For someone who has never been to the mother of all gaming conventions it can stun you into silence when you first walk in. There is that need to withdraw for a moment into yourself; to go to that quiet hum in you own mind to deal with it all. Wandering around the thunder and light show of E3, images from millions of games, released or yet to be released, are everywhere. Towering video screens show trailers and opening of so many titles, with dramatic 3-D graphics to 2-D cartoon silliness, in a dazzling variety. Then that hyper feeling begins to rise, that one you get when you spot your favorite title in a mass of other genres. Into the swaying mass you go, swimming through the crowd to find out what new adventure awaits. Placing hands onto prime computer systems like Alienware, to play games that have line bars next to the screen that read 80% complete, 60% complete, or 70% complete, leaves you with a sense of awe. You will have played games that no one else on the outside has, seen images that will take months before seen by friends.

Then after a moment, after you have visited all the booths you can and the urge to see everything dies down, you start to notice something; a familiar bat of eyelash here, a wave of a hand there, a character design that resembles someone you know. Even in the titles that are realistically rendered, there is that well known feeling. Everywhere you go there are the haunting wisps of anime. Maybe not always in the form we recognized, but there.

That familiar cadre of color palette, animation cues, and character designs called anime art for lack of a better description, makes its appearances in a variety of levels and forms in the video game world. Some of the gaming titles spotted at E3 were the usual extensions and tie in of well known anime series, such as Inu-Yasha and the Gundam series. Two titles of extreme interest were Bandai's Inu-Yasha 2-D fighting game, and a Gundam space shooter. Although the popular series made into a game is common, just as often it is the other way around. Titles like the Zone Of The Enders series and one of the crown jewels of Capcom, the Mega Man franchise, all worked their way from a videogame title to have their own movie or series. Capcom showcased three recent Mega Man titles such as Mega Man Network Transmission, Mega Man Battle Network and Mega Man X7, all of which have designs that would easily be at home in any anime. In another example of anime art in games, the low key RPG Harvest Moon and the 2-D fighter "Guilty Gear X-2" also seen at E3 use anime art as part of their character graphics and event animation. Some designs even break out of 2-D entirely such as Final Fantasy X-2. When looking back and forth from the character portrait to the actual character itself, the character given breath and depth in 3-D can look disconcerting when you realize that this is what these characters are supposed to look like in "real life". Lastly, some of the fusion of Anime and games is becoming dual use; the series Dot Hack combines both game, anime and interactive in one disc, spanning not only simulation but movie watching as well.

It seems the anime influence is visibly everywhere, but it is no surprise that this happens. Most of the best and most popular companies that put out titles are from Japan where such design trends are almost inherent. But what is surprising is the impact of the anime genre is now intruding on the designs in non-Japanese companies. This was evident everywhere at E3; It was if the trend was leaking outward, touching on every style and every type of platform from PC to Xbox. Playlogic, based out of the Netherlands, showed movie clips from their title Xyanide and it took a double take to realize it wasn't a recent Square title. Other series had eerily anime-esque openings, with some titles more resembling the styles and trends of anime influence than some Japanese titles released.

As the titles enjoyed at E3 are hunted down in stores or patiently waited for to be completed, there are also the dreams of what will be available next year. At the end of the day, you are left thinking about the future you have just gotten a glimpse of. Where will the specter of anime show up next, and in what form will it take?