Anime is distributed theatrically, through television broadcasts, directly to home media, and over the Internet.

A characteristic art style emerged in the 1960s with the works of cartoonist Osamu Tezuka and spread in following decades, developing a large domestic audience. The earliest commercial Japanese animations date to 1917. Animation produced outside of Japan with similar style to Japanese animation is commonly referred to as anime-influenced animation. However, in Japan and in Japanese, anime (a term derived from a shortening of the English word animation) describes all animated works, regardless of style or origin. Outside of Japan and in English, anime refers to Japanese animation, and refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. Anime ( Japanese: アニメ, IPA: ( listen)) is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan.