This home page does not set out to be a completely comprehensive list of links; there are other and better resources available for those purposes. Rather, consider it a general overview of Japanese Animation for the casual reader. Anyone who wishes to discuss anime at a more in-depth level should feel free to contact me. Comments, complaints, and contributions should also be directed to me.
Anime is the Japanese word for Animation. In Japan, the animation industry is much more towards the forefront than it is in the United States, and shows covering virtually every genre can be found in the form of television shows, Original Animation Videos (OAVs or OVAs) and feature films.
Much like any other entertainment medium, anime can range from the very silly to the very serious, and is not necessarily intended for children or any specific age group.
Hentai like anime is also Japanese animation but geared towards adults. Hentai can range from mild nudity to hard core pornography. But rest assured Hentai is not for the mild or week of heart and is definitely not for children.
Manga is basically Anime and Hentai in comic book form. These are harder to obtain in English but are worth a look if you can find them.
Over the past thirty years, many anime titles have made their way to the U.S. Recently, there has been a tremendous upsurge in the U.S. Anime market, with several commercial companies releasing English-language anime into the theatrical market and for home release on videocassette and laserdisc.
Some useful terminology:
You can find most commercial titles fairly easily; most chain video-rental stores (Blockbuster in particular) have started stocking a variety of titles. Comic Book and SF specialty stores as well as places like Suncoast Motion Picture Company have many videos for purchase as well.
In addition to commercial sources, there are a number of Fan-Subtitling organizations who will provide free subtitled copies of currently unlicensed anime titles to fans.
Note: Watch out for pirate videos. Usually you will find these tapes in specialty shops and SF conventions; they usually come packaged in clamshell hard plastic cases with bad color-copied inserts. Besides being blatantly illegal, these are copied onto bargain basement tapes which will eat your VCR. Keep on the lookout for these leeches and don't give them your money. More times than not, these people use source material which was produced for free access by fandom and which are usually available elsewhere for free.