No Right Answer: Best Animation Style Ever

[217not237]

The statement Dan made at the end: that is what my dad should try saying. He doesn't know I like anime, since he's been harsh towards it, but that's because the only anime he's ever seen is Pokemon back when I was a kid who was obsessed with that crap. Now, he refers to anything Japanese as "that Japanese crap." Open minds! Of course, I don't expect him to have a good opinion since he called Portal boring and A Clockwork Orange stupid...

 

[Kapol]

Going by style, I think Western is more Diverse. But it's really hard to say one is better then the other when they both can look amazing in the right hands. The Miyazaki films are an amazing example of this. I thought Ponyo was... alright. Not great, but pretty good compared to a lot of things. But the artwork I felt was just beautiful and made the film much better.

And I do agree with Chris that Eastern is more adult oriented or at least has more adult-oriented (by which I don't mean XXX, but things with more mature storylines and the like). I tried thinking of something more focused on aduly audiences in Western Animation (not including CGI, though even that's not easy to think of one) and there isn't much. Especially not in terms of series. I can't think of many animated series beyond maybe South park, Family Guy, Simpsons, and that kind of thing that could be really considered aimed towards older audiences. And notice that all of those are comedies and something that 'mature' normally doesn't apply to. Especially South Park and Family Guy.

A couple good anime I think for Dan would be Trigun (Or GunXSword which is kind of smiliar, but sounds like it has stuff Dan doesn't like about Anime), FLCL (and perhaps Paranoia Agent, though I haven't seen the full series), Case Closed, and maybe YuYu Hokisho. The first two are series that aren't like Dragonball and that kind where they were made to go on and on. They had a set goal for number of episodes and stuck to it. Which means there much less padding. In fact I would say the series that you can normally buy one box set of all the episodes (normally 26 or so for an entire series) are the best. They don't worry about padding the series out for the most part and most episodes serve some purpose. I like them at least.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

I was gonna get my huff on and suggest Cowboy Bebop, but the end discussion cut me short. No giant robots, no obvious exasperation sweatdrops, none of the usual tropes found about, just bounty hunters in space.

Oh, and thou shalt not dis the name of Miyazaki. The man's works might as well be proof that there's a goodness to the universe.

 

[ph0b0s123]

'No Right Answer'. This episode should have been called 'No Good Argument'. I was really intrigued to see this debated with some really good and thoughtful arguments. Boy, was I disappointed.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

Watch Usagi Drop - it's an anime about a man raising a girl he adopted. One of the most heartwarming animes I have ever seen. You wont see any of your mentioned cliches and it has a beautiful artstyle.

There is another Anime I watched recently called Tokyo Magnitude 8.0. It's short like the Usagi Drop anime, but it deals with the ordeal of 2 young kids in the aftermath of an unprecedented earthquake. The reason why I quoted you to bring this up is due to it's similar "this is life" vibe. While Usagi Drop is based around themes of family values and social sacrifices, Tokyo 8.0 follows the trials, both emotional and physical, of a Brother and Sister in the event of a disaster.

It's a bit of a grind from the first 2 or 3 episodes as the lead (the Girl) is a bit of a whiner, but her angst and naivety get a brutal shock pretty early on. From what I understand of Japanese youth culture, this short seems to be well thought out and remarkably in touch.

It was done on a low budget, clearly, with a generic non-eccentric quality and no particularly noteworthy sequences. But the voice acting of the young boy and girl are well performed (in Japanese) and possibly done by proper child actors rather then squeaky voiced women, and the story, though awkwardly paced, has a rare kick to it, particularly in the latter half of the series.

As for the Topic on hand, I expected more of a technical analyses rather then a pure subjective analyses. Disappointed, but not really that surprised. Personally some of the opinions flung about could, in proper context, be used against EVERY medium/genre/sub-culture in existence.

My opinion? Everything from literature to video games and all the genres in existence, have things that are overwhelmingly dull, generic or just plain awful. But that does not diminish, for me, the gems that actually do things right and make stuff great. To dismiss something so broad entirely based on blatantly low exposure, diminishes your experience in life... everyone has their own taste and rightly so, but being open minded is a virtue this world needs to embrace.

It does not degrade you as a person to sample work made through another cultures philosophies, trends and social nuances. Some of the most intriguing games, books and films I have ever read/watched have been from a very foreign source (in style and context). I like to think I have a more enlightened view of life, as minor as it may be, by the simple act of watching/reading/playing things from wildly different origins. If that isn't true, I can definitely attest to having a much wider palette then most people I know personally.

 

[Drakmeire]

Good anime that is subtle without any of the cliches that Dan brought up.

Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom- Great dub, very realistic,about two people forced to be assassins the main characters are only blessed with heightened survival instincts and nothing else.

Katanagatari- Samurai epic about the hunt for 12 perfected blades by a expert martial artist who can't use a sword and an unpredictable strategist who guides him. Over-the-top action when it needs to have it but a varied story that shifts between tragedy and witty banter.

Baccano!-Takes place in the 1920's with three intersecting stories about The mafia, street gangs, ditzy criminals and a group of immortals. Balances comedy with a serious tone quite well.

Grave of the Fireflies- SOOOOOOOO serious

Tiger and Bunny- About superheros competing on a game show to see who can save the most civilians while being treated like sports legends. Feels similar to Batman: The Animated Series.

Actually just watch Batman the animated series if you haven't yet. Why aren't shows like that anymore?

 

[Souplex]

Two things:
1: Pixar doesn't count.
2: No late 90's/early 2000's love for the west? Where's the Genndy Tartakovsky/Bruce Timm love?

 

[minuialear]

The big "rain drop" as you call it is supposed to be a sweat drop and it usually signifies exasperation. You'd have to be an idiot not to be able to figure that out, esp. considering when it appears the character usually has an exasperated and/or annoyed expression on their face to go with it.

Imma just say:

He could also be referring to the Eva-like devices girls wear on their heads sometimes in mecha/sci-fi shows, or the similarly-shaped hair clips girls sometimes wear that are of ridiculous size.

Plus, assuming he is referring specifically to sweatdrops: considering sweatdrops are pretty isolated to anime, someone wouldn't necessarily be an "idiot" if they saw it once or twice and didn't get what it was, exactly. It's lot like real people have massive perspiration fits whenever they're annoyed (well, most of us don't). It's something you learn the significance of as you become more acclimated to the style.

And even if it wasn't, it doesn't help anyone to act so pompous just because someone didn't get a trope from a niche art style that you know more about.

 

[The Random One]

Nope, Chris won. Chris won at 0:19. Everything else is just excess.

Dan, if you think Western animation is cool because of Aeon Flux, just watch Ergo Proxy. They are the same thing. I know because I haven't watched either.

 

[Beryl77]

I never like it when someone asks me "Do you like anime?" It's like asking "Do you like movies/books?" It's just a redundant question for me. Just like with movies and books, I like some animes and there are other animes which I don't like. The same goes for western cartoons.

 

[SilverUchiha]

Anime suggestions: Death Note is always a good one to experience. Toradora is fun, but it is predictable and very high-school-drama-ish... Um... Rurouni Kenshin is one of the older, less flawed anime to look into and I rate it very highly. I wanna say High School of the Dead, but for everything it does right, there are at least two things that it missteps and does wrong. I'd say look into a couple episodes, but it likely won't change your mind. Another one by the same guys as Death Note is Bakuman. It's a pretty simple story but it is told pretty well, if you ask me, and worth checking out. Warning, it starts out slow, but it does start getting good after a few episodes set up the overall concept.

Now... as to the argument. I love how you guys focus on Disney being the only people who have Western animations when you left out Hanna Barbara and Warner Bros. I mean, seriously! Looney Toons, Animaniacs, Scooby Doo, any DC super hero cartoon, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. I'd even argue that Nickelodeon's attempt to make their own anime (Avatar: The Last Airbender) is superior in quality to a vast majority of anime of I've seen). I like both anime and western animation, but I have to argue that western animation more often has better quality. It's only in recent years that I've seen the quality of anime get really damn impressive.

 

[SilverUchiha]

And that's it. Apart from that, what has the Western animation stable produced of note over the last 15-20 years?

Invader Zim, Angry Beavers, Hey Arnold, Rugrats, Doug, Camp Lazlo, X-men, spiderman, etc

You know what? I'm going to sound like a total elitist douche, but I don't care. Those are all kids shows. Hey Arnold, Rugrats and Angry Beaver were all entertaining, and I had a lot of fun watching them as a kid, but that's the point. They were written for kids. Holding up Rugrats as a high point of Western animation doesn't give the genre any credit. It simply shows how little the West has been willing to invest in animation as a viable adult medium, one which can tackle serious, heavy issues. The only issues I remember from Rugrats and Hey Arnold were 'How can we skive off school today?' or 'What would happen if we hid Angelica's doll?'

X-men and Spiderman? Please. They were badly animated, poorly written shows designed purely to keep kids staring at the telly box first thing on a Saturday morning. Can you show me a single episode of Spiderman, X-Men, Rugrats or Doug which can claim to have handled the same topics as Evangelion or Revolutionary Girl Utena?

Um... how could they handle the same topics when they are in completely different realms of reality and storytelling. That's like asking us to give you an example of when Batman covered the same topic as Sonic the Hedgehog (or vice versa). They are a bit too different to really compare properly.

 

[Dead Seerius]

Let me tell you a story. Years ago when I was about 8 my dad went to the video rental store to get a movie called Spirit (I think it was about a horse). Instead he came home with Spirited Away. Not wanting to waste the money we spent on renting the movie, we watched it. About an hour or so into the film I was crying in my room because some crepy-ass monster guy had just EATEN a guy through a mouth in his STOMACH. That movie has scarred me for life and Pokemon (original season of course) is just about the only anime I have ever seen and it will probably remain that way. I just dont know why they gotta make it so damn WEIRD. And yes, I know there are cultural differences but seriously? Stomach-mouth? C'mon.

 

[marurder]

I humbly suggest "Perfect Blue" and "Ghost in the Shell" - the series, not the movies.

 

[Alar]

I'm surprised Dan didn't get another point at the end there when talking about how eastern animation does deal with some very adult issues sometimes, and I don't mean just sex.

Good episode, guys.

 

[Urameshi13]

Dan, one word: Baccano!

 

[Gatx]

Where the hell did Dan's first point come from? All he said was he watched Akira, and it turned out his description fitted Akira. That's hardly reinforcing his point that ALL anime have that plot.

Also I think his analogy at the end about Arabs and terrorists could be interpreted in an offensive way.

 

[DarklordKyo]

You'll try anime that're suggested with an open mind huh? Very well then, I put forth Welcome to the NHK, a personal favorite, onto the chopping block. It's a very good commentary on the negative sides of being a geek as well as being a nice character study of people crazy enough to attempt suicide or stay in their homes for four years straight.

I would also like to recommend Bartender. Essentially, a nice mature series of stories (Count of Monte Cristo mature, not South Park mature) about real people and their real problems (much better than it initially sounds).

 

[Francisco Aguirre]

Even though I love my anime, and can't get enough of it. The west has My Little Pony: Friendship is magic...That's kind of hard to top. Even though I'm willing to admit that it's used as a marketing tool to make us buy there toys, it's still a good show.
Also I think you should try out Neon Genesis Evangelion. Either the season or movies, though the movies try to mash a lot of the story into one small hour space, it's still good.
And if you have the time, My favorites include Chaos;Head, Higurashi no naku koro ni, Gantz, and Elfen Laid.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Wow, you can almost hear the elitists coming out of the woodwork.