Art is Art: The Controversy Between Anime and Cartoons

Anime is a cartoon,  just a cartoon that originated in Japan. With that sentence I’m fairly certain I have just caused a weeaboo (like this guy) to perish. Like when you say “fairies aren’t real”  and then they die in Peter Pan. I hope that does not apply for typing…quick someone clap! In any case it is no secret that  over the past two decades or Western nations have created a special relationship with certain aspects of Japanese culture, most noticeably the large influx of anime from Japan as a source of entertainment for children and forty year olds a like. Even if you do not watch anime, you have probably heard it because someone has corrected you from associating it with cartoons, most likely extremely defensivley and offended you could draw such a comparison. That person would be a weeaboo, or “wapanese”; people who are so enthralled by Japanese culture that they mistakenly think that they are superior against everyone else in what they know of Japan despite never being there and mispronouncing the language.And nothing offends them more when someone calls Anime a cartoon and manga comics.

Well, here is the thing: Anime are cartoons and manga are comics. Here’s why.

 

 

Like I said, Anime is a cartoon that comes from Japan. Stylistically the animation is extremely more romantic than Western animation- the representation of people is not so different than a real life human’s anatomy. Aside from large breasts and green hair, most characters drawn in Anime do not have football heads, large protruding noises, and tend to have all five fingers. There is an elegance in their creation- msotly drawn with long slender lines as opposed to fat, squarer ones. Actually, a lot of Anime characters are like elves. And that is jsut one aspect people use agaisnt anime as cartoons, the more elegant way in which they are animated. However, the focus of the stories is a also another distinction. most anime is targeted towards the teenage crowd and is more inclusive of genres. While msot popular Western animation deals with dick jokes and commentary about the newest pop culutre development (i.e divorce), Anime tends to deal with everything from magical girls in stripper suits to tentacle rape. Also, some pretty touching coming of age stories.  People make the distinction that because Anime is targeted towards people old enough to drive and it tends to have more emotional and serious themes, it again makes it superior to other forms of animations and cartoons.

The same can be said with manga and comics. Manga, agains is essenitally comics that come from Japan, told in the same style with panel by panel developments, again the only difference comes in the style in which the story is told- largely through just a simple black and white and again, the narrower depictions of people.

But again, Anime are cartoons and manga are comics.

The difference between the two is only in style, and a different style does not make the overall aspect different. American cartoons tend to be more simplistic in their design, with exaggerated noses and facial characteristics and while the content of these cartoons is mostly comedy, that is not to say  there are not others that are more serious or are clearly looking for more depth than just the average penis joke. Like Daria. Or Courage the Cowardly Dog. Both were extremely well written and witty American cartoons, and there are certain Japanese anime that are certainly subpar to them. The difference between them is the style in which the artists decided to draw. if anything Anime should be used to describe the particular animation style of Japanese cartoons as opposed to using it as a completely different category of entertainment. The same for manga. In fact I would wager that a great deal more effort goes into a lot of American made comics and graphic novels because of the ink and coloring involved with them and the much more intricate artistic style of them.

 

 

So really, Anime and manga are different styles of cartoons and comics and anime gives it a more specific identity, but that does not mean it is inherently better or worse than others. So why do so many people become offended? Well, because it seems like people are trivilizing the thing they love most.

American animation and American cartoons tend to be targeted toward a younger audience and by associating anime with cartoons, it is like saying you believe the person who watches it is childlike- that there interests are no more expansive than a kid’s on a Saturday morning. What many of those people fail to realize, the ones who so defensively whip out those points about more adult themes and characters is that the most popular Western Animations are also intended for adults and teenagers. The Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, even Futurama are not things I would plan for my eight year old to watch. And they are cartoons.

 

 

What both parties fail to realize is that the same amount of work, dedication, and time went into the creators fo their respective shows and that cartooning is an extremely valid and impressive art form- no matter if it is American or Japanese and that the difference is the style in which they choose to tell their stories, their jokes, their ideas. Cartoons are often mistaken as being for kids because of the fact that they are cartoons, they are brightly colored, often times a little bit more simplistic depictions of people, but nevertheless a serious form of expression that are valid, no matter the country of origin and just because it is a cartoon animation does not make the story any less valid.

Anime is a cartoon, manga are comics but that doesn’t mean they hold nay less value. Now stop pretending like you know everything about Japan and mixing English with Japanese. You aren’t very good at it.

 

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