Anime is the actual Japanese cartoon aired on TV or on the internet. Manga is the comic book form of Japanese cartoons, much like our "spiderman" or "superman" comic books.
Manga is a comic book, consisting of pictures and words, whereas anime is television and movies. The interesting factor of anime, is that you read it backwards, from the last page to the first. They both come from Japan.
Both anime and manga come from Japan. The manga are the comic books and the anime are the television shows. Some anime are based on manga characters. In this case, the manga typically comes first and provides the content for the anime.
They are very similar, but there is a slight difference. Anime is things like "Howl's Moving Castle" or a Japanese cartoon. While Manga is Japanese written comics. It seems many people confuse the two of them. Once you understand the difference it is really simple to tell the difference between the two.
