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This topic has moved here: Poll [22 votes]: What does Anime mean to you?
  • Poll [22 votes]: What does Anime mean to you?
Subject: What does Anime mean to you?
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Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!

Poll: What does Anime mean to you?  [closed]
A cartoon from Japan :  27%
(6 Votes)
A specific stylized art style :  14%
(3 Votes)
thematic elements and older audience :  5%
(1 Votes)
All of the above:  9%
(2 Votes)
A and B:  14%
(3 Votes)
A and C:  0%
(0 Votes)
B and C:  14%
(3 Votes)
None of the above:  18%
(4 Votes)
Total Votes: 22

No haters please

I've been reading this discussion thread where people have engaged in the age-old debate of what defines an "Anime".

The one crowd says that "Anime" is what a westerner would call a "Japanese Cartoon", whereas someone in Japan simply uses the term interchangeably with cartoon. To support this, they go on to list how the Japanese consider Tom and Jerry one of the greatest anime. This group goes on to say that the term is based on the fact that it is made in Japan, and therefore even if an american cartoon were to look exactly like a Japanese cartoon, it wouldn't be anime because it doesnt include the language and/or cultural tropes.

Another crowd believe it has to do with a specific art style. There are the obvious "Anime eyes, Chibi faces, long pointy air, long title sequences set to the latest j-pop artist's single, etc." Therefore, anime is considered a style of cartoon instead. However, where this becomes a problem is when Japan makes cartoons that do not consist of any of these, or when the styles are so vastly different from the 'standard' that it would be a stretch to consider it.

And then there are those who believe that Anime is more about stories that are built with arcs that have definite ends, whereas a lot of western animation is made to run for hundreds of episodes until it loses its audience. They also consider anime to have more mature and realistic themes as well as specific styles of story telling that invoke the imagination of the viewer as opposed to a lot of western animation.

Personally, I think this quote from the thread says it best:

It isn't a style.
It isn't a medium.
If it isn't from Japan, it isn't anime.

Anime doesn't mean it has a certain kind of plot or a certain artistic style, because there are shows from Japan that go against those grains since anime first came about. If you believe a cartoon to be quality, then just call it a quality cartoon. You don't have to needlessly rename Western cartoons "anime" just because you can't grasp the idea that a Western cartoon can do just as well as Japan can in the fields that you like in Japan's stuff. Just because you're playing a guitar riff from a famous rock song on a piano, doesn't mean you now have to call the piano a guitar.

You wanna make food comparisons? Here's a good one.

If you are from New York, go to Chicago, and order a pizza, you're most likely going to get a deep dish pizza. Why? Because that's what the most common and popular type of pizza is in Chicago. However, not ALL pizza made in Chicago is deep dish. And not all chefs or patrons who enjoy deep-dish pizza have any relation to the city of Chicago. You can eat deep dish style pizza without even knowing it's the popular style in Chicago. Just because it's the common style, doesn't mean that anyone doing something similar is deliberately imitating it and therefore has to classify itself as thus.

All of those things that you said were in Korra about characterization and whatnot? Those don't always exist in anime, but they also exist in plenty of other animated works from all across the world.

Any cartoon from Japan can be whatever it wants to be and still be a Japanese cartoon.

So why is it that when a non-Japanese cartoon has certain elements found fairly often in anime, all of a sudden it has to be a Japanese cartoon?


I think this is one instance of semantics worth discussing, because a lot of it stems from the belief westerners hold that anime - either as Japanimation or a specific style - are superior to western cartoons. There are just as many good and bad western cartoons as there are good and bad anime, so it becomes a matter of target audience, thematic elements, and production values. The anime style itself emerged mainly because Japanese animation studios had lower budget than western studios. They had to design styles that allowed them to draw fewer cels and fewer cuts per episode. By extension, japanese animation often runs at a lower framerate than western animation.

All of these create the distinct differences that we notice between them; however, are the differences supposed to mean that one is inherently better than the other, or that either should or should not strive to imitate or be influenced?

I'll let you guys decide. Personally, I think the whole mentality surrounding the thing is unfortunate seeing as how people will consider western cartoons emulating the 'anime art style' as 'imitations' rather than simply 'western cartoons with a specific style'.

You decide.

[Edited on 01.06.2013 9:40 AM PST]

  • 01.06.2013 9:37 AM PDT

Sorry, I dont watch anime, is not to my intrest... I guess it's Japanese cartoons?

[Edited on 01.06.2013 9:40 AM PST]

  • 01.06.2013 9:38 AM PDT

http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=39477223

I like it

  • 01.06.2013 9:38 AM PDT
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Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!

Posted by: Player3Th0mas1
TL;DR Anime = Hentay


Read it. You'll learn something.

  • 01.06.2013 9:39 AM PDT

My legit Killtrocity

Camping like a 'mouth breather'
If Fed Ex and UPS merged into one company, would it be called Fed Up?

I don't want to start another account for a digital number that has no true value in ten years.

Never cared for anime in my life

  • 01.06.2013 9:39 AM PDT
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Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!

I think this post says it well too:

he term 'Anime' is nothing more than a way of distinguishing the American home-made cartoons from the Japanese. Regardless of which country inspired who to do cartoons in a certain style, there is a gigantic difference between American and Japanese cartoons, some random examples would be:
- 5 minute long intro's
- J-pop bands made especially to create a theme song
- more adult content (less problems in Japan with partial nudity, violence and blood)
- voice acting quality (Japanese voice actors are usually better trained and schooled)
- animation quality (Japan has higher quality benchmarks than America)
- less commercialization (most American shows are made purely for toy and other merchanise sales, Japanese anime tends to be more moderate in that regard)

Note that there are exceptions and I don't want anyone attacking me, because you think that, "Nolan North is the best voice actor evah".

That being said, I couldn't care less what the term 'Anime' stands for, I just watch either American or Japanese CARTOONS.

  • 01.06.2013 9:44 AM PDT

Posted by: A sweet noob
Ah, the internet. Where men are men, women are men, and children are the FBI.

I just consider anything with that certain art style to it anime. Doesn't matter where its from.

  • 01.06.2013 9:46 AM PDT
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Hello, Hola, Velkomin, Bienvenue, Kon'nichiwa,
sorry I don't remember the rest

Pokemon

But then I learnt that Anime is style of cartoon.

For me it will always be remembered as Pokemon

  • 01.06.2013 9:49 AM PDT