Folks this weeks Poll Position I am going to ask you a simple question. Which do you prefer to watch Western Style Cartoons or Japanese Anime?
I personally prefer anime over most western cartoon. There is just something about Anime that appeals to me over most cartoons you see on us TV. Don't get me wrong there are a far number of cartoons that I enjoy but if given a choice of watching say Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes or Ranma 1/2 I will choose watching Ranma 1/2.
I’m on a bit of an anime kick at the moment, but for me its a case of I’ll watch either because both have good and both have bad. However, anime’s in general tend to be more adult than the western cartoons, especially if you watch the original subtitled versions without all the bits that the dubbers take out (swearing, violence, alcohol/ getting drunk, sexual themes, mental illness etc).
For me it’s not so much do i like anime or western animation so much as do i like THIS anime or THIS western animation. Both have shows i love and both have shows that i hate. Many of my favorites are anime-inspired western animations which many people mistake for outright anime, but they are produced by westerners.
i take particular note of French productions Code Lyoko and Ōban Star-Racers. These beautifully blend anime style cell shading, CGI, and awesome stories.
Though it would be criminal not to mention Studio Ghibli. i don’t care what you’re into–Hayao Miazaki has made a movie you will enjoy.
i could go on, but i won’t.
This one did take some thought. Though I enjoy good Anime it does not replace Western Animation. Anime has brought us such series as the Macross universe (known as Robotech in the west), The Twelve Kingdoms, Rune Soldier, and Fairy Tail to name a few. On the other hand Western Animation has brought us Disney (Films and the old Disney shows like Duck Tales, Rescue Rangers, Tail Spin, and such), the Bruce Time DC Universe (Batman TSA, Superman TSA, and Justice League TSA / JLU), Young Justice, Megas XLR, Anamaniacs, and Samurai Jack among others.
All of these are great shows however I feel that Western Animation has really declined in quality (both art and writing) in recent years and that you really have to turn to Anime to get higher quality animation. As for movies and such, though I like high quality CGI films I think that it is sad to see it replace traditional hand-drawn animation.
I prefer Western, in terms of both art style and presentation of story. Artistically, I like the heroically-exaggerated realism of Western art, though I admit the Anime style is much better for learning how to draw (aside from the faces, it’s realistic enough to apply lessons from Anime while still being simple enough to learn).
Regarding the presentation of the story, it’s frustrating to watch most Anime shows which I’ve seen because so much of each episode is just filler content. You know, repetitive cutscenes, lots of time spent to show the heroes radiating power and/or screaming, and of course the whole “Our heroes now have to face this new challenge,” followed by said challenge looming in the distance to ominous music for about a minute or two, then “Will they succeed? Will person x and person y fall in love? And who is this mysterious person z? Find out in the next episode of (insert Japanese words and/or vague reference to irrelevant concepts here for the title)” And then you watch the next episode (or several), and the plot still hasn’t advanced.
Mostly, I don’t care, what’s important is whether it’s good or not.
And there are very good things and very bad ones in both anime and western cartoons.
I LOVE gargoyles (the second season is just wow wow wow) and the DC animated universe. Most marvel cartoons have been bad or meh, but Avengers was great. Otoh, there’s a lot of crappy cartoons, some that were only made to sell toys.
Anime has some pure gems (both FMA series, Monster, Berserk for exemple), and things I don’t like at all. And, like Jadebrain, not only am I not a fan of obviously (and badly made) filler episodes, I think that shonen can get pretty boring with their dick contests and stupid power escalation (this ruined naruto utterly for me).
=> To me, anime vs cartoons is like anime vs books or cartoons vs movies. I just don’t care, so long as the story is great.
In my case simple the answer. Anime. Or wait i like the old eighties cartoons like Transformers, M.A.S.K, and Saber Rider…. wait this is also animes and cooproductions (Saber Rider my long long favourite, the op is my ringtone :D).
My fav animes: F.L.C.L, Sword Art Online, Baccano, Durararara!!!, Onegai Teacher and more this type, not the Naruto and Beach like Shonens. (i only read shonens but too see any of these….)
But my favs are the mangas. Shonen, Shoujo, Eicchi, Seinen, Gender-Bender type mangas are welcomed.
A good animated series is hard to beat, but a common pitfall for so many anime series is the problem of scantily-clad women. While nice-looking in their own way, this common design element or perfunctory “fan service” scene (or episode) can become grating when trying to enjoy something simply for good animation, a storyline, dialog, humor, etc. A high-quality piece of animation doesn’t need either element to be good, but I more often find good western animated shows or movies without those elements than I find good Anime without them. Of course, that’s just my experience.
You might be interested to learn that once Friday Night Fights are over I plan on replacing the Wednesdays Bad Costume discussions with “Anime Talk” which will be some anime reviews as well as discussions of things such as Fan Service, in fact Fan Service is what I plan on the first “Anime Talk” to be about.
I like the western style, but anime have better stories. I just dont like big eyed, weird looking hair. I love the western style anime. No exaggerated features, just good art.
I am surprised to notice that I am familiar with almost NONE of the titles mentioned. Arioch summed up my feelings well enough.
What I would REALLY like to see is more style blends. Those hold my interest so well I sometimes don’t mind the filler that is the ruination of every good piece of art in every medium ever invented. An example? A Jackie Chan-Kung Fu style piece where women are fighting to raise and lower hemlines, show more / less cleavage–I think that would be absolutely HILARIOUS.
Like a lot of people here, I could really go either way. It depends mostly on the series rather than the animation style. Good writing and interesting characters are what defines whether I’m going to watch it or not. Lately, my shift has been more toward western animation, but that hasn’t always been the way.
Once upon a time, however, I used to watch as much anime as I could, mostly because I was interested in the style, and it was only just becoming mainstream, so finding anime, whether it was a series or a feature-length movie, involved a bit of hunting. Now, however, between its own inherent popularity making it available on television more regularly, and the internet making it very easy to purchase anime titles, or watch for free on YouTube and the like, the fascination has died down, and I can choose to be more discriminating toward what I watch.
I think the more interesting question would be whether one is more likely to watch animated TV shows or live action. Given the choice, I tend to watch way more “cartoons” than “regular TV.”
I agree with Jadebrain. Anime has way too much filler content. Maybe I’m ruined by Dragonball Z. Every freaking episode “I am so going to kick your butt after I do all of this training!” 200 episodes later… “I am so going to train to kick your butt.”
There are some anime that I really like. Old stuff like Dynamo (I don’t know the original Japanese title), Thunderbirds 2086, Mighty Orbots, The Macross Saga. I’m okay with Bleach, though it slowed down considerably.
I prefer Western animation for simple variety. Not that I have been immersed in Japanese culture (though I did take 1 year in high school – amazingly simple language to learn!). However, anime is too homogeneous for my taste. Same style of drawing makes for same stories and thus too predictable and stale.
I shouldn’t be surprised that West beats East in the animated cartoon departments. I voted for “Anime”… Just this morning I was commenting on how my earliest recollections of cartoon watching (at around 5 years old) was deciding that although Warner Bros, Hannah-Barbera, and Disney dominated the airwaves… I was more interested in episodes of Speed Racer, Mazinger Z, G-Force and Captain Harlock. Sure, it’s adult-themed, not as funny, and it’s not as varied in art styles… but it still generally holds my interest, more so today.
I mean, as much of a superhero fan as I am, I agree with Japan’s notion that Peter Parker’s grandchildren should be the ones web-slinging in New York; the Scooby gang should’ve retired; And yes, Batman is freakin’ old. Wolverine doesnt’ count because that character was made to last in more ways than three.
By the way, the Wolverine and the other Marvel anime are pretty fun to watch. Banzai.
Depends, actually… I enjoy both, but I like western cartoons the most.
Avatar is my favorite cartoon of all time (both of them, Aang and Korra) and is followed by Jackie Chan Adventures, Martin Mystery and others westerns cartoons. I started whit anime NOW and I used to avoid them because of animes like Naruto, One Piece, Bleach, Dragon Ball Z…
I don’t like anything too long and confusing or repetitive (the same “rule” is valid for tv shows), so I’m very selective. Then I found out there is a lot of short and wonderful animes like Another, Hunter x Hunter, Death Note, Planet Survival, Sword Art Online, Saint Seiya (I know this one for a loooong time, but never watched it for thinking it was a DBZ-like anime), etc.
To not say I hate Dragon Ball, there is ONE i really enjoy: Dragon Ball GT.
~if my english is bad, I’m sorry xD
The Very first Anime I ever watched would have likely been my last if not for a buddy that kept force feeding anime on me whenever I was over his place. That first Anime is considered a by many if not most Anime fans to be a wonderful most see movie but I absolutely HATED it. That Anime would be Akira. I couldn’t stand it and tried my best to avoid watching any other anime as a result until my buddy finally hit on a series that caught my attention and I instantly loved Akai Kōdan Jirion or Red Photon Zillion. That series started my love of Anime and I have been watching ever since.
No apology is necessary. This is a global community. English is the common language but it is not everyone’s native language. Mine was German, and my French is better than my German… Es ist mir so peinlich…
But Dragonball Z… just unbelievably annoying… C’est ennuyeux…
ah,yes. K mentioned Akira. I’ve never been able to tell what annoyed me more: the incredibly dull pace, the angst filler, or the ‘conjuration’ of mass and energy. The only thing that moved fast enough–moved way TOO fast.
Although i mostly watched Western Style cartoons as a teen, i prefer Anime’s for – reasons:
1. The shift of mood or seriousness during the show – between serious enemy’s and comedic hero’s
2. The graphic fights scenes – in anime’s enemy’s eventually die, sometimes are even resurrected… in Western Style they are beaten up or sent to prison
3. Personal relationship with the hero – animes like DBZ or even Naruto show fillers which most people hate, but these give back storys into the characters personality, what food they enjoy, how they interact with people * western style just shows a breif hidden identity scenario
4. Hidden identity’s – allot of animes dont hide their hero’s behind masks, with the exception of Saiyen Man lol * western style has allot of masked heroes and costumes, although thats why we love them, i never understood a human looking alien who wears pants on the outside of a skin tight suit…
but hey, each to their own 😛
*see’s hot chick, blood gush’s out of nose