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

[sessionxiii]

i call them cartoons

fight me

 

[gphjr14]

Well the term anime prepares you pedophilia , gratuitous violence, overly cute animals/children, disproportioned women with boobs way bigger than 90% of Japanese women have or a combination of all of those things.

 

[Nieroshai]

I've seen some pretty deep and dark cartoons and cartoon movies with deep plots, and I've seen some pretty shallow episodic anime. So to me Anime is cartoons done the Japanese way. If you think about it, the art style of anime even came from American cartoons like Disney films.

 

[Zeetchmen]

They are cartoons silly, anime is just a term to point out its differences from other cartoons

imo

 

[Harlemura]

I call Japanese cartoons anime and Western cartoons... well, Western cartoons. Just for ease of clarification, really.
I really don't like anime myself, so I wouldn't care if someone called it a cartoon. However, I hold a double standard, since I'd get grumpy if I heard someone calling a Western cartoon an anime.

I don't think the name depends on sophistication though. Yes, anime can be more sophisticated than Western cartoons, but it swings both ways.
Just because anime has some series with blood and sex doesn't make the whole genre more grown-up. I know that's a ridiculous view, but some people I know seem to think that.

 

[LCP]

No, It is what it is

 

[Iron Mal]

Anime is still a form of cartoon just as a Graphic novel is still a type of comic book.

I understand the need to protect your masculinity from accusations of immaturity but do we really need to get riled up because someone doesn't use your preferred vocabulary?

I like both graphic novels and the occasional anime but that doesn't mean I venerate them as transcending mere petty notions like comics and cartoons.

 

[StBishop]

Cartoons from Japan are still cartoons. Anyone who gets pissy over someone calling them that is far too obsessed with them.

This.

Anime generally refers to a style of cartoons.

A graphic novel is still pretty much a comic, it's just longer.

 

[Pyro Paul]

because Cartoon =/= Animation

Cartoon is a short unrefined gesture drawing.

it eventually evolved into its own type of art work and style which went hand in hand with early printing press. given that a cartoon is short and quick to produce, as well as being unrefined consisting mostly of simple line work allowed it to be worked into the simple 1 color printing presses of the time.

....posting the EXACT SAME ARGUMENT three times in a row doesn't make it any less wrong, you know.

Your definition of cartoon is severely out-dated. Was that true a few decades ago? Ofcourse, but the definition of words CAN change, as societies change. Cartoon USED to be used to refer to those things, and it still is, but over the years it's definition has broadened to include animations.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/animated+cartoon

OT: Yes, they are, by definition , animated cartoons. People who say otherwise are either pretentious or using outdated definitions of words.

You can NOT use a Word to Define that Word.
that definition creates a Paradox.

Cartoon: An animated Cartoon.
Animated: to give motion.
Animated Cartoon: A Moving Cartoon.

do you see the paradox

I also don't see how that really changes my argument, other than the fact dictionary.com used poor wording in the definition of "cartoon". Okay then, this time, JUST the definition of an "Animated Cartoon"

?noun
a motion picture consisting of a sequence of drawings, each so slightly different that when filmed and run through a projector the figures seem to move.

There. Anime is, by definition an animated cartoon.

Any Live Action film is a 'cartoon' by that definition.

Drawing:
A 2 Demensional graphical representation of an object.

photograph:
a 2 demensional representation of an image created by light sensitive material.

Film:
a strip of light senstive material designed to capture images in quick succession to capture the implication of motion.

 

[Dana22]

Cartoon =/= Animation.

Period.

By saying Cartoon people usually mean Animated Cartoon which = Anime pretty much.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

The thing is that, if cartoons in America are made for adults, they're ALWAYS comedy/satire/audacious. They almost NEVER have a serious story with actual god damn continuity, they're all single episodes in a never changing never evolving never aging universe that try and jam jokes or social satire in them when they're not taking refuge in the audacity and sex joke heaven.

Batman: The animated Series
Gargoyles
Samurai Jack

Geared towards children? Kinda, but that doesn't mean they don't have complexity, deep characters, a constantly changing world, etc, etc, all the other things you claim anime have that western cartoons don't.

Please stop belittling western cartoons...can't we all just admit that there are deep, engaging cartoons in BOTH the east and the west? Please?

I said "almost never" out of the ones you list only Batman would pass my criteria btw. Gargoyles were just one more Saturday morning thing and for me Samurai Jack was unwatchable, probably since I was too old by the time it was out and was instantly turned off by the art style alone.


The whole "geared towards kids" also ensured their failure to keep you immersed in their world in the long run.

What Batman did was make the show about the villains and make the villains not just cartoonish but quite a bit more dimensional, the action still suffered from the "for kids" thing in a big way though.


Read what I just said, I just called villains cartoonish and that means something...but would you get the same meaning if I called the villains "anime-ish"? Wouldn't your mind instead go to a place more akin to a god with demon wings or a huge robot or someone like Sephiroth? Someone like Frieza or Orochimaru, certainly not someone like Lex Luthor and his pie-stealing scheme.

 

[GotMalkAvian]

I don't find it offensive, but it is mildly inaccurate, being that "anime" refers specifically to Japanese animation. I can understand that "cartoon" carries a certain connotation of something being childish, but overreacting to it is just a sad otaku reaction trying to justify anime as something that it isn't. It's kind of like a comic book geek who refuses to acknowledge that graphic novels are still comic books.

If you really wanna piss them off, start calling it "japanimation."

 

[Futurenerd]

Cartoons have brought us classics such as Rocco's modern life, Ed Edd 'n' Eddy, Cow and Chicken

WTF is wrong with you? Ed Edd and Eddy and Cow and Chicken are CLASSICS? SOMETHING IS SERIOUSLY MESSED UP WITH THAT STATEMENT OK?
OT: No. Calling Anime Cartoons is neither inaccurate nor offensive.

 

[Firehound]

Anime is animation from Japan.

Cartoons gained the name because their resemblance to comic book strips, which were previously cartoons.

And the difference between cartoons and anime and live-action is that Live-action has real people, and both cartoons and anime are completely animated.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Cartoons have brought us classics such as Rocco's modern life, Ed Edd 'n' Eddy, Cow and Chicken

WTF is wrong with you? Ed Edd and Eddy and Cow and Chicken are CLASSICS? SOMETHING IS SERIOUSLY MESSED UP WITH THAT STATEMENT OK?

Thank you, I find all of these shows utterly unwatchable and I often don't bother with people who praise them, it's nice to see I'm not alone lol.

 

[Pyro Paul]

Cartoon =/= Animation.

Period.

Saying Cartoon people usually mean Animated Cartoon which = Anime pretty much.

Animated cartoons are Cartoon drawings given motion through 'Cel Animation'

every one that posts a definition of 'Animated cartoons' is acctually posting the definition of 'Cel Animation'

 

[Daniel Laeben-Rosen]

I don't find it offensive, but it is mildly inaccurate, being that "anime" refers specifically to Japanese animation. I can understand that "cartoon" carries a certain connotation of something being childish, but overreacting to it is just a sad otaku reaction trying to justify anime as something that it isn't. It's kind of like a comic book geek who refuses to acknowledge that graphic novels are still comic books.

If you really wanna piss them off, start calling it "japanimation."

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.

 

[Alphakirby]

An Anime IS A CARTOON. It is a Japanese cartoon. Pure and simple.

Ninja'd
But seriously,anyone who gets mad over Anime being called a cartoon is A.Oblivious to the actual definition of anime (I.E. Japanese animation or cartoon for the less refined) and B.One obsessive kaiwai.

 

[astrav1]

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"?

You need to show your friends the "Fatson"meme. You can find it on dramatica. There should be one on anime that sounds exactly like your friends.

 

[Sad Face]

Cartoons from Japan are still cartoons. Anyone who gets pissy over someone calling them that is far too obsessed with them.

That's my stance on it.
An Anime IS a cartoon. Get over it.