Thread: Japanese Anime VS American Animation; Which is better?

Grumble Grumble Grumble

Better in which context?

In World Wide Box Office receipts??? (Pixar beats everyone here!!!)
In traditional hand drawn animation? (Since all the US studios have been more or less shutdown, the Japanese Anime industry wins by default)
In animation technology? (again Pixar dominates)
In bang for the buck results (the US Powerpuff Girls move cost $24 million dollars. Hayao Miyazaki's production of Howl's Moving Castle was made with $22 million)

So there is quite a few benchmarks that the two industries can be measured by... Was there any one in particular you were interested in???

Originally Posted by LenMiyata

Grumble Grumble Grumble

Better in which context?

In World Wide Box Office receipts??? (Pixar beats everyone here!!!)
In traditional hand drawn animation? (Since all the US studios have been more or less shutdown, the Japanese Anime industry wins by default)
In animation technology? (again Pixar dominates)
In bang for the buck results (the US Powerpuff Girls move cost $24 million dollars. Hayao Miyazaki's production of Howl's Moving Castle was made with $22 million)

So there is quite a few benchmarks that the two industries can be measured by... Was there any one in particular you were interested in???

In all aspects... or, what YOU think is important in an anime/animation.
... It's kinda hard to explain, but I hope you get the picture...

Not better different.

When you study writings and plays one of the first thing you learn is that stories are a reflection of the values and culture of the author. Animation reflects the western author, Anime reflects the Japanese author, and both their cultures etc.

If someone prefers one over the other it is more a statement of their attraction to the values and culture implied therein. Perhaps the growing interest is merely a symptom of a growing disenfranchisement with Western values and *cough* honor.

...or it could just be a fascination with the "exotic" and different.

Personally I am betting on a combination of the two.

i still think that japanese anime are far good than us anime...because i think japanese anime is more creative and fun...well there are some us anime is good but most of my favorite anime is on the japanese anime list...my favorite anime series are bleach,naruto and nana...there are more but i make a short list...

Originally Posted by Arrianna

Not better different.

When you study writings and plays one of the first thing you learn is that stories are a reflection of the values and culture of the author. Animation reflects the western author, Anime reflects the Japanese author, and both their cultures etc.

If someone prefers one over the other it is more a statement of their attraction to the values and culture implied therein. Perhaps the growing interest is merely a symptom of a growing disenfranchisement with Western values and *cough* honor.

...or it could just be a fascination with the "exotic" and different.

Personally I am betting on a combination of the two.

I would have to go with what arrianna's stance, however I will have to go into more of the anime view by saying, that unlike most american animation (except disney and pixar) that anime goes more into exploring the emotion of the characters and the story more better then their counterparts. And not to mention, not until recently (lasted 15 years), american animation was targeted more towards children, and anime has a more variety of different targeted audience.

But I have a question for the student from tokyo, how do you feel about American animation, do you like it, what is your favorite american animation?

I will answer your ? by saying that I like both, but with anime, it makes it easier with me getting older to watch it because it is seen as exotic, and not seen as a cartoon among my friends (almost like a foreign film). When I was a kid all I watched were disney and WB cartoons and so I still like them because it is a part of my childhood, that is why I can't say one is better then the other.

As for my favs, I can't really say what my favs are and so I will tell you the ones that I would recommend: When They Cry (thriller), Rahxephon (Drama), Shuffle! (interesting take on Harem genre), Fooly Cooly (Japanese take on Looney Toons (w/o the animal characters)), and Berserk (every guy needs their violence and demon blood orgy in their life). As for music, the Pillows.

I hope that was helpful, but I hope you answer my question and also ask other Japanese that question so that you get a better understanding of the cultural gaps between the US and Japan in order to see how different we are and not seek who is the better.

Originally Posted by Franco

I would have to go with what arrianna's stance, however I will have to go into more of the anime view by saying, that unlike most american animation (except disney and pixar) that anime goes more into exploring the emotion of the characters and the story more better then their counterparts. And not to mention, not until recently (lasted 15 years), american animation was targeted more towards children, and anime has a more variety of different targeted audience.

But I have a question for the student from tokyo, how do you feel about American animation, do you like it, what is your favorite american animation?

I will answer your ? by saying that I like both, but with anime, it makes it easier with me getting older to watch it because it is seen as exotic, and not seen as a cartoon among my friends (almost like a foreign film). When I was a kid all I watched were disney and WB cartoons and so I still like them because it is a part of my childhood, that is why I can't say one is better then the other.

As for my favs, I can't really say what my favs are and so I will tell you the ones that I would recommend: When They Cry (thriller), Rahxephon (Drama), Shuffle! (interesting take on Harem genre), Fooly Cooly (Japanese take on Looney Toons (w/o the animal characters)), and Berserk (every guy needs their violence and demon blood orgy in their life). As for music, the Pillows.

I hope that was helpful, but I hope you answer my question and also ask other Japanese that question so that you get a better understanding of the cultural gaps between the US and Japan in order to see how different we are and not seek who is the better.

Thank you for the answer.
well, I do like some american animation. South Park and Family Guy are my favorite(HILARIOUS!!!). I also like the simpsons. I was born in california so I practically was raised with american animation like nickolodean(?)s Rugrats and Jimmy Neurtron. I do like american animation, just most of them are comedy and I don't think have too much depth to the story like Ed ___and Eddy and other stuff. (Alot of them don't even have a true "story", if you know what I mean)
I met japanese animation about 2and 1/2years ago, (pretty recent), and I didn't know until then that animation can actually have deepness and alot of emotions other that comedy and a bunch of action. I love both, but I think japanese anime has more depth in stories. Not to mention that I like Japanese anime style art for some odd reason. I don't mean to dis the american culture or anything, but...
You might not want to ask me for "Japanese" thinking things, cuz I'm basically a american mentality guy, soooo...

Originally Posted by Taikaw

You might not want to ask me for "Japanese" thinking things, cuz I'm basically a american mentality guy, soooo...

Yeah, but you live in Japan right? so ask your friends, or the people around you about their feelings about American Animation, that way you can give a more neutral report on the subjected your writing about. Also tell us about what you find out about the Japanese side because that would be something that everyone would want to know about, or at least I would, because like you said, your a fellow Californian so you know what it is like to grow up with American style, so get the perspective of a Japanese growing up with Anime and then them seeing the American style and how it affected them.