Why anime?
 

I was wondering what makes you love anime so much, as apposed to the average american animation that we all grew up with as children.

Like, is it the actual animation, style, stories, detail to story, ect.

Just a pondering thought of mine.

Why anime? :shock: Good question!

Today I was watching tv for most of the day and Ive just come to realize that the only animated shows I watch that arent anime are the Simpsons, Futurama, and Family Guy. Im stunned at how much of tv now a days is over run with anime. And now everywhere you go its anime this and anime that. And do you even know the age range for people who watch it and make a hobby out of it? its something like -8 to 50+ XD

But why? :shock:

Humm, well for me, Ied have to say its the style and some of the stories. The stuff that really gets me is the expresions on some of the characters faces :laugh: they crack me up everythime. Its intrestingly different from american animation.
Lots of the stories can get pretty indepth, which gets you hooked... and then you go out thinking all anime is this good, and in most cases its true... and it goes on...

Probably the animation was what brought me in, I'd watch anime regardless of its story, as long as it was animation from japan. Now I'll go for a story, not just anything, I can't think of any live action TV series or movies that can rival the immense story of Neon Genesis Evangelion, but other anime like Golgo 13 are really crap and hold no memoriable moments and thought provocking relevations such as Evangelion.

Also because unlike any other animation, it can be artisitic. It can hold meanings and ideas. It needn't be up-beat, have a lesson and encourage good behaviour and leave you feeling optimistic and happy. It can be whatever the creator wants. And animation seems more appealing for me to watch than live actors. Its quite annoying to hear people call them "Japanese Cartoons" from people who haven't really seen anime before, I mean adult anime, not Kids anime like Pokemon. Like my brother, who i've actually persuaded into watching a little Cowboy Bebop and hes a little more open to it now, he even bought the manga, but I think he only likes Ein lol!

I like it because it is not american cartooning like simpsons and rugrats and stuff like that.

Because its mature, its inspiring and cool, you can actually look up to the character designs of half of the anime out there. Stories too, and the way it targets everyones tastes. I love the fact that anime is like its own genre as well. Its unapreciated by some people because of some of animes biggest and most known word of all....Hentai.

Its sad though, because this is not EVERYWHERE.

Well, actually, I enjoy both. I don't enjoy every American cartoon out there, but I don't enjoy every anime out there, either.

However, if I had to pick, I wouldn't hesitate to go with anime.
American cartoons can be fun, as some are silly and can serve as a good passtime, but with anime, it's more than that.

What separates anime from regular American cartoons ? The cornerstones of storytelling : plot and character development.
Without such, you're merely watching a regular cartoon, moving pictures that tend to entertain more than enthrall.
This is something that cannot be easily accomplished, and I have yet to see it be done with American cartoons.

Re: Why anime?
 

The plot and the animation are 2 big things, I don't like those american cartoons that don't have a plot where each episode has something to do with the last. Not only that, but I'm usually into things that are new to me. See, I like hip-hop now and before I had no idea what it was and so that was soemthing new to me and I like it cause of that, and the beats. Character developement is also somewhat important, but not as important as the top 2.

True. Imagine the simpson with better character design and better plots? it would really be good, and it wouldnt be annoying to watch. I used to watch the simpson but now i kinda hate them since they are just stupid. Serious now.

I have never really liked much American cartoons. They lack of invention and in many cases they're very cliché. Anime is more creative, stories and characters development are better. And in the best cases there's an idea, a concept behind the story. You can notice someone actually put some effort on that work, while most American cartoons are just gags and repetitions mixed with the usual politically correct morals. Also speaking of animation anime can beat 99% of cartoons anytime. Anime often is more "experimental", and it's incredibly surprising that thanks to anime what could be considered experimental becomes mainstream. Just take some very famous series as an example: could you find anything as complex as Eva or Lain in the panorama of cartoons? Nope, the best thing you can get is The Simpsons. Not criticizing the whole American cartoons' world, just saying that usually they lack of a purpose, of creativity. Many anime series are crap, but when they're good, they really are, while most cartoons are terribly banal and annoying, and it's really difficult to find anything as good as a good anime series.

Well anime is anime. Its really good. If the anime is good and theres a good story then im happy.

I dont really care for american animation much. I prefer anime because...well its hard to pick just one thing, its the whole package for me, the animation, the great storylines, the interesting characters, the realictic action sequences (Particularly Beebop). I just dont think shows like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and X-Men Evolution compare to the likes of Bebop and most of the more popular anime's. Also Anime tends to have more mature subject matter and dialougue* thats a big plus for me

Anime gives us many things american cartoons never do except for SPAWN (which I will talk about later)

Anime is so wide that any person at any age can pick something they will like, no matter what. What's important is to find good anime since there is anime that simply sucks, and I'm not necessarily talking about Digimon, which I hate with all my heart (lol, I need to put this in the hate thread, forgot about it )

I personally like most animes which are adult-oriented (and I'm not talking about hentai) since the things they present and talk about are mature and make you think a lot, and well, turn out to have the best story plots.

I also love the quality. Watching animes like Hellsing or Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust makes me wet my freaking pants.

Now, I still have not seen anything of the likes of SPAWN in any anime, at all. Why? Because SPAWN is AMERICAN ANIME, as a friend of mine once suggested. I don't know how many of you have seen it, but I can watch the 3 DVD's with the first 3 seasons and I never get tired of them. It's because the plots are so damn real even though the theme is so fictitional, it creates a blend that turns out to be awsome. And the reason this "cartoon" is the way it is, it's probably becaue Todd McFarlane loves anime, as he was inspired when he watched AKIRA.

But other than the old X-MEN and Spider-Man, there's really no cartoon I actually enojy.

WHAT!!! I can't beleive that at all........sure the new seasons of the Simpsons are poor but I would have to say it's prolly the best american animated show around. Nothing can make me laugh like the Simpsons. I don't know what your talking about with annoying to watch either:peoples:

But on to the topic at hand.... The reason I watch Anime was at first the animation. Just seeing all the detail in Akira (first anime i seen) compared to what they have in america is really impressive. Nowadays though I think Anime is still better than american animation becuase I think most anime is aimed at a more mature audience with the violence and deep stories.

I like anime because I'm just fed up with american cartoons. Our cartoons kinda reflect the basic American attitude, lazy. They arent that much appealing to the eyes (except for some good CGs, like the new spiderman) and most have no plot whatsoever, just random episodes thought up. American cartoons arent really planned out. They just make more and more episodes with no full story in mind and end the series when ratings drop.

As I said earlier I like Anime because its just so damn nice looking. The backgrounds are so amazing adn characters are animated so fluidly. One thing I hate is how they exaggerate features in anime characters, especially the eyes. It takes away from the realistic backgrounds and the maturity of the plot. Because of the way the characters look, people new to anime may think its just some other kids cartoon.

lol, id rather not imagine that :laugh:

I think what immediately draws me to anime is the animation and character design.

What keeps me is a good storyline and character development.

I'm not saying that all anime has the above - or that if it has one of them then it has the others - but a really good show or movie will have all of those.

Anime is also very good when it's original but I despise a lot of the stuff that's out there and follows a cookie cutter plot and has all very generic characters and twists.

:P