Synonims

English-speakers occasionally refer to anime as "Japanimation", but this term has fallen into disuse. "Japanimation" saw the most usage during the 1970s and 1980s, but the term "anime" supplanted it in the mid-1990s as the material became more widely known in English-speaking countries.In general, the term now only appears in nostalgic contexts.Since "anime" does not identify the country of origin in Japanese usage, "Japanimation" is used to distinguish Japanese work from that of the rest of the world.

In Japan, "manga" can refer to both animation and comics. Among English speakers, "manga" has the stricter meaning of "Japanese comics", in parallel to the usage of "anime" in and outside of Japan. The term "ani-manga" is used to describe comics produced from animation cels.