American Cartoons versus anime

[Tiger]

To me this is a no-brainer. Anime is definitely superior. The plots tend to be much more sophisticated, and the characters have a lot more depth. It saddens me that American cartoons, for the most part, suck ass. They're almost always meant for children with the exception of shows like The Simpsons, South Park, and Family Guy. However, they are the exception and not the rule. With anime, there is a lot more to choose from.

Edited June 13, 2010 by Tiger

[Tipdin]

For content, I have no idea which is better, I haven't seen an American cartoon is 40 years and I have never seen an anime cartoon. I dislike the look of anime figures.

[Nephylim]

I agree with Tiger... no contest. Anime is HOT. I am a total Yaoi addict

[Simon]

Never ever seen an American cartoon, other than Family guy and American Dad, anime is uhm...cool when I was younger but after years of painting Naruto crap on various objects for the shop I worked in I would rather strangle myself with my own eyeballs than watch that shit again. I swear to god everyone wanted Naruto, Bleach and Death Note, day after day after year...O.O *shivers*

 

But my boyfriend does like Yaoi even if the boys all look like women or children.

 

I probably sound like a hater, don't get me wrong, its my livelyhood and career option so I can be a tad bit critical when it comes to Anime.

 

I think with all genre of shows it takes a lot of shit in a barrel until you find the gold.

[Rizan]

/argument

[JamesSavik]

 

Calvin & Hobbes FTW.

[Bondwriter]

Didn't answer. Can't. Like both. Dumb poll.

[Mark Arbour]

South Park. There is no equal.

[kojaky]

i'm an anime geek myself. Going to Anime Expo this July .

[TetRefine]

South Park. There is no equal.

 

Yup.

 

Anime does not even compare to King of the Hill, Rugrats, Hey Arnold, Rocket Power (my favorite), Scooby Doo, and the Acme cartoons. Not even close IMO.

[hh5]

Cartoons are for kids

Anime is for the more sophisticated teens and adults

 

Each have their purpose

Each tells their own story

 

Can't pick one over the other

 

you could as to acknowledge you out grown cartoons.

[Skylights]

Anime is far superior indeed. There is a LOT more variety. All the good American cartoons are the same quirky stuff.

 

[Tiger]

South Park is good, but it's one of the few decent American cartoons these days, the others being The Simpsons and Family Guy. That doesn't mean American cartoons are better overall. With anime, there's a lot more variety in my opinion. There are four anime shows I love: Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, and Avatar: The Last Airbender. Those four animes are awesome! One will notice that three of the four have adult themes without necessarily being raunchy. I'd like an American cartoon like that. I like raunchy, but sometimes I want something a little less shocking, something that favors violence. Naruto and Bleach (the Japanese versions at least) have plenty of violence, which is to my liking.

[Persinette]

There are four anime shows I love: Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, and Avatar: The Last Airbender.

 

Avatar: The Last Airbender isn't anime. It uses a lot of the art style, but the show itself is American.

[Tiger]

Avatar: The Last Airbender isn't anime. It uses a lot of the art style, but the show itself is American.

I figured it was anime, because 1) Asian setting and 2) anime style.

[Persinette]

I figured it was anime, because 1) Asian setting and 2) anime style.

 

Nah, the producers just wanted to do a good show that starred Asian cultures and characters. IMO they did an absolutely fantastic job.

[TetRefine]

Just curious. Are people basing what is "better" on the level of sophistication and "adultness", or on entertainment value?

[Tiger]

Just curious. Are people basing what is "better" on the level of sophistication and "adultness", or on entertainment value?

Both really. There are adult-oriented programs and entertainment value with both. I just find anime better overall.

[Tarin]

I rarely find anim

[Graeme]

I think it all gets down to what you expect to get out of the shows. From the discussion above, it looks like that people are basing their decision on what they like now in their life. Since the American cartoon industry is aimed mainly at kids (much more money in them than there is in adults -- trust me, I'm a parent and I know ), adults don't find them as sophisticated as shows aimed mainly at teenagers and adults (is that really a surprise?).

 

You might as well argue which are better -- toy cars or real cars? They are aimed at two different markets and it becomes a little silly to try to compare them.

 

For the 'sophisticated' market in western nations, the main produce of America are shows involving actors, not animation. The equivalent shows from eastern nations rarely gets shown in western nations (I can't recall any off the top of my head, though western shows with an eastern flavour are well known -- Kung Fu is still one of my all time favourite shows, though I'd probably cringe if I saw it now )

[hh5]

There are adults that completely weened off of anything cartoon or anime.

 

Maybe its because they never had a childhood?

[Hamen Cheese]

For me, it depends if it's a movie or a tv show.

 

In general, I like Anime TV shows more I think because it's often with filled with a lot of action while still maintaining a good story line. However, for the few anime movies I've seen, they end up usually so focused on the cool special effects in the combat scenes if any that they end up sacrificing the story to show as much cool stuff they can in the 1-2 hr running time of the movie.

 

American Cartoon Movies (well, Animated Movies if we can't really qualify them as cartoons) like the ones made in Pixar are undoubtedly the best.

[phana14]

 

Calvin & Hobbes FTW.

 

Thanks. (just----thanks.)

[phana14]

Anime is far superior indeed. There is a LOT more variety. All the good American cartoons are the same quirky stuff.

 

So---Skylights?

Is this one of your creations?

Because if your answer is *yes*, then perhaps I need to seek out more info on anime.

I really like the presentation.

Thanks.

[Rizan]

I do not, at all, see how anime can be considered more sophisticated than american cartoons! I learned everything I'll ever need to know about life from Nickelodeon.

 

I find Anime far more childish and rather dull. All Anime does is show us that the Japanese have surpassed Americans in making every single thing about sex or beauty.