Poll: Is it inaccurate or offensive to call Anime "Cartoons"

[Atmos Duality]

Cartoons are non-natural/original animated images, anime consists of non-natural/original animated images.

And yes, I do consider CGI to fall under the same broader category of "Animation".
What subset it falls under is in the details.

There are practical limitations, such as "Detail vs Movement", and that's where the primary difference lies.

Specifically, Anime leans heavily towards the detail side of the spectrum, which sounds great in theory, but the overall style can come across as cheap and lazy (especially if the image quality for what IS being animated wasn't that great to begin with) or with elements being frequently lifted from other styles within the same genre.

The sole saving grace there is that anime often touches on subjects that western culture deems too "vulgar" for cartoons, though this notion is changing slowly.
(Of course, I've seen some very adult cartoons made well before anime became popular in America. Hell, made before the vast majority of animes ever existed.)

Anyone who is "Offended" by anyone calling Anime cartoons...well, you're probably beyond help at this point. Nobody is changing their opinion.

 

[Daniel Laeben-Rosen]

So no, it's not an English word, it's a Latin word.

Anime isn't a Latin word. It is, as you said, a modified Latin word (as 90% of English is). Anime is a Japanese word that has its origins in English (which owes it to Latin and Greek and pretty much every other language on Earth. Our language is such a mongrel).

Anime = Japanese.

Sorry but... No.
Japan is only one of many countries who uses that particular abbreviation. It's also in spanish for instance in the exact same use.
Anime isn't even a word. As I said, it's an abbreviation. In this particular case it's of "animēshon".
Which comes from Animation. Which comes from "animatus": "To imbue life".

 

[mikespoff]

It can be useful to use "anime" to distinguish Japanese cartoons from western ones, but I certainly wouldn't think that offensiveness enters into it.

 

[EBHughsThe1st]

It's still a cartoon. Just a subgenre. So, y'know, know.
Anyone who flips out because someone refers to anime as a cartoon, which it is, is some kind of weeaboo. Just like trying to separate manga and comics or movies and "OVAs". Sure, there's american or western cartoons, but it's not exactly just that when you say cartoon. It's an umbrella term for animation of all kinds, basically.

 

[Varya]

It isn't offensive, and I personally find it ludicrous that someone would find it so. Myself, I call it anime simply because it's a distinction that people understands, but saying that anime is fundamentally different from cartoons is objectively wrong, unless your definition of "fundamentally different" means "comes from Japan or sometimes other parts of asia".
There are a lot of good anime, yes, but there is a LOT of crap to, and to say that anime is not cartoons because it's better? THAT if anything is offensive. Batman TAS FFS!
It's not only offensive to western cartoons but to anime. There are LOTS of different genres in anime and to place all of them in the same room and say "This is somehow better than what we in the west does" is rather silly and makes the good anime look bad because you just said it was the same as the bad anime.
FYI, in Japan, anime refers to anything animated. To distinguish between anime and cartoons is something we do in the west.

 

[Daniel Laeben-Rosen]

snip

I'm gong with Merriam on this one;

"Japanese, animation, short for animēshiyon, from English
First Known Use: 1988".

I'm not arguing it's use in Japan. I'm saying that anime, in the end, is not a japanese word once you get right down to it. That is all.
Or to put it another way: it's a moot point for the topic so let's just get back to it. As much as I love debating etymology this is not the place.

 

[Daniel Laeben-Rosen]

By that logic, nothing is English either, when you get right down to it.

Which was pretty much my entire point. No words are what one thinks when you get right down to it. And in the end, anime is infact not a word, but an abbreviation.

 

[Belated]

It's not offensive to call anime cartoons. That's what the Japanese call it. Seriously, they use the word "anime" and to them it refers to ANY animation. If the country of origin doesn't take it seriously enough to make an extinction, why should we?

 

[HTID Raver]

yes its perfectly fine,
anyone who thinks otherwise is just too bloody thick to know what their talking about

 

[Daniel Laeben-Rosen]

That's just silly. By that logic, what I'm typing now isn't English, it's borrowed Latin (wich isn't even the first language).

Anime is a Japanese word - an abbreviation of animeshiyon, says Merriam.

Did it come from another language? Yes. Hell, every word in our dictionary did (almost). But it is still Japanese.

That was kinda the point. It *is* silly. Another thing I brought up is that anime isn't just an abbreviation that exists in Japan.
For the purposes of this particular topic, you aren't entirely wrong, infact in the modern use of the word you are right. I'm not saying anything else. Look up again where I infact state my entire point. And again, I enjoy debating these things but this is not the place, so let's call it quits on that.

And to get back on topic:
Calling anime(see) a cartoon is deffinetly not something that should matter to anyone since in the end they both refer to the exact same thing in the modern use of both words(see again). I've already said this twice now.

 

[Jumpingbean3]

itd be like saying
http://www.spawn.com/toys/spawn/series27/spawni131/images/series27_spawni131_concept_01_dp.jpg

is the same as

http://f.imagehost.org/0419/TheBeano3488-cover.jpg

Their quite different and exclusive, anime is lucky enough to have its own title for its niche, i say it should referred to as such.

They're both comic books they're just different genres and the same goes for anime and cartoons.

 

[Justanothergamer300]

No. Anime = Japanese cartoon.

What he said

 

[Daniel Laeben-Rosen]

Your comments baffle me.

Your latter paragraph, I agree with.

Yeah I'm starting to get quite lost. Look, just ignore everything I said after "Etymology is fun" which was probably my original point but it's 1.30am here and I've hardly slept in 48 hours.

 

[RepeatAfterMe]

I sense an angry Weeaboo tribe approaching this thread armed with large swords. (Oh, sorry."Katanas")