Japanese vs. American Animation

[solanki]

I have grown up watching both as I am from South Asia. Less anime though, but i watched Anime whenever i got a chance. American cartoons are more popular here. But nothin can grip my attention as strong as a good anime can. The best anime will always be better than the best cartoon..

[forlornson]

the japs have a much better nack for making adult shows, as previously mentioned, than the americans. and since we ain't kids anymore, i say the japs, no doubt. they take real life drama, action, adventure, comedy and sci-fi and make respectable animated shows out of it. the americans basically just make animation for kids, or stuff like south park and other indecent shows. (south park was cool at a time, but damn it gets old)

all in all, Japanese are the rulers of Anime in my opinion

[runebandit89]

Japanese are better

Few Reasons:

1) Story line

2) Character design

3) For Using great background music (man thats great...........)

and many more.....

Okay,

1) Story Line: Do you remember Batman: The animated series. The episode titled "heart of ice" won an emmy for story line. How about Gargoyles, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Spiderman (From the 90's), X-Men (from the 90's), Justice League, Batman Beyond, The New Adventures of Johnny Quest. These are Western Animated shows, they had very good story lines.

2) Character Design:

Same list i gave on point one. They have very good character designs.

3) Background music: The background music from Batman:The Animated series was phenominal, from Shirley Walker, one of the composers responsible from Tim Burton's Batman. The background music from gargoyles was also awesome. The Animaniacs also have good background music, zany orchestral music to match the zany attitude of the show, very lively.

[ObeyMyEgo]

I dont really think either country can do better animation. Since both countrys have some amazing artist.

The problem is, most american animations are geared towards younger kids. Most grown men over here dont prefer animation over live action movies.

As where in japan more grown men prefer animation. So therefore they make animes geared more towards older teens to grown men.

[Aven]

Japanese Anime. Oh Yeah. grew up on both. But anime has a sense of realism that ANYONE can relate to in one form or another. and to be honest alot of anime does portray what japan looks like. Its a beautiful country. LOve to go back again. Anime based off real events, real life inspirations(Hiyao Miyazaki). cartoons are just TOO kid like. More geared to get you to laugh or just play babysitter for youngins

[Bones]

No one can touch Japanese animation. I've always thought Asians are the best when it comes to drawing, no one else can even come close. But there's one thing wrong with Japanese animation, what's with their audio? I mean the characters voices always turn me off, maybe it's cause I'm not Japanese and I don't understand it, but that's barely the case. I know what sounds good, I am not saying the accents don't fit it's graphic, I'm saying that the actual voices just doesn't sound right to me. Japenese animation with American dubbs, now that's what I call a perfect match.

[ObeyMyEgo]

I do like watching anime in dub. But doesnt make it better.

Im sure if i could understand fluent japanese i would prefer it.

Mainly because every dub i have watched never is 100% a failthul translation.

So when u watch it in subs you can easily say the dub company has to shorten phrases or make sentences up to match the animations mouth movement.

[FakerFaux]

the best "Cartoons" of the 80 were of Japanese animation studios, Cartoons like:

G.I. Joe

M.A.S.K.

Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors.

The Transformers.

SilverHawks.

Thundercats.

Ulysses 31 (Franco-Japanese)

ETC.

These Cartoons are the best example of collaboration done well. American scripts with Japanese animation worked quite well.

In the nineties the animation by computers infected the cartoons and the real american animation surfaced with stupid plots, moral fillers and mediocre drawing and animation.

[dinx]

I find that the quintessential factor between these two various types, is that whilst the 'hero survives and lives happily ever after' applies to the North American style, it is quite the opposite in Anime. Not so much the 'happily ever after' part as that is usually drawn as a final conclusion in nearly everything we see or read in the narrative sense, however the 'hero/es' in Anime tend to suffer a Shakespearean like situation where they more often than not...die. Thus leaving a more dramatic sense of maturity and a longer lasting impressing to the viewer/reader.

This is in respect to the bulk of great anime like Samurai X, Gurren Lagann, Death Note, Code Geass etc...

[willthemaker]

Everyone of course has there different opinions on which is better. but you cant really compare unless they are trying to immitate each others style. they are two different styles and have a different way of doing thing.

[Taylorwolf20]

to be honest i prefer both, whatever is watchable and is entertaining as well as interesting you can like, but the Japanese voice character show alot more emotion than english version but i prefer both only difference is japan has a bit more passion when it come to the voice acting

[eugenemcswain@y]

where does 'afro samurai' fit in? I'm assuming its american, having samuel l jackson as a voice actor. This alone is responsible for getting me back into cartoons

[LordLi1]

there used be time when American animation was watchable, but lately it seem ever thing has gone the way of Ren and Stimpy and and Bevies and Butthead and i not talking about the low brow humor alone I am talking about that god awful affront to the eye's of an animation style.... makes you long for the old old days of charlie brown and spider-man and his amazing friends, heck eve steam boat willy(First animated Movie made by Walt Disney {NO snow white was the first Colored animated film}) XD

[hayate_liger]

I honestly don't care if it's Japanese or American. If I like it, I'll watch it. I guess lately I've been leaning more towards anime only because I really hate the lack of creativity and how there's hardly any traditional 2D animation in American cartoons any more. I did really enjoy the Avatar the Last Airbender series and Transformers Animated though. It keeps my hopes high for future American cartoons.

[amperon]

To each his own. I grew up watching cartoons because animax wasn't around and now I realize that some of the mecha I grew up with are in reality anime. Having said that I can't compare both of them to the point of preference because they are a part of my memories. Scooby making funny faces is as much a memorable thing as Joe Maya summoning Cybertron when in a fix.

[Suetan]

Real simple answer to this. Japanese animation usually means:

• Good Story
  
• Decent Animation Quality
  
• Fun characters
  
• Great Action
  
• fan srvice
  
• Good comedy
  

American Animation of the 80's and early to mid 90's usually meant:

• Semi-decent story
  
• okay quality animation
  
• some comedy
  

Today's American animation is very low-grade, and the storylines generally suck. The comedy is usually worse than slap-stick humor, and the it's basically an insult to animation as a whole. (Examples: The Spectacular Spider-Man (was always the Amazing Spider-Man, and insults the previous series), Iron Man: Armored Adventures, and Adventure Time).

[avidffan]

Real simple answer to this. Japanese animation usually means:

• Good Story
  
• Decent Animation Quality
  
• Fun characters
  
• Great Action
  
• fan srvice
  
• Good comedy
  

American Animation of the 80's and early to mid 90's usually meant:

• Semi-decent story
  
• okay quality animation
  
• some comedy
  

Today's American animation is very low-grade, and the storylines generally suck. The comedy is usually worse than slap-stick humor, and the it's basically an insult to animation as a whole. (Examples: The Spectacular Spider-Man (was always the Amazing Spider-Man, and insults the previous series), Iron Man: Armored Adventures, and Adventure Time).

Unfortunatly

your spot on

sometimes im ashamed of what the states call animation

its almost like they think they know better than the proven anime style

so

their always trying do something different

and it usually winds up half assed

[Catwoman]

I love both American and Japanese animation.

I don't really have a true preferance.

I mean, they all have their world known series and characters.

They have countless fans and can carry on for many years.

Both are very respectable and talented countries for animation.

[Ultra NHD]

Japan!!!!

While there are some cool north american cartoon/animations I find that most are built for kids. The ones that are more mature are often for comedy such as family guy etc. Also there is the fact that most cartoons are more episodic (they have story for one episode, then the next ep is a different story), while anime has an ongoing story for the most part. What we need are more shows like Young Justice, which is an amazing new show built for like a teen+ audience. It has good action, ongoing story and it doesn't pull punches (you actually see the people getting hit). But yea for the most part Japan animation is surperior, though I think we can expect more shows like young justice to come from North America.

[Exiku]

I...actually disagree with a lot of points made in that article/first post. Granted it was written in 1998 but the dude just downright ignores a lot of cartoons from the 80's-90's that had older elements. At that time, sure cartoons were aimed at kids, but come on the writers also threw in elements for adult entertainment too seeing that adults would most likely be watching it with their children. Saying there's not enough material in them for adults to latch onto is assuming that all adults are closed minded, for example, take the Winnie the Pooh novels - yes, aimed at children, but try reading it from an adult's perspective and notice the subliminal adult messages.

Amercian animated stories have just as much capacity to be like Japanese animated stories - the writer used the example of King of the Hill - that is not an episodic cartoon; there are elements that continue through to further the story such as Bobby and Khan Jr's relationship; Luanne and Lucky, of course the series has come to an end now so that's an end to an era. As mentioned by other posters, Marvel and DC have some great successes under their belt with the 90's Batman and 90's Spider-Man/X-Men and other series I may have forgotten.

I admit, I also thought at some point Anime was superior to more recent American cartoons (I'm talking from late 90's-2000's) but thanks to my brother, I've come to rediscover joy in watching some newer titles like Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends; Generator Rex; Ben 10; Danny Phantom - all aimed at children but with appeal for an older audience if you just gave it a chance. Japanese Anime has just as much capacity to fail as American Cartoons do.

Also, I'm sure the Manga was in existence before WWII...as part of early Japanese art; post-WWII only boomed it into the industry it is today.

Interestingly, on my recent trip to HK and visiting their history museum, I learned that China used to homegrow (for lack of a better word) their own comics for much the same reason in Japan and the West - for escapism. However, with the rise in popularity of Japanese Manga, homegrown Chinese Comics (that dealt with similar issues) have dropped considerably in their market.