Cartoon VS Anime

by Marie Brunkhorst, Senior

Spring 2017

Animation, musical score, character designs and plotlines are things that all story-driven television shows should possess. Both the cartoon world and the anime world possess these qualities as well, whether used to their best potential or not. However, there are many in the audience who aren’t aware of which is which, what makes an anime different from a cartoon, and why is the cartoon different from the anime?

Normally, the answer would simply be because cartoons tend to be western, from the US, and anime would be from the east, from Japan. However, there have been cases such as the TV show known as Avatar: The Last Airbender, where there have been many debates on whether or not it’s an anime or cartoon. It looks like an anime, however it was created in America, cancelling out the possibility of it being one. Teen Titans is another example of the same fate. This being stated, the known differences aren’t always applicable. These differences usually lie in visual characteristics, topics or themes, lengths, and again, places of origins.

How Japan tends to animate their shows, as Hayao Miyazaki stated according to tofugu.com, is by “limited-animation,” which both lowers the price of production, and speeds it up at the same time (note the tendency for anime characters to have two frames of mouth movement). Of course, this isn’t true for every single show that they’ve created, it’s just a generic technique used by many since the 1900’s.

Visual characteristics are the most obvious, and it’s how most can tell each subject apart. Cartoons tend to be simplified, easy-to-animate, and usually are more applicable to reality. Anime likes to exaggerate certain features quite a bit, whether it be eyes, head, or other parts, and have a much more detailed look to them. Terminology may also be used to differentiate them, as the definition for “anime” is, as stated on the Merriam-Webster site, “a style of animation originating in Japan that is characterized by stark colorful graphics depicting vibrant characters in action-filled plots often with fantastic or futuristic themes.” As for cartoon, it relays that they are “a preparatory design, drawing, or painting.”

Going off of the literal definition, that would make anime usually limited to being on the screen, whereas cartoons can be anywhere, be it on the screen, comic strip, or graffiti. Though, really, that doesn’t say much considering both can be seen anywhere at any time in any form. Another difference is the characteristics of their histories. The first cartoon is said to have appeared in 1499, depicting the pope, the roman emperor, the kings of France and England playing a game of cards, as mentioned on diffen.com. Cartoons were always meant for humorous purposes, and anime was derived off of inspiration from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937), the first anime released would be Momotaro’s Divine Sea Warriors’ (1945), or Momotarô: Umi no shinpei , it’s original title, which was basically propaganda for the Japanese public about how their military were able to achieve decisive victories in the South Pacific with anthropomorphic animals, as found on imdb.com.

Another thing to take into consideration are the exaggerated expressions of anime over cartoons. Though cartoons aren’t incapable of creating facial emotions, anime tends to take it a different direction, going over the top by including things that wouldn’t normally appear in real life, such as “sweat drops” to show nervousness or exasperation, hovering veins to show irritation or anger, as well as make use out of different kinds of line marks to have the emotion pop to a much more exaggerated extent.

The lengths of both subjects compared to one another are also quite different; cartoons usually lasting up to at least two or three seasons, whereas anime can barely make it to twelve episodes for most of the time. Excluding popular or long-running shows such as The Simpsons or Pokemon, of course. This is because cartoons don’t usually have a continuous story, every episode just being another “skit,” or “short story.” In other words, one can pick any episode and would understand what’s happening, and in anime, it is pretty much guaranteed that one will get lost if they start in the middle. Anime almost always has some kind of story connecting each episode they make. This is very generalized, as cartoons don’t always have a bunch of random episodes that don’t connect, and anime doesn’t always follow a set story. The roles may be reversed in many situations (such as Gravity Falls in comparison to Yo-Kai Watch). More reasons for why cartoons tend to run longer can also lie in the producer’s budget, or the general audience reception.

Since cartoons tend to be targeted at children or families (excluding shows specifically meant for adult audiences), they are more likely to be successful and become well-known, therefore receiving the pay to continue running. Anime customarily goes for a more mature audience; young adults and over. Anime often has lots of disturbing imagery, gore, sexual innuendos and an extreme violence to the themes chosen (examples would be Attack on Titan, Soul Eater, Akira, One-Punch Man, Elfen Lied, Tokyo Ghoul, Highschool of the Dead, Naruto Shippuden, Death Note, Berserk, and a whole lot more), as pointed out on theodysseyonline.com. Many of these shows are certainly not for audiences who cannot handle mature topics or themes. That being said, it would make sense that it wouldn’t have the entire family’s attention, therefore not receiving the pay to continue running, even if it’s a well-deserving show.

Finally, each show has a different reason for existing; putting it bluntly, anime was created for people with long attention spans and a need for over the top excitement or emotion; western cartoons are more for laughter and lots of humor, even if that same cartoon has an actual plot and/or a serious theme (as found on differencebetween.net). Regardless of the generalization, each individual show has it’s own reason for existence depending on the creator’s motivation, they just tend to get roped into the usual roles depending on the culture they were born into.

Howbeit, they are two different art styles with the same purpose; and that is to entertain the public. They can both be enjoyed to their fullest extent, and they can both be despised for merely being mentioned. They both have creative qualities that make each show unique, as well as uninspired, cash-grab techniques as well. They both have their own fans, and they both suffer for being “just for kids,” even if there was real hard work put into both art pieces. They are very different from one another, and are certainly not the same thing; they’re from different places, of different people, of different topics and themes, of different techniques and animation styles, practically everything is different in comparison to each other. Yet like human beings, they share the same goals, and they share the same love for their works. That is something to be truly appreciated for.