Is Anime really more mature than Western cartoons?

[boholikeu]

Am I the only one that doesn't get why Anime is considered more mature than Western cartoons? Sure, Anime may be more likely to have mature content (gore, sex), but the stories themselves still seem to be pretty shallow and juvenile. Maybe this is just because I live in Japan and I get to see all the cruddy Anime that never even gets torrented on fansub sites, but it just seems to me like the percent of genuinely thought-provoking Anime is roughly the same as what it is with Western cartoons.

Any thoughts? I'd rather not have this thread turn into an Anime bashing thread, but is anyone else as confused as I am with the supposed "maturity" of Anime?

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

Anime's supposed to be mature?
Who says that?

 

[pantsoffdanceoff]

I think it depends from cartoon to cartoon. Some animes are mature and some westerns are mature.

 

[Rednog]

No both have their juvenile and mature versions, neither trumps the other.

 

[Gamer137]

Well, if we are talking about real maturity and not stuff thats "adult", "XXX", or "shock value" then I don't recall see any cartoons that are mature. I guess South Park counts if you view there parodies as real messages to better the world coupled with adult comedy. For anime, you have Evangelion, Elfin Leid (how do you spell that), Seriel Experiments Lein to name the ones I know of. So I think anime really is more mature. In the West, most mature stories are told in books or life-action film.

 

[boholikeu]

Anime's supposed to be mature?
Who says that?

A couple people I know say they enjoy Anime more than Western cartoons because of its maturity. I never thought it was all that common until I started reading the comments in this thread:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.121616?page=6

It's not a majority, but there's still a significant number of people that seem to think Anime is more mature.

 

[WolfmanNougat]

There are some Anime movies that are definitely more mature than most western animations, both in content and atmosphere, but in the grand scheme of things, both are probably on an equal footing as far as maturity goes.

 

[phwbt]

No both have their juvenile and mature versions, neither trumps the other.

Truer words never spoken.

 

[The Infamous Scamola]

You mean: Are japanese cartoons more mature than Western ones?

 

[Canton]

No both have their juvenile and mature versions, neither trumps the other.

This.

Although the only mature western cartoon I know of that is serious or not grounded on comedy is Aeon flux.

 

[jj90]

REAL animes are way more mature that our western cartoons.

by real i mean things like ghost in the shell and Hellsing. not westernised anime like pokemon and naruto.

 

[A random person]

Largely speaking, yes. Anime tends to be more dramatic and story-focused while western cartoons are more comedic. Keep in mind this is in general, and a western cartoon like, say, Batman: The Animated Series is more mature than, say, Eiken.

 

[Satin6T]

you know I think Western cartoons outweigh anime cartoons in having less mature shows
this could be because I get fed my anime through friends and whatever comes on adult swim and animondays

but you try flipping to cartoon network and watch anything on there without wincing

 

[boholikeu]

I guess South Park counts if you view there parodies as real messages to better the world coupled with adult comedy. For anime, you have Evangelion, Elfin Leid (how do you spell that), Seriel Experiments Lein to name the ones I know of. So I think anime really is more mature.

Western cartoons also have stuff like The Maxx, and the Black Freighter. Plus, like I mentioned before there are A LOT of really bad Anime that are pretty much unknown in the West. I think if we talk about actual percentages Japan and the West are more or less equal.

 

[Sevre]

I'd prefer Spongebob to Hentai anyday.

 

[Pendragon9]

Well, it all depends on what you're comparing, really. Cowboy Bebop has everything over Spongebob Squarepants, while Batman has tons of maturity compared to Pokemon.

Really, you can find mature programming if you search for it. No one media will have it all.

 

[jamesworkshop]

depends most humor in anime is pretty rubbish usually involving some perverted behaviour then someone getting hit slap/mallet

 

[Meinos Kaen]

REAL animes are way more mature that our western cartoons.

by real i mean things like ghost in the shell and Hellsing. not westernised anime like pokemon and naruto.

LoL You have probably only watched the dubbed versions, hn?

The point is, Anime and Western cartoons are very different between each other, and there's the problem that it seems that most of the people with positions of power think that everything drawn by man is something made for kids, and they censor accordingly those that think are errors (One Piece: Sanji's cigarette got replaced by a lollipop).

They're not more mature, but there's just the fact that while for Kim Possible and Foster's Home have similar things in Anime (Mirumo de Pon, Doremi, etc...), but I've never seen a western counterpart for Hellsing or Berserk! People who do western cartoons do not even THINK about making those kind of cartoons.