its just cartoons created in japan which have a specific artistic style, they are usually motion cartoons as opposed to manga which is your japanese comic strip kind.
Quite popular amongst teens because they can often be quite violent/sexy (or both, simultaneously - see, or rather don't see, Urotsukidji) and the parents never suspect because they are "just cartoons".
To be fair, some of them can be very good; I suspect the main appeal is the above, though.
Buy her the following DVDs (unless she already has them):
Pom Poko (slightly weird but good), My Neighbour Totoro (cute, great story, magical), Ponyo (same) anything from Ghibli seems to be great: nice messages, good stories.
Watch one or two with her, you will probably get addicted.
Great stuff.
Manga are Japanese comic strips. The most popular ones over here tend to be the SF/Fantasy type, but there is a wide range of subject matter. Whilst there isn't a "fixed" artistic style, many do lean towards a generic style. A trip to your local Waterstones and a look at the spinner should give you a better idea. Now that the form is popular in the West, the style is used outside of Japan.
Anime refers to the animated equivalent.
There's some confusion over the terms in this country as the first company to start actively importing and marketing anime to the UK took the name "Manga".
P.S. The Ghibli films Answerprancer recommends are generally highly thought of even outside of anime circles (can't get into them myself), but do tend to be trotted out as examples of what anime is as they are generally family-friendly. I suspect that most otaku (fans) are really into the less PG stuff.
thanks guys i do try and take an interest this was kind of going over my head !!
i just thought at 13 she was a little old for cartoons, but its the story form the animation all of it that interests her.
she also goes on a site called fan fiction to discuss anime and write stories does anyone else use this site??
Oddly enough I was looking on there earlier, fact-checking a reply I was posting to someone. That was my first time on it, though, so I can't really answer your question. (Though I was a bit perturbed by just how close some of the writers felt that the Pevensies from the Narnia books were).
As for age, I would say that early teens is when a lot of people get into anime.
It's a cool Japanese cartoon. I think if you like cartoons and fantasy, anime is quite addictive. :) I am totally hooked. One of my favorite is the Gundam series. http://www.webtvwire....video-torrent-search/