Anime-influenced animation, also known colloquially as animesque, is a type of non-Japanese work of animation that is noticeably similar to or inspired by anime. Generally, the term anime refers to a style of animation originating from Japan. As Japanese anime became increasingly popular, Western animation studios began implementing some visual stylizations typical in anime—such as exaggerated facial expressions, "super deformed" versions of characters, and white radial lines appearing on screen when something shocking, frightening, or distressing occurs.
Although outside Japan, anime is specifically used to mean animation from Japan or as a Japanese-disseminated animation style often characterized by colorful graphics, vibrant characters and fantastical themes, there is debate over whether the culturally abstract approach to the word's meaning may open up the possibility of anime produced in countries other than Japan. Additionally, anime-influenced series are occasionally defined as "anime" by some sources, in an attempt to classify all anime-styled works of non-Japanese origin.
Americas United States Television
One of the first noted attempts from American companies on making a series visually inspired by anime was The King Kong Show in the late 1960s and early 1970s. A predominantly American animated series, it was the result of a collaboration between Toei Animation from Japan and Videocraft from America. The result was an animation with an anime-like visual style and a Japanese kaiju theme, that incorporated the art style of the Hanna-Barbera era in American TV animation. Likewise, note that Hanna-Barbera's earlier series Frankenstein Jr. was heavily influenced by the Gigantor anime series, although its art style was more similar to that of other American series of the time. Another early example of this might be The Smokey Bear Show, Johnny Cypher in Dimension Zero, Challenge of the GoBots, Hong Kong Phooey, and Frosty the Snowman.
Rankin/Bass Productions, in addition to collaborating with Toei Animation to make The King Kong Show, is also known for collaborating with Japanese anime studios to make several famous Christmas movies, such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964), Frosty the Snowman (1969), Santa Claus is Comin' to Town (1970), Here Comes Peter Cottontail (1971), 'Twas the Night Before Christmas (1974), The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974), The First Easter Rabbit (1976), Frosty's Winter Wonderland (1976), Rudolph's Shiny New Year (1976), The Easter Bunny is Comin' to Town (1977), Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey (1977), The Stingiest Man in Town (1978), Jack Frost (1979), Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (1979), Pinocchio's Christmas (1980), and Frosty Returns (1992). Many of those Christmas movies were created by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass, and features traditional animation, though not usually being styled as anime in the traditional sense, instead of the typical stop motion animation most often used by the company.
Toei Animation continued this type of collaboration in the Transformers TV series and its associated film, both of which aired in the 1980s. While Transformers was co-produced with Toei Animation, who handled several stages of the animation production process, the series was ultimately written in the United States. Transformers showed many influences and elements of anime including story, themes, and a style that resembled Mecha anime. This anime-style trend is applicable throughout the entire franchise as a whole, starting with other installments in the Generation 1 series, with numerous examples even being actual Japanese anime, such as Transformers: The Headmasters, Transformers: Super-God Masterforce, Transformers: Victory, and Transformers: Zone, as well as the unrelated reboot Transformers: Robots in Disguise, among others.
This exact trend continued throughout the 1980s with series and movies like Dungeons & Dragons, X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men, Spider-Man, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Inhumanoids, Jem, Voltron, Voltron: Fleet of Doom, GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords, Defenders of the Earth, The Adventures of the American Rabbit, The Glo Friends, Sky Commanders, Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater, The Real Ghostbusters, Superman, and Police Academy, all projects that were also co-produced by Toei Animation.
Throughout the 1980s and the 1990s, many American shows started to be outsourced to Japanese artists and animators, most notably TMS Entertainment and Sunrise, which animated popular television productions such as Inspector Gadget, The Real Ghostbusters, Mighty Orbots, Rainbow Brite, The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers, Bionic Six, Tiny Toon Adventures, DuckTales, Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, Animaniacs, The Littles, The New Adventures of Zorro, Dennis the Menace, Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Batman: The Animated Series, and Superman: The Animated Series, most of which visually or thematically were not reminiscent of Japanese anime. TaleSpin (the animation was done at Walt Disney Animation Japan) did, however, take inspiration from Hayao Miyazaki's 1989 manga Hikōtei Jidai.
Batman Beyond displayed some characteristics of anime; in particular, some of its production processes were outsourced to Japan. Glen Murakami was also a strong influence in inspiring American series with Japanese elements. He animated alongside Bruce Timm on Batman: The Animated Series and its sequel, Batman: Beyond. Keeping the sharp-edged angular style of Timm and mixing in his own personal influences, the show was given cyberpunk and sci-fi elements with a Japanese twist. Adding onto the heavy anime influence, the direct-to-video film Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker combines both Batman Beyond and Batman: The Animated Series into the main plot; the film's animation was outsourced to TMS Entertainment in Japan. American television producer Sam Register – who created anime inspired works such as Ben 10, its sequel Alien Force, Transformers Animated, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, Beware the Batman, Mike Tyson Mysteries, Unikitty!, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi – also worked alongside Murakami to create the Teen Titans television show in 2003, giving rise to a unique style referred to as "murakanime". In 2004, Murakami also produced The Batman, which showed much stronger anime influence than even its predecessor Batman Beyond.
At the same time, Godzilla: The Series is technically an adaptation of the American Godzilla movie, but has plentiful references to the Japanese films and has a more directly anime-looking aesthetic throughout the show. Godzilla himself is made to look more in line with his earlier Japanese design.
Avatar: The Last Airbender and its sequel series The Legend of Korra are other examples of American series influenced by anime so heavily that they started discussions among fans and viewers about what anime is and whether a non-Japanese animation should be called anime. Avatar creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino confirmed an anime influence in a magazine interview; that of "Hayao Miyazaki, especially Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke" as well as My Neighbor Totoro. Other studios from which inspiration was drawn include Studio 4°C, Production I.G, Polygon Pictures and Studio Ghibli.
The web series RWBY, produced by Texas-based company Rooster Teeth premiered in July 2013, is produced using an anime-heavily influenced art style and has been referred to as an American anime by multiple sources. For example, when the series was licensed for release in Japan, AdWeek reported on the situation using the headline "American-made anime from Rooster Teeth gets licensed in Japan". The CEO of Rooster Teeth, Matt Hullum, commented on the licensing agreement, saying "This is the first time any American-made anime has been marketed to Japan. It definitely usually works the other way around, and we're really pleased about that." In 2013, Monty Oum, the creator of RWBY, said "Some believe just like Scotch needs to be made in Scotland, an American company can't make anime because it's impossible at all. I think that's a narrow way of seeing it. Anime is an art form, and to say only one country can make this art is wrong." Furthermore, RWBY was often dubbed in Japanese version, and even got a 2016 spin-off series RWBY Chibi, which depicts the characters in the style and appearance of chibi and depicts them in situations akin to that of typical of Japanese chibi parodies. Eventually, in 2022, RWBY was given an actual Japanese animation called Ice Queendom, making it one of the very first anime-based series to have actually developed a true Japanese animation based on an American project.
The Powerpuff Girls animated series, as well as its reboot and film adaptation were all heavily influenced by anime to begin with, with the three main characters being obvious examples. For this, the franchise was revered by not just American viewers, which was its intended target audience, but also Japanese viewers as well. As a result of the cartoon's major popularity in Japan, the show was given an anime spin-off known as Z that debuted on July 1, 2006. The Z spinoff is loosely based on the original series, with plot details and characters very similar to their depiction from the series. The Powerpuff Girls stands as one of the very first anime-based series to have actually developed a true Japanese animation based on an American project.
G.I. Joe, despite it being primarily and notably an American series, film, and toy line franchise, is notable for having quite a handful of anime influences in their animations. The first and most notable example, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, both the first and second seasons, as well as the film adaptation, were all outsourced in Japan by the studio Toei Animation, who was also known for making The Transformers. The second, G.I. Joe: Sigma 6, was actually the closest known G.I. Joe property to ever be translated into Japanese animation in any form despite it still being an American series; it was animated by the Japanese studio Gonzo, and it was produced by 4Kids Productions in America. Third, G.I. Joe: Resolute was a web series produced by Titmouse, Inc., and the animation was noted to be extremely similar to that of Avatar: The Last Airbender and the works of Madhouse Studios, especially its character designs and fight scenes. Finally, the most recent one to date so far, G.I. Joe: Renegades, despite it being primarily an American series, had plenty of anime references, particularly its frequent usage of Ninja culture and stylized fight choreography. Alt URL
ThunderCats, both its 1985 and 2011 series, are outsourced and produced by Japanese animators, like that of Studio 4°C, and thus both series have several references and visuals reminiscent to anime all throughout. The most recent one, Roar, made in 2020, even has a chibi-style animation similar to the style used in Teen Titans Go!.
The American animated sitcom The Boondocks has many anime-style features and uses Japanese style fighting. It is shown in many scenes, as Japanese sword styles have been used. Additionally, the aesthetics are notably very similar to Japanese animation, due to the series being partially outsourced to Japanese and Korean artists, most notably Madhouse Studios. However, despite this, Madhouse was never credited with its involvement with the cartoon.
The Mexican-American Onyx Equinox, created by Sofia Alexander, and the American High Guardian Spice, created by Raye Rodriguez, are both Western series that were released on Crunchyroll, a streaming platform that typically features Japanese anime shows and manga. Both series are notably extremely similar to Japanese anime, taking visual cues from Avatar: The Last Airbender, its sequel The Legend of Korra, and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, and were also produced by South Korean animation company DR Movie.