The exciting world of cartoons is distinguished by their country of origin. Two of the leading international animators are the Americans and the Japanese. The Japanese distinguish their work with exaggerated physical features and long storylines. The Americans distinguish their work with humorous caricatures and a unique brand of satire. I enjoy both of these styles of animation, but in recent years I’ve been leaning towards anime as my favorite. Although American cartoons and Japanese animes are similar in certain aspects, what separates them are their distinct art styles and their unique characters.
One the most noticeable differences between the two styles of animation are the diverse styles of art used to draw the characters of the animation. Anime and cartoons share similar techniques when it comes to drawing a character. They both use various forms of exaggeration in the physical features of their characters. For example, in The Simpsons, the character Marge is meant to resemble the stereotypical housewife. As such, she is given curly hair, although this feature is exaggerated by making her hair tower above her head. In anime, the character’s eyes and hair are usually large. One of the main differences is that cartoons usually have features that are not relative to the rest of the body and therefore are further from reality than anime. Physical features of characters in anime, on the whole, are closer to reality than cartoons. Because of this I believe that it is easier for people to relate to characters or to feel empathy towards them in anime shows. Being able to identify with a fictional character depends on the character’s personality or experiences. But I believe that the more human-like the character is portrayed, the more people can relate to a character’s conflicts or emotions. People have to be able to relate to a fictional character in some way or another or else fiction itself would be just a bunch of arbitrary nonsense.
Another difference usually seen between anime and cartoons is the way the continuation of the plotline from week to week. In most cartoons you have stand-alone episodes where any event that occurred in the previous episode has no effect on the next episode. For example, in the cartoon Invader Zim, if Zim, the main character, becomes horribly disfigured or is permanently trapped somewhere due to some incident, that dramatic event has no effect on the next episode and Zim will reappear as if no drastic change ever happened. On the contrary, most anime shows have a storyline that continuously flows from one episode to the next. If a character dies, for example, that character will not be seen again in the later episodes. Therefore, unlike cartoons, you cannot introduce someone to a new anime without showing them the first episode. I believe anime is better in this sense because there is a story being told. It isn’t just one misadventure after another. I like getting immersed into the story and trying to understand why something is happening or how are they going to respond to something or how is this event going to unveil itself? I enjoy the carefree nature of cartoons so I don’t have to worry about understanding why something is happening in it but I would prefer anime for most of them have a story I can follow.
Personally, I enjoy anime more than cartoons. I like certain anime shows because they discuss aspects of philosophy and existentialism; shows such as Ghost in the Shell and Cowboy Bebop. I like certain anime shows for the violence and action scenes; such as Hellsing and Dragonball Z. I enjoyed watching certain anime purely for their humor; such as Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo and FLCL. I enjoyed watching the older cartoons like Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Invader Zim, and Ed, Edd, n’ Eddy. I enjoyed those shows mainly because of the quirky and sometimes even slightly dark humor. I love old shows like them because they tend to have jokes or references that only an adult would understand clearly. I even liked watching one of the newer cartoons such as Avatar: The Last Airbender. I liked this show for its incredible story, the amazing choreography, and the hilarious comic relief. But most of the new cartoons are not very entertaining to me. I believe cartoons today are lacking original humor that comes from the show itself. A lot of cartoons now rely on already established jokes to get a point across or make people laugh.
Cartoons and anime share similar qualities and are also very different from one another. Not every cartoon show is the same and not every anime show is the same either. Although I believe the qualities that once made cartoons enjoyable and humorous have degraded to pop culture references and canned jokes. I prefer anime for the wide variety of shows it has to offer, from giant fighting robots to slapstick comedy to serious detective cases. Cartoons are a nice start to get into the world of animation but anime is where you can truly branch out and explore the diversity of the world of fiction.
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