“Anime is anime. Does spaghetti stop being spaghetti because the Chinese chef at a New York restaurant wasn’t born and raised in Italy? Does Nujabes (RIP) stop being Hip Hop because he wasn’t born & raised in the South Bronx? These arbitrary, mutually agreed upon rules we create for ourselves to protect our identities, or our heroic image of ourselves, which I believe is what this is really about, are attached to these creative bodies of work that enables this defensive behavior. Depending on whom you talk to, “Anime” means one thing or another. “アニメ” (Anime) is just a Japanese short word for “アニメーション” (animation). It doesn’t stop being a Japanese word because a handful of passionate, keyboard gatekeepers refuse to acknowledge the Japanese language (due to decades of exposure to westernized descriptors from early journalists & licensors who marketed it as exotic) by “Othering” the Japanese word.” Full Forbes Article Here
