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

[Atticus89]

Eh, it's somewhat subjective, messy, and hilarious.

To me, "cartoon" refers to Western animation while "anime" refers to Japanese animation (and Eastern animation by extension). They're just terms that help me mostly when having a discussion. However, I wouldn't be offended if you called a Japanese animated work a cartoon because when you split the hairs it's still an animated work.

The idea of one having some level of "maturity" while another seems like a moot point to me.

 

[jawakiller]

While they're technically not "cartoons" (they're animation) I call them that for two reasons. First, I really don't care. I never did understand their appeal. Second, it drive my anime obsessed friends crazy. Yes! ah sweat revenge.

 

[kickyourass]

Well Anime means animation, so Anime=cartoons, they're just a different type of cartoons, same as Pixar films, they're cartoons, but a different type of cartoons. It's what they are, so getting snippy over it is stupid. It's along the same lines as getting mad that I called a Ferrari Enzo an automobile instead of a super-car.

 

[HusaneFatal]

It's not offensive (to me) to call it a cartoon however it is more accurate to call it anime.

Also not all anime comes from Japan; Avatar the Last Airbender is classified as anime even though it was made in the U.S. Anime tells a story that takes place over many episodes or seasons whereas what is generally classified as a cartoon simply tells one story per episode where everything is resolved at the end of it.

Calling anime a cartoon is sort of like calling rock rap because they are both music. It would be inaccurate and may offend some people but most people would just look at you like you are dumb and don't know what you are talking about.

 

[Carlston]

First of all, backstory: I have a lot of friends who watch anime, some of them get angry at me when I refer Naruto and Bleach as 'cartoons' and say that I do this just because I personally dislike them. I'm told the phrase 'cartoon' is offensive because it "trivialises the depth and complexity of anime". I disagree.

Cartoons have brought us classics such as Rocco's modern life, Spongebob squarepants, Ed Edd 'n' Eddy, Cow and Chicken and many more. If anything I would consider it a compliment to be compared to such a great medium of entertainment.

So I put it to the escapist community, is there anything wrong with calling anime "cartoons"?

It's the difference of Comic book and graphic novel. Same as lumping Heavy Metal next to a Mickey Mouse short. One is a broader term that can cover any and all, the other is a subculture that only counts for children's series.

It's Animation, which started as adult serials before movies, then in a big campaign forced into the kiddie "toons"

Unfortuantly American dipsticks didn't take into account many other culture use animation for adult series and when forced to deal with them, just once again campaigned anime, Japanese animation or any other animation is only porn and bad ect ect.

Now I'll say Rocco's modern life, Spongebob squarepants, Ed Edd 'n' Eddy, Cow and Chicken...are all mind numbing garbage to myself. To "lump" that next to many animated series that rival say the Lord of the Rings...yeah it's not a accurate comparison.

You don't put your 3rd grade school play, next to say Broadway. It's both theater, as much as a mud hut is construction and so is say the Transco tower.

 

[Slangeveld]

If I'm completely honest, YES.

I don't like it when people refer to Anime as cartoons and visa-versa. I'm one of the guys that gets annoyed when people call Avatar (the last airbender) an Anime. I love it Avatar, but its not an Anime. I know it's not that big of a deal, but I can't help it.

So generally, I don't like it when people do that but I usually won't create a fuss about it. I'm not a big fan of the "Anime = Animation" bit either. While it may have been true in the past, I am personally of opinion that this is no longer relevant. You don't use the word Gay as compliment any more either but that's the only example I have and its valid for many more people so not sure how valid this comparison is.

 

[knight56]

Calling Anime cartoons is like calling Video Games toys. It's technically true just that we as a whole need to forget the childish stimga around the term.

 

[Revolution -X-]

It's pretty well just nit-picking, in my opinion. There is a difference to them, which could make the statement 'inaccurate'. I feel that Anime is drawn better and more detailed than most cartoons nowadays can claim.

 

[zehydra]

I wouldn't call them cartoons, for the same reason I wouldn't call a poetry book a novel. They're delivered in the same medium, but they're different and meant to appeal to different audiences. Cartoons are great, anime is great, it's just that they're different, and that's why they have different names.

So I'd call it ignorant at worst, but offensive? That may be a bit too sensitive.

except that anime as a whole has no intended audience, for the same reasons that books, cartoons, movies, and video games have no intended audience. Anime is by definition, a cartoon, that is Japanese style, rather than western.

 

[Odbarc]

It's one of 'those' equations that do not add both ways.

Anime is a cartoon.
Cartoons are not anime.

There's more accurate to call them a style of cartoon, much like FPS is a style of gameplay of a video game. The western cartoon is what most of us are familiar with and identify clearly as cartoons. Looney Tunes and such. The "FPS" equivalent.
Japanese refer to their cartoons as anime ("RPG"?).

Both are animations, but use colors, both require voice actors with no actual actors but artists to render each imagine.

If you also throw in CGI shows are neither the casual cartoon we know nor anime. (I'd compare it to a Strategy or Simulation game comparison).



tl;dr: Short answer, yes.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

It's imprecise but I wouldn't call it inaccurate and certainly not offensive.

 

[Vivace-Vivian]

I think that calling Anime cartoons is like calling video games a toy. Sure it might be true in some senses but there is far more to it then that.

 

[Okuu_Fusion]

I say its inaccurate... I mean, If you can refer to anime as cartoons, then you should also be able to refer to cartoons as anime... which would just confuse the hell out of everyone...

 

[Mikeyfell]

it's not "inaccurate" it's just not specific

I watched a cartoon = I drive an automobile
I watched an anime = I drive a truck

Saying anime over cartoon just lets people know what you're talking about

 

[The3rdEye]

It's generally understood that when you say anime you're referring to hand-drawn animation that adheres to certain aesthetics which originate from overseas. A short list of keys would be large eyes to allow character emotion to be read easily at greater distances (*sigh* and look cute), exaggerations of overall body proportions to emphasize physical character traits, and often the inclusion of mature subject matter in terms of story and dialog but also things such as graphic violence and sexually suggestive situations. This allows for some series and movies to be aimed at and enjoyed by an older audience.

By contrast, saying cartoon (and this is my own interpretation) refers to... well Disney (and by association Don Bluth) and WB, the two major North American classical animation studios. They still have stylized work but overall they adhere to proportion in their central casts, reserving any prominent exaggerations for their villains. Story lines that boil down to "Good/love always triumphs over evil" and having much of their "violence" occur in comedic fashion, off screen or in a different context (you can't kill the wicked stepmother on screen if she's human, but you most certainly can if she's a dragon) all gives the suggestion it's aimed at a much younger audience. (Although I will mention that Gargoyles still is pretty bad-ass and as such to every rule there is an exception)

As far as I'm concerned, while it might not be technically inaccurate to use anime/cartoons interchangeably, I think it can be argued that within an English speaking audience, having anime be understood as applying strictly to animation developed in Asia and the term cartoons referring strictly to animation produced in North America and Europe is an easy and apparent way to distinguish between the two. It's just easier that way.

 

[dementis]

As far as I can tell from any I've watched, anime is just cartoons that take themselves to seriously.

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

I'm probably going to have to repeat what so many other people are saying. Anime is just a subgenre of cartoons. I don't mean this in any kind of derogatory way, I like anime and I like cartoons, although typically for different reasons. I have no issue whatsoever if someone calls an anime a cartoon provided they don't say cartoon as if they were referring to a children's show. Anime and cartoons can both be made for adults so I can't stand when people are so close-minded.

 

[AWDMANOUT]

Not really.

Anime is just Japanese cartoons. Manga is Japanese comics. Hentai is Japanese pr0n. It's just easier to say one than than the other.

 

[witheringsanity]

First of all, backstory: I have a lot of friends who watch anime, some of them get angry at me when I refer Naruto and Bleach as 'cartoons' and say that I do this just because I personally dislike them. I'm told the phrase 'cartoon' is offensive because it "trivialises the depth and complexity of anime". I disagree.

Cartoons have brought us classics such as Rocco's modern life, Spongebob squarepants, Ed Edd 'n' Eddy, Cow and Chicken and many more. If anything I would consider it a compliment to be compared to such a great medium of entertainment.

So I put it to the escapist community, is there anything wrong with calling anime "cartoons"?

you just answered your own question. you disagree that calling anime "cartoon" trivializes them, yet you site spongebob, rocco, and cow and chicken as examples?? what depth and complexity did those shows have? none.

is final fantasy : spirits within a "cartoon"? or advent children? how about the dead space movies? what about 80% of most movies made nowadays that include cg animation? are these all to be called (at least partially) cartoons? were the dinosaurs in jurassic park cartoons? these all fall into the dictionary definition of cartoon, but to call them as such does trivialize what they are to their fans.

basically it seems to boil down to this: if your a fan of anime, you dont like them being called cartoons because the western idea of the word cartoon is a childrens movie or television program. and if you're not a fan of anime, you don't care what people call them because you dont mind trivializing things you dont like.