Unpopular opinion, anime

[HarlinSchmoo]

I would like to state that I enjoy some anime, Cowboy bebop and Akira come to mind. That said, it seems every major network show now must apply the same aesthetic, large rounded eyes, and spiky hair. I use to enjoy the diversity of styles in shows like the original Cartoon Cartoon shows and the What a cartoon shows. Now that anime is mainstream, it is becoming to feel a little stale, i.e.; shows centered on children trying to become the best, ninja or trainer, or some other title. To put it bluntly, I am sick of the same thing being pushed out, and as a cartoonist I find it boring.

 

[chdr]

I'd hardly call Cartoon Cartoons stylistically varied.

And maybe look outside the shonen genre? Not all Japanese animation is buff men grunting at each other.

 

[Silverstar]

I would like to state that I enjoy some anime, Cowboy bebop and Akira come to mind. That said, it seems every major network show now must apply the same aesthetic, large rounded eyes, and spiky hair. I use to enjoy the diversity of styles in shows like the original Cartoon Cartoon shows and the What a cartoon shows. Now that anime is mainstream, it is becoming to feel a little stale, i.e.; shows centered on children trying to become the best, ninja or trainer, or some other title. To put it bluntly, I am sick of the same thing being pushed out, and as a cartoonist I find it boring.

If I may offer some counterpoints:

1. Not every anime applies the aesthetic of spiky hair and large round eyes. There are plenty which don't such as Crayon Shin-Chan, The Noozles, Super Milk Chan and Lupin III. There is no one set drawing and animation style for Japanese cartoons any more than there is for cartoons from any other nation.

2. There are plenty of cartoons running currently which don't resemble anime at all. Total Drama Island, Family Guy, King of the Hill, The Secret Saturdays, SpongeBob Squarepants, The Fairly OddParents, Chowder, Futurama, Flapjack, Johnny Test, The Simpsons, 3-2-1 Penguins, Arthur, Jacob Two-Two, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, The Mr. Men Show, Veggie Tales, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, to name only a few.

The idea that "anime is taking over" is just as realistic as the notion that CGI is taking over, that is to say, it's just paranoia on some peoples' part. Each medium is hot right now, but eventually the balloon will burst and the fad will die down, just like with every other fad.

 

[Goldstar!]

Also, anime is not mainstream. It's popular, sure, but anime still pretty much a niche market. Only the tremendously popular Japaniamted shows such Pokemon and Dragon Ball/DBZ have come close to achieving mainstream popularity. The few channels that are exclusively anime are available in only a select few number of homes, and some networks such as Nickelodeon get along fine by showing no anime at all.

 

[Joe]

Well, I have been a little offput by how many cookie-cutter Japanese animated cartoons there are, especially these days in which the generic titles are really starting to pile up. That's not to say there aren't some quality titles worth looking at nor am I saying that there aren't titles that try to be groundbreaking, both artistically and conceptually. However, I do find myself watching much less than I used to.

 

[HarlinSchmoo]

If I may offer some counterpoints:

1. Not every anime applies the aesthetic of spiky hair and large round eyes. There are plenty which don't such as Crayon Shin-Chan, The Noozles, Super Milk Chan and Lupin III. There is no one set drawing and animation style for Japanese cartoons any more than there is for cartoons from any other nation.

2. There are plenty of cartoons running currently which don't resemble anime at all. Total Drama Island, Family Guy, King of the Hill, The Secret Saturdays, SpongeBob Squarepants, The Fairly OddParents, Chowder, Futurama, Flapjack, Johnny Test, The Simpsons, 3-2-1 Penguins, Arthur, Jacob Two-Two, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, The Mr. Men Show, Veggie Tales, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, to name only a few.

The idea that "anime is taking over" is just as realistic as the notion that CGI is taking over, that is to say, it's just paranoia on some peoples' part. Each medium is hot right now, but eventually the balloon will burst and the fad will die down, just like with every other fad.

Uh...The Secret Saturdays does have the pointy character shapes and a milder eye design, plus I don't count sitcoms.

 

[Taekmkm]

Here's the thing: Shounen Anime is the equivalent of every Simpson and Family guy clone in America. What works, works. Creative things have much higher chances of flops, and thus less profitable, and less made. In Japan, multiple companies sponsor a single show, so the pressure is much higher than most cartoon shows in America.

Also, music bands and singers are also tied into this deal as promotional.

To summarize, Shounen, magical girl, and at some points Ecchi shows are the consistent hits, just like how comedy and family-fun cartoons are here. So that's why you'll see a lot more generic stuff translated.

 

[Light Lucario]

Uh...The Secret Saturdays does have the pointy character shapes and a milder eye design, plus I don't count sitcoms.

The Secret Saturdays' designs look nothing like anime style. At least none I've seen. It reminds me more of a upgraded style of some of the old HB cartoons. Since I think Blackstar mentioned only two or three sitcoms, I would think that the fact that all of those other shows still don't have anime art style and so not all shows have that same style.

I honestly don't see anime as taking over anything. There are some series that use, what people usually call, anime style for their character designs, but I think that saying how the style is in so many other shows is going a bit overboard. Take a good look at most of the cartoons on both Nick and CN and I don't think that a lot of them would be considered anime inspiried style.

 

[Gokou Ruri]

Kappa Mikey is the only current (I think it's still going, I don't know) that apes the whole "anime style" thing, and that's stuck on a network few people watch. I don't think any network is being overrun by anything.

 

[Silverstar]

Uh...The Secret Saturdays does have the pointy character shapes and a milder eye design, plus I don't count sitcoms.

The Secret Saturdays' art style recalls the old 'pulp comics' as well as the classic Alex Toth Hanna-Barbera action shows. It's not meant to resemble anime at all. Again, pointy character shapes and a milder eye design do not equal anime; there are plenty of anime which don't utilize either. (Sailor Moon to name just one example.) No offense, but I think your definition of what equates "anime style" (whatever that is) is a little gray.

And regardless whether or not you count animated sitcoms (though I don't see why they wouldn't count-as long as they're animated), the fact remains that there are plenty of animated shows which do not ape anime style. The influence of anime on Western cartoons is not as prevalent as you seem to think it is.

 

[MonkeyFunk]

The influence of anime on Western cartoons is not as prevalent as you seem to think it is.

...and, honestly, even if it were, I don't think it'd be entirely fair to blame anime. If anime hadn't caught on, American TV cartoons would just be rehashing something else over and over again.

 

[Racattack!Force]

Uh...The Secret Saturdays does have the pointy character shapes and a milder eye design, plus I don't count sitcoms.

No, it doesn't resemble the "classic" anime style at all. In the creator's (Jay Stephens) own words: "I immediately went for a kind of Hanna-Barbera action show look from the mid-'60's...like Mighty Mightor, Space Ghost, Galaxy Trio, and especially Jonny Quest and the Herculoids.". It was based on the art styles of Alex Toth Hanna-Barbera action shows, not anime.

 

[runekey]

Im not even going to say anything. Im just gonna sit back and let my fellow TZ friends do the flaming.

 

[Light Lucario]

Im not even going to say anything. Im just gonna sit back and let my fellow TZ friends do the flaming.

I'm not sure this would qualify as flaming though. I don't think people are being rude or anything. We're just disagreeing with the original poster of this thread and his points. I've seen flame wars here and other websites before and this is not flaming.

 

[Goldstar!]

Im not even going to say anything. Im just gonna sit back and let my fellow TZ friends do the flaming.

If you think this is flaming, then you've obviously never been to TV.com. Compared to some of the arguments that have broken out there, this is a tea party!

But seriously, this is hardly flaming. It's merely an exchange of differing opinions. This barely qualifies as a heated debate.

 

[runekey]

If you think this is flaming, then you've obviously never been to TV.com.

But seriously, this is hardly flaming. It's merely an exchange of differing opinions. This barely qualifies as a heated debate.

Rofl. I call alot of things "flaming", but trust me, I know what a flame war is (you should have seen the nintendo forums a week after the release of "Wii"!!!).

 

[garfield15]

Rofl. I call alot of things "flaming", but trust me, I know what a flame war is (you should have seen the nintendo forums a week after the release of "Wii"!!!).

Ha, ha, oh TZ. Everything is serious business on this site.

 

[defunctzombie]

I would like to state that I enjoy some anime, Cowboy bebop and Akira come to mind. That said, it seems every major network show now must apply the same aesthetic, large rounded eyes, and spiky hair. I use to enjoy the diversity of styles in shows like the original Cartoon Cartoon shows and the What a cartoon shows. Now that anime is mainstream, it is becoming to feel a little stale, i.e.; shows centered on children trying to become the best, ninja or trainer, or some other title. To put it bluntly, I am sick of the same thing being pushed out, and as a cartoonist I find it boring.

Most of my favorite anime don't look at all like the stereotype. But I am familiar with a lot of different styles, and I must say that I don't see the networks emulating them in every new show. Kappa Mikey was a very obviousexample of emulation, as is Martin Mystery, but you also see oddball shows like Chowder out there. Chowder is not trying to fit a stereotype from what I've seen. Flapjack is another one. Sure you have the big eyes, but the kid looks like an alien more than anything else.

 

[Master Moron]

If you think this is flaming, then you've obviously never been to TV.com. Compared to some of the arguments that have broken out there, this is a tea party!

Really? Whenever I go to TV.com it seems to take days for anybody to respond to my posts. It seems like it would be pretty hard to start a flame war there.

 

[Game Freak 4]

Nah, Anime isn't really dominating. Well, maybe through the Internet...