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

[DracoSuave]

To the OP:

You realize that by comparing anime to 'Cow and Chicken' and 'Spongebob Squarepants' you're actually comparing it to children's programming.

Not all anime is for children. The comparison, no matter how well meaning, is not a fair one. Perhaps a better comparison would be to include such works as Fritz the Cat, or The Last Unicorn. You want to talk about sophisticated animation, don't use frikken Cow and Chicken for gossake.

That's part of the reason why anime fans who are your friends are not seeing your claim that it's not disrespectful: You are comparing it to frikken Cow and Chicken. God.

Perhaps you should make comparisons to Ralph Balshki's work, or Lilo and Stitch, or the Mighty Mouse movie. Heavy Metal. See, a lot of anime's style and presentation was born out of animation coming out of the states, particularily in the 70s to early 80s. See, you can't possibly relate to why they like Evangelion, because you're off thinking of frikken Cow and Chicken.

No wonder you're having trouble with this.

 

[Haydyn]

Both my mother and sister referred to an anime I was watching as a "modern day version of Pokemon." While I appreciate Pokemon, that just goes to show how little people know. Anime is more than a genre of cartoons. It's an entirely different medium.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

To the OP:

You realize that by comparing anime to 'Cow and Chicken' and 'Spongebob Squarepants' you're actually comparing it to children's programming.

Not all anime is for children. The comparison, no matter how well meaning, is not a fair one. Perhaps a better comparison would be to include such works as Fritz the Cat, or The Last Unicorn. You want to talk about sophisticated animation, don't use frikken Cow and Chicken for gossake.

That's part of the reason why anime fans who are your friends are not seeing your claim that it's not disrespectful: You are comparing it to frikken Cow and Chicken. God.

Perhaps you should make comparisons to Ralph Balshki's work, or Lilo and Stitch, or the Mighty Mouse movie. Heavy Metal. See, a lot of anime's style and presentation was born out of animation coming out of the states, particularily in the 70s to early 80s. See, you can't possibly relate to why they like Evangelion, because you're off thinking of frikken Cow and Chicken.

No wonder you're having trouble with this.

Ever hear of Hamtaro, Crayon Shin Chan, frikkin' Pokemon or heck, Dragon Ball Z? There are plenty of anime series aimed squarely at little kids, just like there are a fair few western cartoons aimed at adults, like the direct to DVD Marvel and DC movies, Futurama, The Simpsons, and Family Guy. Heck, a lot of the so-called "kids shows" contain things explicitly for the parents, with the assumption that it'll go right over the kids' heads. This is without getting into older animated films like Heavy Metal and Fritz the Cat, which were made in America, but definitely not for kids. Face it, the only difference is in the minds of Western anime fans; if you asked someone from Japan, they would refer to every single series and film I just listed as anime, regardless of country of origin.

P.S.: I'm not an anime hater. Note the Mobile Suit Gundam avatar.

P.P.S.: I missed the last paragraph of your post, where you bring up some of the same things I did. The point still stands that anime has plenty of childish episodic works that compare better to Spongebob or Cow and Chicken than they do Heavy Metal.

 

[Tanis]

I think so...it's kind of like calling manga a comic book or a comic book a manga. It brings up radically different styles...and just doesn't fit. It's inaccurate - offensive is pushing it.

How is it inaccurate?

Old, but still kind of relevant.

Also, name ONE (popular) cartoon that deals with sexuality, war, or even life after death (as a whole) in any kind of meaningful way.

Damn near all cartoons don't have death at all.
"It's just a robot" or "He disappeared".


Time and time again anime, maybe because of its origin, is willing to push boundaries or tackle subjects that American cartoons can't, or won't, delve into.

 

[GroovyV]

Regardless of the opinions of people saying that Anime is heavier, edgier, more mature and cooler than cartoons in america could ever hope to be, fact is, Anime is japanese animation.
Animation being another word for Cartoon. They're both nearly synonymous.

I myself like Anime, and still refer to it as such, but yeah, only difference is where they come from, and the subject matter. Drawn Together is a cartoon show with very saturday morning looking characters, but deals with ADULT subject matter.

This may be my opinion, but i'm still holding firm that it's pretty damn close to Fact.

 

[Korolev]

They are mostly cartoons. Some animated films are.... well, films, but that could be said of Western Animation as well. With most anime, most of it is pretty much indistinguishable from cartoons. You cannot say to me, with a straight face, that Naruto or Bleach are "works of art" - they're clearly not.

That doesn't mean some people can't find them enjoyable. But they are most certainly cartoons. Just because they're made in Japan doesn't make them any different - Japanese Films are still FILMS. And anime is a form of cartoon.

 

[xFullmetalx]

I think so...it's kind of like calling manga a comic book or a comic book a manga. It brings up radically different styles...and just doesn't fit. It's inaccurate - offensive is pushing it.

How is it inaccurate?

Old, but still kind of relevant.

Also, name ONE (popular) cartoon that deals with sexuality, war, or even life after death (as a whole) in any kind of meaningful way.

Damn near all cartoons don't have death at all.
"It's just a robot" or "He disappeared".


Time and time again anime, maybe because of its origin, is willing to push boundaries or tackle subjects that American cartoons can't, or won't, delve into.

Well first off you've compared Japanese animation that are geared towards older people with American animation focused on a younger demographic.

As for naming a cartoon that deals with sexuality, war, death etc. Avatar would be a notable one.

 

[bluepilot]

First of all, backstory: I have a lot of friends who watch anime, some of them get angry at me when I refer Naruto and Bleach as 'cartoons' and say that I do this just because I personally dislike them. I'm told the phrase 'cartoon' is offensive because it "trivialises the depth and complexity of anime". I disagree.

Cartoons have brought us classics such as Rocco's modern life, Spongebob squarepants, Ed Edd 'n' Eddy, Cow and Chicken and many more. If anything I would consider it a compliment to be compared to such a great medium of entertainment.

So I put it to the escapist community, is there anything wrong with calling anime "cartoons"?

Anime is short for animation, and yes, anything animated can be classed as a cartoon

In more technical tears, the term 'animation' might refer to a realistic looking style, whereas cartoon might be used for a style which uses greater exaggeration. But in technical terms, it is rarely used to differ Japanese productions and American productions. Both of which have a vast range of different styles and animation techniques.

I have lived in Japan for 4 years now, there are so many cartoons here which are just silly and immature.

In fact, to find a good cartoon, first you have to wade through a lot of really bad cartoons. It is very frustrating and so far I have not found anything good in Japan that is not already famous abroad.

There only reason that some people abroad think highly of Japanese cartoons is that a lot of the GOOD stuff makes it abroad. The bad stuff is sitting in bargain bins up and down the country. In some places they have huge warehouses full of all the failed comics (which never made it to animation) going cheap.

Plus America has many great cartoons which deal with complex and difficult themes. For some good examples I recommend the older batman series, gargoyles e.t.c. there are some old treasures lying around.

The cartoons which made my cry the most was 'Jurassic Bark' from futurama.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

I think so...it's kind of like calling manga a comic book or a comic book a manga. It brings up radically different styles...and just doesn't fit. It's inaccurate - offensive is pushing it.

How is it inaccurate?

Old, but still kind of relevant.

Also, name ONE (popular) cartoon that deals with sexuality, war, or even life after death (as a whole) in any kind of meaningful way.

Damn near all cartoons don't have death at all.
"It's just a robot" or "He disappeared".


Time and time again anime, maybe because of its origin, is willing to push boundaries or tackle subjects that American cartoons can't, or won't, delve into.

Well first off you've compared Japanese animation that a geared towards older people with American animation focused on a younger demographic.

As for naming a cartoon that deals with sexuality, war, death etc. Avatar would be a notable one.

And I'll name another one, Exosquad, which dealt with all of those topics and more in a decidedly more mature manner than many anime series do. Which reminds me, I need to get around to finishing it someday.

 

[xFullmetalx]

It seems like there is some sort of elitist attitude about watching anime.

 

[whtkid6969]

Most people connect cartoons with little children, the term Anime implies a more "mature" story.

 

[Nemu]

I've watched anime for almost 30 years (starting, technically, with Voltron back in the 80s). I actually find self-appointed otaku more irritating than people who call anime "cartoons". Otaku tend to get all defensive and snobbish, calling anime the "better" medium, and won't listen when I counter that anime is directly influenced by Disney.

*shrug*

*waves cane* In myyyyyyyy day, we could only get anime on VHS tapes at cons or in expensive import stores!
You whipper-snappers don't know how good you have it!

 

[AlexNora]

My problem with the word cartoon is its american and america likes to censore pretty much everything that challenges socially accepted ideas paper mario's vivian anybody XD

anyway american cartoons are not sinonimos with deep plot points not like anime is

you dont think anime has deep plot points? then watch Hourou Musuko

no really do it go to crunchyroll and watch it right now! "Japanese sub"

what was i talking about again....

 

[Tanis]

How is it inaccurate?
...Japanese animation that are geared towards older people...
...American animation focused on a younger demographic...

You answered your own question...^_^
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As for naming a cartoon that deals with sexuality, war, death etc. Avatar would be a notable one.

I'll give you that, but I will point out that Avatar: The Last Airbender was more 'Anime made by Americans/Westerners' than 'a cartoon with mature themes.

However, being the nice guy that I am, I'll mention a 'cartoon that was a mature cartoon all on its own'.
Invasion America - fantastic, but short lived, cartoon that had more in common with 'mature' shows like Primeval than it does with Static Shock.

 

[Tanis]

It seems like there is some sort of elitist attitude about watching anime.

I don't think it's so much 'elitist' as it is wanting people to 'get it right'.

Tom Petty (sp?) is technically 'rock music'.

However, tell some metal 'Metallica is god' type that TP and Megadeth are on the same level...yeah - not really gonna go over well with them.

It's the reason why comics that want to be taken seriously call themselves 'graphic novels', even if they're really 'just comics in a hardback'.

 

[Winterfel]

Just dump the damn term anime, we have JRPG so why not just name it Jcartoons. They differ mostly in the same ways anyway.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

How is it inaccurate?
...Japanese animation that are geared towards older people...
...American animation focused on a younger demographic...

You answered your own question...^_^
[
[
[

As for naming a cartoon that deals with sexuality, war, death etc. Avatar would be a notable one.

I'll give you that, but I will point out that Avatar: The Last Airbender was more 'Anime made by Americans/Westerners' than 'a cartoon with mature themes.

However, being the nice guy that I am, I'll mention a 'cartoon that was a mature cartoon all on its own'.
Invasion America - fantastic, but short lived, cartoon that had more in common with 'mature' shows like Primeval than it does with Static Shock.

Um, you quoted the wrong person. In fact, you managed to combine three nested quotes from three different people into one quote box, while taking everything out of context. I have, however, given plenty of examples both of children's anime, and of western cartoons aimed at an older audience.

 

[GotMalkAvian]

Now, as someone who does comics... That's a very good point.
The thing about graphic-novel though was that it was a needed step for comics to be able to gain some much-needed respect outside those currently in-the-know, thanks in much to books like Watchmen.
Granted, I'll still gladly call Watchmen and V for Vendetta graphic novels because... They are seriously more novel than comic. Partly in terms of text. They're heavy reads.

Oh, I agree completely. "Graphic novel" is a term that has been applied to certain comic books that are typically deeper and more mature than the usual spandex set. However, that's just my point; since a lot of graphic novels were originally published as individual installments and then later compiled into a single volume, there really isn't anything to set them apart from comic bookss aside from fans' assertions that they're "just better than normal comic books.

I think anime in America is going through its own version of the "graphic novel" re-labeling; fans have found a term that they believe sets anime apart from run-of-the-mill cartoons. As a mild anime fan, I believe that a lot of anime deserves to be held apart from normal cartoons. However, just like any trade paperback comic compilations that get labeled as graphic novels, some really don't deserve the distinction.