Forum - View topicWhich is what, and what is which?
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CaRDz
 Posts: 35 Location: Rochester, MN |
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I once squinted when my brother commented that animes are different from cartoons, but when I really thought about it, he did make a good point that these two are different things. I knew that.
Can you say animes are cartoons? Or not? |
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Nagisa
Moderator
 Posts: 6128 Location: Atlanta-ish, Jawjuh |
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Anime is animation, just animation from a different country. And given that the common usage of the terms "animation" and "cartoon" are one and the same, yes, anime are basically cartoons. Some fans might not like that fact, but they are basically cartoons from Japan, and no nitpicking over content or target audience or maturity (HA!) can change that fact.
Not like there've never been thoughtful and mature cartoons produced outside of Japan anyway, so I've never really seen what the big deal is aside from being self-conscious and trying to sound "cool" or "different" or "smart." |
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8daze
Posts: 92 Location: USA |
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I, too, don't quite understand the horror of many fans when anime is called "cartoons." I suppose it all comes back to the fact that many fans don't want their hobby to seem childish, and they believe that cartoons bear that label in our society. That's not quite true, though. Just take a glance at The Simpsons, Family Guy, Futurama, etc. Clearly those are aimed at an audience that's at least teenaged, and mainly adult.
But I don't see why people should care so much even if others did think it childish. If you enjoy something, enjoy it. There's never going to be a time in the world when everyone takes your hobby, whatever it may be (come on, how many stamp collecting jokes do we hear?), as seriously as you do. That's why it's your hobby for your spare time. Besides, I like cartoons. I utterly refuse to ever consider myself too old to watch Bugs Bunny. |
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drakonslair
Posts: 74 Location: Ireland |
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Isnt "anime" in japan considered to be any animated show, while in the US and elsewhere it specifically is used to mean Japanese animation.
Anime are cartoons just a country specific term outside of Japan. |
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pieisexactlythree
 Posts: 72 Location: Portland, OR |
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Cardz, I recommend reading Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, for a better understanding of the terminology of the medium. His book deals mainly with the graphic novel format, but I think much of the vocabulary he develops for discussing it is very applicable to animation as well.
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HitokiriShadow
 Posts: 6251 |
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In Japan, anime is a borrowed word from French which simply means animation and refers to all animation. In English speaking countries, anime is used to refer specifically to Japanese animation.
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Keonyn
 Subscriber Posts: 5567 Location: Coon Rapids, MN |
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As Nagisa said, when it all comes down to it they're one and the same. However the term anime does give people more a narrowed down idea of what exactly is being talked about where as the term cartoons basically refers to any animation from anywhere.
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RommieSG
 Posts: 147 Location: Hokuei High School |
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I like to think of anime as a more mature version of a cartoon. It's not like watching Bugs Bunny or Mickey Mouse on a saturday morning. Most anime have a plotline, thought out characters, and an actual storyline. It's my way of still being able to watch cartoons no matter how old I get. It's a promise I've kept to myself for a long time now.
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Kruszer
 Posts: 7994 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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I use "anime" specifically as a term purely to define those things which are specifically produced and concieved in Japan. Whereas I would use "animation" to describe everything else animation-wise. The word "cartoon" carries with it connotations that the show should be ammusing or childish so I don't use it unless describing such things. The right tools for right job to use an analogy, just as you wouldn't use the word "car" to describe every single wheeled vehicle on the road like motorcycles, 18 wheelers, etc.
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Nagisa
Moderator
Posts: 6128 Location: Atlanta-ish, Jawjuh |
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So would you still consider the likes of Bottle Fairy or Risky-Safety or DiGi Charat to be anime, by that definition? Or what about Naruto or Sailor Moon, which were aimed at audiences younger than those Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck were intended for? |
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shirokiryuu
Posts: 714 Location: Northern California (SF Bay Area) |
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Wait, wasn't that a myth of it being borrowed from French? I've heard it being denied and claimed so many times I'm a big confused on it. I've always thought "anime" was just a japanese shortening of "animation". Like "note" with "notebook". (Because it would be a mouthful to say in katakana) |
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HitokiriShadow
Posts: 6251 |
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Come to think of it, I've heard both as well. Let's consult the ANN Lexicon:
So it seems that may or may not be of French origin. It may or may not be a shortening of "animatino." Well, either way it's use in Japan differs from its use in English, which was my point. |
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unhealthyman
 Posts: 306 |
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Well, Aladdin has a plotline and thought out characters and story. I also think it is a great disney film. Anime can be more mature than the idea of a western cartoon. Although clearly there are mature western cartoons. (I hesitate to call South Park mature in some senses, but it certainly isn't suitable for kids...  ) And clearly childrens anime.
There is a slight shortage of cartoons which are quite as mature as Monster, Planetes or Perfect Blue (Just picking names out of my head there.) The only things I can thing which have similarly complex and mature themes are certain graphic novels, and the complexity of those tends to get badly bastardised when turned into films and when they are turned into films it is always live action it seems. (Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Sandman, From Hell...) There is a whole volume of debate about whether a non-Japanese cartoon/animated thingy, can be called anime. (I think the general consensus is no, but I really don't want to reignite the debate.) Basically, I think anime is a very handy terminology to say what you watch. If you tell someone you watch anime, then people know you mean Japanese anime. If you just tell people you watch cartoons, but you mean you watch anime, then it doesn't really narrow it down for them. I guess you could say that anime is a subset of cartoons. Not all cartoons are anime, but all anime are cartoons? I guess the whole question depends on what you define cartoons as. And what you define anime as. And so, as most discussions tend to end up, it is all about how you define things. |
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selenta
Subscriber Posts: 1774 Location: Seattle, WA |
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The problem isn't really that people think anime is cartoons, it's when they think anime is "just" a cartoon, implying that they are all the same and all on the mental level of the Tom and Jerry they watched as kids. I do tend to categorize anime as a darker/more intellectual sub-category of cartoons though. It's true that not all of them are philosophical and gory action masterpieces, but if you were to average the cartoons made in America and those made in Japan, there is obviously much more made in Japan that is aimed towards older audiences and includes much more adult themes. Not even Family Guy or South Park (two of the most 'adult' cartoons I can think of atm) has the realistic gore of Gantz, the psychological stress of Monster, or the pure philosophical fantasy goodness that is Mushishi.
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Kouji
 Posts: 978 |
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There is no difference between anime and cartoons other than the country in which they are produced in. The term anime is indeed a shortened form of the English word "animation", like how Pokemon is the Japanese's shortened word for Pocket Monsters. I don't know why so many people think the word anime comes from French when the earliest anime series were inspired by American animation, not French animation, so wouldn't it make more sense for the word anime to be adopted from an English word? I don't get why so many people make a big deal about people calling anime a cartoon. Last I checked the Japanese didn't invent animation and if it wasn't for American cartoons, anime probably wouldn't exist right now or it wouldn't be the same as it is in its present form today. Anime series can be just as episodic as American cartoons can be like Inuyasha, Sailor Moon, Pokemon, Outlaw Star, and even NGE are episodic and there have been American cartoons with plots too, like X-men TAS, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Disney films.
The majority of anime that's produced in Japan is in fact produced for children contary to popular belief. It's just that Japan has a different culture than ours. They have different views as to what's considered to be appropriate for children as their censorship regulations and ratings system is much more relaxed than America's, so yes, even One Piece is a children's show in Japan. And there are plenty of American cartoons that are also for adults like The Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park, etc. In Japan they actually refer to all animation as being "anime" whether it's Tom And Jerry or Gundam or Naruto or what ever. It's only in outside countries where anime is defined as being animation from Japan but even then the only thing separating anime from cartoons is the location where it's been produced. And with Japanese/U.S co-productions like Robotech The Shadow Chronicles and Afro Samurai becoming more commonplace in the anime market, the few lines that fans have tried to use to separate anime from cartoons is becoming more and more blurred, so if you have some sort of problem with a word, you'd better get used to hearing it the more Japanese/U.S. co-productions become common. If there's any real difference between anime and cartoons, it's that the animation in anime tends to move at a slower frame rate than its American counter-part. Whatever happened to the word "Japanimation" anyway? |
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