Can Americans Make Anime?

[SteewpidZombie]

Anime is a art and animation style. ANYONE can make anime, but it's more of a cartoon style that is based out of the Orient. North American cartoons often use thick outlines of characters and details, or are more targeted towards younger age groups (MLP: Friendship is Magic, Powerpuff Girls, Fairly Odd Parents, are good examples of bold outlines). But the older the age group, or wider the targeted audience, you'll often see more original art styles and ideas taken from various artists or used originally (Family guy, Undergrads, Sons of Butcher, Adventure Time, all using different styles).

Heck, watch some of the older anime from the good ol'Dragon Ball Z days, and you'll see that the styles used by Japanese and other studios have changed and been adapted by various artists and producers since then.

So when you see studios in North America producing stuff like Avatar: The Last Airbender, then YES they can make Anime.



And a random clip I found through Youtube and the mention of another few people:

 

[FireAza]

Well, as the article stated, Americans can't make "anime" for the very reason that while I could ferment a wine, I can't ferment a Château Margaux because I'm not brewing it in the correct geographical region. Does this mean any Château Margaux-like wire I make can't possibly be as good as a Château Margaux? Of course not. But I still can't correctly call it a Château Margaux.

But this is nothing more than semantics. The Japanese refer to all animation as "anime", regardless of country of origin, it's only in the West that we use "anime" to refer to animation of Japanese origin. So by that definition, no, an American animation styled in a Japanese fashion can't be "anime". Of course, this doesn't mean an American studio can't make an anime-like animation and have it be just as good, if not better than one made in Japan, since in the end, it's all animation.

However, my personal view on this subject does admittedly skew towards the negative. Based on one simple idea: why do they feel the need to ape the style of another? Why not do something original? Maybe I'm cynical, but when someone does this, I feel that they're trying to ride the coattails of the their successful predecessor. It should be less "I'm gonna make an anime!" and more "I'm gonna make a high-quality action/fantasy animated series!"

 

[mizi]

Oi... No. Neither Korra or Avatar are anime. The story would have been presented differently if it HAD been anime. Anime follows certain conventions besides big eyes and small mouths that are based around the culture that it comes from.

If Legend of Korra Had Been Anime..
1.) Korra's personality would have either been more cold and driven or more 'girly'. If the former, somebody would have chastised her for being so 'boyish' and 'unfeminine' at some point.
2.) Korra would have either baked something for Mako or made him lunch. It would have tasted bad but he would have eaten it anyway.
3.) There would be long scenes of dialogue where the characters mull over plot points, relationships and philosophy set to slow pans at weird angles.
4.) Deep in her heart, she always wanted to be 'just a normal girl', but her duty as the avatar came before her personal desires. (oh, the tragedy!). But of course, she was happy to be the Avatar because everyone was counting on her...etc etc insert long speech here.
5.) When all hope was lost, she would have had to look deep instead her self and discover the true strength of her spirit, with the help of memories of her friends/family encouraging her set in some abstract mental space.

 

[Agente L]

I know this was probably already said a few hundreds times in this topic, buuuuut:

No. It's physically( and geographically) impossible for americans to make anime.

Can they make anime-like animated cartoons? Sure. They can make a exact copy of anime.

But that still wouldn't be anime. Cause, by definition, anime is made on japan.

But don't worry, cartoons can be just as good or even better than animes. Avatar itself is a great example of an amazing cartoon.

This article made me remember of Kappa Mikey. That one was really nice.

 

[Lieju]

When I use the word 'anime', I mean animation that was produced/animated in Japan and usually made with that language. (most of this stuff is animated in Korea anyway, I think)

It's not about style, it's the country where it was from.
So by that definition, a show made in the US (or written and produced, I guess) cannot by definition be anime.

It can be heavily influenced by Japanese works, and popular genres, such as shonen, though.

I think this is the problem people have; some people use different definitions. I've met people who got upset when Avatar was called 'anime', not because they didn't like it, but because either the person using the term thought the series was japanese, or was in their opinion misusing the term.

I get a bit upset if people think Avatar is Japanese. Not because I think anime is inherently superior or anything, but I dislike misinformation being spread.

There are certain things that are more common in anime than most western animated series that I'd like the US cartoons to emulate more than the visual style; the continuous story, or at least more episode-to-episode continuity.

 

[Chibitiza]

Disclaimer: I'm very sorry to any or all of you whom I've insulted from the analogies, racism, or my imitation of Yahtzee's writing style or any of you gamers. I've just discovered this site and went on a massive archive binge on the Zero Punctuation videos with Yahtzee's voice stuck in my head despite being Asian.

Basic Question is answered: Yes, we can make a cartoon show (i.e. Legend of Korra) that can be defined as "Anime" by its art style.

However the problem child with the debate is the origin of said show.

For a long time, Japan has viewed us as a country who citizens are zealots to Live Action TV dramas,Football games and Survivor style game shows, and the gamers are American punks who love to play shooters and ignore the rest like anything that was a family relative to CoD was instantly lovable and games coming from Japan were the twice removed cousins from that hillbilly place that everyone hates or doesn't even know about.

Meanwhile on the other hand, America views Japan (or any other country randomly located in Asia) as a cool awesome exotic world which they would like to go to but can't because: A) Learning their language is so difficult as learning calculus with severe brain damage B) Every time they try to connect with the locals, they always insult them offhandedly C)Can't understand why everything is so cute and fuzzy, as if they can't live without seeing someone getting into a fistfight in public everyday and coming out looking like they've committed 1st degree murder.

Analogies done, Any imitation anime from USA imported to Japan has been considered a stigma of Japan and their pride (for how could they have let such a horrible animation into their country and mock them). Japan is still honor bound with the way of the samurai having come out of its isolationist shell from WWII, so it makes sense for them to shun anything foreign and keep everything to themselves. A good example would be the gaming company Capcom and its franchise series: Monster Hunter. (To Capcom: Can you at least stick with a solid decision on whether or not to export the da** games?) The reason why Japan is so hesitant to accept foreign media (except for something ground breaking like Disney, that they can relate to because of their affection for cuteness and its worldwide significance) is the differences in their values.

So the big Q to this thread now is: "Can America make an 'Anime' that can have good viewer reception in Japan?"

 

[Taylor Pitts]

YES!!! THAT WOULD BE AMAZIN! As much as i love japanese culture, i think it would be nice to have american culture in an animated show for a change. ^^ I like watching anime dubbed; that way i pretend that the characters are in america lol I think we could do it, I just don't think anybody is willing to put in as much hard work as Japanese animators do xD

american shows that are somewhat anime-ish:
Winx Club
Teen Titans
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

also avatar and the legend of kora but i guess they don't really count since we didn't animate them...

still, I wish there was an american anime X3

 

[Taylor Pitts]

YES!!! THAT WOULD BE AMAZIN! As much as i love japanese culture, i think it would be nice to have american culture in an animated show for a change. ^^ I like watching anime dubbed; that way i pretend that the characters are in america lol I think we could do it, I just don't think anybody is willing to put in as much hard work as Japanese animators do xD

american shows that are somewhat anime-ish:
Winx Club
Teen Titans
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

also avatar and the legend of kora but i guess they don't really count since we didn't animate them...

still, I wish there was an american anime X3