Community:Anime culture in VRChat

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Anime culture in VRChat is largely defined on the VRChat community. Anime (Japanese: アニメ) is an animation style, originating in Japan and parts of east Asia, during the 20th century. Similar characteristics for anime character designs, can also be found externally in manga (comics), light novels, movies, video games, avatars, and worlds.

History

Anime traces back to Japan and eastern Asia. Modern animation techniques in this region, dates back to the early 1900s. Predating animation in this region, were "emakimono", or illustrated hand-scrolls, going as far back as the Nara period (8th century).

Osamu Tezuka (1928-1989)

Earlier adaptations of anime was exampled by legendary manga artist Osamu Tezuka, who worked on several manga productions starting in the 1950s, such as Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion, Dororo, and others. Most of his works originated in manga format, before eventually were worked on in animated form. Jungle Emperor Leo, localized in English as Kimba the White Lion was the first animated series from Japan in full color.

Tezuka remains as a shining inspiration for influential manga and anime artists, and studios. Creators such as Akira Toriyama, who worked on Dragon Ball, and Dragon Quest; Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli, who worked on My Neighbor Totoro, and Spirited Away.

Characteristics and style

Rindo is a popular example of an anime avatar in VRChat.

Anime has a distinct usage of emanata and iconography to express emotion in characters. Characters are also often expressed with having large and saturated eyes and hair. Anime avatars in VRChat, can be derived and inspired from various source materials, and can also offer a visual kei style. Feminine or non-binary avatars may have an emphasis on looking kawaii (cute) or youthful.

Anime and VRChat

Various anime avatars can be browsed in the Shop.

Similarly, anime tags can be found through filtering within the Shop.

Many popular manga and anime are represented in VRChat in some way, shape, or form; whether it is through an avatar, a groups, or referenced in a VRChat world. Around the time that VRChat was booming in popularity (initially in 2018), virtual streamers using anime-styled appearances, such as Kizuna AI were already mainstream. Another example of a popular anime virtual performer is Hatsune Miku, using from Vocaloid software, and characters from UTAU, which synthesizes speech into performing songs.

The appeal and desire to take on the form of anime characters predates VRChat, and is culturally relevant, in the form of cosplay; using real attire to mimic the appearance of another character. Cosplay is a common sight at anime conventions, and comic book conventions. Similarly, in VRChat, users can express their favorite anime, or anime culture in general, through the use of avatars.

VRChat has partnered with events, that promote and sell anime content, notably the recurring Virtual Market, hosted by HIKKY. In 2020, VRChat partnered with Kadokawa Corporation, to host a limited time event for "Sword Art Online Synthesis - The Period of Alicization Project", between December 25th and December 27th.

Within the Shop, users can try on and purchase anime avatars, as well as use filters to search specifically for avatars labeled with the 'Anime' tag. There is also a collection of free public avatars with anime styles that can be used.