

Modern television anime is produced at an aspect ratio of 16:9 -
widescreen/HD. But in the past, television anime was more often produced at an
aspect ratio of 4:3 - standard definition.

When did the transition from 4:3 to 16:9 for television anime happen?

Now, it's not too difficult to find isolated examples to get a sense for when
the switchover was in progress. For example, _Ouran High School Host Club_ ,
from spring 2006, was produced at 4:3, while _Full Metal Panic! The Second
Raid_ , from summer 2005, was produced at 16:9. Clearly, the transition was
under way by 2005, but not complete by 2006. And I'm fairly confident that by
2011, all television anime were in 16:9 ( _Ninja Slayer_ notwithstanding).

But what I'm looking for is a more holistic view of how this transition
happened. Who were the major players? Can we identify a clear starting date
for the transition? And so forth.


CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-09-19T05:08:26.527
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2020-12-31T20:09:59.317
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question
anime-production anime-history
When did the transition from standard definition (4:3) to widescreen (16:9) for television anime happen?


According to user Zalis on [the MyAnimeList
forums](http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=622815), one of the first
instances of widescreen anime was
[Betterman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betterman_\(TV_series\)) **(1999)**.
However, because it isn't one of the better known shows, it often gets
overlooked and [Vandread](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandread) **(2000)**
is often accredited with the first.

The cinema is often the first place for the widescreen transition of visual
media, and early animated (and non-animated) films were sometimes shown in
widescsreen at the cinema, and later reshaped for broadcast/dvd. The earliest
example I could find for this was Magic Boy ( **1960~** ) This was 2.40:1
rather than 16:9 though. You can see the difference between the aspect ratios
below:

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/L7a7O.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/L7a7O.png)

I don't think there are any specific _points in time_ that we can point to
where there was a definite switch - just as the transition to digital
happened, but the full transition seems to be almost done in 2006-2008, when
4:3 anime became minimal and even the larger series like One Piece, Naruto,
etc switched over.

References:

  * [Anime & Manga - Wikipress.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book:Anime_and_Manga_\(Shortened\))
  * [AnimeNation - Ask John](http://www.animenation.net/blog/2001/10/15/ask-john-is-tv-anime-widescreen/)


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2015-09-20T10:53:59.427
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2015-09-21T21:35:25.693
2015-09-21T21:35:25.693
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answer