This article explores the way that movement is formally depicted in anime. Drawing on Thomas Lamarre's concepts of the cinematic' and theanime-ic', the article interrogates further the differences in movement and action in anime from traditional filmic form. While often considered in terms of flatness', anime offers spectacle, character development and, ironically, depth through the very form of movement put to use in such texts. The article questions whether the modes of address at work in anime are unique to this form of animation. Taking into account how the termscinematic' and `anime-ic' can be understood (and by extension the cinematic and animatic apparatus), the article also begins to explore how viewers might identify with such images.