Avatar is an anime!

[Koby]

I never said Avatar was an anime. I've shared your same sentiments that Avatar is an American Cartoon since the day it released and have said as much in various other threads through the years such as here. Just stating the fact that we have many things outsourced here or there and while one may be cartoon and another an anime, they could actually be animated by the exact same studio. We have Yu-Gi-Oh! OVAs that were animated, ordered, and produced in the USA and only later edited and re-released in Japan yet are still fully classified as anime by fans. We have shows fully animated in Texas, ordered by Netflix, that some anime databases classify as anime while others don't: Anime Planet and Kitsu both consider Castlevania anime but aniDB and MAL do not. etc. So even anime databases tend to not always agree on what is or isn't anime. We have French-Japanese collabs like The Red Turtle in which Studio Ghibli was involved and was created solely at Miyazaki's behest, yet anime databases refuse to consider it anime. etc. So yeah, there are definitely a few series or movies or ovas that seem to fall between the cracks and get disputed here or there and not universally agreed on. We have series like RWBY that is fully American made yet many anime fans try to claim it's anime; when it's nothing more than anime inspired. Lets not forget that in Japan the term anime actually just means animation in general. Japan calls Spongebob an anime. So it's westerners that feel the desire to categorize anime as a term specifically for Japanese things. Lets also not forget that anime database sites now also list Chinese anime and Korean anime and call them anime despite not being done in Japan.

[Predaking-117]

Has anyone asked the creators of the Avatar cartoons if they count as anime or not? Or did they just give non-answers, or outright said nothing at all?

[thesimpson36]

These types of questions always annoy me. If ATLA isnt considered an "anime" does it mean its any less awesome than it is? Or if it is considered an "anime" does that mean its automatically better than what it is? The show is spectacularly awesome regardless. Btw its an anime............. kidding, im kidding. It doesnt matter 

[PhoenixPress]

To be honest, I've almost entirely stopped using "anime" in reference to anything but style cues. As far as I'm concerned, everything is a "cartoon."