"They're not Cartoons!" Do you hate it people mistake Anime for Cartoons?

[Enigma]

I hate it a little bit. As an anime fan, I've gotten used to it by now.

 

[solspear]

this is why animes are NOT SUPPOSED to be aired outside of japan

For example, i live in belgium, and im asian (lol, weird combo, i kno)
and in belgium, they air Yugioh and Pokémon, and bakugan

now, i don't like bakugan, but i love yugioh, and i like (but don't love) the pokemon anime (i FRIKKIN LUV the games tho)

and everytime when i go out, to buy cards (be it pokemon or yugioh cards) people look at me, some even start laughing.

When im playing pokemon on my DS, my family, cousins, whatever, they see me, and they ask "when are you going to grow up"

now, is it so weird that an asian boy of 16 years old likes to watch anime, play games, and live the otaku lifestyle? (and believe me, im an otaku xD)

No, its not wrong, compare it to people who like binge drinking, being an otaku is faaar better, but still, because people know that "cartoons" (note the ") like yugioh and pokemon are being aired, and they don't know what it exactly is, but it looks like a cartoon, they think its childish.

sides, there are cartoons like Family Guy, people don't think watching that is childish, if they actually knew what was going on in anime, (like in echhi anime) they surely would come to the same conclusion that i came to


my personal conclusion: anime are NOT cartoons and are NOT meant for children only

 

[Signomi]

getting carried away? I think this thread was supposed to be a yes or no question, not "anime is worse than western cartoons and I'll prove it".
That's the problem with PC. "I'll prove you wrong!" D: It's great you are trying to prove your point, but you just wrote 3 paragraphs on something that the thread isn't directly related to. :/ I hope I'm not a bother.

I hate to "prove you wrong" but everything he has said makes valid references towards what people believe distinguish anime from them being "cartoons". It seems like people feel the need to say anime overshadows most western cartoons because of their proportions and colouring, and the fact that this art style is usually applied to plots that run on more adventurous plots and unorthodox elements to spice that up. It's obvious biasty, but it is true that Anime and Manga characters are drawn to resemble more realistic human proportions with colouring and shading defining aspects of their body in which many western cartoons usually don't, in fact...art styles of that sort are usually void of proportional accuracy and refined definition at all, aside from the fact that the artist gave the characters arms and legs, with hands that have three fingers and trapezium-shaped feet, of course this isn't the case with all western cartoons as there are quite a few out there that do depict human proportion to a great degree, such as Batman for instance, yet people still argue that art styles used in anime dominate in proportional frame over the others.

But this doesn't mean that art styles used in anime do not have their share of erroneous conclusion in proportion and colouring that do defy aspects of reality altogether, more specifically...exaggerated hair length, skinniness in body compared to the largeness of the head, exaggerated eye size/colour/sheen, a nose shadow that usually opposes correlation to light sourcing, cup sized breasts that defy gravity and the capability of a female's spine, etcetera. This is incredibly common in anime and in my opinion, it makes it all the more in leaning towards cartoon and la-la land than realism.

Another thing I'd like to point out is that there is a trending art style that, unfortunately, makes characters from many anime difficult to pick out, as the art style is horribly trendy and gives the characters no real visual aspect that makes them unique from others. I'd also like to say that this particular style frequently exhibits flat colouring, which draws back a lot of capable distinction that makes it less of a cartoon than it is realistic. I don't believe many fans mind this too much because they like the art style and tolerate it, often becoming absolutely complacent. This is a major reason why I feel many people forget the pure and simple fact that animation is animation, and that just because anime is defined more obscurely from person to person doesn't mean it's any less of a cartoon as any made in the western world.

The common foundation between eastern and western animation is that they're drawn, they're lines to paper, hardly realistic and very cartoony, there are processes to animate them; frames and frame rates that make these lines look as though they're alive. This makes them animated, this makes them both cartoons. It's as simple as that.

 

[Diglett]

I personally hate anime but it is a cartoon whether you choose to accept it or not.

 

[Jolene]

I would say that western cartoons are better written than Japanese cartoons because in most western cartoons, the writers only get about half an hour or sometimes fifteen minutes to establish the characters and then develop them and also to tell a story with those characters, and they usually do it very well and the cartoons are fun to watch.

But in Japanese cartoons, they tell just one story over about twenty hours or so and it is just too long and over complicated.

 

[Dubstep]

To someone who's not into anime, they appear indistinguishable. Colorful, often funny or action-packed animation that doesn't really follow physics? It can describe both cartoons and anime.

 

[Nyu~♥!]

I hate to "prove you wrong" but everything he has said makes valid references towards what people believe distinguish anime from them being "cartoons". It seems like people feel the need to say anime overshadows most western cartoons because of their proportions and colouring, and the fact that this art style is usually applied to plots that run on more adventurous plots and unorthodox elements to spice that up. It's obvious biasty, but it is true that Anime and Manga characters are drawn to resemble more realistic human proportions with colouring and shading defining aspects of their body in which many western cartoons usually don't, in fact...art styles of that sort are usually void of proportional accuracy and refined definition at all, aside from the fact that the artist gave the characters arms and legs, with hands that have three fingers and trapezium-shaped feet, of course this isn't the case with all western cartoons as there are quite a few out there that do depict human proportion to a great degree, such as Batman for instance, yet people still argue that art styles used in anime dominate in proportional frame over the others.

But this doesn't mean that art styles used in anime do not have their share of erroneous conclusion in proportion and colouring that do defy aspects of reality altogether, more specifically...exaggerated hair length, skinniness in body compared to the largeness of the head, exaggerated eye size/colour/sheen, a nose shadow that usually opposes correlation to light sourcing, cup sized breasts that defy gravity and the capability of a female's spine, etcetera. This is incredibly common in anime and in my opinion, it makes it all the more in leaning towards cartoon and la-la land than realism.

Another thing I'd like to point out is that there is a trending art style that, unfortunately, makes characters from many anime difficult to pick out, as the art style is horribly trendy and gives the characters no real visual aspect that makes them unique from others. I'd also like to say that this particular style frequently exhibits flat colouring, which draws back a lot of capable distinction that makes it less of a cartoon than it is realistic. I don't believe many fans mind this too much because they like the art style and tolerate it, often becoming absolutely complacent. This is a major reason why I feel many people forget the pure and simple fact that animation is animation, and that just because anime is defined more obscurely from person to person doesn't mean it's any less of a cartoon as any made in the western world.

The common foundation between eastern and western animation is that they're drawn, they're lines to paper, hardly realistic and very cartoony, there are processes to animate them; frames and frame rates that make these lines look as though they're alive. This makes them animated, this makes them both cartoons. It's as simple as that.

D: oh. i see.
I personally think that western cartoons are much more unrealistic(well, actually, it depends..) but most cartoons seem to be extremely unproportional. Never have I seen a boy in real life that has a quarter of a circle for a face(Timmy Turner, LOL) or for some, a block.. Then again there are some american shows that are very realistic..
It still seems that anime grabs the spotlight for least cartoonish, except the fact that the gravity only works when they want it to XD then again.. american cartoons make characters float in the air for enough time to pull out a sing "Oh no!" and then fall.

Now that I think about it.. they're almost the same. :/
But really, in general, Anime is more realistic than the cartoons we see nowadays. I mean, really... I haven't ever seen any general anime show that has as awkward shapes as some american cartoons XD Either way, they're both CARTOONS.

To someone who's not into anime, they appear indistinguishable. Colorful, often funny or action-packed animation that doesn't really follow physics? It can describe both cartoons and anime.

yeah. :/ Sometimes I actually think of Teen Titans as an American cartoon.. it's not, right? :o

..I just realized i somewhat contradicted my other statement. D: fail.

 

[Vernikova]

yeah. :/ Sometimes I actually think of Teen Titans as an American cartoon.. it's not, right? :o

It's very American. Produced by Warner Animation and everything.

 

[KnilShadowLink]

Ehh not trying to troll here, just speaking my mind...buuuut I actually can't stand it when people try and act like anime aren't cartoons. I can accept that not all cartoons are anime, but ALL ANIME IS CARTOONS!!!
-_-' I also get ticked off when people act like anime is superior to the western cartoons...there is plenty of s*** anime, just like there is s*** western cartoons, whoever there is really good anime just like there is really good western cartoons.

Eh this may seem confusing, and I'm not intentionally trying to piss anyone off, but I just thought that I'd speak...er type my mind.

 

[Crystal-Heart]

I would say that western cartoons are better written than Japanese cartoons because in most western cartoons, the writers only get about half an hour or sometimes fifteen minutes to establish the characters and then develop them and also to tell a story with those characters, and they usually do it very well and the cartoons are fun to watch.

But in Japanese cartoons, they tell just one story over about twenty hours or so and it is just too long and over complicated.

That would be an opinion madam. I think some Western Cartoons are good, like My Life as a Teenage Robot, Invader Zim, Reboot, and a few others, but there are also some dumb ones, such as a majority of current cartoons which are mostly about dumb humor, such as showing butts and poop jokes. Not all anime is good, but most of them are based on Manga, which are akin to Comic Books/Graphic Novels, which have story arcs that continue from one part to the next, thus creating a continuity, some thing very few cartoons have.