Is Anime really more mature than Western cartoons?

[irrelevantnugget]

Sure, Anime may be more likely to have mature content (gore, sex), but the stories themselves still seem to be pretty shallow and juvenile.

Eh... not really the case.

Western cartoons tend to be episodic: there are recurring characters, but nearly each episode is stand-alone. You can easily skip one episode in a season.

Anime usually has a bigger story to it.
Even Pokémon still has an underlying leitmotiv, namely Ash trying to qualify for a certain league and fighting there. Or just the greater idea of 'catching them all'. You can occasionally miss an episode with Pokémon, I suppose, but other series such as Noein, Kure-nai or Ergo Proxy (three of my fav anime series) don't really allow you to miss an episode in the season.

 

[GothmogII]

Overall, I'll have to go with anime as being more mature. And it's a shame, what exactly is the point of giving the likes of Ralph Bakshi (awesome as he was) as an example of a creator of mature western animation if you don't have any modern examples to back you up?

Currently, there's The Simpsons, Southpark, Family Guy, and the many Adult Swim programs, which for the great majority are comedy, and that very very rarely go any deeper that that. Even the good shows, like The Venture Bros. for example -still- sit on that precipice of parody comedy. And it seems to have gotten even worse in recent years, as not only are there not any non-comedic animated programs aimed at adults, but the shows aimed at kids seem to have devolved horribly, and rare is show that could live up to some of the more excellent cartoons of the 90s. (And I don't think this is nostalgia talking either).

 

[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.

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

Because the implication that vaguely anthropomorphic (if that) spirits take baths is inherently sexual? You'd have to call Rule 34 so hard Miyazaki would start having spontaneous nightmares.

Seriously where are you getting these facts from?

Nowhere, I'm pretty sure.

Anime is not mature, if anything it is allot less mature then western cartoons:

[http://img7.imageshack.us/i/dontaskme.jpg/]

Doesn't look any worse than Ren and Stimpy.

[http://img31.imageshack.us/i/playingwithfood.jpg/]

I'm tempted to say that using lolicon is cheating, but the main point of that show is that the older guy isn't a pedophile. Besides, that show is actually pretty funny.

The creepy Hentai freaks don't make things any better

[http://img7.imageshack.us/i/realitycheck.jpg/]

Just because anime might have more mature stories and themes doesn't mean their fans do. ^_^

 

[Evertw]

Lets see, Pokémon is Anime, and it's not to mature.

 

[Fingerprint]

Not necessarily. I've seen some very adult themed anime - not hentai - but anime that is definitely aimed at an older audience. Things like Urotsukidoji and most Cyber Punk that I've seen, most notably Cyber City Oedo 808 are not for children as there is a lot of swearing (and tentacle rape in Urot) and the general concepts aren't the same sort of story lines like there is in Full Metal Alchemist for example.

Also I think that almost all Western cartoons are specifically aimed at children, just a sort of quick entertainment as it were. Whereas anime as far as I'm aware, is much more part of the culture than cartoons are in the Western world.

 

[GothmogII]

Anime is not mature, if anything it is allot less mature then western cartoons:

Reported for the images. And please, are you -honestly- saying that the likes of Family Guy or South Park are more 'mature' because of the lack of explicit sex? And indeed, given South Park's frequent emphasis with regards to it's use of parody, it's still pretty explicit.

Lets see, Pokémon is Anime, and it's not to mature.

Spongebob Squarepants is a cartoon and it's not mature. What's your point? Pokémon is a -kids- show. Like, for children.

 

[Simriel]

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.

I agree, While there is a lot of anime concerned with death and violence, there is just as much about a suburban housewife and her friends. Its just that most of the anime that people in the west are exposed too are sex and violence, just like our normal media intake.

 

[Xanadu84]

I think that western animation is starting to get some grounding in more mature content. A large part of this is due to animes influence. While most anime is still kind of a fun distraction, the same could be said about live action movies. Anime had the larger amount of serious, adult content, while the West had kids shows that were usually shallower, but the west has more parody and satire. With computer animation, I think its evening out, but animes influence can definitely be felt in much of western animation. Also, to anyone who says that no anime is serious: Grave of the Fireflies. You are wrong.

 

[jamesworkshop]

drawn animation in a western nation simply isn't accepted as being a suitable medium for anything other than kid shows or adult comedy, comics and videogames have the same problem whereas movies can deal with much more mature and graphic topics and get far more leinent ratings.
Anime is allowed to be more dramtically orientanted, derived from manga art it is part of the culture and has an air of credibilty however even shows with adult story lines can still suffer from poor writing due to being mass produced in a way the west does not.

good writing and a mature story can be two different things

 

[Ares Tyr]

The Venture Bros.
Batman: The Animated Series
Heavy Metal


The main issue with western cartoons and animation is that they have to sell the shows to television networks, and in America, the average television viewer isn't going to watch a piece of animation unless it's comedic (ala Family Guy, the Simpsons) or they are a child. In Japan, the market and culture is a bit different, and adults are down with watching anime. It's not to say that there aren't exceptions, like I've provided, and it's definetly ridiculous to think that American's couldn't produce sophisticated, or atleast, mature forms of animation. It's just that the market is kind of slanted against those animators.

Also, like 85% of all anime is horse shit. Luckily, usually only the good ones make it over to the western markets.

Edit: Yeah pretty much what he said ^^^

 

[lwm3398]

well,things like hellsing and death note could not have been more mature,lest they make anyone who watches them depressed,but naruto and bleach and inuyasha aren't really that mature. i assume you mean mature as in not grounded by comedy and ridiculousness. i mean,i was just thinking about this,nothing that happens in an anime is logical. it is impossible to happen in real life. gore and boobs may not be mature,but used in the right sense they can make things mature (gore more than nudity) but despite all this,logic is not maturity. i think anime is more mature,yes,but only because the maturest shows here are with real people,not animated. anime is more mature than western cartoons,yes.

 

[Lunar Shadow]

Anime is not mature, if anything it is allot less mature then western cartoons:

[http://img31.imageshack.us/i/playingwithfood.jpg/]

[http://g.imageshack.us/img31/playingwithfood.jpg/1/]

The creepy Hentai freaks don't make things any better

[http://img7.imageshack.us/i/realitycheck.jpg/]

[http://g.imageshack.us/img7/realitycheck.jpg/1/]

Kodomo no Jikan is not a great example, that show is a lolicon's wet dream.

Anyway, there are some animes that have become mainstream that hit upon very mature topics, like Elfen Lied which has the whole nature vs nurture thing as a main theme, or Abenobashi, which is about a kid who is

Spoiler

traveling through parallel deminsions, which he unknowinly creates, because he can't accept his grandpa's death and thus runs away from it.

Granted both of these have alot of sexual undertones and out right nudity in the first one, but they still hit upon some very mature sunjects.

 

[GothmogII]

The Venture Bros.
Batman: The Animated Series
Heavy Metal


The main issue with western cartoons and animation is that they have to sell the shows to television networks, and in America, the average television viewer isn't going to watch a piece of animation unless it's comedic (ala Family Guy, the Simpsons) or they are a child. In Japan, the market and culture is a bit different, and adults are down with watching anime. It's not to say that there aren't exceptions, like I've provided, and it's definetly ridiculous to think that American's couldn't produce sophisticated, or atleast, mature forms of animation. It's just that the market is kind of slanted against those animators.

Also, like 85% of all anime is horse shit. Luckily, usually only the good ones make it over to the western markets.

90% of -everything- is horseshit. Sturgeon's Law, don't forget it.

And I agree, it seems to be more a case in the West that the adult viewing audience (at least the greater portion of) just doesn't want to watch an animated show if it's express purpose isn't to make them laugh. I remember even at some point they tried to put Batman: TAS on primetime television, it failed miserably. Oh it had won awards and such, but it seemed that people just couldn't get their heads around watching something that was animated, and thus 'for kids' and not worth their time.

 

[Captain Bobbossa]

Ghostkai and Hannarr, try reading my comment fully before you start picking it apart.

First of all I did not say MOST Anime fans are 5-15, I said ALOT of anime fans are 5-15, and thats not just 5 year olds, that is as stated 5 .... to 15!!!

And Ghostkai if your going to quote something I said, please quote the whole thing not just halve of it. I said 10-13 or people who got into them at 10-13. Mabye I should have included those who are still in the mind frame of 10-13 when you thought that any song that had swears in it was cool.

And no the 5 year olds are not watching ghost in the shell (although they soon will be) they are watching stuff like Yu Gi-Oh, Naruto, Avatar you know, the stuff that apears on "NICKELODIAN" like I already said.

Hannarr who are you and what gives you the authority to make me "officialy" wrong? hmmmm?
And yes I have watched anime before in a desperate attempt to find out why everyone gave so much of a shit about this specific genre of cartoon (I never found out and still hate the damn thing) so please don't tell what I have and havn't done, or what and what not to do. From my experience just so you know and don't start assuming things again Anime either involves as said very shallow people, people moaning about nothing, very emo like people, people who are far to happy to be sober, strange laser beam shooting monsters, lots of gore, lots of nudity, stupidlt big weapons or people taking 5 episodes to talk about a fight before it acctually happens.

 

[Ares Tyr]

The Venture Bros.
Batman: The Animated Series
Heavy Metal


The main issue with western cartoons and animation is that they have to sell the shows to television networks, and in America, the average television viewer isn't going to watch a piece of animation unless it's comedic (ala Family Guy, the Simpsons) or they are a child. In Japan, the market and culture is a bit different, and adults are down with watching anime. It's not to say that there aren't exceptions, like I've provided, and it's definetly ridiculous to think that American's couldn't produce sophisticated, or atleast, mature forms of animation. It's just that the market is kind of slanted against those animators.

Also, like 85% of all anime is horse shit. Luckily, usually only the good ones make it over to the western markets.

90% of -everything- is horseshit. Sturgeon's Law, don't forget it.

And I agree, it seems to be more a case in the West that the adult viewing audience (at least the greater portion of) just doesn't want to watch an animated show if it's express purpose isn't to make them laugh. I remember even at some point they tried to put Batman: TAS on primetime television, it failed miserably. Oh it had won awards and such, but it seemed that people just couldn't get their heads around watching something that was animated, and thus 'for kids' and not worth their time.

Exactly.

Also, I dare anyone to watch Batman: The Animated Series (the American show) followed by Big O (the anime). Stylistically and thematically Big O is pretty much a huge rip-off (or homage depending on how you look at it) of Batman: TAS. While there aren't alot of examples, when Americans try, they can produce some pretty amazing shit, and influence Japan (who's got, like, way superior animation skills, amirite?).

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Well, it'd also have to depend on one's definition of "mature". For me when someone says that the inclusion of gore and sex makes something mature, I have to resist the tremendous desire to take them out back and beat some sense into them with a two-by-four.

 

[GothmogII]

Anime is not mature, if anything it is allot less mature then western cartoons:

Reported for the images. And please, are you -honestly- saying that the likes of Family Guy or South Park are more 'mature' because of the lack of explicit sex? And indeed, given South Park's frequent emphasis with regards to it's use of parody, it's still pretty explicit.

Lets see, Pokémon is Anime, and it's not to mature.

Spongebob Squarepants is a cartoon and it's not mature. What's your point? Pokémon is a -kids- show. Like, for children.

There is a fine difference between a show not being mature for the sake of being funny and not being mature because there are like 20 moments per episode where some girls underwear is shown and things of that sort.

Oh! And reported for the images? There is nothing offending on them, if your going too report me for them you could as well report anyone who posts anything with bikini babes on them.

Umm, actually, it more a case of taking up the screen -and- the content. Yes, you would get reported for the Bikini pics too probably. And, if you're posting images, they should be posted in spoiler tags like so:

Spoiler

This is a spoiler!

.

Now, as for a rebuttal. Anime is rife with that. However, is that your argument? That most disgusting displays are a-okay if they make us laugh, but things that are similar or less so, like say, panty shots (though often a staple of sex farce) aren't, because...err, why? That they imply titillation? Even if presented (as they are, in quite a good many anime) as a source of comedy?

Personally, I don't think either of the above are mature. But point of the OP is asking whether one or the other -as a whole- is more mature. In terms of content, when -not- providing the kind of fare as mentioned above, the sexual innuendos, the panty shots. Then anime -far- outweighs what western animation has to offer in regards to both drama and more serious situations. I'm not saying that it doesn't have a lot of weird, or even perverted stuff, just that compared to western animation it does have far more mature works.