Some people will buy anything Anime related huh?

[I.R Joey]

I have something I need to get off my chest.

I've noticed that there is a certain breed of anime fan who will buy anything and everything that is anime, even if it isn't that good...or extreamly bad. I mean the show may be about cute little dung piles who rescue kids from sad land, but as long as its anime people will watch it (but if it where an American cartoon they'd say it was stupid and how indicative of how dumb American cartoons are.) Is it a double standard or someting, or is it something I'm missing?

Thanks in advance for your well thought out opinions on the issue.

[Chad Bonin]

Yeah, I've seen variants. People who will love any AMV. People who will love any anime.

And they won't give a show like Batman a chance.

[I.R Joey]

Come to think of it this should really be on the anime form, would one of you mods mind moving it there?

[Jade_GL]

I don't get it either. Really, I don't because I love both American cartoons and anime. I don't really see one as being infinitely superior over the other.

And what amazes me the most is that people compare anime that we're just getting, but which is old, to cartoons out right now. Like the new He-Man or Nicktoons or something, and then saying the anime is superior because of what's out now. But they completely forget that we're getting dated anime over here, so it should be compared to shows from the same years. Like Sailormoon came out in 1992, and so did BTAS. Which is better for that year, technologically and otherwise? I think you get my point about that. I just find that really odd.

I don't understand the argument that anime is inherently more intelligent either. Some anime tries to be intelligent, but is just confusing and attempting to be deeper than it ought. Yet, some will say anime is more intelligent. Again, look at STAS, BTAS, Spider-man, X-Men, all great 90s cartoons, and all very intelligent. Even look at Spongebob. It's intelligent as well. I just don't see anime being so much more intelligent than american stuff, expecially when you look and Yugioh and Pokemon.

I could go on and on, but I am very tired. I will think more and write a more indepth post tomorrow.

[Nik Jam]

Most anime fanboys are turned off by those shows simply because they're Y7, so they automatically think they can't be mature enough for them. Beleive me, I've been in several arguments before. So I'm not really just stereotyping.

[Jade_GL]

I never pay attention to ratings on the TV. They're all arbitrary anyway, for the most part.

[jeffrey 228]

And not to mention warn others that the content is a bit harsh.

[Steve Jester]

Speaking from both sides of the coin:

American Animation basicly has three types of show: kids stuff, action/fighting, comedy. All three, when you watch it can get boring after a while, the kids stuff especially since it's made for preschoolers. However there are pros to American Animation. You do get great action and comedy out of them. But there a some where the story line gets a little redundant, or theres no story line at all. A lot of american cartoons have a lot of things that confuse the audience and some have absolutly no heart in the story.

In Japanese Anime there are as many genres as there are in movies or in books. Although there are cons to this as well (confusion, more mature content, bad dubbing, ect.) In my opinon the pros out weigh the cons where over on the American side it is the reverse.

Remember, all of this is just my opinon but after watching both for a good long time this is the opinon I can make.

[andrael]

Originally posted by jesteranimefreak
But there a some where the story line gets a little redundant, or theres no story line at all. A lot of american cartoons have a lot of things that confuse the audience and some have absolutly no heart in the story.

And of course, this is never the case with anime, right?

I agree with you, though, in that I feel anime has an advantage with its wide diversity of genres and target audiences. But I don't feel that anime is on the whole of decidedly better quality than American animation -- just different. The Japanese make plenty of formulaic fluff as well; we just don't see most of it because the really bad stuff doesn't get translated.

[Steve Jester]

Originally posted by andrael
And of course, this is never the case with anime, right?

point, there are instances of no or redundant plot in Anime.

[Mishvee]

Then you also have people who absolutely hate anime and think that it's all either kid's stuff or porn. They complain that the animation is bad, the mouths don't match the voices, etc. I'm not saying that anime is better than American animation. I just want to point out that prejudice against a certain style of animation can happen both ways. Personally, I give any new animated show a chance so I can judge it on its own merits, not because of where it was produced.

[Jade_GL]

You know, this is just kind of funny.

See, my boyfriend only thinks there's a couple types of anime, like ones with school girls, or kick-a** anime, or the ones with robots. You would call him misinformed, but there are people here saying there are only three types of American animation? Please.

Aeon Flux, the Head, the Maxx, Superman and Batman (The super hero genre I suppose it could be called), old Looney Tunes, Merry Melodies which are cartoons to music, I could go on and on.

That's just as misinformed as by bf saying all anime is pervs and school girls. And that's waht I don't get. There is a double standard on the board where people selectively forget many great cartoons and animated films that are of a different genre, style, etc.

I mean really. A lot of the anime on TV is either related to card games, fighting, or robots. Then you get the more diverse stuff on TV later at night on ASA, but still, most of what everyone sees is the crappy shows that are for cards, like Pokemon and Yugioh. I think those are the worst of the worst of anime, and yet we get those over here. So, I wouldn't say bad anime isn't tranlated either, but of course. That's all opinion.

Still, I think there's a dangerous lumping together in groups of animation that needs to stop before we lose sightt of some great pieces of work. On both sides of the issue of course.

[Ben]

Originally posted by Jade_GL
You know, this is just kind of funny.

I agree. I've said it before and I'll say it again -- most every cartoon is crap, in America and in Japan. Once I realized that I was able to be patient and look for the real gems in both without unfairly prejudicing myself against either country. However, there are still fewer American animations in production now than there are Japanese, so it's natural (from my perspective) that I have more favorite current anime than favorite current American projects.

[Ssedrey]

First off, whether most cartoons are crap or not is from the eye of the beholder.

As far as the topic at hand, true enough I find it absurd that there are a few anime fans out there who believe whatever was crapped out of Japan is automatically better than anything over here. But I also find it pretty absurd to see anime fans attacking their own favored style of animation. I think there are bad and good shows on both sides of the planet and that whether you like those shows or not should only be judged on an individual basis for individual shows. The general presumption of whether one style of animation is better than the other is simply a matter of how many of these individual shows come from one place or the other.

But at the same time I will not deny that the two styles of animation are not different as both are widely influenced by culture. And, from my point of view, there is a lot of clever well thought out animation in America, but by the way our culture sees cartoons, they are all still made for a younger audience. Granted, more recently they have been slipping in things that would appeal to people of our age or older, but those things are merely little side tidbits whereas the show itself is stilled scaled for kids or young teens. Gradually I've noticed that barrier is being broken, and I'm happy for it. Things like Samurai Jack or Invader Zim give me hope for a day when the American style of animation is not quite so influenced by our culture. But at the moment the difference of culture is still there, with only the occasional cartoon that breaks away like the non anime shows on adult swim, or the Spawn cartoon. But those shows can only be seen late at night which still shows a definite cultural boundary.

Now this is not to say that Japan doesn't have anime made for kids either, but unlike here, their animation is made to target a variety of different audiences. Just as our non-anime shows do here. That's there culture. And because it's aimed at this larger variety of people, I, personally, am much more likely to find something more enjoyable to me. Also, we have to take into account that naturally things that differ from our own culture are often intriguing which somehow adds a certain exotic flavor to anime that we don't get here with our own style of animation due to the fact that we were raised on it. Granted, that's no excuse for ranking crap above actually decent shows over here. After all, crap, by any flavor, is still crap. But I will say that for anime that is not crap, the cultural difference does add a slight something to it for me. And maybe I shouldn't see it that way, but it's a natural human reaction to something that's different.

But if you still believe that there is no cultural difference to say the least then tell me how we can see things like First Wave, or Farscape, during the day, and yet our more mature cartoons we still can't see until the evening. And even then, the anime that's shown late night is STILL cut up. Granted, not to the extent as it would during the day, but nonetheless I can still detect minor edits. Sorry, but with the type of stuff I've seen in both the above mentioned shows, I see no reason why some of this anime couldn't be shown during the day and virtually uncut. But the fact is that we don't see it during the day and there are still minor edits involved. This is a difference in culture.

Ugh... I think I ranted too much. I guess over all the point I'm making is that is pretty stupid for anime fans to refuse to acknowledge anything made here as anything more than garbage in comparison to whatever excrement is shipped over from Japan. But on the other hand, I don't see the sense in denying that there isn't a clear difference betwee the two styles of animation as they are highly influenced by culture. And for some, that difference definitely has an appeal to it. Otherwise, why call yourself an anime fan to begin with?

End rant. Please direct all flames further north. It's too hot down here as it is.

[Shnay]

I'm going to go back to the original topic, as I really don't feel like getting into any American/Japanese animation discussion.

I find it funny when people give this sort of undying pledge to all things anime (regardless of whether or not they're terrible). It seems that any big-eyed, crazy-haired, inverted rain drop-headed character is enough to give them some sort of "anime fix."

I think the reason for this is because these people want desperately to be "better fans," a desire probably stemming from the elitism that can rear it's ugly head in the anime community. They figure that any anime they can get their hands on can be added to their anime repetoir, and, thus, make them somewhat "better fans" than they were before.

Or, another possible reason, could be because they enjoy the general characteristics of anime so much, that they're left blind of that little thing called "quality."

[Arxane]

If you want a humorous (albeit brief) take on this subject, check out this website:

Wearing a Japanese Shirt Doesn't Make You Japanese

[Thing]

^LOL. That's pretty funny, actually.^

Later...

[EscaflownePilot]

It's only natural to find that you like something (like say Cowboy Bebop) find it's origins (in this case Japan/anime) and then seek other things of that category. The same reason that one might be more excited about a series if it's being done by Rumiko Takahashi, even if say that same series were coming but by another person, you might find it to sound really stupid.

I'll admit that if a show like Stargate Infinity were from Japan, I'd have had much more initial excitment for it when first info came out about it. Hearing the synopsis of it as a US show, I just assumed it'd be some episodic, moral-injected fluff. But if it were an anime, I'd probably hold higher hopes for it. That's not to say there isn't anime I absolutely hate (Pilot Candidate comes to mind) nor to say that there isn't some US animation that I love just as much as my favorite anime series (Batman Beyond and Samurai Jack come to mind).

I don't find a slight bias towards anime to be bad at all - it's only natural to assume that an anime series with a synopsis just like that of a US production will be more complex in the same way that if say Nickelodian were to make a series just like Batman Beyond I'd assume that it'd be like some stupid slices of life "Hey Arnold!" type piece of crap and I'd not show any excitment for it because, face it, that's all Nickelodian has ever produced.

All I can say is that I give all shows that sound even remotely interesting at least one chance before loving or hating it, be it an anime or not. And I'd hope every one else - whether they love or hate anime - would do the same.

[Ssedrey]

Originally posted by Shnay
I think the reason for this is because these people want desperately to be "better fans," a desire probably stemming from the elitism that can rear it's ugly head in the anime community. They figure that any anime they can get their hands on can be added to their anime repetoir, and, thus, make them somewhat "better fans" than they were before.

Indeed. I remember reading an article in Animerica where someone wrote in a letter about what makes an anime fan. And they actually had a pretty decent response. Basically saying that an anime fan is someone who loves anime. Granted they may have only been exposed to Dragonball Z or Sailor Moon, or so forth. But their love for even those makes them no less of a fan. I'm not going to post the whole article though, so I won't go into it.

As for the watching and getting as much as possible. There are a few who buy it simply because they want to give every show a chance. And then there are others who want to increase their anime knowledge. After all, there's so much ridiculous amounts of anime out there that there's no way to watch it all, but still I for one have fun being able to talk with people about anime and not what series they may or may not be talking about. If an anime's crap, I'd at least like to be able to say so having experienced it myself. Problem is that many who seek this type of knowledge can get carried away and forget about anything outside the anime realm. Hence the word "Otaku". That's one other possible reason for it, anyways.

By the way, Shnay. Your avatar rules!

[Shnay]

Originally posted by Ssedrey
I remember reading an article in Animerica where someone wrote in a letter about what makes an anime fan. And they actually had a pretty decent response. Basically saying that an anime fan is someone who loves anime. Granted they may have only been exposed to Dragonball Z or Sailor Moon, or so forth. But their love for even those makes them no less of a fan.

This is a good way of putting it, but I think there's something that needs to be added to this. If one has only had exposure to Dragonball Z or Sailor Moon, that person should not consider themselves some sort of hardcore anime buff. That's not to say that there's any point in establishing who's a "better fan" than who, because there isn't. However, I do think it's important for some people to realize that they've only had a limited exposure to it. There are many people out there (primarily pre-teenage boys) who may be fans of something they saw on Toonami. And, while this certainly would classify them as "anime fans," I think it'd be good if they realized that the world of anime extends far beyond what's on TV. And, if they really do like the anime they've seen so far, it would do them well to check some other things out.

I'm, uh, not sure if all that stayed on topic (or even hit any real topic at all). I hope it made sense to someone.

By the way, Shnay. Your avatar rules!

You're too kind.