2013-03-24, 19:38 | Link #101 |
Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
|
Why Anime is better than American cartoons...
While I do enjoy some American cartoons, I love anime much, much more because of the art style, the wide variety of genre, the stories, the characters, etc. Comedy is really the only genre I see in American cartoons.
So, I'm curious to see why you guys prefer Anime over American cartoons. |
2013-03-24, 21:10 | Link #105 |
We're Back
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Redgrave City
Age: 35
|
I guess because these days very few cartoons appeal to an older crowd... Outside of comic book superheroes and satire stuff?
To be fair though, its not like I actively seek them out like I do with Anime...
__________________
|
2013-03-25, 02:52 | Link #106 |
( ಠ_ಠ)
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Somewhere, between the sacred silence and sleep
|
American sit-com cartoons > Japanese sit-com cartoons.
While shows like Chibi Maruko-chan is certainly adorable and wholesome to watch, the venom-filled social critique of South Park, King of the Hill, and Simpsons make them very entertaining to waste your time. That's one genre America's pretty much peerless in. Thanks to hundreds of sit-coms that came and went throughout history, they are rich in the know-hows. Only if Kochikame was still animated...
__________________
|
2013-03-25, 10:45 | Link #109 | |
AS Oji-kun
Join Date: Nov 2006
Age: 74
|
Quote:
Politics rarely enters into anime except at the most simplistic level like corrupt officials and back-room deals. Yakushiji Ryoko no Kaiki Jikenbo is one example.
__________________
|
|
2013-03-25, 11:13 | Link #110 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: nowhere
|
This review attempts to give one major difference between anime in general and western cartoons in general. Basically, it's a sense of "timing".
Quote:
|
|
2013-03-25, 12:17 | Link #111 | |
On a mission
Author
|
Quote:
Then again, perhaps they want to avoid Family Guy style bullshit politics, where satire is thrown in for the sake of being it, without any sense of subtlety or decent thought to it.
__________________
|
|
2013-03-25, 12:40 | Link #112 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
|
Quote:
Heck, Senko no Night Raid tried to make an episode about Japan's involvement in Manchuria in 1931, and they couldn't even air it. If anime can't (or isn't allowed to) tackle political events that took place over 80 years ago, I doubt it's ready for modern politics.
__________________
|
|
2013-03-25, 13:01 | Link #113 |
AS Oji-kun
Join Date: Nov 2006
Age: 74
|
I recall that event well. I thought it was rather brave of A-1 to take on a story about the Japanese occupation of China until I started watching it. It avoids all the politics and focuses on a group of spies with super powers whose affiliations with the Japanese military were left somewhat murky. As you say, the most controversial episode could not even be carried on television.
Thanks for reminding me about Senkou no Night Raid because it illustrates my point exactly even though it's not a satire. In a famous classification of political cultures by Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba, Japan would fall at the "subject" end of the "subject-participant" dimension. US attitudes are more "participant," while the British lie somewhere in between.
__________________
|
2013-03-25, 13:30 | Link #114 |
=^^=
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: 42° 10' N (Latitude) 87° 33' W (Longitude)
Age: 45
|
True. Controversy -- a topic, by which many Japanese writers are flat out not comfortable to deal with. At least, this is the case with visual media. Print media? Probably.
Case in point, I bring out Legend of Koizumi. It has a full fledged print media, but it's only complemented by 3-episodes of animation.
__________________
|
2013-03-25, 17:22 | Link #115 |
AS Oji-kun
Join Date: Nov 2006
Age: 74
|
I don't read manga so I cannot say how much it applies there, but I'm pretty sure it's not the writers who are avoiding controversy in anime but the production committees. I don't have a sense that writers exert much influence in anime except for a few names like Okada or Urobuchi. Since most shows are adaptations rather than original works, the writers get told what to work on based on the decisions by the boys (usually) upstairs. In most cases the anime is intended to sell the manga, VN, etc., or associated licensed character items like figurines and dakimakura.
__________________
|
2013-03-26, 01:51 | Link #116 | |
( ಠ_ಠ)
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Somewhere, between the sacred silence and sleep
|
Quote:
I was talking about SOCIAL satire, which is also rare. Therer are stereotypes made fun of, but that's pretty much the extent. All the example I mentioned, focus far, far, FAR more on social satire than political one. The Simpsons, King of the Hill, South Park, all mostly focus on the culture of the society itself than politics.
__________________
|
|
2013-03-26, 21:49 | Link #117 |
廉頗
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Massachusetts
Age: 34
|
If Japan made ten Avatars a year, I'd be watching a lot more anime...
I consider anime a type of cartoon that is flavored by Japanese culture. There's more variety in anime than American cartoons (not saying there's a ton of variety for either), and I think there's more flexibility in subject content in anime than typical American cartoons. I love both, though. American cartoons are generally better for comedy, in my opinion, though the inability for a series to stop once it has reached past its prime is a bad problem (ie Family Guy, which was hilarious early on and is now just awful, or The Simpsons). I also tend to enjoy American superhero cartoons like 90's Batman + Spiderman, or Justice League better than any action anime, but those superhero shows are few and far between. Of course, there are exceptions, too, DBZ can equal or surpass any superhero show. Anime is great for stuff you just can't find in American animation, though. The epic journey, the mech adventure, the space opera. Surreal, adult oriented fantasy, sci-fi, etc, etc. I think if American cartoons had the same type of variety you see in anime I probably wouldn't watch as much anime. I loved Avatar and really wish it had set more of a trend in the industry, but not much seemed to change in its wake despite its popularity. |
2013-03-26, 22:31 | Link #118 | |
Otaku Apprentice
|
Quote:
Though in a bad economic situation with tons of moe, I'd say: Japan makes 4 Avatars a year. Ones that I'm meant to watch and forget.
__________________
|
|
2013-03-27, 16:25 | Link #119 | |
Junior Member
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Fort Myers, FL
Age: 46
|
Quote:
Over the years, there have been very few animated movies,tv series, or direct home releases that my current self would enjoy. They exist for certain. I'd be a fool to say that they don't exist. The problem with this situation is that you can enjoy animation in this manner so long as you stay in your basement and not tell anybody about it. American society isn't very tolernt of views outside the "norm". |
|
2013-03-27, 18:40 | Link #120 |
Osana-Najimi Shipper
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Mt. Ordeals
|
Pfft. Anime is anime to me because ~25% of shows every cour feature at least one opposite sex childhood friend pair, with vast majority of them having at least one half of the pair romantically interested in the other.
So until western animation (or any other cartoon for that matter) approach that level of consistency, no one is gonna stop me from making a distinction between anime and other cartoons.
__________________
|
|
|