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Anime VS Cartoon (Topic)

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Anime VS Cartoon

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Whether you love anime and animation or one or the other, it's hard to ignore the fact that there are those who are constantly comparing them. What caused anime and animation to be so different, and to develop in isolation from each other at many similar points? In general, the theme of "Anime vs. Cartoon" causes fierce flames in the chair area for many otaku, especially if anime is called the contemptuous and unacceptable word "cartoons" for them. No one will deny that there are quite large differences between the Japanese and American animation industries, but is one really bigger than the other? And as anime's influence grows in the West, are they beginning to share more in common? Based on the material from MyAnimeList, let's look at the main differences between anime and animation.

Quality of execution

Let's start with the obvious: not all Western cartoons suck. However, not all anime are created equal [although since you are reading this, you probably know it]. However, it is a little absurd to call either the first or the second garbage, based only on the visual appearance and quality of the animation. It is foolish to call "Rick and Morty" or "Steel Giant" "American trash", since Garzy Wing is better for some reason because of its national origin.

It's also silly to call some "Fullmetal Alchemist" and "Firefly Grave" children's cartoons.

Genres

While the quality of cartoons from America and Japan may not generally differ, there are clear trends in the various popular styles and genres of American cartoons and anime. American cartoons gravitate towards comedy, and while they weren't always aimed at children, most American animation today is for family viewing. Anime has its own comedies and kids / family shows, but the range of genres and demographics is much broader, including realistic dramas that are almost never considered for animation in America.

Such dramatic differences can be explained by history. The first American cartoons were theatrical short stories. When you went to the movies in the 1930s, the easiest way to entertain visitors was to show short films with music. The audience was eager to see something excellent for their hard-earned money, and animation was that way to impress people. The combination of music and animation ultimately consolidated them into a musical format, which was almost non-existent in Japan.

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For a long time, full-length animated films were almost exclusively in the power of Walt Disney. He had experimental ambitions early in his career, but after the commercial collapse of the more sophisticated and adult-oriented Fantasia, he retreated to a safe fairy tale formula that made a lot of money. The first such tale was "Snow White". This marked the beginning of the stigma of animation as a product for children or maximum family viewing, which became even stronger when animation moved to television in the 60s. Television has killed animated short films, and with it subversive cartoon comedy like Warner Bros. This was also facilitated by the transfer of animation to Saturday morning, when the adults were sleeping. The Flintstones had some success as a prime-time comedy [after all,

Differences between anime and American cartoons in terms of genre diversity can be traced to the influence of the most important figures of the time. Disney and Osamu Tezuka. Tezuka admired Disney, borrowing heavily from its art style, and of course, many of Tezuka's greatest successes, such as Astroboy and Kimba, have been child-friendly, owing in large part to Pinocchio and Bambi. ". In this situation, the situation with the plagiarism of the Disney studio "Kimba" for "Simba" looks especially funny.

But where Walt remained conservative in terms of age, Tezuka experimented. In addition to children's TV series, he dabbled in dramas, historical works, philosophical reflections, horror movies and even eroticism.

Most of Tezuka's manga could not be published in America at the time. Created in 1954, the Comic Book Management was extremely brutal and killed the once popular genres of horror and romantic comics in America, leaving only impeccably sterile superheroes and children. American comics will eventually recover, but without such tight restrictions, manga grew from the 50s to 70s, reaching every genre and every audience.

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Since the anime industry was so strongly tied to manga, anime has embraced a broader demographic. The first anime series in the 60s were mostly children's shows, but Gundam was more serious. More adult-oriented series such as Lupine III began to appear. By the 80s, the first generation of otaku anime had come of age, and adult anime became commonplace. Economic constraints also helped diversify the anime. If the American television network did, say, The Rose of Versailles, it would almost certainly be live action. But in Japanese networks, where there is less money and animation is cheaper, it is not so surprising that realistic dramas appeared in the anime.

Visual style

Most people in a few seconds and based on the animation itself can determine where the series is from. However, it is difficult to define a specific "anime style". You cannot compare the style of Ghost in the Shell and Lucky Star and call this or that the true anime style. They are both true, but different at the same time. Well, there are general visual trends in anime [big eyes and tiny noses], but what makes anime as a whole so different from American animation may not be so much in any particular art style as in the difference in priorities and animation. tricks.

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American animation from the 30s and 40s was "fully animated". This process was too painstaking and too expensive to carry over into television, so “limited animation” techniques were born, such as animating at a lower frame rate and limiting motion by redrawing only certain body parts rather than the entire character.

American television cartoons today still use limited animation techniques, but generally look better than the old ones due to a combination of several factors like larger budgets, rational design, participation of storyboard artists in the creation of the final product, facilitating the digital process. and software.

American cartoons only used limited animation, while anime, as we know, was born and shaped by limitations. Early television anime had even more limited animation than American television cartoons, but animators found ways to take advantage of the style without diminishing too much of the cinematic quality of the visuals.

Anime tends to completely reject the idea of constant frame rates. It is a whole separate art.

Convergence

While anime began heavily influenced by Disney and other American cartoons, in recent years, American cartoons have increasingly been influenced by anime. In the 90s, the influence was more subtle, but it was.

Bruce Timm called "Akira" one of the main projects influencing Western animation. Pixar's John Lassetter has long celebrated Hayao Miyazaki, but no one would ever call an animated series "Batman" or "Toy Story" an anime.

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After the Pokemon boom in the early 2000s, many American cartoons have become anime-like. The best of these anime style cartoons were made by people who truly understood its impact. Think of Glenn Murakami's well-animated 2003 series Teen Titans, and perhaps most notably Avatar: The Last Airbender. One of the best animated series ever written, and probably the American show most people mistook for anime.

Now, people who grew up on Japanese animation have transferred Japanese culture to Western animation, namely complex stories, at first glance, in simple cartoons. This influence has given us cartoons such as "Bee and Puppycat", which combines many of the moments from "Sailor Moon" and low-key comedy "King of the Hill". Steven Universe is filled with references to many animes from Utena to Evangelion, and the combination of unusual humor, smart world building and serious emotions makes it one of the best cartoons of the last decade.

In the end, we can say that anime and animation affect each other in the long term, and from time to time they have something that their competitors do not have.

The Topic of Article: Anime VS Cartoon.
Author: Jake Pinkman


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