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Whats the deal with anime?

Creator: Electro522 November 10, 2014 8:08am
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TormentedTurnip
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Personally, I see the Avatar series as anime because of its deep Japanese influences. It's similar to how Mexican food is still called Mexican food even if it's made in the US. And while there are certainly different genres of anime, I think by defining anime by its style, they mean its cultural influences.


Anyhow, to give at least a short response to the original post: I absolutely love how ridiculous and hilarious facial expressions can get in animes. They just can't be replicated in real life. While the entertainment value is obviously more important, I think that's a good example of one of their unique qualities that can draw someone in.
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Zylmoc wrote:
The point was that when you were a kid loving Avatar, you probably would have loved Korra aswell. But times have changed and we have grown from what we once thought as entertaining.

Speaking as someone who watched Avatar: The Last Airbender while not a kid and loved it, Avatar: The Last Airbender was also loooaaaads better than the first two seasons of The Legend of Korra. Largely because the former was actually pretty good in its own right. Avatar also stood up very well to a rewatch several years later. So I doubt nostalgia goggles are the only thing going on when it comes to liking Avatar.
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The trick to me is when you define it like that, you imply all Japanese animation is of this style. You've already heard a lot of times in this thread "I don't like anime because it's all..." which is just wrong as many people who watched a lot of anime will know. Japanese animation has a ton of different styles. They are just as varied as American animators. In Japan "anime" just means "animation."

I think what these people are thinking of when they say "anime" are long-running, action-packed, low-budget shows they've seen, and they have defined this as "this is what anime is." You have kind've done the same thing but applied it to shows of a similar genre that you like instead of using it negatively. It seems mostly to be a personal lens to take the parts of animation you like and call it something.

Now if you define it by style and genre... where do you draw the line? That is the hard part about defining anime by style. Are American shows that remind you of anime copying Japanese animation? Since the original "anime style" was inspired by Mickey Mouse and old American cartoons, are the Japanese copying American animation? Can American animation no longer have extreme expressions and big eyes without being called "anime"? Really, the lines begin to blur really fast.

Which of these are anime?



Really, animation all over the world is inspired and influenced by other countries. The lines are so blurred. Animation is a medium, not a genre, and any style of animation can be any genre.

LeSean Thomas says it well:

'...it would behoove one to do their research before writing off animation from an entire region (Japan) as something that's all the same to be lumped up into the same approach based off of their terribly poor exposure to it, or worse; lumping it all as a genre and not a creative medium with tons of different voices and approaches. Anime is japanese for animation, not “big eyes & speed lines.”'

So basically... when you say anime is just a stylistic choice, to me it seems you are just applying the styles you like (or dislike) into one category to make it easier. It is highly biased and everyone will have a different opinion if you show them a picture and go "is this anime?"

/rant
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Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep November 13, 2014 10:47pm | Report
I think Mowen wins.
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Electro522 wrote:
I think Mowen wins.


Thread's over guys. You can all go home now.

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Man, now I have to figure out what the deal with cartoons and young adults is.

Basically MOBAFire.
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Man, now I have to figure out what the deal with cartoons and young adults is.

It's simple. Young adults let their ***** guide the way, much like directing a pig with a carrot on a stick. It just so happens that when they're watching anime, their reproductive compass i.e their ***** twitches and leads them towards the masses of KAWAII as **** anime girls within anime. Also they like the art style or something.
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Imma 'bout to end this man's whole career
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Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep November 14, 2014 3:36am | Report
Nice comment Mowen.
I'm honestly drawing a blank thinking of any shows that regularly portray powers like that. Doctor Who maybe? It's the only one I watch. xD (I assume it's hour long run time and generally lower budget for a live action show better matches some of the better anime productions, correct me if I'm wrong.)

Yeah, that's kind of the thing. There are far more anime in that kind of setting than there are live action shows simply because it's a lot cheaper to produce a animated show of most quality levels..
This brings more content and variation to those kind of premises. (yes, even though there is a lot of aping the most recent popular series there is still a much larger selection of premises set in otherworldly settings)
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Mowen wrote:
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You have a good argument here and I agree with you, but I want to compare it to another industry to help clarify my point of view. In the automotive industry, all of the big manufacturers such as Ford and Toyota greatly influence each other, and they all produce pretty much every type of vehicle such as trucks, cars, and SUVs. And you can certainly compare a Ford F250 to a Toyota Tacoma, stating that they are very similar and the only reliable way to differentiate between them is that one is produced by an American company and another is produced by a Japanese company. However, when you do an image search of Ford, the top images are mostly trucks, SUVs, and fast cars while a search of Toyota shows mostly SUVs and commuter cars. And I think that's an important difference - while both companies influence each other and produce a large variety of vehicles, they have a different image. When someone says they drive a Ford, I generally think of a "big and tough" vehicle, while when someone says they drive a Toyota, I generally think of a "family friendly car."

In the same way, I see a difference in a general style between cartoons and anime. So while it's true that you can define anime as animation from Japan and cartoons as animation from elsewhere, I think that's just as generalizing as labeling cartoons as one particular or general style of animation and animes as another.
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It seems like you're encouraging stereotyping a whole country's animation to one style? I mean if you say "when you think ford, you think of trucks" and "when you think of anime, you think of big eyes and speed lines." Well both are true, but is that something we should encourage and keep perpetuating? Writing off a whole country's animated film and series as a specific genre and style?

I get your issue. There isn't a great way to refer to what (I think) you're trying to refer to. In the end I think it's a genre you like, and not a style. Animated action shows for young adults (or something).

Honestly, to me, people shouldn't limit themselves to shows based on how the characters look, or should appreciate more different styles. As you can tell, I'm very passionate about animation. I love animated movies and shows, because you can tell any story you want, without being limited by available actors, settings, etc. I've grown to appreciate all different kinds of styles, and that's why I get so sad when people lump in animation that is beautiful and unique and say "it's anime style."

I think you could show people characters from Legend of Korra, The Boondocks, Black Dynamite, Thundercats (2011), Young Justice, all American shows, and many people would say they are anime, even though they are all different in their own rights. The art directors for all these shows spent a lot of blood and sweat coming up with the style they thought would fit their show best, and it seems a little degrading to their work to go "it's anime style." Really, they are all just high quality animated shows, and don't deserved to be lumped together except for saying "these are great shows."

What is so important about them being "anime" or not anyways? Well, that's about all I have to say about that. I appreciate you guys seeing the point for the most part.

Back to the original topic, I did think a little last night on some shows Electro might like based on what I know. I'm going to put their genre by them since from his first post I couldn't tell if he wanted more action shows or less action shows. :P

American:
- Young Justice (action)
- Thundercats 2011 (action)

Japanese:
- Fullmetal Alchemist (action with what I think you were asking for in plot twists, I liked the first adaptation better but bother are good)
- Hataraku Maō-sama! (slice of life comedy with some action?)
- Cowboy Bebop or Trigun (space western, fun times, I dunno)

I guess my biggest recommendation would be Fullmetal Alchemist. It's an anime that seems to have all the things you're looking for. :) Hataraku Maō-sama! if you want to branch out. :D The dubs of all the Japanese ones I mentioned are good (except I'm not sure about Hataraku Maō-sama! aka Devil is a Part-Timer!, watched subbed haven't heard the dub).
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