My best WAG is that it’s a Japanese cartoon, but what separates generic Japanese cartoons from “anime?”
There is no difference. Anime is the commonly used term (outside Japan at least) for animated cartoons.
They’re all anime. Consider anime to be the Japanese term for cartoon. And before you ask, manga is the Japanese term for a comic book.
Oops, I omitted a crucial word there. What I meant to say was:
Anime is the commonly used term (outside Japan at least) for animated JAPANESE cartoons.
Used to be that “Speed Racer” was just cheap animation. Now it’s “anime”. Wow, I feel so… modern!
Potential sigs (or bumper stickers):
Speed Racer: Original Anime
Speed Racer: Roots Anime
I feel stupid, and pretentious!
Roots Anime would be more correct than Original Anime (assuming you meant something along the lines of “The original anime”) based on date of publication. Speed Racer (Mach Go Go) first made its appearance in Japan in 1967 where Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy (Tetsuwan Atom) was in 1963.
Just a bit of trivia for you. 
So I hate to muddy the water (or secretly, maybe I do), but doesn’t it now mean a Japanese sytle of animation?
I bring this up, because I recently watched the Batman Beyond movie. When I was watching credits, I realized that it was animated by a Japanese studio. I was surprised, because I assumed it was an American or Korean studio. I think that everyone would agree that Japanese animation plus American style does not equal anime.
But we are probably not far from an American animated, Japanese style cartoon which would be considered anime,
No offense, but if I saw one of the those bumper stickers, I’d rear end the car reeeeeeeeal hard just to smoosh whatever’s in the trunk. 
Archmichael, I’ve seen people buck for Batman Beyond and The Powerpuff Girls as anime. I’d call them anime-style, and save the term anime itself for toons meant for the home market later exported.
Anyone remember “Sebastian”? I don’t think that was the actual name of the show, but it used to be on American tv a loooooong time ago. I miss that show.
OK, now I will make myself look really out of the loop: How do you pronounce “anime”? Is it “ah-neem”? Or perhaps “ah-nee-may”? Or even “ah-ni-mah”? Or something else altogether? I’ve never once heard the word spoken, though I’ve seen it written lots of times (mostly on the SDMB, since no one I know is really into it–I prefer good old “cartoons” myself).
IDNSJ (I Do Not Speak Japanese) but I’ve always heard “an-ih-may.” (NOT ah-nee-may!)
Whatis.com give a more specific definition of what anime is:
http://whatis.techtarget.com/WhatIs_Definition_Page/0,4152,211567,00.html
It explains that anime is the prevalent style of comics in Japan, not the only style.
In the “Disney did what!?” category, the Disney cartoon Gargoyles was also animated by a Japanese/Korean animation studio. Just more trivia…
Another term for anime is “Japanimation.”
An important thing to note about both Batman Beyond and Batman Adventures cartoons is that they are technically anime. They are made in Japan, and while their main market was the US they retained many of the stylistic traits common in anime.
On a side note, the same people who made these two shows for the US make a show for the Japanese market called, I am not making this up, THE BIG-O. It combines elements of Batman with elements of Traditional single Mecha(Big robot) Anime such as Mazinger Z or Getta Robo.
On another side note, all of these shows have something in common which adds to their style and is totally different from any other animated series ever. Their backgrounds are all done on black paper. This adds to the dark gritty feel of the enviroments (even in the daytime) without seperating the characters from the background in an obvios manner. Just a little tidbit.
Was the show perhaps “Belle and Sebastian”? if so you can find some info on it at http://www.yesterdayland.com/popopedia/shows/saturday/sa1484.php
The term “animé” is just the French word for “animate”, and described their film strips from the magic lantern slideshow days of the mid 1800’s onwards.
The Japanese borrowed it from them.
Anime, pronounced an-ee-may and nothing else (too many Americans botch Japanese words horribly…I almost gagged during the last Princess Mononoke commercial), refers to cartoons…not just “animation”, it has to be a finished product!..produced and released in Japan. Batman Beyond is not anime any more than The Simpsons. Shipping animation work overseas is nothing new, but so long as the rest of the show is done stateside (including the actual airing), it’s not anime.
While I’m at it, not only is The Powerpuff Girls not anime, it’s not even based on anime. The creator, Craig McCracken, drew his inspiration from cartoons he watched growing up. His character designs are simply based on how he draws, and each character other than the “clones” (the girls, the Amoeba Boys, various one-shot villains, etc.) is completely different, something all but unheard of in anime. (And no, the eyes do not look even remotely like anime-style eyes.)
As far as manga goes, technically only original Japanese work qualifies as manga. However, there are a lot of “manga style” comics out there, like The Dirty Pair and Ninja High School. They go pretty deep into traditional manga/anime subjects, too (like those big impractical walking machines).
The word is spelled with the kana a ni me. The n goes with the i, not the a. And, of course, the a is pronounced ‘ah’ not as it is in ‘an’. Also the pronunciations of ni and me are subject to accent.
… is based on a series of Japanese novels, which also spawned several anime. (Warren apparently used the novels as the base because Takachiho (the author) was willing to allow him to do the adaptation, but the producers of the anime (sunrise, IIRC) weren’t. Can’t remember for the life of me where I read that though, so take it as you will.)