Japanese cartoon characters may not be as well-known as Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny, but the animation is making a comeback and quickly becoming somewhat of a cult attraction in the United States -- and at Penn State.

Such favorites as "Star Blazers," an '80s Saturday-morning cartoon, and "Speed Racer," recently revived by MTV, are both products of the Japanese animation craze of the late '70s and early '80s.

The Penn State Science Fiction Society is presenting its own animation revival, as it prepares for the sixth annual Japanese Animation Film Festival from noon to 8 p.m. tomorrow in the HUB Reading Room.

Japanese animation emerged in the early 1960s out of Japanese comics, which originated after World War II, and were heavily influenced by Walt Disney movies and comics.

Initially, Japanese animation called Anime -- was not distinguishable from American drawings. But as U.S. animation began to gear itself specifically toward children, Anime broadened to cover more mature themes such as violence, sexual violence and nudity, said Mitch Hagmaier, vice president of the Penn State Science Fiction Society and an Anime fan.

Anime has matured in the past 10 to 20 years and is currently at a high level of artistic maturity, Hagmaier (senior-history) said. And as for Anime's popularity, Hagmaier said he thinks its exoticness and fantasy-like quality are what appeals to fans.

"The TV series especially tend to show an unusual amount of science fiction or fantasy themes especially during what was called the 'Golden Age' during the early to mid-'80s," he said.

The animation festivals generally attract about 60 people, with most filtering in and out to see selected shows, Hagmaier said.

The recent resurfacing of Japanese animation has hit video stores as well. Allen Street Video, 232 S. Allen St., has added a Japanese animation section. Manager John Biddle said inquiries about Japanese animation sparked the addition.

"We had some people ask for them, so we tried a few titles and interest grew, so we've picked up quite a few of them since," Biddle said.

Anime is equally as popular at Mike's Video, 228 W. College Ave., said Ken Bolding, assistant manager.

"(Japanese animation videos) are pretty popular -- they rent like cult films," Bolding said.

But though Japanese animation has its fans, it does have some problems, Hagmaier said.

"One of the problems with a lot of the shows brought in during the '70s and '80s is that there is something about Japanese animation that doesn't dub well," he said.

"It doesn't sound right for characters that were supposed to originally be Japanese teen-agers to be speaking with southern California accents."