Poll: Is it inaccurate or offensive to call Anime "Cartoons"

[Dana22]

Animated cartoons are Cartoon drawings given motion through 'Cel Animation'

Definition of ANIMATED CARTOON
: a motion picture that is made from a series of drawings, computer graphics, or photographs of inanimate objects (as puppets) and that simulates movement by slight progressive changes in each frame

Merriam-Webster

 

[Pachek]

Cartoons are something you watch when you're a child, as good as they can be, they're still essentially for children and a little embarrasing to watch. Anime on the other hand is more often aimed at teenagers or even adults (the ones I watch at least). Then again I tend to call non-anime (Western, or at least non-Japanese) "cartoons" designed for adults animations. For example Persopolis and l'illusioniste. Also just because something is not live action doesn't make it a cartoon, pixar films are definately NOT cartoons, they're animations. I just find the term "cartoon" fairly childish and degrading for an adult.

 

[Alon Shechter]

You put Anime next to the legendary Tom & Jerry?
HOW DARE YOU?!

 

[Jammy2003]

Got bored reading all the replies so probably just repeating what someone else said but oh well.
I watch anime, but I don't really care if someone calls it cartoons. Someone near the start pointed it was a bit like the difference between book of poems and a novel, I kinda like the analogy as basically, most "cartoons" you can just dip in, watch a stand alone episode and its all good (Simpson's, Futurama, Family Guy etc.) much like a book of poems. Anime I guess is more of a continuous thing, and while you can generally watch one and kinda get it, to understand you must have started from the start.

Same with graphic novels and comic books I figure, its on a more mature subject that takes a longer time to go through, and as such is a more serious medium? Like Daniel said above /\, its kinda the attempt to appeal to a larger audience than children and there is a general air of disdain for people who watch "Cartoons".

Just my view on it, in my experience. No point getting riled up about it though, it's just a matter of definition. Always fanboys of everything though so people gonna get annoyed about the details.

Edit: Ok lots of posts, Daniel a few posts back not just above like i planned.

 

[Pyro Paul]

Animated cartoons are Cartoon drawings given motion through 'Cel Animation'

Definition of ANIMATED CARTOON
: a motion picture that is made from a series of drawings, computer graphics, or photographs of inanimate objects (as puppets) and that simulates movement by slight progressive changes in each frame

Merriam-Webster

and as i've said before.

any live action film which has car chases, explosions, or camera pans would then be by definition 'Cartoons'...

Aliens. Cartoon.
Preditors. Cartoon.
Die Hard. Cartoon.
Star Wars. Cartoon.
Star Trek. Cartoon.
Saw. Cartoon.

 

[Grey_Focks]

snip

Okay....enough of this. A words definition changes as society dictates it. A cartoon USED to mean just what you said, and it still does, but it's modern definition has expanded to include animation as a whole because society says so. Do you see all the people just in this thread using the word cartoon, as you would say, incorrectly? No, they are using it by it's modern definition.

snip

So, because you find something "utterly unwatchable", it doesn't fit the criteria? Sorry, that isn't how that works.


Anime is a type of cartoon, in every sense of the word.

I'm done.

 

[Dana22]

Animated cartoons are Cartoon drawings given motion through 'Cel Animation'

Definition of ANIMATED CARTOON
: a motion picture that is made from a series of drawings, computer graphics, or photographs of inanimate objects (as puppets) and that simulates movement by slight progressive changes in each frame

Merriam-Webster

and as i've said before.

any live action film which has car chases, explosions, or camera pans would then be by definition 'Cartoons'...

Aliens. Cartoon.
Preditors. Cartoon.
Die Hard. Cartoon.
Star Wars. Cartoon.
Star Trek. Cartoon.
Saw. Cartoon.

Nope, it would not.

 

[mjc0961]

Is it inaccurate or offensive to call Anime "Cartoons"

No and no. That's what they are. Someone draws a series of images with slight changes so that there is animation if they are displayed quickly in sequence.

Example, these are both video games:

Spoiler

But is it offensive to Ratchet and Clank to call it a video game when that's the same label you give to an utter piece of rubbish like Kane and Lynch? I can understand why you'd want to say yes, but no, it's not offensive or inaccurate. They are indeed both video games. That's pretty much where the similarities end, though.

itd be like saying

Spoiler

http://www.spawn.com/toys/spawn/series27/spawni131/images/series27_spawni131_concept_01_dp.jpg

is the same as

http://f.imagehost.org/0419/TheBeano3488-cover.jpg

Their quite different and exclusive, anime is lucky enough to have its own title for its niche, i say it should referred to as such.

Those are both comics, no matter how much you dislike that second thing. And anime is a type of cartoon, no matter how much people may dislike other types of cartoons.

You put Anime next to the legendary Tom & Jerry?
HOW DARE YOU?!

Also, this.
But yeah. They are both still cartoons, even though one (T&J) is of vastly better quality than the other.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

snip

So, because you find something "utterly unwatchable", it doesn't fit the criteria? Sorry, that isn't how that works.


Anime is a type of cartoon, in every sense of the word.

I'm done.

I don't arbitrarily find it unwatchable, I find it unwatchable because of what it actually is and part of what it is is intrinsically different from anime.

Anime, cartoon, CGI, they're all "animation", that's all there is. Animation is not a sub-part of cartoon, cartoon is a sup-part of animation and anime is another sub-part of it, parallel to cartoon and not belonging to it.

 

[Pyro Paul]

Animated cartoons are Cartoon drawings given motion through 'Cel Animation'

Definition of ANIMATED CARTOON
: a motion picture that is made from a series of drawings, computer graphics, or photographs of inanimate objects (as puppets) and that simulates movement by slight progressive changes in each frame

Merriam-Webster

and as i've said before.

any live action film which has car chases, explosions, or camera pans would then be by definition 'Cartoons'...

Aliens. Cartoon.
Preditors. Cartoon.
Die Hard. Cartoon.
Star Wars. Cartoon.
Star Trek. Cartoon.
Saw. Cartoon.

Nope, it would not.

and why not?
why would these instances, which clearly fall with in your definition, not be considered a Cartoon?

simply because you believe them not to be?

the definition is incorrect.

 

[Bocaj2000]

animated cartoon
n.
A motion picture or television film consisting of a photographed series of drawings, objects, or computer graphics that simulates motion by recording very slight, continuous changes in the images, frame by frame.

I've seen a lot of people think that cartoons are exclusively a Western thing, so this definition proves this weeaboo superiority wrong. Anime is translated to "animation," not Japanese animation. Shit, I had an argument with someone because he didn't believe that Shin Chan should be considered an anime.

Also, comparing Bleach to Family Guy is like comparing Watchmen to Calvin and Hobbes. It makes one's argument fallacious and annoying.

 

[BioHazardMan]

It's a misunderstanding at best, I don't see how someone could be offended...

 

[DTWolfwood]

they are cartoons. Though to be fair the western perception of cartoon is that its purely for juvenile consumption, where as Japanimation, "Anime," can mean a whole spectrum of genres.

It just so happens Japan likes to use sophisticated animation styles to portray a vase amount of genres. I mean i look at a series like Gundam and compare it to Battlestar Galactica. they are space Operas. One is drawn and the other is live acted (actually both are pretty heavily CGI.)

Or Death Note compared to CSI. Detective Dramas. Japanese cartoons have a wider range of audiences than what the west would even consider in their Cartoons.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Not really. Anime is short for Animation. People tend to generalize it to Japan. I think it's completely fine to call them cartoons, since that's what they are. However, I call them anime, for the sake of understanding.[footnote]Why do I get the feeling that I'll make a few enemies. >_>[/footnote]

Highly agree to this post, even the footnote..

if you get that up and antsy about something this small, then you need a reality check.

 

[nuba km]

snip

So, because you find something "utterly unwatchable", it doesn't fit the criteria? Sorry, that isn't how that works.


Anime is a type of cartoon, in every sense of the word.

I'm done.

I don't arbitrarily find it unwatchable, I find it unwatchable because of what it actually is and part of what it is is intrinsically different from anime.

Anime, cartoon, CGI, they're all "animation", that's all there is. Animation is not a sub-part of cartoon, cartoon is a sup-part of animation and anime is another sub-part of it, parallel to cartoon and not belonging to it.

actually anime is a sup-part of cartoons which are a sub-part of animation, cartoons are hand drawn animations, anime is a using a particular drawing style for cartoons but because this drawing style comes from a particular region they are different from most cartoons. Also I have seen many great cartoons including: hero 108 (not exactly complex but actually has characters with personality) and both the ghost-busters series if you want more examples I will give you them.

OT: not offensive but it's like referring to action films as movies.

 

[ZeroMachine]

Cartoons can be used to refer to any animated film/short/whatever. Therefore, anime is a type of cartoon.

The name anime is simply to differentiate, and although I can definitely see people preferring to call it anime, the reasoning your friends gave is full of shit. There is plenty of shallow, depthless anime out there. It's simply a style of art and storytelling.

 

[ChicagoTed]

The second I read depth and complexity after seeing Bleach and Naruto I couldn't help but laugh, while I do watch anime at the end of the day they are just cartoons from Japan and nothing more.