Animecore is an aesthetic revolving around the visual culture of Japanese anime and manga. Often glorifying Japanese animation styles prevalent in the 1990s through early 2000s as well as "VOCALOID," a musical computer software that uses anime visuals. Animecore tends to overlap with other aesthetic genres, like Cartooncore, Vaporwave, Webcore, Cyberpunk or Scene, due to Animecore's rise in reaction to "cringe culture" that is increasingly prevalent on the internet.
Animecore is not anime itself, but rather the images consumed outside the context of the stories anime is conveying. The aesthetic culture here is the Western fans of the Japanese genre, rather than the artistic environment within anime, which can encompass multiple aesthetics.
Frequent motifs are "Magical Girl Anime", such as Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, Tokyo Mew Mew and other anime, like Lucky Star, VOCALOID song PVs, anime-related YouTube videos from 2007-2012, pastel manga edits, Touhou, gaudy Blingee-esque edits and frequently stolen and edited art from the early 2000s that was often parallel to Scene and Emo culture. Ball-jointed dolls and anime figures are also popular. Sometimes, distortion methods are used to lower image quality to replicate the look of many old web artifacts.
Contents
Visuals
The primary visual of Animecore is Moe characters, who evoke feelings of affection within viewers. They are always young girls with large eyes, colorful and distinctive hairstyles, and kawaii outfits such as school and maid uniforms.
Images of bedrooms cluttered with anime merchandise, such as posters, figurines, and banners show the simultaneously obsessive and cozy feelings that Animecore conveys.
Fashion
Animecore fashion is normally centered around either a particular anime or around the anime aesthetic in general.
Here are some examples of Anime fashion, non-cosplay:
- Anime graphic tops and bottoms
- Sailor uniforms
- Maid dresses
- Pleated skirts
- Layered tulle skirts
- Loose leg warmers
- Printed thigh highs
- Stripe socks
- Platform shoes
- Plush animal ears
- Colorful hairpins
- Scrunchies with kawaii motifs
- Kandi featuring anime themes
- Itabags
- Circle lens
- Big eye makeup
- Anime-style blush
- Otherwise wearable anime merch (necklaces, badges, keychains, etc)
Subgenres
Itabags
Itasha
Itasha is a subculture of car culture, where people will decorate their cars that are themed after different anime, manga and video game characters. Itasha can also extend to motorcycles (which is referred to as itansha), bicycles (which is referred to as itachari), aircraft, computer cases, bags (which is referred to as itabag) and consumable automotive products. The Itasha aesthetic has even extended to the world of motorsports (see below in the gallery).
Yandere
Yandere is an Anime offshoot of Lovecore, based on the anime character trope "Yandere." Yandere characters in anime are characterized as violent and unhealthily obsessive towards love interests. They are frequently described as lovesick or mentally ill.
Resources
External links to help get a better understanding of this aesthetic.
Vendors
- Omocat
- In Control Clothing
- HVY BLK
- Invasion Club
- Catori Clothing
- Imouri
- Animelife
- Bakuretsu
- Steady Hands
Playlists
- Animecore Spotify playlist by Frenchgab
- animecore 🥺✨ Spotify playlist by M
- mix; animecore Spotify playlist dickgry
- Anime Openings and Endings (Japanese) Spotify playlist by hata251
- Animecore Spotify Playlist by Nate Bunny Lyman
- 💫Anime TikTok 💫 Spotify playlist by Junko
- ~K-on playlist~ Spotify playlist by ~𝑙𝑢𝑣~𝑙𝑦~
- {[Death Devil Playlist]} Spotify playlist by ~𝑙𝑢𝑣~𝑙𝑦~
- anime vibes for my weeb-bros
- https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2IinPQsFJpUkjH0ZiTmwIP?si=JzHmDpTgRlGqpTyyzrUr_Q&utm_source=copy-link&dl_branch=1
Gallery
.jpg "1280px-No.111 EVA RT TYPE-01 Rn-s AMG GT at 2016 International Suzuka 1000km (2).jpg (297 KB)")
.jpg "(°▽°).jpg (185 KB)")
.jpg "Kikyo from Inuyasha (Anime).jpg (33 KB)")
