top of page
Search

American Animation or Anime?

  • Writer: Leighanne Fernandes
    Leighanne Fernandes
  • Mar 1, 2018
  • 3 min read

Updated: Oct 5, 2019

Additional Source: American CGI animated film character (Elsa) from Frozen - on the left - compared to Japanese hand-drawn Anime character (Marnie) from When Marnie was there - on the right (Adams, 2015, p.1)



Animation industries around the world specialize in different artistic and technical styles. However, the American and Japanese animation industries are by far the two most influential forms of entertainment in the past century.

There has been great debate on which of the two types of animation hold more significance, and are constantly been compared to one another. I would say American and Japanese (anime) animation differ on various grounds, such as the style they implement, the way they animate, camera angles and their content and audiences.


Some famous American Animation studios that have contributed to producing many masterpieces are known for their concept and style in animating. Walt Disney, Warner Bros, MGM, Pixar, DreamWorks Animation, Cartoon Network Studios, Sony Pictures are just a handful of the top leading companies in American animation. However, their style cannot be compared to the Anime industry with companies such as Studio Ghibli, Kyoto Animation and Nippon Animation creating animations with different criteria. These criteria have propelled its viewers into dynamic interactions such as conventions, fanzines, manga production, cosplay (costume play), fan-subbing and more (LaMarre, 2009, pp.13-14).


Figure 1 - The Amazing Spiez (Dagia, n.d., p.1)

So, to begin with the major difference, American animation and Anime own a stark contrast in the style of character animation. American animation’s visual characteristics of its characters either pertain to a realistic comic book style (figure 1) or highly exaggerated caricature with less detail and attention to shading (figure 2) (Sanders, 2017, p.1). Although they do have a striking similarity to humans, American cartoon is diverged from reality since it aims to make people laugh with a comic relief (Lin Jia Hua, 2016, p. 6).

Figure 2 - Spongebob Squarepants characters (Abby, 2017, p.1)


On the other hand, Anime characters (figure 3 ) are known to have a ‘generic’ look by its distinctive features of having large eyes, small noses and mouths (Sanders, 2017, p.1), big hair, and elongated limbs (Lin Jia Hua, 2016, p.4). They use minimal lines but focus more on variants in color and shading (Sanders, 2017, p.1) to give a closer relation to realistic human features (Lin Jia Hua, 2016, p.7).

Figure 3- Japanese animation, anime character, visual characteristics (Berserkchart486, 2012, p.1)


Another particular distinguishable factor lies in the setting (background) of these two animation styles. While American animation sets its storylines and characters in imaginative and unrealistic locations, Anime locates its stories in reality thus associating the animation with cultural references (see figure 4) (Lin Jia Hua, 2016, p.5).

Figure 4 - Anime settings comparison to real life locations (Lin Jia Hua, 2016, p.5)


American and Japanese style of animating are different, yet similar. Cartoons have originality in its animated motion while Anime uses a lot of cheats such as having long scenes where movement is only visible through the mouth and few strands of hair (Sanders, 2017, p.1). The similarity lies in reusing multiple shots and sequences in both animations, nevertheless, making it more evident in Anime (Sanders, 2017, p.1). Camera angles differ as cartoons use straight angled camera shots with less cinematography, contrasted with over-exaggerated angles and perspectives to intensify the mood in Anime (Sanders, 2017, p.1).


Lastly, one of the biggest differences are arguably based on its content and audiences. Cartoons have been stereotyped to be a kid’s form of entertainment, whereas Anime can range from children to adults. This is because cartoons have a rather simple plot with basic characters that usually have a villain creating the conflict in the story, while Anime is known to have complex character developments with deep themes, subtle dialogues and thought-provoking story plots that do not necessarily need a villain to create a conflict (Adams, 2015, p.1). Anime tackles life issues that relate to human emotion and sexual themes (Lin Jia Hua, 2016, p.8).


Therefore, even though both animations use professional means of story-telling, they are bound to a matter of tastes and preferences from different audiences and depends on every individual likewise.




References:


Abby (2017, December 19) Which Spongebob Squarepants Character are you? Retrieved


Adams, J. (2015, September 9) Why Japanese Anime is superior to American Animation.


Berserkchart486 (2012, March 30) Female-anime-female-characters-8274578-1600-1528.jpg

[image]. Retrieved (2018, February 27) from


Dagia, D. (n.d.) The Amazing Spiez! Retrieved (2018, February 27) from


LaMarre, T. (2009) Anime Machine: A Media Theory of Animation. Retrieved (2018, February


Lin Jia Hua [林佳樺] (2016). Japanese Anime vs. American Cartoons. Retrieved (2018, February


Sanders, A. L. (2017, August 29). What's The Difference Between Japanese and American

Comments

  • Black Facebook Icon
  • Black Instagram Icon
bottom of page