Forum - View topicAnime Disertation
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akira976
Posts: 5 Location: Scotland |
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before i continue i would like to appologise in advance for my terrible spelling and gramar. sorry.
i am currently in the 4th year of my degree at art college in dundee (scotland) and am in the middle of writing my dissertation which in my infinute wisdom i have decided to write about one of my favourite subjects ANIME. i have been an anime fan since around 1993 and am reasonably knowledgable about the subject but for my dissertation i need to know the opinions of anime fans from around the world. the title of my dissertation is : How do the styles, imagery and characterisation of Japanese animated Feature films (anime) compare with the animation of western animated feature films? What are the main reasons for these differences/ similarities? so im going to ask a couple of questions about your opinions on this and would be extreamly grateful if as many of you could answer as possible. questions... firstly i would like to know some details about you.(you do not need to answer these if you do not wish to) how long have you been a fan of anime? how did you first discover anime? why do you continue to watch anime? now for the real questions which will help me with my dissertation. Q1. what would you concider to be the most obvious difference between anime and western animation and why would you say this? Q2. why would you choose to watch an anime film rather than a disney/aardman/dreamworks (or any other western animation studio)animated production? Q3. who is your favourite anime director? why do you prefer the work of this person? i may post a couple more questions at a later date but thats it for now should you choose to answer my questions know you do not have to answer them all but any help from you guys wold be greatly appreciated. thanks for your time. |
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WTFAnimeGEek
 Posts: 10 Location: California |
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1) I've been an anime fan for 7 years or so (since 2001)
2) My friend showed me his anime collection and i got instantly hooked. 3) I continue to watch anime because I love the different art styles, stories and emotions. Now the real ones : 1) To me the largest difference comes in many forms. The art of anime is less cartoon style, more fluid and free. Western animation is aimed mostly at kids, and keeps the style for all their movies. Another difference is how the story is presented. Anime presents many stories in different ways that change with each series; of course there are similarities, but overall the story plots, characters of anime are developed as if they were Hollywood movies. Western animation follows this somewhat but they keep the same standard for each film, changing slightly for the characters. 2) I've watched many western animation films, as well as anime. I would choose anime over any because, to me, anime gives the viewer a larger range of emotions to feel. I know in western animation; yes there are emotions and you do feel them, but unlike anime, they aren't really developed deeply. Anime also comes in series of episodes, which help develop the relationship between the viewer and the characters; western animation hooks you in at the start, but in the end; you'll soon forget that character when you move on. Most anime characters are easily remembered for a long time. 3rdly, anime covers a wider range of genres; giving the viewer a wider range of things to watch. I love being able to see down to eath comedy one day, and the next switch to giant robots fighting in space, then right back to slap-stick comedy with aliens ghost...etc. Western animations have good genres, but they are limited in how many they do. 3) I don't have a favorite anime director, though I would choose Hayao Miyazaki's work with Studio Ghibli. I love how they/he portray the characters/stories/emotions of all their work. I hope these answers help you, and sorry that I dragged on in some parts, leaving you with a lot of reading. |
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Highway Star
 Posts: 227 Location: Ireland |
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How long have you been a fan of anime?
Not sure, I think 2 or 3 years now... How did you first discover anime? My friend introduced me to some. Why do you continue to watch anime? To watch people's stories. Now for the real questions which will help me with my dissertation. Q1. The variation. Japanese animation has never limited itself to any theme or genre in particular, and there's a staggering amount of styles to choose from. Q2. Basically the same answer as above. Japanese animation is usually far more interesting. Q3. Katsuhiro Otomo, because his dedication to animation is unmatched, and his stories are incredible, epic and original. |
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Levitz9
 Posts: 1022 Location: Puerto Rico |
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firstly i would like to know some details about you.(you do not need to answer these if you do not wish to)
how long have you been a fan of anime? how did you first discover anime? I first saw anime when I was quite young (3-4 years old), but I didn't recongnize anime for what it was until I was around eleven. It started with innocent stuff like an episode of Sailor Moon, a few episodes of G-Force, then Digimon and Pokemon, etc. why do you continue to watch anime? ...To be honest, I watch it more as something to fill my time than something I like; not that I don't like anime. Q1. what would you concider to be the most obvious difference between anime and western animation and why would you say this? Western animation...is usually aimed more at children. The themes and such are more child-like; friendship, and the like. The stories can also be pretty derivative, although Anime doesn't have THAT much originality either. However, anime is culturally different; also, the viewpoints exposed are different that western ideals and such. Also, things such as murder and crime are depicted more often in anime. As a final point, western animation is usually for comedies; anime is very wide in terms of genres (action, romance, comedy, etc). Q2. why would you choose to watch an anime film rather than a disney/aardman/dreamworks (or any other western animation studio)animated production? Because Disney and Dreamworks are getting burnt out, IMO; Disney is rehashing movies about the Disney Princesses, and the movies are more for children than 'everyone', with few exceptions (Ratatouie, for example). Disney just goes for what it knows will sell. Dreamworks...it's just making Talking 3D Animal comedies along the vein of Shrek or Over The Hedge; the uniqueness of it all is getting lost, and with it, some of the fun. Q3. who is your favourite anime director? why do you prefer the work of this person? Gee, this is hard; I don't really know any anime directors by name, so I really can't mention any. |
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akira976
Posts: 5 Location: Scotland |
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thanks guys your helping me out alot.
i hope your replies will help convince other people to post answers for me. i may post my finished dissertation for you all to read when im done hopefully youll enjoy it. |
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HMMcKamikaze
 Posts: 189 |
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how long have you been a fan of anime?
Only for around a year and a half. how did you first discover anime? I received Spirited Away as a gift when it first came out on dvd before I really knew what anime was. A year later or so I saw Rurouni Kenshin on Cartoon Network and that was the first show I saw that I knew was anime. why do you continue to watch anime? There are some really amazing anime out there that have some deep messages and really make me think. Some of those same shows are also able to be engaging, entertaining, and touching at the same time. I have yet to really see another medium that has affected me so much with the exception of books and some films. Q1 The most obvious difference is that most western animation is intended for children. The few shows that aren't just for kids like The Simpsons, or South Park, or Family Guy, are all comedies. There aren't intelligent animated shows that adults or adolescents can watch that aren't just comedies. Q2 Well, some of the reasons were explained in Question 1, like how most of them are targeted towards kids, but also I don't like the shift in America towards using computer graphics to make all animated films. A lot of the charm is lost when you rely on the computer to do everything, and it just isn't possible to make something as visually appealing in my opinion. In addition, most animated films don't deviate enough from the singular formula that is used these days. Since these are all made for kids they can't be controversial and they need to be happy and fun, and as a result they have a generally predictable ending. So in opposition to this, anime is not only universal among the different demographics, but there is just more freedom in what is considered plausible for a movie. There is not general formula, there is no set template that all anime inherently conforms too. There is variety, and it is because there is variety that there are some really great movies out there that just won't be made in america because of our preconceived ideas about animation. Q3 My favorite director would have to be Hayao Miyazaki. In fact, that is the only director that I can say I really follow. I just love his films because they are so refreshing from the standpoint of someone who was raised in America. His work seems partially refreshing just because he is Japanese, so he lives in a completely different society than mine, and therefore there are many different influences that don't exist here. Also, the stories are just great themselves. Almost all his films have no true "good" side and "evil' side, even the people that are considered evil have relatively understandable reasons for doing what they do. The messages he gives are inspiring, and uplifting while not being too preachy or standoffish. The soundtracks are always great, and I also like the fact that Miyazaki more often than not has a strong female main character as opposed to a male one. |
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Fallout2man
Posts: 275 Location: San Diego, CA |
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Dig around in the sticky where we post personal info, do a search of all of my posts and you'll find my big block of personal info there.
I really didn't become a fan itself until around 1999 or so.
I first saw anime twice before really becoming formally introduced to it. One was a late night showing of Vampire hunter D on cartoon network way back before even Toonami, where they were having some anime festival thing. The next was seeing the tail end of Tenchi Muyo in Love on the sci-fi channel. I really developed a firm understanding of what anime was around what I believe was winter of 1999 at my best buddy's birthday party. His friends were all big into anime among other things and brought a bunch of VHS tapes over. It was watching Episodes 3 and 4 of the Tenchi Muyo OVA that I thoroughly fell in love with the medium.
Out of all forms of artistic expression of a story or idea, anime on a whole tends to illicit the greatest and most usual emotional response. I can connect with and feel for the characters and the story infinitely more than with any other form of media to an almost alarming degree.
If I have to pick one I'd say that at least in most cases is the conveying of maturity. Not just mature content such as nudity or lots of gorey violence but also in deep, involving and mature storylines. While not true of all anime, on a whole it feels more mature and is in many cases presented in a far more mature way then western animation, which is almost always targeted at young children. What's worse is often in American animation styles, mature ratings often seem to in many cases just be used as an excuse to pack all the cursing, bathroom humor and bits of nudity or sex you can into a feature without any regard for a plot, or real reason behind any of it. Sure I enjoy south park and the like every so often too, but that's not my bread and butter.
See the above, the Disney/dreamworks production, while it may subtly try to be more mature, would inevitably be targeted at a younger generation then myself in a very aparent and obvious way. They might throw little in jokes and bones to the parents who have to watch these films with their kids but that's nothing compared to watching something like Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex, a mature sci-fi crime drama.
Hard to say, never really thought too much into the staff of who's writing or directing the anime. Honestly the only director that's stood out had to be Nabeshin, but that's also because he tends to insert himself into his own works (you have to admit though it takes skill to do that and make it work.) |
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riccardo
 Posts: 136 Location: Melbourne, Australia |
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Murasakisuishou
 Posts: 1469 Location: NE Ohio |
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how long have you been a fan of anime?
Since I was 12 or 13, so 3 or 4 years. how did you first discover anime? A girl who sat next to me in English read a lot of manga, and I borrowed a few volumes from her. Then I saw Spirited Away and started renting every anime I could find. why do you continue to watch anime? I like the various art styles, and I like the flexability that animation provides as opposed to live action. Also, anime seems to know where to stop with regard to storylines; it's not like American TV where shows drag on for season after season, every season is individually plotted. Q1. what would you concider to be the most obvious difference between anime and western animation and why would you say this? I'd say it's the depth of the storytelling. Most western animation is either made for kids or humor based or both, whereas even kids stories in anime can have some pretty cool, thought-provoking stories. Q2. why would you choose to watch an anime film rather than a disney/aardman/dreamworks (or any other western animation studio)animated production? I wouldn't. It depends on what the film is, of course, but the fact that I watch mostly anime is determined by the low supply of american animated films that can actually entertain me. Q3. who is your favourite anime director? why do you prefer the work of this person? Kenji Kamiyama's work on Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex was phenomenal. I loved the interviews he gave on the DVDs, because he seemed to have such a deep understanding of the world of the anime and what he was trying to create with it. Also, it takes talent to be able to create a series that will stand apart from two Mamoru Oshii films. I've also enjoyed the work of Hayao Miyazaki (but who hasn't?), Satoshi Kon, and Ryutaro Nakamura, for deep, intelligent storytelling. Last edited by Murasakisuishou on Tue Nov 13, 2007 6:24 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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ikillchicken
 Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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how long have you been a fan of anime?
Roughly 4 years how did you first discover anime? I had watched stuff like DBZ and Gundam Wing back when I was younger without knowing even what anime was. I started watching Gundam SEED (because of the connection to Wing) and around the same time, a friend who I think was already into anime got me watching Inuyasha. A little later he started lending me his other stuff to watch. I liked it and saw some other stuff of my own and continued from there to get into anime quite a bit. why do you continue to watch anime? I enjoy it. now for the real questions which will help me with my dissertation. Q1. what would you concider to be the most obvious difference between anime and western animation and why would you say this? Hands down I would say the subject matter. I'm not exactly sure why this happened, but for whatever reason animation here fell into the category of primarilly "for kids" (or more recently, more mature but only for comedy.) In Japan it became much more of a medium for any kind of subject. It covers genres and topics that Western animation does not. Q2. why would you choose to watch an anime film rather than a disney/aardman/dreamworks (or any other western animation studio)animated production? It goes back to Q1. When disney/aardman/dreamworks produces something similar to Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Ghost in the Shell, Berserk, Hellsing, etc I will be all over it. Due to the fact that I'm not 12, most of their stuff just doesn't hold that much appeal to me. They do a decent job of making their stuff still have a bit of appeal to older people, and they've even done some stuff thats clearly not just for kids but its obviously their stuff is primarilly intended for a younger audience. Q3. who is your favourite anime director? why do you prefer the work of this person? I guess I would have to pick Shinichiro Watanabe. I love Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo is also excellent, Macross Plus was also very good. To be honest though, I'm also largely picking him just because there really isn't anyone else who I've both seen and liked multiple anime by. The only other one I can even come up with is Yoshiaki Kawajiri who did both Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust and Ninja Scroll which were both very good (Also there was X which was fairly good). |
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Leuconoe
 Posts: 83 |
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Tough one, especially if you're not an expert (I'm not an expert). First thing that comes to mind, visually, is the way that eyes are usually (though not always) drawn.
Anime is created in a wider range of genres and for a wider range of audiences. Also anime has (in the West) a tighter fandom, which makes for a more interesting blogging and forum culture. It also amuses me to be conversant with the archaic written culture of my own country, and a subsection of the 'modern visual culture' of a faraway country; I am not familiar with archaic Japanese culture or modern British culture (I grew up without a TV, and continue to live without one).
Goro Taniguchi. I have lowbrow tastes at heart, but at least when Taniguchi produces something lowbrow he nods and winks at us as he does so, providing me with a grain of justification. |
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Vortextk
 Posts: 892 Location: Orlando, Fl |
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how long have you been a fan of anime?
Roughly 3 years with a passing interest in anime before that. how did you first discover anime? Stumbled upon it on tv a long time ago without knowing what it was. why do you continue to watch anime? It's fun and different. I loved cartoons as a kid and I love anime now that I'm an adult. They include things I can't find in american television and they're just from a different culture. I love some american programming but not much and I get tired of the "make series for as many years as possible" model. now for the real questions which will help me with my dissertation. Q1. what would you concider to be the most obvious difference between anime and western animation and why would you say this? The main difference is that US animation, even adult centered animation, is still based off of a sitcom weekly formula. You don't have your Eva, or Ghost in the Shell or even Bleach. I don't need a super deep complex story line full of symbolism but I like to have the option. Almost all american cartoons are some spin on the comedy genre. Q2. why would you choose to watch an anime film rather than a disney/aardman/dreamworks (or any other western animation studio)animated production? After having watched a lot of the recent computer animated western works, they've grown stale for me. They all seem to use the same jokes other than the very best CG movies. Other than that, I don't really have any big reasons. They're just like the cartoons I watched as a kid and I usually get bored with them. I already watched that type of animation for 10+ years. Q3. who is your favourite anime director? why do you prefer the work of this person? I don't really keep up with people in the business. I don't know any japanese voice actors and can barely name a director or two. I know of a couple different companies and their recent projects, but that's about as far as my knowledge goes. |
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Veoryn87
 Posts: 808 |
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how long have you been a fan of anime?
how did you first discover anime? It was about 3 years ago. I saw Last Exile on G4 and my interest grew from there. why do you continue to watch anime? Cause I enjoy the art and I enjoy the stories. Sometimes I just enjoy the silliness of it. Q1. what would you concider to be the most obvious difference between anime and western animation and why would you say this? The art and the stories. Artistically, anime is usually much better looking, except when compared to the high-budget Disney or Dreamworks movies. Many anime have on-going stories, from beginning to end, which results in a lot of cliffhangar episode endings. Episodes in American animation are almost always stand-alone. Then there's what everyone else is mentioning: American animation is generally comedy, whether it's for kids or for adults, while anime covers many different genres for many different age groups. Q2. why would you choose to watch an anime film rather than a disney/aardman/dreamworks (or any other western animation studio)animated production? I would choose anime over American animation for many of the reasons I stated above. I swear if I have to watch ONE more animated movie with a talking animal or bug in it I'll bang my head against the wall. I don't like the talking animal thing and I really don't like musicals, like most Disney films (thankfully there hasn't been much of that lately). Not that I don't like some "North American" stuff, like Beast Wars, Avatar, and TMNT. Q3. who is your favourite anime director? why do you prefer the work of this person? My favorite is definitely Hayao Miyazaki. It's hard to explain why I like him. His stories and worlds are very imaginative and the art is really good. He also doesn't hold back on violent content if it is needed (Princess Mononoke). The most important thing is no SINGING! |
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16963 |
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So how many does that make here asking this this year alone? I'm sorry to be so cynical but if you're in your fourth year at a university I'd expect your grammar to be a lot better. Especially from a very predominantly English speaking country (regardless of the "dialect" of the English). I suppose you could be an exchange student and I'm just too cynical for my own good. However, mind if I ask why you need to know our opinions? Why do our opinions specifically matter for your paper? Besides simply being a fan why choose this topic for a college level dissertation? |
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jigoku_hime
 Posts: 78 Location: twinkle twinkle little stars... |
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looks fun enough..
how long have you been a fan of anime?  Hmm..I think about two years ago (I'm not really sure).
how did you first discover anime? My sister is the culprit! She is a big fan of anime and she influenced me to get hook (This is the only good thing she did in her entire life).
why do you continue to watch anime? Simply because I enjoy watching it 
Q1. what would you concider to be the most obvious difference between anime and western animation and why would you say this? Western animation is aimed more specifically for kids so the story and animation are simplier than that of anime. On the other hand, anime is meant for all ages so the plot and the way it was presented are very diversed.
Q2. why would you choose to watch an anime film rather than a disney/aardman/dreamworks (or any other western animation studio)animated production? Simply because anime keeps me more interested.
Q3. who is your favourite anime director? why do you prefer the work of this person? My favorite would be Hayao Miyazaki. I adore his works since they are very good and very original.
There you have it. I hope it helps you
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