What is anime?

Anime (is actually derived from a French word), otherwise known as Japanimation, is the American cult term given primarily to the animation films and TV series from Japan. Anime in Japan, however, is defined more loosely as primarily cartoons, including that of Disney.

I hear anime is violent and sexually explicit. Is this true?

Anime is a medium, not a genre. Anime, much like movies, can be of many genres. Just because some movies are violent or sexually explicit doesn't mean all movies are violent and sexually explicit.

So what's the deal with the big eyes?

Japanese animation style uses the motif of big eyes to represent youth in character designs. This is common in many anime characters, but there exists a large contigent of anime characters do not all have big eyes. (eg. Macross Plus, Ninja Scroll, etc) In fact, there are some popular anime character designs don't even have opened eyes at all (Yakumo from 3x3 Eyes). Other character designs, like those by CLAMP, have incredibly huge eyes. Also, the big eyes comes from the Disney influence. Disney helped the animation industry in Japan take off after War World II, and Disney's popular characters at the time were Mickey Mouse, a character with very big eyes.

Why do the characters in anime look white but speak Japanese?

Anime characters have races relative to context, not necessarily white. The reason why the characters speak Japanese is because anime comes from Japan. Likewise, why are the characters yellow in the Simpsons, yet speak English?

I've never watched anime before. Would I want to?

If you ever watched cartoons when you were little, it is likely that you've watched anime. Anime cartoons from Japan popularized in American culture include Thundercats, Transformers, Voltron, Robotech, Star Blazers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and more recently Eagle Riders, Sailor Moon, Dragonball, Pokemon, and Samurai Pizzacats.

What are the differences between American Animation and Anime?

One of the MAJOR differences between anime and U.S. animation is the quality of storytelling and level of understanding at which the story develops. Though things are changing in the U.S., the majority of animation is geared at young minds and actually are almost insulting to those young minds in the treatment of the story.Anime in Japan is made for all types of audiences including children, adolescents, and adults. There are categories of anime and manga (Japanese comic) for girls, boys, young girls, young boys, adolescent boys, and adolescent girls, conservative adults, non-conservative adults and so on. The subjects of anime range from history (past and future), to fantasy, dramatic, science fiction, popular culture, cyber-reality, cyber-punk, adult, action, romance, political, and more. All of these elements and more can be found wrapped up in some of the most amazingly artistic, detailed, and revolutionary animation ever seen.