Tuesday, March 4, 2008

What do Anime and U.S. Cartoons Have in Common?
After watching various animated movies/shows in the past years of my life and discussing animation with aquaintances, I discovered that there are themes/elements that Anime and U.S. cartoons share. However, each animation industry has only little to some common aspects it shares with the other. Plus some shared aspects appear in U.S. cartoons before in anime while others appear in anime first before in U.S. cartoons. Also, it's problematic that some otakus think too much on differences between the two animation industries with little thought on what they have in common, thus resulting in the fact that not everyone's able to love Anime and U.S. cartoons equally, and it's normal that an animated work is enjoyed for its featured themes/elements. Anyways, here are the shared aspects: piloted giant robots, superheroes, space adventure, miltary, talking animals, fan service, animated works for kids, animated works for adults, gore/blood, profanity/vulgarity, drugs/alcohol, nudity, urinating, snot, graphic violence, sci-fi tech, monsters, demons, ghosts, death gods, mythology/folklore references, cute girls, beautiful women (incl. those with attitude), thrillers, mafias, supervillains, sexual themes/humor, mature themes/humor, pornographies, edginess, sigle-plot-per-episode setup in some T.V. shows, ongoing-plot setup in some T.V. shows, some fictional characters have more than one version of their lives, political dictators, spaceship navy, death, good vs. evil, sense of morality, violent youths, manga-style drawing, abstract character designs, great animated classics, character development, format genres (TV, movie, made-for video, webanimation, shorts), lethal weaponry, laser guns, swords, funny fat guys, funny senior citizens, smart youngsters, magic, fantasy, war themes, parody, good guys who murder people (counting bad guys), armageddons, terrorists, historical references, aliens, horror, romance, drama, comedy.

Once otakus see this list, it should give them the thought that depite differences between Anime and U.S. Cartoons, there are things both sides have that can make them equally fun to watch for any audience, and yes, I have a feeling that they're sharing a great deal of success in not only attracting viewers worldwide, but also having huge loyal fanbases. Hopefully in the future, there will be conventions entirely dedicated to animations from all over the world as well as conventions entirely dedicated to U.S. cartoons, just like how there are conventions entirely dedicated to Anime.

For fun, I'll end this post with a list of the types of merchandising both animations use: model kits, toy lines, Music CD albums, posters, stickers, video game spin-offs, collectable/trading cards, board game spin-offs, action figures, die-cast figurines, plusshies, clothing wear, bag products.

If you feel that there are common aspects I left out, please add it to your comments.

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Sunday, December 30, 2007

Poll: Guyver's Anime Adaptations

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Thursday, December 27, 2007

Retro Anime Are Still Worth Watching Despite Their Age!
Over the years watching anime, I've managed to find various anime that maybe from the 1960s-1980s (which I refer to as part of anime's retro era), but have good stories/storyplots, just as good as today's anime. The sad part (in my opinion) is that most of them currently suffer a lack of popularity outside Japan as well as a lack of appreciation from North American viewers (although some of them were very popular with North American viewers of all ages during the 1960s-1980s). Furthermore, it's not often that U.S. companies that license anime ever consider licensing anime of the past decades. It's as if certain people treat retro anime like an outdated computer system. It's true that computer animation replaced cell animation, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the stories in retro anime are no longer considered great. Looking at the "Gundam" franchise for example, it looks as if "Mobile Suit Gundam" (the first "Gundam", which has a good storyplot of war) suffered a decline in appreciation from North Americans after "Gundam SEED" (considered as the modern counterpart of the original "Gundam" by some viewers) appeared in North America (it's possible that some viewers love to imagine a version of the situation that involves "Gundam SEED" stealing a fanbase from Classic "Gundam" the same way that involves "Yu-Gi-Oh!" stealing fanbase from "Pocket Monsters" (Pokemon) and the "Witchblade" anime stealing fanbase from classic superhero anime, including "Gatchaman"). What still remains is that the whole "Gundam" franchise is one of the most beloved ones in anime hitsory. Anime fans shouldn't judge an anime by when it was released or how it was made (whether cell/3-D/2-D/clay/ etc). Judge an anime by whether it has a good story to tell or not. So please give anime classics as much of the chance you give to modern anime, because both kinds are equals in greatness of storytelling and characters, despite their differences!

To end this, here are some examples of anime that maybe old but are still worth watching and appreciating (but I haven't seen all of them): Tetsuwan Atom (Astroboy) (1963), Tetsujin 28-Go (Gigantor) (1963), Cyborg 009 (1960s and 1970s versions), Mach Go Go Go (Speed racer) (1967), Jungle Taitei (Kimba the White Lion) (1960s), Space Carrier Blue Noah, Gatchaman (1972), Appleseed (1980s OVA), Akira, Mazinger Z, Devilman (1970s), Cutey Honey (1970s), Great Mazinger, Grendizer, Galaxy Express 999, Gekko Kamen (Moonlight Mask), The Ultraman (1979), Getter Robo, Getter Robo G, Space Battleship Yamato (Star Blazers), Combattler V, 8 Man (1960s), Captain Harlock, Original Dirty Pair, Mazinger Z, Mobile Suit Gundam, Z Gundam, Gundam ZZ, Gall Force, Lupin III, Patlabor, Guyver (1980s versions), Bubblegum Crisis, Dangaioh!, Gunbuster (1980s), Urusei Yatsura, SDF Macross, Golion (lion Voltron), Dairugger XV (Vehicle Voltron), Tekkaman the Space Knight (1970s), Casshan (1970s), City Hunter, Hurricane Ploymar (1970s).
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