Isnt Anime for kids? How do you respond?

[roriconfan]

Well, modern Greece is as usual 20 years behind everything else.
Tv anime = 100% for 8 year olds
late air tv anime = do not exist
Anime DVDs = 60% kid stuff, 35% hentai, 5% good stuff/ classic series and movies... and they worth 40 euros a piece...

Gee, no wonder someone over here would think they are for kids
p.s. I almost got arrested once when a guy next to me was dressed like hollow Ichigo and was swinging a sword in the air. Cops came, almost pulled a gun. They had no idea what anime or cosplay are.

[Nana-chan]

I really find it silly that people say anime and cartoons are for kids. Yet in my country (OMG it's america! lol ) We have cartoons more suited for adults like family guy, the simpsons, king of the hill ect. I just try to briefly explain it to them. They don't get it shrug it off. I think they are really surprised being I am like the mature grown up of my high school.

[MarthX]

If you're truly mature, you watch what you enjoy regardless of its demographic. Doesn't matter if its targeted for kids. All that matters is if you enjoy it. Being narrow-minded and only watching mature shows doesn't make you mature. It makes you insecure with your maturity.

[Tealeafy]

Originally Posted by Nana-chan

I really find it silly that people say anime and cartoons are for kids. Yet in my country (OMG it's america! lol ) We have cartoons more suited for adults like family guy, the simpsons, king of the hill ect.

I complete agree.

I just say something like, "They're not all for kids," and hope they don't get the wrong idea.
x_x

[Mattelajn]

Well.. Considering all blood/gore/violence and ecchi/harem series.. I do not think that Anime is only meant for kids no :<

[Dark Adonis]

I generally tell them that cartoons from Japan generally do not follow the same guidelines as cartoons from the US and that practically every anime I watch is rated AT LEAST 13 and up.

[defrule]

I just make reference to movies, soaps and books. Anime is another way of telling a story.

[roriconfan]

Muahaha! Show to someone a typical cartoon for kids and a typical anime for kids and then ask him which is more childish.

[TrueCaptain]

Anime for kids? Well, it really depends on the anime. Take an anime like Pokemon, Yugioh, Bakugan or any of the "toyetic" anime's that are design to sell toys, games and other merch, those kinds of anime are geared toward children and their parents wallets, meanwhile you have plenty of adult oriented anime like Cowboy Bebop, Claymore, Trigun and plenty of others that have swearing, blood, sexual situation and other kinds of things that would be too mature for a childs eyes.

It's all in the content of the anime, just because something is animated does not mean it's design for children only, the same goes with western animation too, I couldn't see a child being able to sit through Spawn or something dark like that without picking up a swear or two.

[palpatin]

To conclude, there's anime for kids and anime that is not for kids or even for adults.
You can't just declare a fact for a whole medium, that's impossible.
There sure are also western cartoons that are better suited for adults, aren't there?

[Kinku]

I just think when people see animated shows its always think its meant for kids... But lately animated shows having growing amount of adult audience.. Even western people started to like animated shows... Movies like UP.. sherik... and Ice age. I know its not anime shows but I think back 10 or 15 years ago Most adults do think Animated shows are for kids but now i dont think so.

[einhorn303]

Originally Posted by Kinku

I just think when people see animated shows its always think its meant for kids... But lately animated shows having growing amount of adult audience.. Even western people started to like animated shows... Movies like UP.. sherik... and Ice age. I know its not anime shows but I think back 10 or 15 years ago Most adults do think Animated shows are for kids but now i dont think so.

Can't forget the wonderfulness that is WALL-E.

[ac3y]

I just ask them which anime they've been watching.

[petran79]

there is also another misunderstanding about anime and japanese animation in general, even inside Japan, that does more harm than good. an example of how TV culture and marketing can totally distort an artistic medium and put it all in the same pile, whether east or west. Same goes for western cartoons and western animation.


http://journal.animationstudies.org/...2%80%9D-label/

As Miyao Daisuke points out, anime “is now widely used to distinguish Japanese animation from other forms. Around this entity of anime, there is a growing sense that we know what anime refers to, what kind of object it is. In the United Sates, this sense of what anime is has been shaped by television programming and product marketing” (Miyao 2002, p.192). Miyao’s arguments describe one of the key issues that surround anime: the specific features of anime (i.e. science fiction, giant robot, girls with magical powers, school uniforms, and shrine costumes) which continue to form a children-oriented image that marginalizes the image of anime overseas. This pervasive anime image has attracted scholars from different fields to study them from the perspective of popular culture, globalization and the diffusion of cultural influence, sociological, physiological, consumerism, business and many others. However, this popular anime image also has distanced many creators, film lovers, animation enthusiasts and film scholars from anime, who often consider anime as merely current fashion, not a serious art form.

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In the two large collections of Miyazaki’s writings,iii Shuppatsu ten 1979-1996 (Point of Departure, 1996) and Orikaeshi ten 1997-2008 (The Turning Point, 2008), he often refers to his works as “eiga” (films), pointing out they are fundamentally different from what has been called anime (Miyazaki 1996, p.101-115, Miyazaki 2008, p.82).

Miyazaki explained that the rapid development of the anime industry was closely connected to the rich manga culture in the country. However, when many visual conventions from manga were directly transferred into anime, he was dissatisfied with artists who simply relied on these established norms to convey action and meaning. For Miyazaki, artists should observe and digest different experiences, including film and manga, to finally create their own expression (Miyazaki 1996, p.106). Besides that, he emphasized the everyday experience of the presentation of space and time in animation that should break away from simply relying on visual conventions that evolved from manga expressions. However, Miyazaki also made the point that it does not make sense to completely ignore the rich possibility of expressions found in manga. He thinks creators should treat manga as a departure point and learn and be inspired by it (Miyazaki 2008, p.82).

Miyazaki disliked the term “anime” because it represents a narrow world view of animation that is limited to celluloid animation, ignoring other techniques possible in animation expression (Miyazaki 1998, p.103).iv Miyazaki also criticized the tight production schedule of anime that had encouraged the reduction of details in drawing and relied on deformed images that focus on depicting the impact of the moment instead of choreographing the motion through carefully executed in-between drawings (Miyazaki 1998, p.107).

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A number of independent animators, most represented by Kuri Yoji, Furukawa Taku and Aihara Nobuhiro have also expressed their dislike of the use of anime as an abbreviation. This group of creators tends to have a wider interpretation of animation, emphasizing individuality and originality in their work that does not conform much to the existing anime style. Many of them are creating short animations and actively participate in world wide animation festivals. Setting aside that the works by this group are often art-oriented and have little exposure in the mainstream media, they continue to share their passions through lecturing at universities. Laputa Art Animation School, a small animation organization inspired by Yury Norshtein, is a place where many of them provide lectures and hands-on training for those who are interested in using animation as an expressive medium.

According to the history written in Laputa’s official website, Yury came to Japan as the judge for the Laputa Animation Festival in 2000. He commented that Japan had no school to provide training for artists. Laputa Art Animation School was established to bridge the gap between artists and the heavily commercialized anime world in Japan by providing training to encourage individuality.

http://www.laputa-jp.com/school/policy.html

[Dextro]

Originally Posted by petran79

(...)
Miyazaki disliked the term “anime” because it represents a narrow world view of animation that is limited to celluloid animation, ignoring other techniques possible in animation expression (Miyazaki 1998, p.103).iv Miyazaki also criticized the tight production schedule of anime that had encouraged the reduction of details in drawing and relied on deformed images that focus on depicting the impact of the moment instead of choreographing the motion through carefully executed in-between drawings (Miyazaki 1998, p.107).
(...)

I can relate to this particular sentence and reminds me of a lot of comments on this particular forum. I've seen countless instances where particularly bad drawings are point as examples of good animation and when someone tries to refute that people reply saying that it doesn't matter since it's meant to be watched in motion.

Newsflash: I noticed it and I wasn't freeze framing every second, imagine what people with proper art backgrounds will say? I have a friend who is the son of a painter and is currently pursuing a career in that medium who is very particular in stating his dislike for anime as an art form because of such issues. He has grown to actually stop disliking manga and can see (some of) it as art now but until animation studios stop deforming body parts between frames it won't ever be taken serious.

Don't get me wrong I love my anime and the growing use of computer techniques in anime is reducing such issues but if anime wants to be taken serious as an art form people have to stop saying that deformed frames result in good animation because it might look cool at first glance but it's not actually good, it's just passable.

As for me: I mainly watch anime because I enjoy the stories (and the fact that I haven't seen an anime I liked canceled mid-season yet).

PS: sorry for the slight off-topic

[Luminescence]

Just because it's a cartoon doesn't mean it's for kids, you know?
Come on, look at Family Guy...

When I was in middle school, anime was seen as cutesy-kiddy cartoons, but now that I'm in high school everyone's mind seems to go straight to hentai when someone mentions anime.
So yeah, I always get weird looks for admitting I like anime.

I like anime because real-life-characters just disinterest me; I'm still into cartoons, but I hate the childish plots of American cartoons. Mature a bit, please?
So anime just fits perfectly:
It's a cartoon with more-mature storylines.

I've gone through humiliation in the past for admitting I liked something "weird", but now I've grown past it; I use the same system as the OP when someone asks why I like anime:
I like what I like, you like what you like.
Simple as that.

[Lynsea]

Originally Posted by Mattelajn

Well.. Considering all blood/gore/violence and ecchi/harem series.. I do not think that Anime is only meant for kids no :<

i completely agree. there's so much anime with adult-themed content, it's rediculous. and to me, it seems like there's more 'mature' anime out there, as opposed to anime more suited for kids.

[Peterbigeyes]

It doesn't matter imo. I watch whatever I like

[Firedfox]

I take it im lucky, i have a friend who was into anime and i asked for some suggestions on what to watch (mainly curiosity) and have not looked back. My entire group is into it in one form or another.

[Mr. DJ]

Heh...even what's considered for kids in Japan probably wouldn't really be considered for kids in America, since in YuGiOh, forgive me if I'm mistaken, when they reference banishing people to the "Shadow Realm" in the US version, isn't it actually saying they were gonna die in the original Japanese?