Anime vs Americanized Cartoons

[Ghostly_Substance]

Well since my Anime childboard got deleted and i'm not going to respam the good shows I watched i'll just make a thread about it instead. Also i'm not going to add in every show I watched and heard of but those that are popular enough. If you don't post in this then I understand  :

 

Well how should I start this? Well i'll catagories the anime and cartoons in its worth of intelligence that it gives out or hints at and if you see something you don't want in a certain catagorie then to bad its my opinion  :

 

Anime:

The Good shows:

Well anime cartoons from Japan are the ones i'm focusing on such as Gundam, Fate/Stay Night, Ergo Proxy, Ghost in The Shell, Full Metal Alchemist, Full Metal Panic, Chrno Crusade, RahXephon, Bleach, Eureka Seven, and a few more.

 

Average:

Case Closed, One Piece, Naruto, Dragonball, Witch Hunter Robin, and so on

 

The Bad:

Well Pokemon, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Battle B'daman, DICE, and so on

 

 

 

Americanized Cartoons:

 

Well just to be fair i'll rate this by its good plot (as above) but not with knowledge it lets out.

 

Good

- 1990's Spiderman, 1990's Batman, Flinstones, Invader Zim, Family Guy

 

Average

Popeye, Mickeymouse, The Simpsons (it lost its touch), 1980's? Transformers, .hack//sign

 

bad

(Rumored to be made by USA **)

Justice League Unlimited, American Dad, Kappa Mikey (If your going to parody anime then do it right), Avatar**, Spider Rider**

 

Well.......if anybody wants to expand then go for it since I laid down the bricks to play with.

 

edit: Only moved .hack//sign since I rushed my post  :

Edited September 21, 2006 by Ghostly_Substance

[Guest]

whoah, whoah whoah! just a second there hombre, one more thing before you place shows in categories is the timeframe. American cartoons from like the 1940s-1980's are completely differnt from what there is now. Back then it was just crap like popeye, mickey mouse, Tom and Jerry, those loony toon things etc. then it was all simple slapstick humor. Nowadays American cartoons not only have slapstick humor but crude jokes, refrences to politcal figures, hidden meanings, etc.

 

Whereas Japanese cartoons (at least from all the old ones that I have seen) haven't changed all that much in the past 50 years. Like uhhh... This black and white one with a giant robot that fights other giant robots and saves the world on a daily basis. And what's that one called? ............. Astro Boy that's it. Pretty much the same, one superpowerful hero who saves the world on a daily basis. It aint so much differnt now except the plots are little more complex and more character development, (and way more violent) now they add scantily clad women in a lot of them now. Except that part is in both cartoons now. Old cartoons had almost nothing to do with that kinda raunchy stuff.

 

Now I'm just gonna ramble now. American Cartoons Have a lot more variety I think that japanese cartoons. I'm saying that is a good or bad thing but it's an observation. The variety is mostly in the animation itself. Anime all looks the same. All the people look the same with the big shiney eyes, weird hairstyles, etc. http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail57.html (yes that again)  ;D

 

American cartoon animationg can range from knock off anime to .......disturbing. Actually the one characteristic that most if not all have is.... big heads. A lot of american cartoons have characters with huge heads. 

 

Anime can be split into a few categories, giant robots, fantasy stuff (swords, magic, and whatnot), futuristic sci-fi stuff, and the most hated of them all...... based on trading card games that feature stupid kids running around in a world where every single person has the trading card game based thing a major part of thier life, like pokemon and yu-gi-oh and all that crap.

http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail157.html  ;D

 

That's all I got for now. I'll rip on the american cartoons later.

[Ghostly_Substance]

As I said in my post it was my opinion and if you weren't aware I mentioned anime from the past till now but if not then I would have listed too many.

 

I watched way too much anime but still not enough and I can tell one apart from the other still and they pretty much look different.

 

Well I make room on Sunday to watch "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy" which are the 2 best American cartoons I know of when I think "North American" cartoons. Well if you want the past then it was Spiderman and Batman which owned everything.

 

For anime Noir, G Gundam, and something else which eludes me atm (about a lone samurai), and Street Fighter. Well theres more but ya..............I could list em all but ya......someone might or whatever. So if you misread or missunderstood its more of an opinion post so no "hold your horses" moments  :

 

Yu-Gi-Oh! card game on a Navy ship? common -.- What about to gain access to a building? never! Ah well its more entertainment for kids so whatever i'll just drop that since why argue with a kids show  :

[Grand Admiral Thrawn 889]

i agree with Ghostly_Substance's rating of them. Pokemon and Digimon espcially!

[DragonShadow]

I agree with Ghostly on most points. Ergo Proxy I'd move to Average or Bad (I saw the premier thing at Anime Expo, and the whole audience was bored to tears, including me). Dragonball I'd stick in Bad. Period.

 

Yu-Gi-Oh! I'd leave in Bad, but the Japanese version deserves to go in the Good category (since the American version was rewritten, cut down by around 30 episodes (including the entire first season), had guns edited to become Pointing Fingers of Death (go America!), turned anyone dying into having their souls taken away, etc. The original is much closer to the manga, which is better than the anime, and is a billion times better than the American version of the anime (ughhh).

 

Oh, and pretty much all drawing styles in American animation suck (anything that's not American Dad, the Simpsons, Futurama, and Family, plus some movies). At least anime usually look relatively good.

[Mikan Cyclone]

HEY HEY WOAH WOAH HEY!

 

I completely disagree with you putting .Hack//Sign in the bad anime catagory.  It was just.....different.  Much more philisophical and such then other anime, but still.  Got boring after a bit, but sign is still better than legends.

 

The 80's Transformers was the best show of it's time.  And I wasn't even alive back then!

 

Also, other good anime would be Yu Yu Hakusho and Rurouni Kenshin.

[Juggernaut1985]

Hmm, Hellsing gets into the great anime catagory. If you haven't seen it, its great in Japanese AND english.

 

And how can you forget Futurama.....GEEZ.....GREAT american cartoon.

[Ghostly_Substance]

I said ect and so on to cover up my forgetting other series bit and I also said I wouldn't list them all  :

 

edited to below post: Wow everybody sure is picky -.-

Edited September 24, 2006 by Ghostly_Substance

[Guest]

the title says "americanized" cartoons. That sounds like that cartoons were originally anime then "americanized". That is the case with some american cartoons, but most are classified as American.

 

 

Hmmmm. right now my brother is watching naruto on the other side of the room. And boy it is a SCREWED  up show 

[Juggernaut1985]

Its better in japanese.

[Guest]

bleah, that's what everyone says. My friend is obsessed with these anime movies made by some guy, (I forget his name) like princess mokoknokesomethingnee, and sprited away. I saw them on TV once and I thought they were SCREWED up too. But he says "They are better in Japanese!" Oh okay.  : It's obiviously better that I can't understand them :

[Ghostly_Substance]

Its better in Japanese since:

1) The censored stuff is not removed in Japanese but is in North America

2) Actualy content is the same

3) No annoying dubs at times *points to Eureka Seven*

4) No cut down episodes and yes they do that (For example total 50 down to 40)

5) AND the main points are actually intact but you read and watch and if you like it just rewatch it  :

 

Well if you say its screwed up just by glancing at it then you need to be smacked in the head since its like saying "Meh that Ferrari sucks since it looks ugly" and then you get suprised at how great it is  :

[Guest]

glance eh?  : Ive seen a few episodes of naruto and wondered why they haven't invented the wheel yet. Could just be a ninja thing since every person in the show seems to be a ninja with their very large and uncomfortable looking head bands. And the one guy who obviously does not need to breath or see out his other eye. And the main character himself spooks me quite a bit. An orange jumpsuit with a turtle neck about 1ft in diameter would scare just about anyone, if the cat like whiskars on his face didn't already.

 

One American cartoon I like is called Megas XLR because it's funny how they spoof japanese-giant-robot cartoons. Instead of using that stupid move that is prevalent in all anime, the jump-into-the-air-at-each-other-while-doing-some-slashing-move-and-then-landing-on-opposite-sides thing, the main character in his giant robot uses more parctical methods of destroying another giant robot. Like tearing off the head, ripping arms off, stuff out of WWF  ;D more realistic (if possible) than anime shows   

 

This is one of the episodes right here http://www.toonamijetstream.com/app/index.html?episodeID=8a25c3920ce96d79010cea2f06040031&applicationType=browser it's not the best epidsode but you can see how laid back and more realistic it is. (watch out! it has commercials!)

[Grand Admiral Thrawn 889]

if film count then the Anime film Final Fantasy VII Advent Cjhildren definately has to go in the good Catagory.

[Zer_Teron]

Hmm, Hellsing gets into the great anime catagory. If you haven't seen it, its great in Japanese AND english.

 

Well, i personally think it REALLY sucks in english. But the Japanese version is great!

[Kelathin]

what do you guys think of rocketboy?

[Grand Admiral Thrawn 889]

can't saty i've heard of it but there are things that are probably like it that i have seen and the anime its self looks good, but the story behind them are pretty crap.

[Kelathin]

american name is megaman

[Guest]

Woah, Woah, woah...Justice league unlimited, bad? You seriously need to sort out your priorities Ghostly.

 

There are very few good animes. In most of them the plots and humour, be it dubbed or subtitled, is just weak.

 

But...the greatest american cartoon ever just has to be M.E.G.A.S XLR. That show was just too funny, and was a proper parody of anime to boot.

[Ghostly_Substance]

Don't like it then make your own list since thats what my list fits under  That was the point also but I guess just rather discuss then catagorize?  : Ah well I found Justice League and even Unlimited to be corney in many ways and same with Megas XLR since I found one to be sterotypical and other to be on the lines of stupidity.

[Guest]

hehehehheheehehhe stupidity is soul of entertainment. Megas XLR is one of my favorite cartoons, it makes you laugh and that is where it counts  ;D Koop the main character will interrupt any villan's long drawling monologue (a characteristic of just about any anime, during a fight scene the combatants will spend several minutes just standing there and talking to each other about the fate of something and some combat move etc ) And the laid-back-don't-care-too-much-about-stuff attitude of the characters compared to almost-always-serious anime characters is refreshing. 

 

Prime examples of this are yu-gi-oh and naruto. During one of the dumb "duels" whenever something bad happens to the protagonist their faces tense up and they go URGH! and think to themselves "Oh no! his blah, blah, blah ba blah thing has blah ba bobbed my blah blah thing and Ive only got one chance to to blah blah blah defeat him!" And the Villains will always go "Bwahahah you have no way to defeat me because blah, blah, blah, your doomed just give up now blah blah blah, the somethingsomething will be mine!"  : That gets old real fast, and do you know what? It happens just about every single episode. 

 

Or in the episode of Naruto I watched, the guy-who-obviously-does-not-need-to-breath-or-see-out-of-his-other-eye was talking to some guy with the ugliest bowl-cut I have ever seen about a flashback and some "duel" thing again that some chick with pink hair ( ) fighting some other blonde chick. And randomly the pink chick started to spout off stuff about the vanity of the other girl so the other girl cutt her ponytail off. So I'm like "ooooooookkkkkkkkkkkaaaaaaaaaaayy....................? aren't they trying to kill each other? so why are they wasting all this time trying to talk each other to death when they should be beating each other to death instead?" And then of course in every single Japanese cartoon the group of friends watching from the sidelines and gasp at every freaking thing that happens and shout advice at them.      :P :P

 

There is none of that crap in most American cartoons.

EDIT: ah nevermind about the line above this one, a large percentege of american cartoons are anime ripoffs with less artistic detail but better animation in which they do that kind of crap too 

[Ghostly_Substance]

hmm......I see........

 

You get the talking bit in everything and even in Holleywood movies (who cares if I missspelled it) where they just talk just to highten suspense and to try and get the viewer stuck into the movie/show.

 

For that Naruto bit they just talked since they were friends and kept on hesitating since they used to be friends and are now enemies. They were having trouble snapping to reality since they also made it to another level of training  : Even a noob should know that.

 

That MEGAS XLR is just plain stupidity since all it can do is poke fun and nothing else just like any other cartoon and maybe brainless anime parodie (sp) show. Now i'm just repeating myself and i'll let other people post now........

[Kelathin]

I have the arguement over anime with my girlfriend, personally if they held the anime shows before adult swim at midnight, then they be alot more popular.

[Guest]

*sigh* Ok, words didn't work to bring Ghostly over to the M.E.G.A.S side, now where's my big stick with the rusty nail through it...

[VZaknaril]

Of course this is all opinion as have been all the other posts of this thread.  I personally don't care anything for any of the Anime I have seen (scattered bits and peices of most of the Anime you can find on cable over the years).  DragonBallZ (the original Japanese stuff) is entertaining for like...1 episode then it just gets repetitive and tedious.  I have fond memories of Saturday morning cartoons in the 80's.  There were so many good ones back then...

 

My top 10 favorite cartoons of all time (mostly in no particular order):

 

 

1. Dungeons & Dragons - I used to look forward to Saturday mornings as a kid to watch this...what an awesome cartoon!

2. Transformers (original 80's) - Great storyline, *always* introducing new characters, good stuff!

3. Pirates of Dark Water - though short lived, this was a good cartoon.

4. GI Joe (original 80's) - Though cheesy in many ways, it provided good entertainment.

5. He-Man - Ditto.

6. Thundercats - This was a good cartoon, kindof a different concept.

7. Silverhawks - Ditto.

8. Centurions - This was a fun cartoon, a lot more serious than many of it's time.

9. Ducktales - I dunno why I liked this so much, it was funny and adverturous.

10. Richie Rich - Another of my favs!  Just a cool show!

 

Honorable mentions:

 

1. Speed Racer - CHEESE!!!  But in a cool car sorta way...

2. Pac-Man - Ok laugh if you want, but this show was entertaining!

3. Johnny Quest - Pretty serious cartoon as well, but good action and intrigue.

 

And just a side-note about the older cartoons (Loony Tunes, Woody Woodpecker, Tom & Jerry, etc.) someone made the comment that these were just slapstick humor.  If you knew anything about the politics going on at the time these cartoons were made, you would see pokes at political figures, entertainers, and all sorts of other inuendo and suggestions are made as well.  Some of them are rather subtle, while others are blatent.  Just wanted to set the record straight there.