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

[Miz en Scène]

Technically, in Japan, they are cartoons, well some of them anyway. The question here is,
Do you find it annoying/get pissed when people call Anime cartoons, or mistake Anime for Cartoons?

Obviously, some Anime can be mistaken for cartoons, and some are even directed at children. But not all Anime are for children. Elfen Lied is an awesome example.
So do you?

EDIT: There seems to be a bit of confusion here regarding my thread title. I originally intended for this thread to imply,
Anime = Cartoons = Childish

Do you hate it when people imply that Anime is childish?

 

[winseven4lyf]

No, not at all.. Sometimes people even mistake Anime with Manga.. I consider Pokemon a cartoon as it's on my morning television, I consider things like Darker than black and Haruhi to be Anime.

 

[BakingBluePotatoe]

cartoon=funny drawing

Anime aren't exactly "funny" in the way they're drawn... acctually, I'd think "cartoons" are a sub-breed of Anime (Anime=Animation)

 

[Jolene]

No. In fact, I almost always call them "Japanese cartoons" because I think that the using term "anime" is a bit ostentatious. To be honest, I hate it when people don't accept that anime is just a type of cartoon, and I especially hate it when people suggest that Japanese cartoons are a higher form of entertainment than cartoons produced in the west, when in fact the animation in Japanese cartoons is almost always far, far worse.

 

[Miz en Scène]

No. In fact, I almost always call them "Japanese cartoons" because I think that the using term "anime" is a bit ostentatious. To be honest, I hate it when people don't accept that anime is just a type of cartoon, and I especially hate it when people suggest that Japanese cartoons are a higher form of entertainment than cartoons produced in the west, when in fact the animation in Japanese cartoons is almost always far, far worse.

While it is true that Anime and Cartoons are derived from the same method (i.e. Animating drawn pictures/ Animation) there are plenty of differences that set them apart with a few exceptions of course.

Firstly, how can you say that Japanese Animation is much worse than that of the Western Style? Have you even seen Anime? Admittedly, it all boils down to personal preference, but when you claim that Anime(which is usually drawn and modeled after the human body) is terrible, it sounds like you're condemning your own self. Whereas Western Cartoons, are usually deformed to the point where you can draw some cartoons with Microsoft paint's polygon tool due to their sharp animation styles.

Secondly, while Western Cartoons are mostly episodic and take place in a floating timeline, Anime usually has a linear timeline in which the characters age and past events in previous episodes can be recalled. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule.
Eg. Galaxy Angel, and some Western Cartoons which are Episodic in Nature.

And though I have plenty of other points, I'll end it with the fact that Anime usually relates closely to real life. Even in the most outrageous Anime with the odd plot or two will still reference hand phones, school, and other stuff from time to time. Western Animation on the other hand, has characters literally falling to their death one second and fine the next. In my point of view, it seems that cartoons love to utilize slapstick humor while Anime tends to highlight certain aspects of human behavior. That's my view anyway.

Tl;dr: Anime is vastly different from cartoon with a few exceptions.

 

[Jordan]

As an avid anime watcher, I'd have to say no, and that anime is, in fact, cartoons. The very base of both cartoons and anime are the same: they're animations. Entertainment derived from moving pictures. All other differences are mostly in the hands of the animator and what they choose as fit to animate for their targeted demographics (ex. Anime makers choose themes and characters appealing to Japanese audiences while Westerners make cartoons appealing to...Westerners).

 

[Ryoutarou]

Firstly, how can you say that Japanese Animation is much worse than that of the Western Style? Have you even seen Anime? Admittedly, it all boils down to personal preference, but when you claim that Anime(which is usually drawn and modeled after the human body) is terrible, it sounds like you're condemning your own self. Whereas Western Cartoons, are usually deformed to the point where you can draw some cartoons with Microsoft paint's polygon tool due to their sharp animation styles.

I almost feel the need to ask the ridiculous question "Have you ever watched an anime?" because a lot of anime are drawn a lot worse than western cartoons. The fact is that most animation studios in Japan don't actually do their animation in house anymore, they tend to outsource to low quality dime-a-dozen studios in Korea. Animation quality isn't totally determined by how the characters themselves are drawn, but if you want to look at that factor, anime tends to stifle styles pretty often because their basic human form models are so off, the ridiculous nose shadow thing everyone loves to do, and the the eyes that generally don't portray lightning realistically, there's even been a strong outcry in the Japanese animation industry lately because animators are doing lower quality work there than ever before. You can like anime all you want, but most anime styles these days are just caricatures what was a once unique style, which I suppose can be said of certain styles in western stuff, but a single style is not representative of an entire medium in one corner of the world. There are great looking anime out there, but they're outnumbered by the poor quality productions that are more rampant than ever.

Secondly, while Western Cartoons are mostly episodic and take place in a floating timeline, Anime usually has a linear timeline in which the characters age and past events in previous episodes can be recalled. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule.
Eg. Galaxy Angel, and some Western Cartoons which are Episodic in Nature.

And though I have plenty of other points, I'll end it with the fact that Anime usually relates closely to real life. Even in the most outrageous Anime with the odd plot or two will still reference hand phones, school, and other stuff from time to time. Western Animation on the other hand, has characters literally falling to their death one second and fine the next. In my point of view, it seems that cartoons love to utilize slapstick humor while Anime tends to highlight certain aspects of human behavior. That's my view anyway.

See this just isn't a proper argument because you're only using certain types of cartoons as examples here. The fact is that there are plenty of cartoons with long story arcs that cross over various episodes and seasons, there are just more in Japan because Japan produces about 8 anime for every 1 western cartoon. It also looks like you're just comparing comedy and slapstick stuff to grimdark anime, which isn't a sound argument. You can't say something like Avatar: the Last Airbender and Gargoyles subscribe to the same laws of physics and reality as Looney Tunes and old Disney short.

And a bit of a history lesson, everything is anime to the Japanese if it's animated, so this distinction that western fans tend to make sound really weird to a lot of them. It's a term that only came into mass usage around the 1970s because the Japanese media loves to abbreviate everything, anime is simply short for animation, same as cm is short for commercial, same as ma-ka is short for manga-ka, same as VK is short for visual kei.

 

[Harmonie]

No, because anime are cartoons.

 

[twocows]

It doesn't bother me that much. I think that cartoon is a loaded word (people tend to associate them with children), but it's really a cultural thing; people here just don't understand the concept of animation with a non-comedic basis (pretty much 100% of American animation is comedy), and I don't care enough to explain it to them. I don't think they care, either.

 

[Miz en Scène]

See this just isn't a proper argument because you're only using certain types of cartoons as examples here. The fact is that there are plenty of cartoons with long story arcs that cross over various episodes and seasons, there are just more in Japan because Japan produces about 8 anime for every 1 western cartoon. It also looks like you're just comparing comedy and slapstick stuff to grimdark anime, which isn't a sound argument. You can't say something like Avatar: the Last Airbender and Gargoyles subscribe to the same laws of physics and reality as Looney Tunes and old Disney short.

I did say there were exceptions to the rule. I didn't expressly imply that the exception only applied to Anime. Yes, I know of Avatar.

And a bit of a history lesson, everything is anime to the Japanese if it's animated, so this distinction that western fans tend to make sound really weird to a lot of them. It's a term that only came into mass usage around the 1970s because the Japanese media loves to abbreviate everything, anime is simply short for animation, same as cm is short for commercial, same as ma-ka is short for manga-ka, same as VK is short for visual kei.

Also, I did mention that in Japan they're viewed as cartoons. Although not relevant in this context. I understand what you mean by what the Japanese view as Anime.
I just didn't want you to be carrying the notion that I didn't know that. Admittedly, it was a bit of egotism on my part.

 

[icomeanon6]

What I hate is when people mistake "cartoon" to mean "childish." In this context, a cartoon is any kind of animation.

And though I have plenty of other points, I'll end it with the fact that Anime usually relates closely to real life. Even in the most outrageous Anime with the odd plot or two will still reference hand phones, school, and other stuff from time to time. Western Animation on the other hand, has characters literally falling to their death one second and fine the next. In my point of view, it seems that cartoons love to utilize slapstick humor while Anime tends to highlight certain aspects of human behavior. That's my view anyway.

It sounds to me like your experience with Western Animation is mostly confined to Looney Tunes. Haven't you ever seen Watership Down? Or any movie by Ralph Bakshi? And what about Avatar? I'd say Avatar's better than any shonen action series the Japanese have put out since Dragon Ball.

 

[A Pixy]

Anime = Animation
Animation = Cartoons

Where's the argument? I see that you think that the culture that exists in anime is different then the culture that exists in most North American cartoons, but from the standpoint of the English language, they are THE SAME. Just because they're called different things doesn't mean it's different.

American Animation = Cartoons
Japanese Animation = Anime

Emphasis on animation. In the end, it's just two different styles of animation from two different countries.

 

[Wings Don't Cry]

Anime and cartoons are the same thing. You hate people who call anime cartoons and I hate people who think they're hard out at anime and don't understand the essence of it.

Elfen Lied is aimed at children due to the different ratings in Japan. It might not seem like it's aimed at children to you since the rating is very different in your country.

 

[TundraCanine]

What is this Anime you speak of?

 

[Miz en Scène]

What I hate is when people mistake "cartoon" to mean "childish." In this context, a cartoon is any kind of animation.

Yeaa, I might have gotten a little carried away, but this is essentially what I meant.

I'm a bit touchy when people come up to me when I'm watching Anime and go, "Hey, you watching cartoons? Pfft... kid's stuff."

But that's essentially what I meant.

It sounds to me like your experience with Western Animation is mostly confined to Looney Tunes. Haven't you ever seen Watership Down? Or any movie by Ralph Bakshi? And what about Avatar? I'd say Avatar's better than any shonen action series the Japanese have put out since Dragon Ball.

I never said Avatar sucked(the animated one that is, not the James Cameron one), and I have actually watched some Western Animation. In fact, most of my childhood was brought up on such Animation. Hence, why I said, exceptions.

Elfen Lied is aimed at children due to the different ratings in Japan. It might not seem like it's aimed at children to you since the rating is very different in your country.

It is? This really brings stuff into perspective...

What is this Anime you speak of?

Lol, nice...

 

[Jolene]

Elfen Lied is aimed at children due to the different ratings in Japan. It might not seem like it's aimed at children to you since the rating is very different in your country.

I'm pretty sure Elfin Lied is for adults even in Japan. I don't like Elfin Lied though. It is very sexist.

 

[Zeturic]

While technically Anime is a type of cartoon, I feel that it is a useful distinction. The artistic style traditionally used in Anime is very different from western animation. Also, cartoons are almost always have a young target age demographic, unlike Anime and Manga. Also, the difference is target ages tend to make cartoons have an everyplot that would appeal mostly only to younger kids, unlike the story drive, arc-centered Anime / Manga.

They're related, but very different. I tend to think of them as just different genres.

 

[Ninja Caterpie]

Western animation and Japanese animation are different and it irks me when they're called the one and same, but it's probably because I've been taught to do so by my girlfriend. "WUT THEY NOT THE SAME >=[" D=

 

[Elite Overlord LeSabre™]

I make a distinction between anime and animation that originates elsewhere, but I really don't get irked when they're lumped together under "cartoons". Maybe I'm used to it from my parents calling 'em cartoons for years, lol

 

[icomeanon6]

I'm a bit touchy when people come up to me when I'm watching Anime and go, "Hey, you watching cartoons? Pfft... kid's stuff."

In that case, it sounds like we're in violent agreement (a very useful phrase that I learned from my math teacher, who is awesome). I have a problem with people saying "Hey, you watching cartoons? Pfft... kid's stuff." about any kind of animation, even non-anime. To be honest, I happen to enjoy plenty of "kid's stuff," and I don't appreciate it when people refer to the term like it's a bad thing. There is nothing more child-like than avoiding something for the sole reason that it is child-like. There are a lot of works that were made for children that are perfectly fine by adult standards. Just look at Harry Potter and Narnia. Whether or not something is childish is not an indicator of its quality or how worthwhile it is.