Japanese Anime or American Cartoons?
Posted: Mon May 01, 2006 4:08 am
Hi, I know this is a rather weird poll/thread to be posting in an anime related forum, but I hope I can get objective replies here.
The question is simple: "Which do you like better - Japanese Anime or American Cartoons?"
The answer, however, is not so simple. When comparing these two, many factors must be brought into account, and the standalone significance of each factor must also be debated. What factors am I talking about? That's up to each individual to decide. After all, we each look at different aspects of cinematography to define what a good movie/series/show is.
As for now, I think I'll kick things off by sharing my opinion.
Now, as we all know, American movie studios (namely Walt Disney and Warner Brothers) have produced a significant collection of high-performance, extremely professional and very well made cartoons, many of which are considered by people around the world as true classics. There is no argument in the fact that the Americans were very successful in this field and have proven themselves to be real craftsmen of animated cinematographic productions.
However, and despite all of that, in my eyes - Japanese animated productions (anime) are superior. It is not a matter of quality, nor of quantity, but rather of demographic influence fields. What I'm trying to say is that unlike the majority of the American animation industry, a large portion of the Japanese animated industry does not aim their products directly at children. As you all know, American cartoons tend to be, oh, how shall I put it, slightly immature. It is well known that they are mostly works of plush, light home entertainment and are kept on a strict family rating. Japanese anime on the other hand, is aimed a lot of the time at the "teens and up" viewer crowd, meaning that they are more mature and less restrained. For, as you all know, Japanese anime tends to include violence, death, gore and displays of an even more mature nature (the word Hentai sums up that statement pretty well). Because of content of this nature, I'm fairly certain that at least half of the Japanese anime that I enjoy now, at the age of 17, I can still enjoy years later, somewhere in my late 20s.
In short, the reason because of which American animation to me is inferior to Japanese animation, is because the producers of American cartoons tend to be narrow sighted when it comes to widening the demographic distribution of their works. And I don't really blame them directly, after all, all the aforementioned high points of Japanese animation have been dominated by the movie and television industries in America, leaving only a small target audience available for the cartoonists to appeal to without too much competition (after all, they do have to make money off of this). This, of course, gives Japanese anime a slight handicap in this competition.
... or maybe it doesn't? Maybe it's something else? Maybe I've approached it from the wrong angles? Maybe I haven't paid attention to the most significant factors? What do you think? If you have an opinion about what I have said, or, preferably, about the main topic, I would very much like to hear (read) it.
The question is simple: "Which do you like better - Japanese Anime or American Cartoons?"
The answer, however, is not so simple. When comparing these two, many factors must be brought into account, and the standalone significance of each factor must also be debated. What factors am I talking about? That's up to each individual to decide. After all, we each look at different aspects of cinematography to define what a good movie/series/show is.
As for now, I think I'll kick things off by sharing my opinion.
Now, as we all know, American movie studios (namely Walt Disney and Warner Brothers) have produced a significant collection of high-performance, extremely professional and very well made cartoons, many of which are considered by people around the world as true classics. There is no argument in the fact that the Americans were very successful in this field and have proven themselves to be real craftsmen of animated cinematographic productions.
However, and despite all of that, in my eyes - Japanese animated productions (anime) are superior. It is not a matter of quality, nor of quantity, but rather of demographic influence fields. What I'm trying to say is that unlike the majority of the American animation industry, a large portion of the Japanese animated industry does not aim their products directly at children. As you all know, American cartoons tend to be, oh, how shall I put it, slightly immature. It is well known that they are mostly works of plush, light home entertainment and are kept on a strict family rating. Japanese anime on the other hand, is aimed a lot of the time at the "teens and up" viewer crowd, meaning that they are more mature and less restrained. For, as you all know, Japanese anime tends to include violence, death, gore and displays of an even more mature nature (the word Hentai sums up that statement pretty well). Because of content of this nature, I'm fairly certain that at least half of the Japanese anime that I enjoy now, at the age of 17, I can still enjoy years later, somewhere in my late 20s.
In short, the reason because of which American animation to me is inferior to Japanese animation, is because the producers of American cartoons tend to be narrow sighted when it comes to widening the demographic distribution of their works. And I don't really blame them directly, after all, all the aforementioned high points of Japanese animation have been dominated by the movie and television industries in America, leaving only a small target audience available for the cartoonists to appeal to without too much competition (after all, they do have to make money off of this). This, of course, gives Japanese anime a slight handicap in this competition.
... or maybe it doesn't? Maybe it's something else? Maybe I've approached it from the wrong angles? Maybe I haven't paid attention to the most significant factors? What do you think? If you have an opinion about what I have said, or, preferably, about the main topic, I would very much like to hear (read) it.