Can Americans Make Anime?

[him over there]

The contemporary definition of anime in today's pop culture refers to only two things, the art style and typical conventions. The more realistic proportions save for the big gooey eyes, the excessive amounts of exposition and esoteric site gags take precedence over the fact that it came out of Japan. Legend of Korra isn't anime despite being made in the west, plenty of shows such as Panty and Stocking aren't anime despite being made in japan.

 

[Ishigami]

If it is not from Japan then it is not an Anime.
Anime does not describe a certain art, presentation or animation style. The only thing it accurately describes, and mind you only to insiders, is the origin. If you take that away then the term is rendered completely useless.

Manga = Japanese Comic
Manwha = Korean Comic
Manhua = Chinese Comic
Comic = Western Comic

So my answer is: No Korra or Airbender can not be Anime.

 

[revjor]

Sure they can. Boondocks, Teen Titans and the two Avatars are pretty awesome. and the new black dynamite toon too.

 

[revjor]

Are they physically capable, yes. Is it in the interest of humanity for them to do so, probably not... but id love to be proved wrong.

The Boondocks is one of the better animated shows ever IMO. It's a damn fine service to humanity.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

considering all the western cartoons that have been taking influence from anime, I'd have to say yes (now I'm just waiting for when writers start making anime-influenced novels and comics more often). I really get sick of people using "anime" as an insult as quite a few people use it to denote cartoons from Japan as a lesser artistic form; videogame crowds are particularly guilty of this, unaware that there are a BAJILLION styles of what is considered an "anime" artistic style.

 

[Mariakko]

I say no but both the Avatar series are an exception to the rule. I prefer the anime typed animation to stay in Japan and and American typed animation to stay in America.

 

[itaywex]

Can american make Visual novels?

 

[Tony2077]

i watch both cartoons and anime, anime is far better when it comes to quality of the art style. when it comes to the full length movies its not much of a difference other then the style of story being told. when it comes to series like avatar and korra the difference is almost nonexistent

 

[JP Sheehan]

It isn't a style.
It isn't a medium.
If it isn't from Japan, it isn't anime.

Anime doesn't mean it has a certain kind of plot or a certain artistic style, because there are shows from Japan that go against those grains since anime first came about. If you believe a cartoon to be quality, then just call it a quality cartoon. You don't have to needlessly rename Western cartoons "anime" just because you can't grasp the idea that a Western cartoon can do just as well as Japan can in the fields that you like in Japan's stuff. Just because you're playing a guitar riff from a famous rock song on a piano, doesn't mean you now have to call the piano a guitar.

You wanna make food comparisons? Here's a good one.

If you are from New York, go to Chicago, and order a pizza, you're most likely going to get a deep dish pizza. Why? Because that's what the most common and popular type of pizza is in Chicago. However, not ALL pizza made in Chicago is deep dish. And not all chefs or patrons who enjoy deep-dish pizza have any relation to the city of Chicago. You can eat deep dish style pizza without even knowing it's the popular style in Chicago. Just because it's the common style, doesn't mean that anyone doing something similar is deliberately imitating it and therefore has to classify itself as thus.

All of those things that you said were in Korra about characterization and whatnot? Those don't always exist in anime, but they also exist in plenty of other animated works from all across the world.

Any cartoon from Japan can be whatever it wants to be and still be a Japanese cartoon.

So why is it that when a non-Japanese cartoon has certain elements found fairly often in anime, all of a sudden it has to be a Japanese cartoon?

 

[Snowblindblitz]

Now lets debate what makes a game a RPG!

On topic:

My problem is sometimes this hints at the anime label adding a more mature or higher quality rating to animation. Good animation comes out in other Countries too.

To which I reply: Pixar.

But we don't go around saying, hey, this is good, we should call it Pixar!

 

[likalaruku]

Can Americans Make Anime?

I've watched Avatar and Legend of Korra


Short answer: Yes

That's Amerime & it will always be considered just that. Amerimes, Amerimangas, & Canadimes always use a piss poor parody art style of animation styles & cliches that are decades old in Japan, & they try to cram in as much of that cliche as they can; a example of trying too hard would be Rod Espinoza's New Alice in Wonderland. They try to emulate something they're not, the force is obvious, it doesn't feel natural.

The one acception is an Amerimanga called Bizenghast. It was published through Tokyopop, the art is unique, & Marty A LeGrow admitted she wasn't trying to make it manga-like. Another example of a fail would be Return to Labyrinth. It had it's moments, the art was pretty bad, but the writer pulled a "well it's a manga, I'd better stick some Japanese people in it" as well as prioritizing a manga-like story over something that felt like it was a sequel to a Jim Henson movie. & creating a whole cast of new characters & giving Sarah & Jareth a backseat felt like what Micheal Bay did to Transformers.

 

[The Deadpool]

Americans can't make anime. This is because the definition of anime is "cartoons from Japan."

That is the ONLY logical reason why Cowboy BeBop, Bleach, Dragon Ball Z, Girls Bravo and Tenchi can all fall under "anime." The only thing they have in common is that they are all cartoons, all made in Japan.

This ISN'T a bad thing. This isn't even the problem.

The PROBLEM is people acting like AMERICAN cartoons are somehow inferior to Japanese ones. Which is silly. The quality of a product is defined BY THE PRODUCT, not its medium, or place of construction, or even the labels we assign to them.

Ultimately, I kind of agree with the heart of the article, but it is making the wrong argument. The problem isn't one of labeling, the problem is people thinking cartoons = bad.

There's good cartoons. There's bad cartoons. Just like there's good anime and bad anime. Legend of Korra is a good cartoon, REGARDLESS of its label. And not watching it because of the label is idiotic.

 

[Weaver]

Seriously, if you like Animation, Action, and Fantasy, check out Wakfu.

AND an very well written villain with believable and tragic motivations.

I was just surprised how much I enjoyed Wakfu in general. Even though it borrows "anime styles" I find it's look to be very unique and distinctive. The animation is buttery smooth and it's really gorgeous to watch.

I do have some issues with the show;
1) Season 2 seemed unfocused and even unnecessary compared to season 1.
2) Adamai looks ridiculous as he does hideous and is four times more annoying.

 

[Eri]

It isn't a medium.

Pretty much lost any point you might have had after saying that. It is a medium. Fact.

 

[Frozengale]

This is labeled as Anime.

Spoiler

Despite the fact that it is heavily influenced by this in tone and art style

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And this is labeled as an Anime

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But this isn't. Despite it sharing more traits with what is usually called "Anime"

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Yes and even this is labeled as an Anime despite the fact that the show looks nothing like other Anime in style

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And what is this? A Disney cartoon?

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Nope that is the first Anime film.

So will people stop saying "Anime is all about the art style". NO IT FREAKING ISN'T! Because the art style can vary widely from show to show. The only way Anime works as a definition is as Animation from Japan. BUT, we already have a word for that called Japanimation. So stop using Anime to refer to a whole variety of stuff that shouldn't be put together.

 

[Tony2077]

anime is what it is who care if people want to add stuff to it its not like it had any real meaning to begin with.

 

[Draconalis]

I'm of the opinion that Americans already have a word for their animation, "Cartoon" and Japanese cartoons are called "Anime"

I'll stick to the "If it's not from Japan, it's not anime" belief based on the above.

Also, Anime is not an artistic style of drawing, because it varies from near realistic to clearly drawn on toilet paper and meant to wipe one's ass.

Spoiler

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Edit:

Snip

Beat me to it.

 

[dantoddd]

You can call korra what ever you want to but it clearly draws alot of inspiration from a lot of popular Anime. Korra for example might as well be from a miyazaki movie.

No similarity whatsoever between Korra and Miyazaki movies except the fact it's a female protagonist.

Korra is very much the same miyazaki protagonist. The similarities between her mononoke & nausicaa are startling

 

[Dwarfman]

Not meaning to be picky but I noticed in the article the mention of bourbon. Jack Daniels is technically not Bourbon as it is not from Kentucky or Bourbon St New Orleans. The manufacturers refer to it as Tennessee Whiskey. But hey I like to know where my poison comes from before I drink it.

Anyways. I personally believe anime to be an artistic genre and style. Yes it started in Japan but that doesn't mean no one else is allowed to use and certainly doesn't mean the anime they produce is any better or worse. Even if 'they' happen to be American.

You realize that his point in mentioning Jack Daniels is the same point he made about animes. You yourself reinforce it. If Anime can come from America then Bourbon can come from Tennessee.

Yes I do realise my statement on Jack reinforces his statement. My passing jab was merely centered at the part where he pretty much stated he didn't care about knowing anything about the product so long as it got him drunk - or words to the affect.

 

[Mr Binary]

Well, technically the art style is all that differs American animation from Japanese anime. So technically, if I were to create a cartoon with that art style it's anime. So, yes... they can very easily.