Question: Anime's popularity

[dannavy85]

A general question I need to ask for an upcoming anime fan group meeting.

"Why has anime become so popullar in America and around the world. What makes Anime so appealing to so many of different ages?"

[DrFrag]

I think mostly because it's not patronising.

In America and other parts of the world, regular animation has just been for kids. Anime is a medium that spans so many genres and age groups that it interests a lot more people. But more than that, even the anime for children is much more emotionally rich. It draws people in to serialised stories that have characters with depth, as opposed to Roadrunner doing the same thing again and again.

Also, the animation quality (in the higher quality pieces) far outshines any other style in the world.

[Anapan]

I think it's because Japanese animators have a knack for overemphasizing or exaggerating everything. The characters show way more emotion than any american animation's cookie cutter characters. Disney movies actually follow the same facial expression changes on cue in every show. Also where an american show would simply have a guy with a gun, an anime would have an android that could do acrobatics with an embedded gun arm with telescopic barrels and an infinite ammount of rounds.
Which seems more exciting to watch to you?

[DrFrag]

I remember seeing an interview with Sean Schemmel (voice of Goku from DBZ) and he was asked why he thought Dragonball Z was so popular. He thought it was all the explosions.

[jeffbert]

I think it's because Japanese animators have a knack for overemphasizing or exaggerating everything. The characters show way more emotion than any american animation's cookie cutter characters. Disney movies actually follow the same facial expression changes on cue in every show. Also where an american show would simply have a guy with a gun, an anime would have an android that could do acrobatics with an embedded gun arm with telescopic barrels and an infinite ammount of rounds.
Which seems more exciting to watch to you?

I can recall a few WB cartoons in which facial expressions were extreme, to say the least. Here are a few examples:

1. A guy whistles at a girl & morphs into a wolf.
2. heads sometimes become huge, and eyes pop out.
3. Popeye often has his bicip turn into something such as a battle ship. His fists often morph into jackhammers, etc.

I do not know much about the current generation of American toons, except a few on CN, & those do not suffer from lack of expression. I think there is much more to anime & manga's popularity than emotion.

In regards to Saturday morning shows, I have no data on the current shows, but assume that they have changed little since the '60s. I tried watching some of those old toons on CN, & although my memories of them were pleasant, with few exceptions, watching them now was not.

1. Topcat was boring, I could not stand it.
2. Porky Pig & Friends was likewise annoying. It was nothing like the cartoons of the movies.
3. Unless they have made new ones, Road Runner is still funny to me.
4. Bullwinkle was funny, but that was a show made for families rather than kids only.
5. I could generally tolerate the superhero cartoons, except Super friends. Spaceghost, Birdman, the Galaxy Trio, Herculoids, are just plain so dumb as to be funny.

Kids are drawn to bright colors & motion, & it seems that these alone carry many kids' shows. They try too hard to be funny, & end up annoying instead.

I just finished a Betty Boop DVD, & it was qiute funny. I recall watching Home on the range with my neice, and its humor was almost entirely toliet-humor, and even that was rather poor. I think the movie-length cartoons often rely on stars rather than quality. I have not seen Madagascar, but hear that it is rather funny.

This post just jumps all over. Time to end it.

[astro_mcfly]

I can tell you, Jeffbert, you aren't missing anything in modern American animation. There are very few shows I find interesting anyway. I pretty much am stuck in the past, and I know a lot more about old shows (the good ones) than most people my age do. I have an overall diferent reason for liking anime. When I was 5-9, I grew up around Japanese people and people from other backgrounds too. Especially when I lived in Ann Arbor (UofM campus is located there, hence there are people wrom pretty much anywhere.) I was very young when anime became to gain more popularity amoung children. I'm not sure what my first anime was it was so long ago.
Now, I guess I have dragged along this to my friends where I am now, who hardly knew of anime. When you think of it, this whole thing is a small result of America becoming more open to new things. As some of you may know, (a simple observation) the first anime shows were looked at with a strange view, something left over from the war, I guess. (I hope I'm right. I'm afraid of getting hollered at.) But, it carried on to the children who were not around when the war happened. As I recall from reading bonus features on a Speed Racer DVD, they tried to make these shows as American as possible.
Wow, somebody needs to make me stop typing... I can go on forever! n_n

[crazyd2000]

I think because it's a true art (without commercialisim)

[DrFrag]

I have to disagree there. Pokemon, Cardcaptors, Duel Masters, Yu-Gi-Oh, etc are built on merchandising. They're about as commercial as you can get.

[dannavy85]

In regards to Saturday morning shows, I have no data on the current shows, but assume that they have changed little since the '60s.

Well....the classic Saturdays in America are dead, they simply don't exist. Cable was one reason, the other was draconian government supported censorship of our television cartoonists....the main reason Chuck Jones ended the Bugs Bunny Road Runner Show in the late 1980's.

Japanese animators are fortunate that their country still respects its constitution and their right to freedom of speech and expression. Now when will America?

[jeffbert]

In regards to Saturday morning shows, I have no data on the current shows, but assume that they have changed little since the '60s.

Well....the classic Saturdays in America are dead, they simply don't exist. Cable was one reason, the other was draconian government supported censorship of our television cartoonists....the main reason Chuck Jones ended the Bugs Bunny Road Runner Show in the late 1980's.

Japanese animators are fortunate that their country still respects its constitution and their right to freedom of speech and expression. Now when will America?

I think there is a big difference between adults and children enjoying these freedoms. However, it comes down to the parents wanting only sterile programs that they would not need to monitor. Thus, they could allow their children to watch TV unsupervised, while they were occupied with other pursuits.