Before I start, I haven’t been able to update today because I have an impending exam I haven’t even studied for yet – and I mean that. Asides aside (lame paronomasia), let’s get down to business.
Cartoons and anime are essentially the same; however, cartoons are more or less known for Western animation, while anime is known for the most part to be Japanese animation. Cartoons are also known for their episodic nature and their lack of a coherent story: most cartoons don’t even ‘end’ technically – their final episodes are often just as episodic and just as self-contained as the pilot one. Anime, on the other hand, is known to possess a more dynamic and fluent story – a lot of anime aren’t self-contained and for the most part and aren’t episodic. However, lines between these two supposedly clear denotations for ‘what is’ and ‘what is not’ have already started to blur. It’s not that they’ve already meshed into one; clearly, the concept of ‘anime’ and ‘cartoon’ is still different for the knowledgeable anime viewer – one who knows what he’s talking and viewing, but because of certain examples, the idea of ‘anime’ and ‘cartoon’ may form a synergy in the future.
Among the biggest (and oldest) example of somewhat a cartoon-y anime (assuming that we based what is a cartoon and what is an anime from the definition above) is Doraemon. After spanning more than 2000 episodes starting from the 1970s, it still is going strong. By all means, it’s Japanese animation – so it’s anime. However, it has an episodic nature – and the plot doesn’t really move forward. Almost thirty years into the future, it’s still about a magical robotic cat and the little boy that it helps with his problems. Another example, although a polar one to our first example, is Avatar: The Last Airbender. No one denies that Bleach and Naruto are anime, albeit protracted ones (the protraction is moot, though). These anime have a progressive story and are for the most part animated in Japan. It is neither self-contained nor episodic (although it does have a lot of filler). What about Avatar?
I’ve only seen a few episodes of Avatar, but judging from the comments of my siblings and from the few episodes I’ve seen, it’s a story of a journey, which means that it’s progressive and not static – the characters are changing as the story progresses, although because it is a means for Nickelodeon to get richer, similar to Naruto and Bleach, it is protracted. The animation, however, is by no means seemingly Western (out-of-proportion drawings of people, phantasmagoric occurrences [you know what I mean, though this occurs in anime too]) – it looks like anime, really. The style of drawing is definitely done with more accuracy than those in cartoons for the most part, and doesn’t have that Mickey Mouse feel when one is watching it. (Of course, your mileage may vary.)
In another post of mine, I’ve even talked tangentially about Akihabara @ Deep. The thing that’s so special about this anime that’s going to show about three years from now is that it’s a joint work by Nickelodeon and an anime company. This may be nothing more than a lucrative business deal for the people at Nickelodeon, but this is another step towards the synergy of anime and cartoons – Akihabara @ Deep is based from a Japanese novel (correct me if I’m wrong), and being a novel, has a definite end to it, a definite plot-progression, and a definite story. Being shown in Nickelodeon may, at the least, improve the standing of anime to young kids – although Cartoon Network have their Miguzi and Adult Swim, it always bodes well when Nickelodeon starts to perceive and appreciate the value of anime as well. Having Nickelodeon do this, however, to reach out or to expand the repertoire, was a good move, lucrative or not, in blurring further the rift between anime and cartoons. Hopefully, in the near future, what was once a niche hobby or like will become acceptable to many, if not to all.
And let’s not forget Ergo Proxy 19 storyboarded by the master himself, Shinichiro Watanabe. It was an eclectic mix of pop culture, cartoons, cyberpunk, a post-apocalypse setting, and many more. It simply was a cartoon in an anime – albeit for only a single episode. What is a cartoon? What is an anime? We knew the answer once as if set in stone, but right now, things are undergoing an upheaval.
July 18, 2006 at 5:27 am
No way… Shinichiro Watanabe-sensei??
Funny you mention the last part, some of the character animation in EP19 have no real stretch and squash
[FLCL and Dead Leaves do a better job of that bit]. But hey, I’ll bet anything it’s intentional.
Ugh, the dreaded west vs east animation style debate. I’ll just say both have good and bad series while some have little to no closure. The Japanese have a much easier time with this since they’re practically pumping out hundreds of shows annualy.
Dai Sato dropped in one of his interviews that anime as an animation style might die out being limited to Japan and everything. It’s nice to see some collab going on these days though. I hear he likes The Boondocks.
July 18, 2006 at 5:48 am
Correct me if I’m wrong, but disregarding the bits about the show’s story, I got the picture that you perceive that anime = eastern animation -more specifically Japanese- and cartoons = western animation. What about the Koreans and their manhwa?
If you approached it from a different standpoint: art style, then something like Avatar would be anime, whether we accept it as anime or not. I agree with you that there is no definition set in stone but I want to throw this out there.
July 18, 2006 at 6:47 am
I’m quite the ignoramus. Korea has their manhwa? Now that’s just cool. Anyhow, the brunt of eastern animation, at least appreciated by both Eastern and Western viewers alike, is the anime, because I don’t see many people even talk about manhwa: there isn’t a ManhwaSuki, or Seoul Toshokan (LAWL).
That’s why I was stressing the fact that it’s slowly blurring and encountering an upheaval. But even storywise, Avatar would be considered an anime, if not bound to be a very long one.
July 18, 2006 at 7:01 am
All the Koreans have to do is start making their own television animation series. They’ve already got the experience and the know-how to pull it off, and did just that with a couple of their animated features. [Wonderful Days for one.]
A lil off topic:
Some Korean manwha have shown up on manganews.net and fewer have made it into the North American comic scene. Guys like Hyung Tae Kim and Studio Ice have collaborated with the writers on a couple titles before.
Production IG’s collab with Cartoon Network produced IGPX, and apparently that’s doin alright. While there’s more general interest in attempting to emulate the anime drawing style, I haven’t seen any significant mix of animation styles either. I wonder if NA studios remember the Japanese shoot their animation on 3s instead of 2s.
July 18, 2006 at 7:16 am
And not to forget Madhouse is working on The boondocks’ second season in some capacity.
Cartoons seem to have been gaining momentum in the past years.. Ventura Bros, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Amazing Screw On Head, etc… but I’m still not in any rush to start anticipating the new season of cartoons or even begin checking them out. If it’s not the art style that disagrees with me it’s usually the VAs. My 2 cents spent.
July 18, 2006 at 12:01 pm
Guys! let’s not forget the russian animation that in it’s best examples influenced the japanese animation
( ) . and for example The animation that for the Oskar prize – based on the novel “The old man and the sea” .
(now however, there are some intresting works but mostly a Disney-copy-crap that all
Well. but the trick that almost all good russian animations are not cartoons – they are basically one serie motions (short or hour long, but still 1 ep!)
and of course can’t be compared with Disney just because a middle level motions are mostly crappy and badly made and mostly have a strong pro -communistic line. However the good motions are on a totally different level – by the quality of how they are made , by the plot it self and some of the m a trully priceless masterpieces that really hard to understand , being even 15 min long they influence you till the very end.
Still most of the are made for kids and are very kind (in comfront with ….hmm.. even with Tom and Jerry – i mean the original ones not that bullshit by Hanna Barbera comp.)
If you get one- watch it – you’ll probably enjoy )