let me *illustrate* some examples. . .
Manga are Japanese comic strips. They are analagous to American strips, although they also appear as cartoon novellas. The word manga was coined by ukiyo-e artist Hokusai during the early nineteenth century to describe his period's magazine illustrations. In Hokusai's day, manga were somewhat surrealistic illustrations of courtesans, actors, and natural scenes. Today, manga are generally tame cartoons after the Western fashion. However, manga tend to have a wider subject base, use more advanced animation techniques, and portray graphic sexual scenes uncommon in Western--or at least American--comics.
Good manga are hard to find in the United States, so if you're reading this and you know of links concerning 'Warau Serusuman', 'Obatarian', 'Naniwa Kinyu-do' and 'Kato Ryusuke No Gi' (translated: 'The Laughing Salesman', 'Grandmartian', 'Way of the Money Lender' and 'Kato Ryusuke's Policy', respectively), please contact me.
Anime are animated Japanese cartoons. They are *much* more popular in the United States than traditional manga, and range from action/adventures to teen romances to well, blue movies. Below are some of the better manga and anime links I've found.
Anime