Indeed, TV executives say their research has shown that children, teens and adults tend to find Japanese anime to be more esoteric and complex than its comparatively more polished U.S. fare. Anime is additionally aided by intricate story lines that intersect with wildly popular Japanese-made video and playing-card games, making the cartoon now part of a multifaceted entertainment package aimed at children.
"The economics of anime work," said Alfred R. Kahn, chairman of 4Kids Entertainment, which brought "Yu-Gi-Oh!" and "Pokemon" to the United States. "But the more important factor is that kids love it. They seem challenged by it, intrigued by it. It doesn't bore them, and that's saying a lot right now."
"Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi" about Japanese pop stars Yumi, left, and Ami, had the Cartoon Network's highest-ever rating among children for a debut last month.
(Cartoon Network)
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Obsession with anime has risen to new heights for older fans, too, with the formation of hundreds of anime clubs and international and regional conventions where tens of thousands of fans dress up in character costumes -- from frilly dresses to tight vinyl boots.
"The characters in anime tend to be more expressive, and through defined mechanics such as nosebleeds and sweat drops, allow the audience to easily recognize how they are feeling," Brian Kirkpatrick, 26, a network analyst in Fairfax County and a member of the Northern Virginia Anime Association, said in an e-mail. The Fairfax group helped organize the annual Anime USA convention for 2,300 people last month -- up from an attendance of 350 in 1994. "In most American shows there is rarely an emotional attachment to the character, and I think it's because they are just not expressive enough."
Yet the biggest gap in anime's global reach remains its inability to generate the type of full-length, commercial blockbusters like "Finding Nemo." Japanese full-length films tend to be financially successful only in Japan, often going straight to DVD or video when released abroad.
That is in part because studios in Japan involved in full-length feature animation lack the marketing war chests of Hollywood. But it is also because many of the full-length films released in Japan are geared very much toward local audiences, while also lacking big-budget graphics and the universal appeal of U.S. animated feature films.
Miyazaki, for instance, is adored by critics worldwide. Roger Ebert once called him "a god," and his films, including "My Neighbor Totoro," "Princess Mononoke" and "Spirited Away," are considered modern classics. Yet about 90 percent of his movies' revenues come from Japan alone -- where "Spirited Away" still has the top box office gross of all time.
Now, Miyazaki has another domestic hit on his hands with "Howl's Moving Castle," which had the second-biggest opening weekend of all time in Japan -- behind 2001's "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." But despite the film's unprecedented upcoming international release, some industry experts still question whether the film -- a visually stunning but complicated tale of a girl struggling with her transformation into an old woman against the backdrop of war -- will pull in massive international audiences.
"Miyazaki is incredible and the critics love him," said Kahn of 4Kids. "But his movies are still just too Japanese specific for mass appeal."
That is less true in Europe, where Miyazaki has enjoyed far more commercial success -- especially in France, where a major exhibition on Miyazaki works opened this month in Paris.
"But the truth is, we make our movies for Japanese audiences," said Toshio Suzuki, president of Studio Ghibli, where Miyazaki's films are created. "Still, we won the Oscar for 'Spirited Away' and Japan's influence in animation is growing. That has given us reason to believe there is more room out there to reach a wider audience. We are reaching out for that now."
Special correspondent Akiko Yamamoto and researcher Robert Thomason contributed to this report.
