Is Anime really more mature than Western cartoons?

[Arrers]

It varies from cartoon to cartoon for both western and japanese cartoons. the difference is that Japan produces far more animation aimed at adults, and some of the ones aimed at kids are surisingly mature (look a Studio Gihbli's films, or even Astroboy), which is somthing you don't get in western animation so much (Somone mentioned the Batman cartoon series that aired in the 90's- that being the only westrn cartoon that follows the "don't talk down to kids approach" I can think of offhand).

An example for both a Japanese and a Western cartoon that is mature (meaning both aimed at adults and not crass/gore obessesed) would be Monster (an anime adapted from the manga by Naoki Urasawa) and Persepolis (a french film adapted from an autobiographical graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi), both japanese and western respectively.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Mature in the sense that they ALWAYS have sexual undertones but not so much in some of the story.

I'm trying to remember the sexual undertones in Spirited Away...

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

/Thread.

/unthread.

There is always some, very subtle maybe, but you will be watching and then for maybe 3 seconds something will happen and you will think "Well... that was inappropriate". XD

...in other words, if you really, really want to find sexual undertones, you will. Even if you have to squint a little and convince yourself.

I mean come on, even Pokemon had sexual undertones thanks to Brock... dirty bugger.

Well, duh. Brock's not an undertone. He's pretty damned obvious.

 

[WolfmanNougat]

No, it's just that I have a lot of experience with people who will get all mad and up in your face if you call anime cartoons.

Which is ironic, since it's their attitude that suggests that they think that somehow cartoons are never mature, and also because of the normal japanese usage of the word.

I think that usually has more to do with the people in question believing that anything made in Japan is automatically superior to anything of Western origin (AKA "Weeaboo"), but either way it's a show of immature intolerance.

 

[Mordwyl]

Avatar.

Compromise people, compromise.

 

[Abedeus]

I think that Great Teacher Onizuka is damn mature. It's basically about everything in the life, troubles in school and outside... Even if it is very funny, it's more serious than any anime where they just swing swords around for half an hour.

GTO is the House M.D. of animes.

 

[Kinguendo]

Anime has a larger TV penetration in japan than western cartoons have in america. So anime has both kids shows, andmature shows aimed at adults. Whereas america is still in an animation age ghetto, mature themed cartoons are much rarer.

Trust me, it took great effort to make that post N-POV, as just on cartoon network was a cartoon were the focal point of the comedy was, literally, An obese black girl, bent over a shopping cart, farting. That's it. I'm not kidding. I didn't even facepalm, I could only sit there in despair.

Mature in the sense that they ALWAYS have sexual undertones but not so much in some of the story.

I'm trying to remember the sexual undertones in Spirited Away...

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

/Thread.

/unthread.

There is always some, very subtle maybe, but you will be watching and then for maybe 3 seconds something will happen and you will think "Well... that was inappropriate". XD

I mean come on, even Pokemon had sexual undertones thanks to Brock... dirty bugger.

http://www.videosift.com/video/Ren-and-Stimpy-Saw-a-log

Because western cartoons never had sexual undertones.

Does anyone remember the animaniacs? Geez

Who said that they didn't?

 

[Kinguendo]

Mature in the sense that they ALWAYS have sexual undertones but not so much in some of the story.

I'm trying to remember the sexual undertones in Spirited Away...

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

/Thread.

/unthread.

There is always some, very subtle maybe, but you will be watching and then for maybe 3 seconds something will happen and you will think "Well... that was inappropriate". XD

...in other words, if you really, really want to find sexual undertones, you will. Even if you have to squint a little and convince yourself.

I mean come on, even Pokemon had sexual undertones thanks to Brock... dirty bugger.

Well, duh. Brock's not an undertone. He's pretty damned obvious.

Nope, its called paying attention.

Also, he does innuendoes... its a children program, they dont understand innuendoes so yeah... undertone.

 

[Captain Bobbossa]

What you need to ask yourself is "are Slipnkot lyrics mature?" because slipknot and anime share alot in common.

Slipknot sing about blood, gore, death, hating things and perhaps sex. There fanbase mainly consists of 10-13 year olds and people who got into them at 10 - 13. And there gigs normally consist of extreme violence both on and of the stage.

Anime, a large amount of anime viewers are from 5 - 15 watching nickelodeon before and after school. The remainder of the anime not viewed by this audience is only considered mature because it invloves lots of gore, fighting, nudity or naturalists running about cities blowing up robots and/or cutting of other naturists limbs.

No anime is not Mature, and neither is slipknot.. it' just not suitable for children that's all.

 

[Sparrow]

They're both juvenile, and I enjoy both so...

Crap, I don't have a coin to flip.

 

[RadicalDreamer90]

I believe "Main Stream" Anime's tend to be more mature then "Main Stream" cartoons. I can vouch that anime's like Elfen Lied, Full Metal Alchemist, Evangellion, and various others have hellz more maturity then anything I've seen in the generic western cartoons, but that's not going as far as to say that there aren't western cartoons with similar depth. Both western and Japanese cartoons cover the same thing eventually, and though I can't post many examples or really any examples of western cartoons that have alot of depth and maturity they are there. However if you notice western cartoons that are very mature aren't generally popular or well known. While alot of anime's portray serious concepts in a cartoony fashion that makes themes such as death, and sex seem more unreal then say western cartoons. Best way to compare these two in my opinion is to read a mature manga and then go read a mature comic book because this is basically the same argument. (Read Elfen Lied and then read Watchmen).Anime and Cartoons dont' differ in maturity just its more typical to see a anime with a mature theme become mainstream as oppose to a cartoon.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Mature in the sense that they ALWAYS have sexual undertones but not so much in some of the story.

I'm trying to remember the sexual undertones in Spirited Away...

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

/Thread.

/unthread.

There is always some, very subtle maybe, but you will be watching and then for maybe 3 seconds something will happen and you will think "Well... that was inappropriate". XD

...in other words, if you really, really want to find sexual undertones, you will. Even if you have to squint a little and convince yourself.

I mean come on, even Pokemon had sexual undertones thanks to Brock... dirty bugger.

Well, duh. Brock's not an undertone. He's pretty damned obvious.

Nope, its called paying attention.

Not if you can find sexual undertones in Spirited Away, it's not.

 

[The_Echo]

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

Truth.

 

[ArcWinter]

Well, perhaps each individual show, anime or western, has its own level of mature content and is not at all able to be grouped into one level or another. Maybe this applies to everything in existence because everything except copies are different from each other and we haven't invented copy and paste in the real world yet (workin' on it). There's a chance that the people who say that anime is more mature (or vice versa) are ignorant, and you should punch them in the throat. This can also apply to anyone who labels people/things in groups (unless the subject is specifically trying to be labeled that way).

However, I couldn't care less. They are art styles, not plot guidelines or content suggestions, it depends on the creators of the animation.
To answer your question, your question is stupid if you think about it.

 

[hannarr]

Neon Genesis & End of Evangelion
Most thought provoking, physcoanalytical, just mindfuck anime ever.
No Western film or TV series has ever caused so much deep thought than that anime series.

 

[antipunt]

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.

Western cartoons and.... thought-provoking maturity

Have I been watching the wrong channels, or is something amiss...

 

[hannarr]

What you need to ask yourself is "are Slipnkot lyrics mature?" because slipknot and anime share alot in common.

Slipknot sing about blood, gore, death, hating things and perhaps sex. There fanbase mainly consists of 10-13 year olds and people who got into them at 10 - 13. And there gigs normally consist of extreme violence both on and of the stage.

Anime, a large amount of anime viewers are from 5 - 15 watching nickelodeon before and after school. The remainder of the anime not viewed by this audience is only considered mature because it invloves lots of gore, fighting, nudity or naturalists running about cities blowing up robots and/or cutting of other naturists limbs.

No anime is not Mature, and neither is slipknot.. it' just not suitable for children that's all.

Holy crap you're officially WRONG.
The biggest amount of anime viewers are people who torrent/import/stream fansubbed anime and watch it in it's original uncut glory.
You're whole violent, gory, naked view of anime is because I can tell you've only ever seen one genre of it.
Go educate yourself. I mean seriously.

 

[Kinguendo]

Mature in the sense that they ALWAYS have sexual undertones but not so much in some of the story.

I'm trying to remember the sexual undertones in Spirited Away...

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

/Thread.

/unthread.

There is always some, very subtle maybe, but you will be watching and then for maybe 3 seconds something will happen and you will think "Well... that was inappropriate". XD

...in other words, if you really, really want to find sexual undertones, you will. Even if you have to squint a little and convince yourself.

I mean come on, even Pokemon had sexual undertones thanks to Brock... dirty bugger.

Well, duh. Brock's not an undertone. He's pretty damned obvious.

Nope, its called paying attention.

Not if you can find sexual undertones in Spirited Away, it's not.

Set in a bathhouse... all I am saying.

 

[Ghostkai]

What you need to ask yourself is "are Slipnkot lyrics mature?" because slipknot and anime share alot in common.

Slipknot sing about blood, gore, death, hating things and perhaps sex. There fanbase mainly consists of 10-13 year olds and people who got into them at 10 - 13. And there gigs normally consist of extreme violence both on and of the stage.

Anime, a large amount of anime viewers are from 5 - 15 watching nickelodeon before and after school. The remainder of the anime not viewed by this audience is only considered mature because it invloves lots of gore, fighting, nudity or naturalists running about cities blowing up robots and/or cutting of other naturists limbs.

No anime is not Mature, and neither is slipknot.. it' just not suitable for children that's all.

"There fanbase mainly consists of 10-13 year olds"

*Their* but anywho...

Slipknot's fanbase is MAINLY 10-13 year olds? Really?

"Anime, a large amount of anime viewers are from 5 - 15 watching nickelodeon before and after school."

Seriously where are you getting these facts from?

Next time I see a 5 year old avid fan of Ghost in the Shell I'll be astounded.

 

[SomeBritishDude]

No. I've been saying this for years.

 

[Ghostkai]

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

For the record, Rednog is 110% right.