Understand the Difference Between Anime and Dorama
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
You've definitely heard about Dorama and Anime, right? Animes are already quite present in Brazilian imagination, but Doramas are taking up a bigger place after the popularization of some works, like Squid Game, on Netflix.
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And with this recent wave of this type of production gaining popularity in Brazil, it's common for people to end up confusing Animes and Doramas. And in that sense, we at Trecobox made this text to explain the difference between these two pop culture phenomena. Check it out below!
Explaining the Difference Between Anime and Dorama
A Brief History of Animes and Manga
To start talking about Animes, we have to talk about manga. Manga comes from a Japanese tradition, it's a way of telling various legends and stories from Japan.
Initially, the legends were told through puppet theaters and shadow plays, and over time these stories began to be written and illustrated on paper scrolls. And these methods of illustrating the stories were the kickoff for the format we know today.
In fact, the "father" of modern manga was mangaka Osamu Tezuka, with his first work being the manga Shin Takarajika in 1947. But besides that, the mangaka is remembered for other great works like Astroboy and Dororo.
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However, adaptations of "Japanese comics" only started happening in 1958 with the anime Hakujaden, or The Legend of the White Serpent. You can even find videos with Hakujaden dubbed on YouTube.
And of course, Animes conquered the world and Brazil wasn't left out of this. In 1990, Animes landed on TV Manchete with Knights of the Zodiac, that's when the frenzy of "Japanese cartoons" began in Brazilian lands. And of course, we can't forget the wonderful dubbing work that localized and translated so many foreign works into Portuguese.
Although they are very similar, Animes are different from American and European animations that come more easily for us to watch. Animes fit as specific productions that have several subgenres like horror, romance, comedy, adventure, action, science fiction among others.
Brief History of Doramas
When we talk about oriental productions, we should imagine that the process of these productions is first done in one media and then adapted to another media. But with Doramas, the process is a little different. In Doramas, we normally see stories that were originally written for this production format, but that doesn't mean that Doramas aren't inspired by some manga or similar.
But before we talk about Doramas, we need to explain a little bit about the history of these dramas!
The first Doramas are older than Animes themselves, the first Dorama aired in the 1940s! The first one released was the Japanese Yugemae, with about 12 minutes, the story follows a widowed mother and her two children.
After Japan, Thailand in 1956 launched its own Dorama, also called Thai-Drama, Suriya Yingluck's was the first Thai-Drama in history. And South Korea, which is the great reference for Doramas today, only had its first production in 1962, with Gukto Mari.
A curious point, or maybe not so much, is that Doramas, K-Dramas, Thai-Dramas and etc. have been jokes even in Family Guy. In episode 10 of the 14th season, Glenn Quagmire goes back to South Korea to relive an old love from his time as a K-Drama actor.
Of course, the episode jokes with all the stereotypes involving Asian productions, even including K-Pop. You can check out the song that happens in this episode right below.
The Popularization of Doramas in Recent Years
It's undeniable that in recent years we've seen a popularization of Doramas in Brazil and in other countries outside of Asia. A great example is the already mentioned Squid Game, which became Netflix's most-watched series in 2021. And of course, after that, Netflix brought a flood of original productions from the streaming service and already-established productions from the industry. And as it's easily seen in Netflix's catalog, we'll see more and more new Doramas within this and other streamings.
So, What's the Difference Between Animes and Doramas?
As you can see, Doramas and Animes are huge successes in their countries of origin, but we can definitely say that they are conquering the whole world. However, it's clear that Animes have different proposals than Doramas. The big difference is that Animes are mostly adaptations of other works, like manga and even light novels. Meanwhile, Doramas are largely works with original stories that are created for that format.
But of course, there are many Doramas that are adaptations of Animes and/or Manga. Some examples of Doramas based on manga are Cheese in the Trap, Itazura na Kiss, TharnType, and The Long Ballad. Besides that, the obvious fact is that Animes are animations and Doramas are made in live-action. If you want to put it even more simply, we can say that Doramas are "Asian soap operas" and Animes are "Asian cartoons".
But did you already know the difference between an Anime and a Dorama? Tell us in the comments.
