Are anime cartoons?

[----]

One common argument among anime watchers is "anime are not cartoons." Do you agree or disagree and why?

 

[Tsareena]

Cartoon: a motion picture using animation techniques to photograph a sequence of drawings rather than real people or objects.
A film or television show made by photographing a series of drawings : an animated film or television show.

Yes. A cartoon= animation. Anime is animation, plain and simple. Cartoon doesn't apply just to western animation, either, as I've seen many people argue. Now I think people these days consider the word "cartoon" as something negative, something made only for comedy like Family Guy. That's wrong. Cartoon expands to everything animation.
Gertie the Dinosaur, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Akira, $9.99, Fantastic Planet, The Princes' Quest, these are all cartoons, the only difference being their medium of animation, the year they were made, and the country of origin.

Anime is either just an art style or more simply defined as Japanese animation/cartoons. Some people will be elitist and argue that "you can't compare my Evangelion to Bugs Bunny!!", but that's nothing but bias. Additionally, you would never have had the creation of anime without earlier cartoons influencing it, most notably Disney's Bambi. Likewise, anime has influenced several other cartoon styles and companies.

 

[Robo-Floatzel]

Cartoons or anime, to me they are both animation, but the terms are nothing more than like dividing Americans from Europeans, as they are both part of the human race. The thing is, too many anime fans have this superiority complex that makes them think that Japanese animation is superior to western animation, and I fail to understand that other than that both have different styles, yet at the same time, we've had western shows that were inspired by anime, such as Avatar: The Last Airbender, Teen Titans (the original one), and Samurai Jack, so there's really no point in segregating anime from western shows at all since there are clearly many western animators who admire and are inspired by anime. In fact there's a good video about "American Anime" I found that might interest some about this topic, and I still fail to understand why so many people take offense to calling anime "cartoons" when they're both animation.

Since I like both western animation and anime, I don't see this as a problem, as a kid in early elementary school I continually used the term "Japanese cartoon" to describe shows like Pokemon and Dragonball Z, though around 4th grade when I got into manga and anime series like One Piece and Naruto, I switched over to the proper terms of "anime" and "manga" as opposed to using the stereotypical term of "Japanese cartoons" because, honestly, when you think about it, calling them that just doesn't sound right, but I rarely use the term "cartoon" for western animation either, probably because I'm older and know better about these things.

Though despite all that, this stereotype doesn't bother me since I know far better, but the stereotype of animation that annoys me FAR more than people calling anime "cartoons" is the stereotype that claims that animation is for children, which still annoys me even now, but that's another topic. To me, animation is art, not mindless entertainment that serves no meaning or purpose like some people think it does, regardless of whether it's western animation or anime.

 

[PyroPokeman]

Ah, I did a speech on this for Public Speaking, one on anime. Here are my own personal analysis and thoughts. And I do apologize if things shift.

To me, they are the same thing, except attitudes towards the words are different, and there are somethings that root from each word that make them the same thing, but different, a paradox of the mind, in a way.

Cartoons, in its base, existed before animation, they are made for comedic or satirical purposes. They are short. That's what it is in general in early U.S. and any other country that followed the same thing. Newspaper cartoons, for example.

Then, we started calling moving pictures as cartoons. You know, the good old Popeye or Loony Toons, or whatever else follows these guidelines.

Anime is a bit more complex because it is not only foreign material, but at times it is GOOD foreign material that has grown a huge fanbase over time. Anime has always meant animation. That's it. Just a short term for animation. However, overseas, this very title has become the name for the demographic. Anime IS, to the minds of the closed, animation from Japan.

However, in truth, anime is all animation, and there are various types.

The question is though, why do these people try to separate them? Simple, the attitude of animation is very looked down upon as something childish. "Anime" on the other hand, provides much as what we would expect of any live action TV show, but with for creative liberties. Since the liberties don't appear much in the West in their eyes, they find the need of making themselves special by making it look like they are a part of something special.

I'm not denouncing how good anime is, I was born into this stuff. But, it is just an entertainment medium like movies or books.

I just call it American anime, or Italian anime, or Japanese anime or Martian Anime. Meanwhile, Japan doesn't care and calls everything anime. Hmmm, I wonder who the real geniuses are.

Cartoon has become a word to mean childish or or at least not containing arcs for a story, at least to me.
Anime is just animation, just don't let the "purists" know that, or my head is going to be chopped off.
Yet, it has become it's own demographic, a way of telling a story.

My best example would have to be Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go!

Teen Titans- a story of 4 heroes doing hero things, fighting bad guys. IT WAS AWESOME!!!!(Don't me for my lame summary, I haven't watched it in a LONG time)

Teen Titans Go!- An obvious attempt to use our beloved heroes as characters in random shorts which have no connection to each other whatsoever.

Now tell me, which one seems to be the "anime" and the other a "cartoon" under the descriptions.

I don't know whether you guys see where I'm going with this, but these words, as alike as they have appeared in our culture, they have transformed into demographics of their own, styles in creating anything animated. It's kind of complex, and I'm still trying to make in concise so we can finally have some One Piece and just watch it something we all love. Forget where it originated from and just enjoy, be it Avatar, Code Geass, Winx Club or School Days.

Seriously though, these Chinese cartoons are awesome.

 

[Robo-Floatzel]

Ah, I did a speech on this for Public Speaking, one on anime. Here are my own personal analysis and thoughts. And I do apologize if things shift.

To me, they are the same thing, except attitudes towards the words are different, and there are somethings that root from each word that make them the same thing, but different, a paradox of the mind, in a way.

Cartoons, in its base, existed before animation, they are made for comedic or satirical purposes. They are short. That's what it is in general in early U.S. and any other country that followed the same thing. Newspaper cartoons, for example.

Then, we started calling moving pictures as cartoons. You know, the good old Popeye or Loony Toons, or whatever else follows these guidelines.

Anime is a bit more complex because it is not only foreign material, but at times it is GOOD foreign material that has grown a huge fanbase over time. Anime has always meant animation. That's it. Just a short term for animation. However, overseas, this very title has become the name for the demographic. Anime IS, to the minds of the closed, animation from Japan.

However, in truth, anime is all animation, and there are various types.

The question is though, why do these people try to separate them? Simple, the attitude of animation is very looked down upon as something childish. "Anime" on the other hand, provides much as what we would expect of any live action TV show, but with for creative liberties. Since the liberties don't appear much in the West in their eyes, they find the need of making themselves special by making it look like they are a part of something special.

I'm not denouncing how good anime is, I was born into this stuff. But, it is just an entertainment medium like movies or books.

I just call it American anime, or Italian anime, or Japanese anime or Martian Anime. Meanwhile, Japan doesn't care and calls everything anime. Hmmm, I wonder who the real geniuses are.

Cartoon has become a word to mean childish or or at least not containing arcs for a story, at least to me.
Anime is just animation, just don't let the "purists" know that, or my head is going to be chopped off.
Yet, it has become it's own demographic, a way of telling a story.

My best example would have to be Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go!

Teen Titans- a story of 4 heroes doing hero things, fighting bad guys. IT WAS AWESOME!!!!(Don't me for my lame summary, I haven't watched it in a LONG time)

Teen Titans Go!- An obvious attempt to use our beloved heroes as characters in random shorts which have no connection to each other whatsoever.

Now tell me, which one seems to be the "anime" and the other a "cartoon" under the descriptions.

I don't know whether you guys see where I'm going with this, but these words, as alike as they have appeared in our culture, they have transformed into demographics of their own, styles in creating anything animated. It's kind of complex, and I'm still trying to make in concise so we can finally have some One Piece and just watch it something we all love. Forget where it originated from and just enjoy, be it Avatar, Code Geass, Winx Club or School Days.

Seriously though, these Chinese cartoons are awesome.

I agree with all this, in fact, the word "anime" means "animation" referring to all forms of it, not strictly animated shows made in Japan, and the word "animé" is also used in French to mean the exact same thing. It's only American anime fans that have this close-minded mindset about what is considered a "cartoon" and what is considered "anime", I don't call it by a specific name if it comes from another country, I just call it "animation" through and through.

 

[----]

In my own opinion anime and cartoons both fall under animation but are not necessarily the same thing

 

[Amante do Mikuri]

Nopes, Cartoons are comics.