The word anime is a literal translation of "アニメ", which directly reads as "anime". Let's break down what each katakana letter says...
- ア is "a", which Japanese residents typically pronunce as "ah" in a slightly higher pitch
- ニ is "ni"
- メ is "me", which Japanese residents says "may" rather than "muh"
While "anim?" would be a more accurate to how Japanese residents would say, any English people not familiar with French or Japanese culture would not pronounce the "m?" part correctly. As such, it's kept "anime" for the sake of consistency to its language of origin.
Fun fact: In Japan, anime is an abbreviation of animation, the latter of which is read as "アニメーション".
