Can Americans Make Anime?

[Wado Rhyu]

i must say NO the can't and the reason is simple.

the shows that are described are cartoons marketed at ppl of the age of roughly 5 to 12.
where as the anime is marketed at students between the age of 15 to 25. this is clearly show due to the large amount of blood, violence and references to sex in general. these thing are in contradiciton tot he great american famillie valuae's. and there for the americans will never make a proper anime that will be succesful.

 

[SpAc3man]

I don't think so. Anime-style or Western-Anime would be much more appropriate terms.

Bourbon isn't the only example. Various wine styles, cheeses, cured meats etc can only be called by their names if made in the regions where they originate. If not made in the region of origin then they have an alternative name that still identifies them as made in the style of the original product. May seem a bit pretentious but it is in effort to preserve the value and reputation of traditionally made products.


Westernime. Couldn't help myself.

 

[Pearwood]

Whatever people say about anime being a Japanese word you can't argue that it isn't considered its own school of animation with a distinct style and common themes. If something non-Japanese has that style and those themes then anyone who doesn't use the word kawaii in regular conversation will call it anime.

 

[Leyvin]

You know I wrote an epically long post about the fact that really Animé simply means Animation; and that the term was in-fact a borrowed on from European Distributors that the Japanese use due to not having native word for Cartoons as we do in English.

I mean to me Animé will always describe anything Animated, with Manga or Japanimé describing those specifically from Japan.

Still this is about Legend of Korra...
Honestly, I don't care what the silent pigeon hole board decided to finally clasify it as.
As far as I'm concerned, what it achieved in a 12-Episode Series ... means far more than any stupid classification.

Avatar has been one of the few shows that wasn't Japanese that has managed to make me excited and interested in. The story while can appear over-the-top in places has a very human and down-to-earth element about it.

They are good from a simple standpoint that, they are dealing with some very deep subjects in a way that normal western animations avoid like the plague - i.e. without the happy ending for everyone.

I would actually say even being compared to Japanimé that have matured, from the likes of Project I.G. ... Legend of Korra, frankly deserves to stand next to something like Ghost in the Shell. To a degree more so given the subject matter, I mean the show is very western.

The characters have very western personalities, particularly Korra. Not to mention the subject matter. As I said, I couldn't care less if you'd consider this Animé or not... as far as I'm concerned we need more shows like this. We need more shows that are more down-to-earth with thier story telling, are darker in nature and overall are not simply aimed at children but are enjoyable for adults as well.

 

[DTWolfwood]

Gonna stick to my anime definition that its from Japan. Simply because it a japanese term.

Yes the west can sure create works like their Japanese counterparts, and the avatar series are a great example. Using a japanese term to describe western animation makes no sense as the word to describe them in the west already exist.

I do agree that using the word anime as a genre description is a bad idea, as japanese animation as a whole covers just about every facet of genres imaginable. You choose what you like to watch in a series and i'm certain you'll find an anime for it.

Just happy to see the west branching out and messing with a greater variety of genres other than the usual kid power fantasies and adult slapstick/sitcoms.

 

[F1ak3r]

I think it's a pointless question. "Anime" is a name used for cartoons from Japan, and "cartoons" or "western animation" are names used for cartoons not from Japan. I enjoy a lot of cartoons and I couldn't really care what they're called or where they're from. Anyone can make a cartoon about anything, and people who limit what they watch based on what country it comes from are only doing themselves a disservice.

 

[Zaik]

Uh, animated cartoons? Yes. They've been doing it for, literally, years.


Big eye little girl pedo material? Not unless they want to go to jail.

 

[Techno Squidgy]

I've just finished watching The Last Airbender. It's Anime. If you just look at the art and animation style it certainly fits.

I'm not really sure why people would consider it to not be Anime unless they enjoyed it and had a negative association with anime.

 

[Soak]

I think it's interesting considering, that in Japan, "anime" already refers to every sort of animation, no matter where it comes from, so in Japan there would be no problem to use the term on Avatar, Samurai Jack and so on.
On the other hand, you were talking about the ingredients, and there definitely are major differences!
To begin with, Avatar draws ifluence/inspirationn from Chinese culture (which is not Japan, in fact, both cultures aren't always good to speak of one another). Even if you look at Samurai Jack, as his name kinda implies, he's about 50% Samurai and 50% American. Thouth they may look like Japanese animation and are inspired by far eastern culture, there's still a difference the more you look into it. So, if you'd want to distingiush them, it would be much more appropriate to do so by genre:

Hell, it's only barely adequate to describe Japanese animations, because it's not like all anime are one genre. Your article doesn't even describe anime; it describes a subtype of anime known as shonen.

But, going further, as already mentioned by "Scars Unseen", sometimes it gets very difficult to put a very individual work (like the Avatar-Series is) into a genre-branch and that has a very good reason, because the more complex, more individual such a work gets, the more it moves away from regular genres (and often also away from national stereotypes), resulting in the work becoming more "live-like" and/or a special piece of art and the descriptions including several genre-terms or even creating new ones.

To break it down, considering the term "anime" lacks to properly describe anything more than an animated video work, you might want to use genres, or just describe it as an individual work.

 

[Weaver]

For next week's shit storm: "What is moe?"

 

[dimensional]

Anime and cartoon are interchangeable as far as im concerned and I quite like animation as a whole whatever you want to call it.

For next week's shit storm: "What is Moe?"

Thats a good question luckily we have the expert here also bonus hes also an anime/cartoon/drawn/computer generated character so he can provide insight into that as well.

 

[The Human Torch]

The term 'Anime' is nothing more than a way of distinguishing the American home-made cartoons from the Japanese. Regardless of which country inspired who to do cartoons in a certain style, there is a gigantic difference between American and Japanese cartoons, some random examples would be:
- 5 minute long intro's
- J-pop bands made especially to create a theme song
- more adult content (less problems in Japan with partial nudity, violence and blood)
- voice acting quality (Japanese voice actors are usually better trained and schooled)
- animation quality (Japan has higher quality benchmarks than America)
- less commercialization (most American shows are made purely for toy and other merchanise sales, Japanese anime tends to be more moderate in that regard)

Note that there are exceptions and I don't want anyone attacking me, because you think that, "Nolan North is the best voice actor evah".

That being said, I couldn't care less what the term 'Anime' stands for, I just watch either American or Japanese CARTOONS.

 

[The Deadpool]

i must say NO the can't and the reason is simple.

the shows that are described are cartoons marketed at ppl of the age of roughly 5 to 12.
where as the anime is marketed at students between the age of 15 to 25.

Ha ha ha... No.

Anime is still heavily geared towards "Tweens"... The Japanese (and large parts of the world) just have differing attitudes towards what level of violence and inuendo is acceptable for 12 year olds.

Seriously, you think shows like Dragon Ball Z and Girls Bravo are intended for mature audiences?

 

[Alterego-X]

Whatever people say about anime being a Japanese word you can't argue that it isn't considered its own school of animation with a distinct style and common themes. If something non-Japanese has that style and those themes then anyone who doesn't use the word kawaii in regular conversation will call it anime.

They don't have to use "kawaii" in conversation. They have to use "shonen action series" in conversation, that is the name of the genre that Naruto, Bleach, and Avatar are all following with their art style and themes, and not "anime".

 

[SadakoMoose]

I remember when they first debuted Avatar, and similarly when CN debuted the Murakami Teen Titans, and remember exactly how internet anime fans reacted.
It was not pleasant.
This is going to be an oddly specific, probably obscure reference, but in the manga "Dramacon" there's a scene where an American manga-ka is accosted by a young Narutard for not being Japanese. As she is a woman of color, he goes on to say "she's not even white".
That, by and large, was how the Gaia Online forums reacted to those shows when they first came out. Over time, however, many of those people eventually changed their tune.
Of course, that was back when Gaia still had hentai sites on their links page and it was still kind of "hip" to be into Naruto.
I know, right? They also had an online dating service, but that was before I joined.
It was like "Cyber" central over there!

Back to the topic: You'll find that attitude nearly everywhere. They're called "purists". They can be some of the most annoying fans in the world...

 

[Torrasque]

Can Americans make anime? No. I consider anime to be animation made in Japan.
Can Americans make good animation that looks like anime, but is not anime? Yes. I loved Avatar, and while I have my problems with Korra (which I am trying to get over because they are silly) they are still very good shows. Afro Samurai and Powerpuff Girls are also two very good shows.

I remember when I first started watching Avatar, I did what I usually do: went looking for the original voice work, the sub. It didn't take long for me to realize "Oh wait, there is no sub because this was done in english. Oh wait, this was done in english because it is not Japanese, it is American" and that really weirded me out. I mean, it looks like an anime. The story and characters are very anime-esque. Does that make it an anime? No. Does that mean it is automatically bad and sub-par? No.

To be fair, my idea of an anime--and what makes a good anime--are not normal.

 

[Pearwood]

They don't have to use "kawaii" in conversation. They have to use "shonen action series" in conversation, that is the name of the genre that Naruto, Bleach, and Avatar are all following with their art style and themes.

My point was you'd have to be pretty fucking otaku to write off all non-Japanese anime when it's such a varied medium with such an easily recognisable style. I can't think of an American anime off the top of my head that isn't action, probably because it's the easiest stepping stone from Western to Eastern styles.

- 5 minute long intro's
- J-pop bands made especially to create a theme song
- more adult content (less problems in Japan with partial nudity, violence and blood)
- voice acting quality (Japanese voice actors are usually better trained and schooled)
- animation quality (Japan has higher quality benchmarks than America)
- less commercialization (most American shows are made purely for toy and other merchanise sales, Japanese anime tends to be more moderate in that regard)

I can't disagree with what you're saying but I do think it's down to Japan being far more experienced when it comes to animation more than due to any cultural differences. As anime gets more popular the quality of the voice acting and the animation itself goes up since they can throw a bigger budget at it without much worry. As for tie-in merchandise, it's always going to be around. Pokemon's a huge example of that on the Japanese side.

 

[axlryder]

We can make anime styled series, but we can't make straight up anime due to not being Japanese. /thread

This article is needless. The most one could hope to argue is what really constitutes 'anime style'. That in and of itself is widely varying, but can generally be summed up with a "I know it when I see it". I've heard Japanese people get somewhat offended when Americans "copy" their style[footnote]which seems silly to me, since it was Osamu Tezuka who 'copied' Disney in the first place[/footnote], but aside from that I think trying to make a concrete distinction between anime and non-anime is fairly pointless. If you like the way it looks then you like the way it looks. Classification shouldn't really affect your preference in that regard.

 

[Smeatza]

They sure can make Blackime.