mikado (帝) of Japan. Currently the Emperor of Japan is the only remaining monarch in the world reigning under the title of emperor.
  The Imperial House of Japan is the oldest continuing hereditary monarchy in the world. In Nihon Shoki, a book of Japanese history finished in the eighth century, it is said that the Empire of Japan was founded in 660 BC by Emperor Jimmu. The current emperor is His Imperial Majesty the Emperor Akihito, who has been on the Chrysanthemum Throne since his father the Showa Emperor (Hirohito) died in 1989.
  
  wn.com/Emperor_of_Japan
• 
  Go Nagai
  Kiyoshi Nagai (永井潔, Nagai Kiyoshi^?, born September 6, 1945 in Wajima, Ishikawa), better known by the penname Go Nagai (永井 豪, Nagai Gō^?), is a Japanese manga artist and a prolific author of science fiction, fantasy, horror and erotica. He made his professional debut in 1967 with Meakashi Polikichi, but is best known for creating Cutie Honey, Devilman, and Mazinger Z in the 1970s. He is credited with creating the Super Robot genre and for designing the first mecha robots piloted by a user from within a cockpit with Mazinger Z. In 2005, he became a Character Design professor at the Osaka University of Arts. Since 2009, he is a member of Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize's nominating committee.
  Go Nagai was born on September 6, 1945 —in the Ishikawa Prefecture city of Wajima. He is the son of Yoshio and Fujiko Nagai (永井芳雄・冨士子), and the fourth of five brothers. His family had just returned from Shangai. While he was still in his early childhood, he along with his mother and his four brothers moved to Tokyo after the premature passing of his father. As a child, he was influenced by the work of Gustave Doré (specifically, a Japanese edition of the Divine Comedy) and Osamu Tezuka (his brother Yasutaka gave him a copy of Lost World).
  
  wn.com/Go_Nagai
• 
  Hayao Miyazaki
  Hayao Miyazaki (宮崎 駿, Miyazaki Hayao^?, born January 5, 1941) is a Japanese manga artist and prominent film director and animator of many popular anime feature films. Through a career that has spanned nearly fifty years, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of animated feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli, an animation studio and production company. The success of Miyazaki's films has invited comparisons with American animator Walt Disney, British animator Nick Park and Robert Zemeckis; he has also been named one of the most influential people by Time magazine.
  Born in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Miyazaki began his animation career in 1961, when he joined Toei Animation. From there, Miyazaki worked as an in-between artist for Gulliver's Travels Beyond the Moon where he pitched his own ideas that eventually became the movie's ending. He continued to work in various roles in the animation industry over the decade until he was able to direct his first feature film Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro which was released in 1979. After the success of his next film, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, he co-founded Studio Ghibli where he continued to produce many feature films until his temporary retirement in 1997 following Princess Mononoke.
  
  wn.com/Hayao_Miyazaki
• 
  Jōmon period
  The Jōmon period (縄文時代, Jōmon jidai^?) is the time in Japanese prehistory from about 14,000 BC to 300 BC.
  The term jōmon means "cord-patterned" in Japanese. This refers to the pottery style characteristic of the Jōmon culture, and which has markings made using sticks with cords wrapped around them. This period was rich in tools, jewelry, figures and pottery. Recent Y-DNA haplotype testing^[when?] has led to the popularly accepted (though untested) hypothesis that haplogroup D2 Y-DNA, which has been found in some percentages of samples of modern Japanese, Ryukyuan, and Ainu males, may reflect patrilineal descent from members of a Jōmon period culture of the Japanese Archipelago. A study based from the Mitochondrial DNA analysis of Jomon skeletons from the Funadomari show the fact that haplogroups N9b and M7a were observed in Hokkaido Jomons bore out the hypothesis that these haplogroups are the (pre-) Jomon contribution to the modern Japanese mtDNA pool, In the study of " Mitochondrial Genome Variation in Eastern Asia and the Peopling of Japan " shows the combined frequency of M7a and N9b in Mainland Japanese average at 9.5%, in Okinawan at 14%, and in the Ainu at 17.7%
  
  wn.com/Jōmon_period
• 
  Katsuji Matsumoto
  Katsuji Matsumoto (松本かつぢ^?, 1904–1986) was a Japanese illustrator and shōjo manga artist. Matsumoto's 16-page The Mysterious Clover (1934) is recognized as a pioneering work in the field of manga, but he is best known for his shōjo manga Kurukuru Kurumi-chan, serialized from 1938 to 1940, and again from 1949 to 1954.
  His illustrations were popular from the 1930s through the 1950s, and he contributed illustrations to numerous popular girls' novels by some of the period's most famous authors, including Yasunari Kawabata and Nobuko Yoshiya. He was also a prolific illustrator of children's books and created merchandise for babies, small children, and girls. The Gallery Katsuji Matsumoto in Tokyo is managed by his surviving children.
  Matsumoto was born in Kobe, the son of Toraji (寅治) and Ishi (いし) Matsumoto, but moved with his family to Tokyo at the age of eight. At the age of 13, he began attending what was then called Rikkyō (St. Paul's) Middle School. Through the introduction of a teacher at Rikkyō, Matsumoto began drawing illustrations for the magazine Shinseinen (新青年^?, "New Youth") at the age of 17. Matsumoto withdrew from Rikkyō at the age of 18 and began attending the Kawabata ga gakkō (川端画学校^?, "Kawabata Art School"). During this time he contributed drawings to such magazines as Shōjo sekai (少女世界^?, "Girls' World") and Shōnen sekai (少年世界^?, "Boys' World"). It was during this period that Matsumoto was inspired by illustrator Kōji Fukiya to become an illustrator in the field of girls' media. (Matsumoto's younger sister, Ryōko (龍子), would eventually marry Fukiya.)
  
  wn.com/Katsuji_Matsumoto
• Kenzō Masaoka
  Kenzō Masaoka (政岡 憲三, Masaoka Kenzō^?, October 5, 1898 - November 23, 1988) was an early anime creator. He is probably most famous for creating the earliest anime to use cell animation and recorded sound. He also did work under the pseudonym Donbei Masaoka (正岡 どんべい, Masaoka Donbei^?). Famous animators who worked under him include Mitsuyo Seo and Yasuji Mori.
  Masaoka was born in Osaka, Japan and died in Tokyo, Japan.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Kenzō_Masaoka
• 
  Kihachirō Kawamoto
  Kihachirō Kawamoto (川本 喜八郎, Kawamoto Kihachirō^?, January 11, 1925 – August 23, 2010) was a Japanese puppet designer and maker, independent film director, screenwriter and animator and president of the Japan Animation Association from 1989, succeeding founder Osamu Tezuka, until his own death. He is best-remembered in Japan as designer of the puppets for the long-running NHK live action television series of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms in the early 1980s and The Tale of the Heike in the 1990s but better-known internationally for his own animated short films, the majority of which are model animation but which also include the cutout animation Tabi and Shijin no Shōgai and mixed media, French-language Farce anthropo-cynique.
  Since beginning his career in his early twenties as a production design assistant under So Matsuyama in the art department of Toho in 1946, he met Tadasu Iizawa and left the film studio in 1950 to collaborate with him on illustrating children's literature with Photographs of dolls in dioramas, many of which have been republished in English editions by such American publishers as Grosset & Dunlap and Western Publishing's Golden Books imprint, and trained in the art of stop motion filmmaking under Tadahito Mochinaga and, later, Jiří Trnka. He is also closely associated with Tadanari Okamoto, another independent with whom he collaborated in booking private halls in which to show their films to the public as the "Puppet Animashow" in the 1970s and whose last film, The Restaurant of Many Orders (注文の多い料理店, Chūmon no Ōi Ryōriten^?, 1991) was completed under Kawamoto following Okamoto's death during its production.
  
  wn.com/Kihachirō_Kawamoto
• 
  Kōichi Mashimo
  Kōichi Mashimo (真下 耕一, Mashimo Kōichi^?, sometimes credited as Kouchi Mashimo or Kouichi Mashimo) (born June 21, 1952) is a well-known Japanese anime director and the founder of the animation studio Bee Train. Since the creation of the studio, Mashimo directed or otherwise participated in (nearly) all its works, for example, as a member of art or sound department. The anime OVA Murder Princess was the first Bee Train production since 1999 which he had not directed.
  Kōichi Mashimo was born in Tokyo, Japan and from his early years showed interest in photography, admittedly under the influence of his father. Mashimo studied jurisprudence at Sophia University and during his fourth university year, he participated in the making of several television commercials. However, this was a rather disappointing experience, and on November 6, 1975, he applied for a position of Hiroshi Sasagawa's assistant director in Tatsunoko Production. The first anime series he worked on was Time Bokan (1975–76).
  In the mid-1980s, while still working for Tatsunoko, Mashimo survived a severe alpine skiing accident. During his stay in an intensive care unit, he came up with an idea of a "hospital for animators", an animation studio whose primary goal would be fostering and self-actualization of talented artists rather than commercial success and money. Some time after that, he founded a small freelance studio called Mashimo Jimusho that was mainly producing in-between animation for larger companies. In 1997, Mashimo presented his studio-as-hospital concept to Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, the president of Production I.G, who was so impressed with it that he immediately agreed to sponsor Mashimo. The new subsidiary has become known as Bee Train and in February 2006, it ended its relationship with I.G and became independent.
  
  wn.com/Kōichi_Mashimo
• 
  Leiji Matsumoto
  Leiji Matsumoto (松本 零士, Matsumoto Reiji^?, born Akira Matsumoto January 25, 1938 in Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan) is a well-known creator of several anime and manga series. His wife Miyako Maki (牧 美也子, Maki Miyako^?) is also known as a manga artist.
  Matsumoto is famous for his space operas such as Space Battleship Yamato. His style is characterized by tragic heroes; tall, slender, fragile-looking heroines with strong wills and in some cases, god-like powers; and a love of analog gauges and dials in his spacecraft.
  Matsumoto made his debut under his real name, Akira Matsumoto, in 1953. His wife is shōjo manga artist Miyako Maki (better known as the creator of the doll, Licca-chan, the Japanese equivalent of Barbie).
  Matsumoto had his big break with Otoko Oidon, a series that chronicled the life of a rōnin (a young man who was preparing himself for entrance examinations to universities and colleges), in 1971. Around the same time he started a series of unconnected short stories set during World War II, Senjo Manga Series, which would eventually become popular under the title The Cockpit.
  
  wn.com/Leiji_Matsumoto
• List of animators
  This is a list of notable animators:
  
  wn.com/List_of_animators
• Matt Thorn
  Matt Thorn (born May 12, 1965) is a cultural anthropologist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Manga Production at Kyoto Seika University's Faculty of Manga in Japan. He is best known in North America for his work dealing with shōjo manga. He has appeared at multiple anime conventions, including Otakon 2004. He chose to translate shōjo manga into English after reading Thomas no Shinzō by Moto Hagio in the mid-1980s.
  In March 2010 it was announced that Thorn would edit a line of manga co-published by Shogakukan and Fantagraphics.
  The following credits are for translation unless otherwise noted:
  
  
  
  wn.com/Matt_Thorn
• Mitsuyo Seo
  Mitsuyo Seo (瀬尾 光世, Seo Mitsuyo^?, 26 September 1911 – 24 August 2010) was a Japanese animator, screenwriter and director of animated films who played a central role in the development of Japanese anime. He was born in Himeji, Hyōgo Prefecture.
  
  wn.com/Mitsuyo_Seo
• 
  Noburō Ōfuji
  Noburō Ōfuji (大藤 信郎, Ōfuji Noburō^?, June 1, 1900 – July 28, 1961) was a Japanese film director and animator. One of the most notable auteurs of anime of the first half of the 20th century (one of the industry's most prestigious awards, the Mainichi Film Awards' Ōfuji Noburō Award, is named after him), he worked primarily with cutout and silhouette animation. He also made a number of films in traditional animation, using then-expensive, imported cels, while his earliest work known to have survived is a live-action/animated film. He trained under Jun'ichi Kōuchi before starting his own company. He is known for his employment of washi, especially the coloured and patterned Edo chiyogami, which gives his films a distinctively Japanese appearance. He was one of the first Japanese animators to earn international recognition for his work.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Noburō_Ōfuji
• 
  Osamu Tezuka
  Osamu Tezuka (手塚 治虫, born 手塚 治, Tezuka Osamu^?, November 3, 1928 – February 9, 1989) was a Japanese cartoonist, manga artist, animator, producer, activist and medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion and Black Jack. He is often credited as the "Godfather of Anime", and is often considered the Japanese equivalent to Walt Disney, who served as a major inspiration during his formative years. His prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such titles as "the father of manga", "the god of comics" and "kamisama of manga". His grave is located in Tokyo's Souzen-ji Temple Cemetery.
  Osamu was born, as the eldest son of three children of Tezuka family, on November 3, 1928, in Toyonaka City, Osaka. His nickname was gashagasha-atama (gashagasha is slang for messy, atama means head). His mother often comforted him by telling him to look to the blue skies, giving him confidence. His mother's stories inspired his creativity as well. Tezuka grew up in Takarazuka City, Hyōgo and his mother often took him to the Takarazuka Theatre. The Takarazuka Revue that performed at the theatre is made up in its entirety of women, and so male characters are also played by women. The Takarazuka Revue is known for its romantic musicals usually aimed at a female audience, thus having a large impact on the later works of Tezuka, including his costuming designs. He has said that he has a profound "spirit of nostalgia" for Takarazuka. His animation production company was named Mushi (insect) Production.
  
  wn.com/Osamu_Tezuka
• 
  Otaku
  Otaku (おたく / オタク^?) is a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly anime, manga or video games.
  Otaku is derived from a Japanese term for another's house or family (お宅, otaku), which is also used as an honorific second-person pronoun. The modern slang form, which is distinguished from the older usage by being written only in hiragana (おたく) or katakana (オタク or, less frequently, ヲタク), or rarely in rōmaji, appeared in the 1980s. In the anime Macross, first aired in 1982, the term was used by Lynn Minmay as an honorific term. It appears to have been coined by the humorist and essayist Akio Nakamori in his 1983 series An Investigation of "Otaku" (『おたく』の研究, "Otaku" no Kenkyū^?), printed in the lolicon magazine Manga Burikko. Animators like Haruhiko Mikimoto and Shōji Kawamori used the term among themselves as an honorific second-person pronoun since the late 1970s.
  Another source for the term comes from the works of science fiction author Motoko Arai. In his book Wrong about Japan, Peter Carey interviews the novelist, artist and Gundam chronicler Yuka Minakawa. She reveals that Arai used the word in her novels as a second-person pronoun, and the readers adopted the term for themselves.
  
  wn.com/Otaku
• 
  Rakuten Kitazawa
  Yasuji Kitazawa (北澤 保次, 20 July 1876 – 25 August 1955^?), better known by the pen name Rakuten Kitazawa (北澤 楽天, Kitazawa Rakuten^?), was a Japanese manga artist and nihonga artist. He drew many editorial cartoons and comic strips during the years from the late Meiji era through the early Showa era. He is considered by many historians to be the founding father of modern manga because his work was an inspiration to many younger manga artists and animators.
  He was the first professional cartoonist in Japan, and the first to use the term "manga" in its modern sense.
  Rakuten was born in 1876 in the Kita Adachi district of Ōmiya in Saitama Prefecture. He studied western-style painting under Ōno Yukihiko and Nihonga under Inoue Shunzui. He joined the English-language magazine Box of Curios in 1895, and started drawing cartoons under Frank Arthur Nankivell, an Australian artist who later emigrated to America and became a popular cartoonist for Puck magazine.
  In 1899, Rakuten moved to Jiji Shimpo, a daily newspaper founded by Yukichi Fukuzawa. From January 1902, he contributed to Jiji Manga, a comics page that appeared in the Sunday edition. His comics for this page were inspired by American comic strips such as Katzenjammer Kids, Yellow Kid, and the work of Frederick Burr Opper.
  
  wn.com/Rakuten_Kitazawa
• 
  Shotaro Ishinomori
  Shotaro Ishinomori (石ノ森 章太郎, Ishinomori Shōtarō^?, January 25, 1938 – January 28, 1998) was a Japanese manga artist who became an influential figure in manga, anime, and tokusatsu, creating several immensely popular long-running series such as Cyborg 009 and Himitsu Sentai Gorenger, what would go on to become part of the Super Sentai series, and the Kamen Rider Series. He was twice awarded by the Shogakukan Manga Award, in 1968 for Sabu to Ichi Torimono Hikae and in 1988 for Hotel and Manga Nihon Keizai Nyumon. He was born and named Shotaro Onodera (小野寺 章太郎, Onodera Shōtarō^?) in Tome, Miyagi, and was also known as Shotaro Ishimori (石森 章太郎, Ishimori Shōtarō^?) before 1986, when he changed his family name to Ishinomori with "ノ".
  Cyborg 009, created in 1963, became the first superpowered hero team created in Japan, featuring nine cybernetic warriors. That same year, Kazumasa Hirai and Jiro Kuwata created Japan's first android superhero, 8 Man (which predated Ishinomori's Kikaider by nine years). The success of the tokusatsu superhero TV series Kamen Rider, produced by Toei Company Ltd. in 1971, led to the birth of the "Transforming" (henshin) superhero (human-sized superheroes who transform by doing a pose, and use martial arts to fight henchmen and the weekly monster), and resulted in many sequel shows to this day. Ishinomori then created many similar superhero dramas, which were once again all produced by Toei or in Sarutobi Ecchan's case Toei Animation, including Android Kikaider, Henshin Ninja Arashi, Inazuman, Robotto Keiji, Himitsu Sentai Gorenger (the first Super Sentai series), Kaiketsu Zubat, Akumaizer 3, Sarutobi Ecchan, the Toei Fushigi Comedy Series and countless others. He even created popular children's shows such as Hoshi no Ko Chobin (Chobin, Child of the Stars, 1974, a co-production with Studio Zero which was a major success on Italian television), and Ganbare!! Robokon.
  
  wn.com/Shotaro_Ishinomori
• Tadahito Mochinaga
  Tadahito Mochinaga (持永 只仁, Mochinaga Tadahito^?, March 3, 1919 - April 1, 1999), also known as Tad Mochinaga, was a pioneer Japanese stop-motion animator. Having done many stop motion films/shorts in Japan, he is also best known as the animator for Rankin/Bass' "Animagic" specials/movies in the 1960s.
  In 1945, Mochinaga traveled to Manchuria, China, to work at the Manchuria Film Association. He stayed in China after the war and from 1950, he spent three years in Shanghai working on such films as Thank You, Kitty. He is perhaps the only major artist of the era to have worked in both Chinese and Japanese animation industries.
  
  wn.com/Tadahito_Mochinaga
• Yasuji Murata
  Yasuji Murata (村田安司, Murata Yasuji^?, 24 January 1896 – 2 November 1966) was a pioneering animator who helped develop the art of anime in Japan. Studying the animation techniques of Sanae Yamamoto, Murata produced dozens of mostly educational films at the Yokohama Cinema studio featuring such characters as Momotarō and Norakuro. Along with Noburō Ōfuji, he was renowned as a master of cutout animation. Among his students were such animators as Yoshitarō Kataoka.
  
  wn.com/Yasuji_Murata
• 
  Yayoi period
  The Yayoi period (弥生時代, Yayoi jidai^?) is an Iron Age era in the history of Japan traditionally dated 300 BC to 300 AD. It is named after the neighbourhood of Tokyo where archaeologists first uncovered artifacts and features from that era. Distinguishing characteristics of the Yayoi period include the appearance of new pottery styles and the start of an intensive rice agriculture in paddy fields. The Yayoi followed the Jōmon period (14,000–300 BC) and Yayoi culture flourished in a geographic area from southern Kyūshū to northern Honshū.
  A new study used the accelerator mass spectrometry method to analyze carbonized remains on pottery and wooden stakes, and discovered that these were dated back to 900–800 BC, 500 years earlier than previously believed.
  The earliest archaeological evidence of the Yayoi is found on northern Kyūshū, though this is still debated. Yayoi culture quickly spread to the main island of Honshū mixing with native Jōmon culture. Yayoi pottery was simply decorated, and produced on a potter's wheel^{[citation needed]}, as opposed to Jōmon pottery, which was produced by hand. Yayoi craft specialists made bronze ceremonial bells (Dōtaku), mirrors, and weapons. By the 1st century AD, Yayoi farmers began using iron agricultural tools and weapons.
  
  wn.com/Yayoi_period
• 
  Yoshiyuki Tomino
  Yoshiyuki Tomino (富野 由悠季, Tomino Yoshiyuki^?, born 富野 喜幸 November 5, 1941) is a Japanese mecha anime creator, animator, director, screenwriter and novelist. He was born in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, and studied at Nihon University's College of Art. He is best known for creating the Gundam anime franchise.
  Tomino, began his career in 1963 with Osamu Tezuka's company, Mushi Productions, scripting the storyboards and screenplay of the first Japanese television anime series, Tetsuwan Atomu (also known as Astro Boy). He later became one of the most important members of the anime studio Sunrise, going on to direct numerous anime through the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Tomino is perhaps best known for his transformation of the "Super Robot" mecha anime genre into the "Real Robot" genre with 1979's Mobile Suit Gundam, the first in the Gundam metaseries. He has also won numerous awards, including the "Best Director" award at the recent 2006 Tokyo International Anime Fair (for the 2005 film Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: Heirs To The Stars). Two anime series directed by Tomino (Mobile Suit Gundam in 1979-80 and Space Runaway Ideon in 1980) won the Animage Anime Grand Prix award.
  
  wn.com/Yoshiyuki_Tomino

American Animal (2012)

Actors

• Angela Sarafyan
• Mircea Monroe
• Brendan Fletcher
• Matt D'elia

Director

• Matt D'elia

• timeline:
• 2012
• 2011
• 2010
• 2009
• 2008
• 2007
• 2006
• 2005
• 2004
• 2003
• 2002
• 2001

• timeline:
• 2012
• 2011
• 2010
• 2009
• 2008
• 2007
• 2006
• 2005
• 2004
• 2003
• 2002
• 2001