As you know, from reading my blog or hearing me speak, I am a huge fan of pop culture. From cartoons to video games, I love it all. The quirkier it is, the better. As a result I watch a lot of cartoons with my kids. Now, if you watch them as well, you may have noticed a trend in animation. A trend I really like and feel is long overdue. This trend is the Japanese influence on pop culture art.

You know what I mean. The large doe eyes, giant sweat bubbles noting nervousness, super deformed heads when a character gets angry, etc. You see it everywhere. From Cartoon Network's “Avatar” to the Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi Show to Teen Titans. Japanimation, or “Anime”, is having a marked influence on North American pop culture. Shoot, even the Star Wars:The Clone Wars animation series was total Anime.

The great thing about this is that, while straight imports from Japan like Voltron and G-Force have been around since the early 80's, the artistic style has not been significantly represented in Western animation or pop. I believe that the increasing popularity of video games is responsible for influencing the art style (yeah, the Matrix helped a bit as well ). Video games provided the first real avenue for Westerners to experience this Japanese art form and stylized expression. While games like Donkey Kong had a strangely Asian feel to it, you couldn't quite put your finger on why it felt that way (Miyamoto! w00t!). There have been many games that have had that “feel” to them but the first one, in my opinion, that really introduced the style to North Americans was Final Fantasy VII for the original PlayStation. The animation and character design was completely anime, and Americans ate it up. Check out one of the biggest video game hits of the past year, Katamari Damacy for the PS2, to see what I mean!

The influence of this Japanese art style is not limited to video games and cartoons. Films like The Matrix series and Kill Bill have anime influences all over them. Shreck's Princess Fiona even paid homage to the Matrix fighting style! Along with movies and games, Americans are also being exposed to Japanese pop music (“J-Pop&rdquo). Puffy Ami Yumi are first, and foremost, nothing short of a pop sensation. The biggest pop group in Japan's history, PAY sells out stadiums all over the world and sells millions of CDs. They also just happen to have a hit cartoon about them as well. If you want to sample the HAPPIEST music you will ever hear, just head over to their site and bring your sweet tooth.

After years of cookie cutter animation being driven by marketing departments, it is refreshing to see animation studios experimenting again and the influence of the anime style is most welcome, in my home at least .