Anime and cartoons; which one do you prefer?, Discuss! Options

[MorriganAensland]

My first Gaijin 6koma!!!! ^_^

[P-girl]

I kinda understand the humor, but a..... what?

Oh, and is it wrong for me to interpretate [sic] that as 'Hard-core anime fanboys don't appreciate other kinds of animation'?

[MorriganAensland]

Well, I didn't intend it that way, but I guess it could come across like that.

But there's a whole genre of fancomics known as Gaijin 4koma. It follows a general template, although it does have twists sometimes. The "usual" pattern is some image, showing the guys are uninterested, the second image which is somehow related, and the guys excited. Those images of the guys are taken from E3 a few years ago, with shots taken of them when Shigiru Miyamoto revealed the fact he was going to release an old Pacman game on the Gamecube (uninterested), and then Twilight Princess (excited).

Yes, I'm opionated and refuse to give the Winx Club (or WITCH) a genuine chance and that is probably bigoted. But it's also a case that the actual plot of Nanoha just seems more appealing to me, with a more assertive and driven Magic Girl who mainly acts on her own, learns from her mistakes quickly, and genuinely likes her job.

Or maybe this is all me rationalizing my desire to despise all European works ever since Asterix and the Falling Sky, which utterly vilified anime and manga and portrayed it as an irredeemable threat to the noble and pure western animation and one that should be stamped off the face of the Earth.

This post has been edited by MorriganAensland: Jan 30 2009, 4:09 PM

[P-girl]

Ah, okay, I see.

Don't get me wrong, if you dislike Winx or W.I.T.C.H. (Such a hassle to type.....), because it doesn't appeal you, it's your right.

I'm just always a bit sad that Western animation is always seen as inferior to Anime on the internet (At least in certain circles), I mean, I've had tons of converations that went kinda like this:

'What kind of series do you like?'
'Dragon Hunters'
'What is it?'
'Well, it's this French cartoon that.....'
'It sucks.'
'But I haven't even.....'
'It's not anime, so it's not worth my time'

Okay, maybe not exactly like that, and I'm generalising, I know (I hoped I haven't stepped on any toes), but in certain circles, saying you prefer Western animation over Anime is a surefire way to be branded as a moron (Avatar might get a pass, but for the rest.....).

[MorriganAensland]

Well, I'm more disappointed in the unachieved potential of Western works.

Now, I still have a soft spot for older Spongebob episodes and I LOVE Chowder. And Megas XLR is a great work too, and the same goes for Beast Wars (and Beast Machines is halfways decent if you treat it as a stand-alone series completely unrelated to the canon). You and Zhanneel got me into Avatar too and I thought that was an exception piece of work.

And from what Wiki says, that Dragon Hunters thing can't be too bad. Sure, it seems a little basic, but I'm chalking that up to a meager Wiki entry compared to the ginormous one for some anime and it's got the courage to go and reconstruct the old "vicious dragon" image that was around prior to The Hobbit.

[Zentron]

Well I am an Anime fan-boy, but I still watch shows that have been American animated, or French, or Italian, even Russian! But they hardly ever amaze like Anime does!

Also.... I had best change the name of the topic to 'Zen's Fan & Original'!! (mods/admins, please change topic to this title please!)

This post has been edited by Zentron: Jan 30 2009, 5:50 PM

[P-girl]

Dragon Hunters is definately worth a look, even if it's just for the intro (Nice art, and a song by 'The Cure'), and the nice music. (Not at all like the intro, but very creative nonetheless.)

I understand your 'Missed potential' deal.
Many cartoons I've watched have great potential, but they tend to focus on one thing and leave other things hanging. I think Skyland's a good one. The setting and characters are extremely interesting, but a combination of akward animation and to much focus on the two main characters (Child prodigy Lena and Reckless teenage brother Mahad) leaves much to be desired (Mahad needs a comeuppance, BAD). Now that I think about it, that's my main complaint about most Western animation (See: Winx. I try to prevent bashing her, but yeah, it's to much about Bloom).

There are exceptions, like Avatar, Transformers; Animated and Galactik Football, in my opinion.

[Zhanneel]

Not to forget the 80s and 90s! There are a plethora of more-than-just-decent cartoons from the past. I still love Western animation (something about how their proportions are *generally* more proportional and realistic), but I have soft spots for a collection of anime too. It is kind of sad that the majority of well made Western animations are behind us now. But I blame 3D for that one. Everyone has all but chucked the desire to continue making 2D productions.

(Edit: just a thought...I feel kind of bad since the topic went in a different direction than the topic-creator intended, but maybe an admin could move the non-Zentron/fan art posts to a new topic?)

[P-girl]

Fixed! Mod-powers for the Win!

[Zhanneel]

Wow, lightening speed! Ask and you shall receive! In like seconds, lol.

[MorriganAensland]

Nice! Thanks, P-Girl!

[P-girl]

You're both welcome.

[MorriganAensland]

You know, it's actually kinda funny.

Transformers was originally a Japanese toyline trying to get in on the success of "robots that turn into vehiciles" that was spawned by the Machine Robo toys. The toys are eventually brought over here and Transformers gets a cartoon which is successful before being shipped off to Japan. It's popularity spawns numerous toy lines and series, even including actual movies, and it blows Machine Robo out of the water.

Then Machine Robo (known in the States as Go-bots) tries to follow up with their Hanna Barbera cartoon (Challenge of the Go-bots) and is derided as a weak ripoff. Machine Robo got some genuine anime afterwards that did better, but of the various Machine Robo anime only the first one (Machine Robo: Revenge of Cronos) was considered to be something genuinely unique.

[P-girl]

Yeah....

I also think it's funny, that out of all the different forms of Tranformers (Cartoon, 3D animation, Anime, Movie), the anime fares the worst, critically speaking.
But that might just be me.

[MorriganAensland]

The problem is probably they're too focused on pushing merchandise. Regulations for airing commercials for toys is much more lax in Japan, and Bandai is *notorious* for pushing staff members for shows to introduce elements merely for the sake of more toys to sell. That's what made Tomino hate making Victory Gundam so much and it nearly did in G Gundam until the director decided to just say "Screw you" and made a story with an actual plot rather than a forgettable tournament story.

[mightymarty2]

i would if it was life or death choose anime as my favourite out of cartoons and anime is bleach.

Though there are good one mentioned above also the old classic cartoons taz, donald duck, house of mouse etc

[MorriganAensland]

I vaguely remember Taz. It was good.

But Freakazoid rocked. I love how they have episodes up on youtube.

[Abdu 6b]

I loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeee
eeeeeeeee anime.

[P-girl]

Reasons? Not that you have to defend your opinion, I just want a topic filled with more then just 'Cartoons rock' and 'I love anime!'

[Zhanneel]

I just barely remember Freakazoid (since you reminded me of it a bit ago Morri). What an awesome show. Animaniacs was also pretty dang funny too. My favorite were the god pigeons. The trio for the win!