Animé or Western Animation: Which is more artistically diverse?

[Squarez]

After reading this [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.247476-Criticism-of-Anime-and-Manga] thread today I noticed a lot of fans talking about a lot different art styles of animé; which got me thinking, which form of animation do you think is the most artistically diverse? Why? Post examples.

I'm gonna go ahead and chip in my two cents and go for western animation, I feel like it doesn't have any restraints in what it can to look like, which is a major plus in my book, even though, to be honest, a lot of it does look pretty similar.

But tell me, what are your thoughts?

P.S. Feel free to inform me of the numerous ways I am totally wrong.

 

[Casual Shinji]

As I stated in this very thread [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.247476-Criticism-of-Anime-and-Manga]: There's just as much visual diversity in Japanse animation/comics as there is in the Western variety.

 

[Azure Sky]

For what it's worth, The Nightmare before Christmas is not Animation, it is Claymation from memory.

Both are so diverse it's not even funny. I don't think it's actually possible to answer the the OP question.

There was a pic somewhere that displays some eastern anime styles, if I find it I will edit it in.
If anyone else has it, feel free to put it up.
Found it.

 

[Squidden]

You can't classify all Nickelodeon cartoons to look the same, they are drastically different...
Disney cartoons are usually exactly alike seeing as they are the same developer. Anime pretty much all involves large eyed, strange haired featureless faced people.

Notice the difference.

 

[Monkfish Acc.]

Well, if you think about it, a lot of western styles follow their own sort of formula. Anime and western animation are both just as guilty of a lack of artistic diversity.

However, both japanese and western animation are also full of new and interesting directions. You just need to know where to look.
I'm actually pretty sure there are a lot of things in Japan that are common knowledge that the west does not even know about. The biggest connection between us is moronic weeaboos who only want more of the same.

I don't really know anything, though. So don't take my stupid drunken word for it.

 

[Drakmeire]

Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt ends all art arguments in favor of anime styling.
it combines western Saturday morning cartoon, traditional anime, realistic anime, mo'e, flash, chibi, CG, once did south park's animation, and will sometimes switch to live action for explosions.
I'd link a video but I'm not sure the moderators would allow a show with that many sex jokes.

 

[Harlemura]

Gonna roll with Western despite arguing they can be similar [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.247476-Criticism-of-Anime-and-Manga?page=4#9136089] in the last thread but... whatever.
[sub]Leave me and my shameless self-plug alone.[/sub]

Probably not the best examples, but the ones I'm going with are

Spoiler: Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears

and

Spoiler: Megas XLR

I was going to make a final note about something relevant to the thread, but the thought was lost when I started imagining my examples fighting...

 

[Jamboxdotcom]

i think anime probably seems to be the same to most westerners for the same reason asians and africans often seem the same to us: our eyes focus on those things that seem most different from ourselves, and so we lose sight of the other details. the same probably goes for their perception of us and our animation.

and to answer your question: i'd say they're equally diverse, anime just often seems less diverse to western eyes for the reason i stated above.

 

[Sacman]

Wait... That's Waltz With Bashir... it's a European film...<.<

OT: I dunno Anime is more diverse right now because of the shear amount of shows being pumped out but back in the 70's and 80's with films like American Pop and Coon Skin Western animation had a lot more diversity though that didn't last long and cartoons went back to being strictly for kids...<.<

 

[infinity_turtles]

First, to clarify, I'm referring only to drawn animation. Not including stop-motion as, to me, that's a very different sort of product.

That said, this comparison depends entirely on what aspects of animation you're talking about. There's more diversity in the character proportions, color palette, and shading styles of Western animation than there is in Anime. The stylistic differences in Anime tend to be those of scale, amounts of detail, and the actual method of animation. Western animation varies these things far less on average, for instance sticking either to the level of detail in shows like Chowder or those like GI-Joe. There's outliers, like your first example, but it holds true for the most part.

*edit* Said line art when I meant character proportions for some reason. Probably me mixing up arguments.

 

[Sacman]

For what it's worth, The Nightmare before Christmas is not Animation, it is Claymation from memory.

Both are so diverse it's not even funny. I don't think it's actually possible to answer the the OP question.

There was a pic somewhere that displays some eastern anime styles, if I find it I will edit it in.
If anyone else has it, feel free to put it up.
Found it.

I like how Scenery Porn has it's own genre...<.<

 

[A random person]

For what it's worth, The Nightmare before Christmas is not Animation, it is Claymation from memory.

Both are so diverse it's not even funny. I don't think it's actually possible to answer the the OP question.

There was a pic somewhere that displays some eastern anime styles, if I find it I will edit it in.
If anyone else has it, feel free to put it up.
Found it.

That poster was the first thing I thought of when I saw this thread.

Also, since I've heard people talk about how even with art style differences, you can tell anime is anime at a glance, I'd like to point out that you could do the same thing with American animation, eastern European/Russian animation, and quite possibly British animation (there is a certain visual trait to things like Danger Mouse). Disney and Megas XLR look quite different, but you can still tell that they're American at a glance, even if you're not familiar with the latter.

 

[JWRosser]

I think Jamie Hewett's art is brilliant.
There is so much in the Gorillaz 'autobiography' (Rise of the Ogre). It's lovely.

And Justin Reed.

 

[molester jester]

Personally i like both but i find that some anime's are really lazily done, so i would go for western animation.

 

[Kyogissun]

Oh look, it's 'this' thread again...

We established in previous ones that both regions have diversity in their animation. Why are we still having this discussion? Are people not content with that point?

Okay, here's a good one, 'everyone has different tastes and is entitled to enjoy whichever region's animation they prefer.'

Man, thanks to that one dude who initially made that thread over the weekend, that was really one giant unnecessary commentary that was completely inaccurate and has caused a pointless discussion amongst animation enthusiasts within the escapist, who are unable to sit back and just ENJOY WHATEVER THEY WANT TO.

Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt ends all art arguments in favor of anime styling.
it combines western Saturday morning cartoon, traditional anime, realistic anime, mo'e, flash, chibi, CG, once did south park's animation, and will sometimes switch to live action for explosions.
I'd link a video but I'm not sure the moderators would allow a show with that many sex jokes.

I'm confused, are you saying that it's so unstable and erratic in it's art style that it makes anime look like a 'gimmicky' thing or that it's so diverse that anyone slapping japanese animation with the 'everything looks the same' label couldn't be farther from the truth?

 

[Drakmeire]

Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt ends all art arguments in favor of anime styling.
it combines western Saturday morning cartoon, traditional anime, realistic anime, mo'e, flash, chibi, CG, once did south park's animation, and will sometimes switch to live action for explosions.
I'd link a video but I'm not sure the moderators would allow a show with that many sex jokes.

I'm confused, are you saying that it's so unstable and erratic in it's art style that it makes anime look like a 'gimmicky' thing or that it's so diverse that anyone slapping japanese animation with the 'everything looks the same' label couldn't be farther from the truth?

I'm just saying that the show alone shows how many different anime styles there are and how they can lend themselves well if they are switched based on context, like is done a lot on that show.
In fact, anime is based off of early disney so it technically takes it's cues from the west and most western today is based off of a Russian artstyle with a little bit of anime thrown in.

 

[Lilani]

Don't forget that there are many western cartoons that look rather samey. Compare all of those superhero cartoons from the 80s and early 90s, like Spider Man (and all its bastard offspring), He-Man, Captain Planet, and what have you. They all have that blocky, overly muscular, straight-from-the-comic-book look.

I think you're just not looking hard enough to find diversity. Sure there is that catch-all anime appearance (IE Ah! My Goddess and Sailor Moon), but that certainly isn't one. Soul Eater, Durarara, and even Pokemon all have very distinct departures from that basic style.

 

[Kyogissun]

Don't forget that there are many western cartoons that look rather samey. Compare all of those superhero cartoons from the 80s and early 90s, like Spider Man (and all its bastard offspring), He-Man, Captain Planet, and what have you. They all have that blocky, overly muscular, straight-from-the-comic-book look.

I think you're just not looking hard enough to find diversity. Sure there is that catch-all anime appearance (IE Ah! My Goddess and Sailor Moon), but that certainly isn't one. Soul Eater, Durarara, and even Pokemon all have very distinct departures from that basic style.

I don't think it would be too out of line to say that Chowder, Flapjack and Regular Show all kinda look similar... Except one of those shows is rarely entertaining, one's hit and miss and the other is a fucking great show. (Hint: The show that is rarely entertaining had one of its staff members go off and make a superior and more successful show)

Solid white eyes with a black dot in the middle, very 'curvy' bodied characters and a simple approach to the main character designs. The differences? Set designs, color palettes and detail in background characters. Other things are diverse as well, but those three things are the key points.

The thing is that because japan is so 'embracing' (so to speak) of animation, you see more of it and more shows get made, thus more shows look similar being handled by similar studios. Whereas with here in the STATES, there are NOT a crapton of different studios and often rarely do these studios work on more than one project in a couple years. Examples of an exception to name a few off the top of my head, would be places like Family Guy/American Dad/Cleveland Show studio Fuzzy Door Productions, with a couple more slowly rising like Studio Augenblick [Superjail & Ugly Americans] and World Leaders Entertainment [Venture Bros. and Robotomy] and I'm sure a few others I haven't mentioned.

 

[Squarez]

Wait... That's Waltz With Bashir... it's a European film...<.<

OT: I dunno Anime is more diverse right now because of the shear amount of shows being pumped out but back in the 70's and 80's with films like American Pop and Coon Skin Western animation had a lot more diversity though that didn't last long and cartoons went back to being strictly for kids...<.<

It is Waltz with Bashir and technically it's an Israeli film. But I still class it as "Western" animation.