Anime #29--Not Quite "Anime"

Anime has had such a big influence on the west in the past twenty years or so, and consequently, we have incorporated these influences into our own pop culture.

The first example that comes to my mind is Avatar: The Last Airbender. Avatar is the famous Nick series created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko which just aired its series finale on July 19th. I am slightly ashamed to say that I watched most of the series online first, then got the DVDs from the library. ^_^;; I couldn't wait. I wanted to know which pairings won out in the end. And I'm very happy to say that the pairings I liked were the triumphant ones, ESPECIALLY the Katara pairing. (Kataang vs. Zutara--one of the scariest pairing battles I've ever seen)
Mike and Bryan often cite Miyazaki-sensei as one of the inspirations for Avatar.

The best anime balances great action sequences with humor and emotion, something we try to do on Avatar. We love all the films of Hayao Miyazaki, especially Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. Both movies deal with spirituality and the environment in an entertaining way. Also, there's a lot of great animation."[1]

It's also been confirmed that Appa's design is based on the Catbus from My Neighbor Totoro. Of course, Disney, Pixar, and hopefully any animation studio in the world also lists Miyazaki-sensei as an influence.

Original English-language manga or OEL is more common than animated shows. To quote wikipedia, my favorite non-school research source:

Original English-language manga or OEL manga is the term commonly used to describe comic books or graphic novels in the "international manga" genre of comics whose language of original publication is English.^[1] The term international manga, as used by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, encompasses all foreign comics which draw inspiration from the unique "form of presentation and expression" found in Japanese manga.[2]

I personally don't have much experience with English mangas. The only ones I can think of offhand that I've read are Dramacon and RE:play. RE:play is the better of the two, though Dramacon is a fan favorite because it depicts conventions accurately and, ::gasp:: has a (semi) attractive GUY. ZOMG ROMANCE LET'S ALL READ IT. ::fangirl spazz:: -_-;; I dislike the main characters of that series, so the only merit of it is the subject matter.
Replay centers on a band and... also a mysterious good looking guy. But the lead female character (who is actually the main character, not the guy) is much less annoying than whatsherface from Dramacon, so I like it better.
Two titles is hardly a representation, though. OEL titles are not bound by genre, same as manga. OELs, however, are NOT American comic books. They are specifically stylized like Japanese comics, but made in America. Marvel, DC, and the like do not fall under the OEL category. Those are just... I dunno, comic books? I'm not much of a comic book reader, sad to say.
OEL are also very commonly published online. Again, I have little knowledge of this, as I've never actually read an OEL webcomic. (I did, for a few months, follow 8-Bit Theater, but stopped because I used to have dial up and it took too long to load) They're out there though, and can probably be found without too much trouble. I know at artist alleys, many artists sell comics, but also hand out advertisements for their webcomics. (which may or may not be the same series they are selling)