anime is a Japanese colloquialism which
comes from shortening the word animation
for the most part in Japanese anime is
synonymous with animation of any kind
just as an English cartoon is virtually
synonymous with animation of any kind on
a technical level there is no inherent
distinction between anime and cartoons
but on a cultural level these words have
different connotations especially in the
English language anime is most typically
used to refer to cartoons which come
from Japan and because many fans of
anime aren't necessarily fans of
cartoons from other countries calling
oneself an anime fan usually refers to
being particularly interested in
Japanese cartoons exclusively however in
recent years as Japanese cartoons have
become more influential even on shows in
the West a lot of debate has been waged
over whether or not the term anime can
be used to describe cartoons from other
countries here I'm going to argue in
favor of the idea that the only
debatably meaningful application of the
term anime is in applying it to Japanese
cartoons exclusively from the ground up
Japanese cartoons were always influenced
by western cartoons the father of anime
and manga himself
Osamu Tezuka cited the works of Walt
Disney as his biggest influence and a
lot of really old manga and really old
western cartoons are basically
indistinguishable just look at Betty
Boop next to Astro Boy for instance
however for a long time the stylistic
development of anime and manga was kind
of insular because not a lot of anime
and manga made their way outside of
Japan so while western cartoons were
still permeating and influencing
Japanese culture the anime and manga
which became influential two generations
of Japanese artists mostly remained
influential just within that country
only in recent years with anime and
manga slowly permeating into world
culture from the late 90s until now as
Japanese art started to have a big
cultural influence throughout the world
to the point that shows like Avatar Teen
Titans and the boondocks all have a
distinctive anime influence but let's
not get ahead of ourselves one of the
biggest things that a lot of people
don't appreciate about anime and manga
is that it covers an incredibly broad
range of styles a lot of people really
don't understand this because they're
mostly familiar with shows that have
become popular in the west through
channels like Cartoon Network Adult Swim
and Kids WB pulling from this pool of
samples it might seem like all anime
kind of have this
aesthetic but it's really more that
these channels are always going to pick
the same kinds of shows to broadcast
most of what gets brought to Western TV
is shows aimed at young boys or young
men almost always with an action centric
storyline very rarely do we get shows
aimed at young women or little girls are
out there art house shows or shows aimed
towards a more general adult audience
I've seen it argued a few times that
certain Japanese shows should be
considered cartoons instead of anime
because they showcase a lot of cartoon
influence and don't look as anime as
other shows with Panty and Stocking
being the most frequently mentioned
thing of this nature these kind of
statements though come from a very small
frame of reference that ignores just how
many different ways anime can look and
how many different influences anime can
have Panty and Stocking may be a lot
more obvious since it makes blatant
references to western cartoons but it's
far from the only show to have a strong
Western influence if the word anime is
only really helpful to those trying to
signify their fandom of Japanese
cartoons specifically in the first place
then there's no sense in limiting which
Japanese cartoons can be considered
anime as most anime fans appreciate
shows from a variety of styles this then
leaves us with the question of whether
or not Western cartoons like Legend of
Korra should be considered anime from a
stylistic perspective I would certainly
say that shows like Korra have a clear
anime influence though I would also say
that there are some obvious concerns of
Western influences while the character
designs look pretty anime the style of
fight direction in animation looks much
more Western creating more of a cultural
blend than an outright adherence to
anime style however to argue that Korra
looks different from what is typical of
anime is no different than pointing out
how it's similar to anime both cases
ignore the fact that some anime shows do
have more Western facets of animation
often intentionally shows like big-oh
season 2 and Afro Samurai were
intentionally made to look Western in
their animation style so this kind of
cultural cross promotion goes both ways
my real issue with considering Legend of
Korra to be anime isn't the things that
make it different from anime so much is
the idea that anime is defined by
looking a certain way if a Japanese
cartoon has Western influence we still
call it anime so if a Western cartoon
has anime influence I see no reason to
consider it anything other than a
Western cartoon a lot of people cite the
fact that shows like Legend of Korra and
the boondocks are largely animated in
Korea which is also true of a lot of
anime but it's also just like true of a
lot of cartoons in general studios in
yeah the Philippines Thailand and
probably other places I'm not aware of
do a lot of in-between work on
animations from around the world where
it really gets confusing to me though is
when you start trying to figure out
intended audiences Legend of Korra Teen
Titans in the boondocks were clearly
created to be played on TV in
english-speaking countries first and
foremost and may have been adapted into
other languages later likewise most
anime is made for Japan and then is
later brought elsewhere however shows
like the aforementioned Big O 2 and Afro
Samurai and
even space dandy are sometimes made with
both a Japanese and English audience in
mind at once then you've got stuff like
the Animatrix and halo legends which are
made entirely by Japanese creators and
studios but for a Western audience first
what about triggers upcoming series
ninja Slayer which is an adaptation of
an American webcomic being made for a
Japanese audience or the original
transformers which was written in
broadcast in the US but had a lot of
influential animators from Japan work on
it once you start looking into the
backgrounds and intentions of different
anime productions it gets harder and
harder to determine what goes where to
me it makes the most sense to look at
the creative staff behind the show and
figure out what background they come
from and to simply look at where the
show was first released if it's a show
made by an anime studio and was released
in Japan either before or at the same
time as it was released elsewhere then
it's probably anime if it was made by
Americans for American television then
it's probably not anime American
directors have worked on shows like tech
onk in Crete and Japanese directors have
worked on shows like Adventure Time but
I think as long as the staff is mostly
from the same country as the show is
being made for it's probably that
country's show I still don't know what
to do about transformers though of
course all of this is totally pedantic
and pointless to really debate the only
reason any of it means anything is that
some people want to be able to clearly
define their hobby and I don't think
it's really worth splitting hairs over
it's not like being able to call a
legend of korra anime changes anything
about the show whatsoever so there's no
point in arguing
I just wanted to thought dump my
perspective on the whole conversation
here and maybe get you thinking about it
in a different way and in case you're
wondering yes there are hardcore cartoon
fans in Japan who debate over the exact
same shit this video was edited by the
Devaux and I happen to think he did a
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but I can't afford to pay
all the time so if you want to see more
videos that are edited this well then
help contribute to my patreon so I can
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because you like my content you want to
support me or something and don't forget
to share this video with all your
friends and use it to win debates
because personally I think this shuts
down the whole argument once and for all