ObakatakuJoin Date: 2014-08-06
Post Count: 19 |
I find this one pretty hard to argue against. I haven’t seen an American cartoon with the kind of complex continuity and planned out story progression that anime possesses. The plot and characters change throughout the series, leading to a conclusion, while just about all Western animation is more or less episodic with static characters and plot. Of course, there are plenty of episodic anime but it’s just not the norm. However, I don’t think this really makes it superior; I’m sure some people feel more comfortable with episodic stories rather than having to pay attention to all the complications of continuity. Another quality I feel Western animation cannot compete with. Anyone with some knowledge of anime knows that because of the incomparable way characters in anime are represented, they have an intimacy with their fans beyond the shows that they hail from. There are some great Western cartoon characters too, but the sheer number and diversity of dynamic anime characters who are represented as fictional human beings rather than just cartoon chaFdracters, and who are given their own complex self histories and growth over the course of their series, just can’t compare. Yes, in recent years there have been a lot of cliche, fetish-pleasing anime characters, but they still do not outnumber the characters with depth. All someone has to do is read a bunch of anime story summaries on Wikipedia and compare them with the story summaries for Western animation to see the comparison. I find it hard to argue that anime stories lack creativity and depth – just look at the background history, settings, and terminology for series like Code Geass, Bleach, and Slayers. Anime has stories about romantic relationships, alternate fantasy worlds, daily school life, giant robots, futuristic cities, gun-slinging outlaws, interpersonal conflicts, competitive tournaments, unrequited love, shady organizations, carefree adventures, and much more, while Western animation is mostly made up of children’s entertainment and adult comedies. Romance in anime very rarely subscribes to the typical “love at first sight” or “living happily ever after.” Over the course of anime series, the relationship between two characters grows and changes, and they face many misunderstandings, betrayals, and love triangles along the way. Emotions and inner conflicts run strong and deep in anime relationships, something that’s almost never emphasized in the West. Actually, I’ve never seen any Western animation that deals specifically with growing relationships and emotions between characters. This is why anime that’s marketed for children in the West is always edited, and also why some of the biggest fans of anime children/family shows are not children. Anime for young boys like One Piece and Naruto have many scenes of intense violence and blood, alcohol and smoking references, foul language, and the suffering and deaths of the characters. This obviously stems from a difference in culture, with American culture sugarcoating all the disturbing aspects of life from their kids while Japanese culture does not. I don’t think one way could really be called superior, but I personally think reflecting the realities of life in fiction even for children, is a good thing. But when it comes to other forms of adult animation, I would have to agree. Western adult animation is made up of adult comedies and maybe some action shows, while anime has action, comedy, sci-fi, romance, sports, mystery, adventure, drama, fantasy, slice-of-life, psychological thrillers and more. Japanese culture and history is ingrained very much in anime, even those that take place outside of Japan. There are a number of anime that take place in ancient Japan or during a specific time in Japanese history. But despite this, anime still has great appeal in other countries and many anime stories take place in foreign settings such as medieval Europe or Latin America. American animation does not care to dwell on the history of its country or have stories that take place in an unfamiliar foreign country. The classic animated Disney movies used to take us to all parts of the world and convey all kinds of cultures, but Western animation nowadays does not seem to embrace cultural diversity and history anymore. Again, I don’t think this is a matter of superiority – it goes back to the larger variety of themes anime possesses, but personal preference has the final say. This is one of the more difficult ones to argue and is largely opinion based. Anime stresses much more detail in character and background designs, while Western animation, with some exceptions like Pixar movies, have characters and backgrounds looking extremely cartoony, like a flash animation or cardboard cutouts. There are exceptions in anime too, but the majority of series have detailed backgrounds meant to reflect reality, and characters whose anatomy is that of a real human being, and much detail is given to hair, clothes, and facial expressions. Again, you either like one style or the other and it’s hard to say which is really superior. |