Live Action Spiderman Tv Series

Why are American cartoons so dull compared to Japanese anime?

When I grew up as a kid, I used to watch shows like X-Men, Spiderman, Batman, Doug, Rugrats, and a few other shows. There was of course shows like Simpsons and Beavis And Butthead but most of these shows are pretty overused and there has’t been any new creativity for some time now. When I watch Japanese Anime, I don’t see a cartoon, but I see things that you would see in a hollywood movie or one of those live action series on television. Japanese Anime seems to cover every topic I can think of from politics, environment, cooking, sex, criminal syndicates, school, traveling, and jobs. Do most Americans simply not care about realistic mature situations in animation? Even the ammount of detail put into small things makes it look extremely realistic compared to much of the American stuff I see on tv with the generic car, clock, house, etc.

As much as I like anime, I have to disagree with you. You bash American animation for not portraying “realistic mature situations” and yet praise anime for doing so. Yes, I admit that some animated shows are made for profit. This is unavoidable. However, if you look at certain pieces of American animation (ie. Non-commercial) you can see quite a bit of mature subject matter and deep meaning.

The case in Japan is similar. While there are masterpiecesfull of emotion and meaning such as Paprika or Spirited Away, you’ll find many, MANY more shows made for profit; Lucky Star, Haruhi Suzumiya, Bleach. I mean, when you consider the gargantuan number and variety of character merchandise that are made for these kinds of shows you being to realize that not all anime is great, despire the fact that it covers an admittedly larger variety of subject matter.

Also, there is a cultural aspect. To most Americans, animation is seen as a media intended for children; “It is made for children and therefore must contain appropriate subject matter.” It isn’t always realistic and it doesn’t need to be.

In Japan, animation is seen as a media for everyone. Certain genres are made for certain people and there are fewer limits as to subject matter. Again, it isn’t always realistic and it doesn’t need to be.

Also, you cite lack of detail. Simplification is a way to make animating a little easier. At 30 frames per second for approximately 23 minutes of show (cutting out time for commercials) that’s about 41400 frames.
Remember that each episode has to be done by a certain deadline so the next one can be started.

Considering that many Japanese animation studios use different kinds of simplification (Characters Sliding on “Action line” backgrounds, not making sound appropriate shapes for lip flap), this explains why they can put so much detail into each frame, while still meeting their deadlines.

So I just disagree that anime is generally better than American animation.

1970′s live action SPIDERMAN