Why isn't anime called cartoons?

[The Millenium Walken]

Pablo1989

Imagine My little pony FIM with bloodiest carnage fighting, filled flith words, dantest scenes, and broken english languge, thats how anime looks like biggrin not a sunday morning cartoon show.

Well... That's not entirely fair. Personally, I feel the real distinction between anime and western cartoons is really in it's attitude towards the audience. Western cartoons can either be marketed specifically towards adults, or specifically towards children, with no intended middle ground. The audience itself may blur... The former is loaded with constant dirty jokes, making it just childish enough for an unintended teenage audience, and the latter is often enjoyed by an older audience as well... but the network standards refuse to accept this.

Had Avatar been made in Japan, I like to believe that it would have been on par with Fullmetal Alchemist, cutting down somewhat on the goofball comedy and utilizing actual dark themes and on screen deaths. Unfortunately, it was released in America, geared towards an American audience, and was held back by people that didn't respect the intelligence or maturity of the intended child audience. The writers did what they could to work around this, and created one of the best cartoons of all time as a result, but it is still marred by the scent of American standards.

[The Millenium Walken]

Mugetsu Ookamiza

Pablo1989

Imagine My little pony FIM with bloodiest carnage fighting, filled flith words, dantest scenes, and broken english languge, thats how anime looks like biggrin not a sunday morning cartoon show.

except the Japanese would call it anime, they call all animation anime. also, a lot of popular anime from Japan actually ARE their Sunday morning cartoon shows or similar. most anime made is either falls under the demographics of kodomo (kids under 9), shonen (preteen and teen boys), and shojo (preteen and teen girls), with much of the shonen and shojo actually aimed at the lower end of those demographics. seinen (young adult+ guys) is the next most common anime demographics with josei (young adult+ women) the lest common (altho there is a lot of josei manga, it's just that it tends to get adapted to live action drama more often than anime if it does get adapted).

and yet, there seem to be only two accepted demographics here... Safe enough for kids, or dirty and childish enough for man-children.

[Mugetsu Ookamiza]

The Fullmetal Narcissist

Mugetsu Ookamiza

Pablo1989

Imagine My little pony FIM with bloodiest carnage fighting, filled flith words, dantest scenes, and broken english languge, thats how anime looks like biggrin not a sunday morning cartoon show.

except the Japanese would call it anime, they call all animation anime. also, a lot of popular anime from Japan actually ARE their Sunday morning cartoon shows or similar. most anime made is either falls under the demographics of kodomo (kids under 9), shonen (preteen and teen boys), and shojo (preteen and teen girls), with much of the shonen and shojo actually aimed at the lower end of those demographics. seinen (young adult+ guys) is the next most common anime demographics with josei (young adult+ women) the lest common (altho there is a lot of josei manga, it's just that it tends to get adapted to live action drama more often than anime if it does get adapted).

and yet, there seem to be only two accepted demographics here... Safe enough for kids, or dirty and childish enough for man-children.

yeah, it's a cultural thing, not to mention it's also something that has changed over time. really, there use to be a lot of Western animation aimed at adults, but then over time people started thinking of it as more childish and it became a thing primarily aimed at kids. Japan had something similar happen too, where animation use to be made to appeal to more than just mostly kids and preteens/early teens and eventually became as something seen mostly for kids and geeks that didn't really fit in with everyone else.

[FrontierBrainPalmer]

xinitia

I think that the main reason why people prefer the term "anime" to "cartoon" is due to its insinuations. In America, most people view cartoons as children's programming, such as Loony Toons, Animaniacs, and Land Before Time. I'm not saying that adults don't watch them, but they are viewed in a different light.

Anime in Japan serves a different purpose, and is more "mainstream" across the demographics than cartoons are here. It's true that anime and cartoons are the exact same thing, but people are looking at the cultural insinuations more than the actual meaning of the word.

Or maybe people like the "exotic" way anime sounds. Who knows.

Yeah, I was about to say "blame the animation age ghetto" in the west for that.

[Sound and Light]

xinitia

I think that the main reason why people prefer the term "anime" to "cartoon" is due to its insinuations. In America, most people view cartoons as children's programming, such as Loony Toons, Animaniacs, and Land Before Time. I'm not saying that adults don't watch them, but they are viewed in a different light.

Anime in Japan serves a different purpose, and is more "mainstream" across the demographics than cartoons are here. It's true that anime and cartoons are the exact same thing, but people are looking at the cultural insinuations more than the actual meaning of the word.

Or maybe people like the "exotic" way anime sounds. Who knows.

This sums it up.
It's the way it sounds.

Would you rather it be called booze or liqueur?
Same idea.
Kind of.

[Tragick Lullaby]

xinitia

I think that the main reason why people prefer the term "anime" to "cartoon" is due to its insinuations. In America, most people view cartoons as children's programming, such as Loony Toons, Animaniacs, and Land Before Time. I'm not saying that adults don't watch them, but they are viewed in a different light.

Anime in Japan serves a different purpose, and is more "mainstream" across the demographics than cartoons are here. It's true that anime and cartoons are the exact same thing, but people are looking at the cultural insinuations more than the actual meaning of the word.

Or maybe people like the "exotic" way anime sounds. Who knows.

Hit the nail on the head bless you!

[Tragick Lullaby]

Pablo1989

Imagine My little pony FIM with bloodiest carnage fighting, filled flith words, dantest scenes, and broken english languge, thats how anime looks like biggrin not a sunday morning cartoon show.

Seriously never bring mlp fim into an argument about cartoons and being sunday morning friendly. Half of the fan base is creepy old men that have destroyed its name to a certain degree. talk2hand

[Aloriella]

Does it really matter? It's not the label that we watch and love. It's the creative thought that goes into making a story and people drawing it so we can see what an imagination looks like.

[Clover_IceQueen]

This thread caused a huge storm.

[Clover_IceQueen]

Tragick Lullaby

Pablo1989

Imagine My little pony FIM with bloodiest carnage fighting, filled flith words, dantest scenes, and broken english languge, thats how anime looks like biggrin not a sunday morning cartoon show.

Seriously never bring mlp fim into an argument about cartoons and being sunday morning friendly. Half of the fan base is creepy old men that have destroyed its name to a certain degree. talk2hand

Always think of the show and the fanbase as seperate, please. If they were the same, so many shows would be completely different. I enjoy some of the art and video games that the fans have made, but there is an extent when it gets crazy.

[elemein]

Anime is, technically cartoons.

Anime however, isn't cartoons in a cultural sense.

Most western cartoons are for kids.
Most eastern cartoons/animes are for different demographics.

Its the connotation to the word. You can either call someone a c**kface or a "unpleasant person." Same meaning, different connotation.

[LegendaryRandomVIllager42]

The Fullmetal Narcissist

Pablo1989

Imagine My little pony FIM with bloodiest carnage fighting, filled flith words, dantest scenes, and broken english languge, thats how anime looks like biggrin not a sunday morning cartoon show.

Well... That's not entirely fair. Personally, I feel the real distinction between anime and western cartoons is really in it's attitude towards the audience. Western cartoons can either be marketed specifically towards adults, or specifically towards children, with no intended middle ground. The audience itself may blur... The former is loaded with constant dirty jokes, making it just childish enough for an unintended teenage audience, and the latter is often enjoyed by an older audience as well... but the network standards refuse to accept this.

Had Avatar been made in Japan, I like to believe that it would have been on par with Fullmetal Alchemist, cutting down somewhat on the goofball comedy and utilizing actual dark themes and on screen deaths. Unfortunately, it was released in America, geared towards an American audience, and was held back by people that didn't respect the intelligence or maturity of the intended child audience. The writers did what they could to work around this, and created one of the best cartoons of all time as a result, but it is still marred by the scent of American standards.

Well if using FMA as a base then I don't think the goofiness would be toned down at all, simply more darker elements would be introduced. But I get your point, I just wanted to be that guy. :^)

[Parasana]

Because Japanese is not English. Why the hell would Japanese people use English words to describe something?

[Mugetsu Ookamiza]

Parasana

Because Japanese is not English. Why the hell would Japanese people use English words to describe something?

anime is actually a shortform of an English loanword. it's made from the first three katakana of the Japanese spelling of animation, it also replaced the ACTUAL Japanese term for animated cartoons (manga eiga) back sometime in the 70's.

[Astra the Fae]

tsuara

You're creating controversy for yourselves. While certain implications about "Japaneseness" have come with these words emigrating to the English language to describe media from Japan: the word "anime" in Japanese still means ONLY "animation". The word "manga" means ONLY "comics". Walking into any store in Japan you will find the "cartoons" and "anime" are in the same section, with the label "anime" sitting on the shelf above them. Korean comics share the shelves with Japanese ones without anything to indicate that they aren't Japanese at all (aside from the name of the author). The entire floor for radio-play Japanese artists of all genres, ages and looks is just labelled: "J-pop".

Source (Also she's a teacher living in Japan)

In other words, the Japanese group cartoons and anime together because it's animation to them. People who infer that cartoons are for children are usually...idiots. Animaniacs wasn't exactly meant for kids nor was Batman, or South Park. It's an incorrect assumption.